0:04

Welcome to the Attention Deficit

0:06

Disorder Expert Podcast Series by

0:08

Attitude Magazine. Hi

0:15

everyone. My name is Annie Rogers

0:17

and on behalf of the Attitude

0:19

team, I'm pleased to welcome you

0:22

to today's ADHD experts presentation

0:25

titled The Science and Power of Hope.

0:28

Joining today's presentation is Dr. Chan

0:31

Hellman. Dr. Hellman is

0:33

a professor at the University of

0:35

Oklahoma and director of the Hope

0:38

Research Center. His

0:40

research is focused on hope

0:42

as a psychological strength, helping

0:45

children and adults overcome

0:47

trauma and adversity. He's

0:50

published more than a hundred studies. Dr.

0:53

Hellman is also the co-author of

0:55

the award-winning book Hope

0:58

Rising. In today's

1:00

webinar, we will discuss what hope

1:02

is and why it matters. According

1:06

to research, hope is one of

1:08

the strongest predictors of well-being. It's

1:11

also a strength that can be

1:13

taught to both children and

1:15

adults. Hope can influence

1:17

positive outcomes and even help us

1:20

regulate our emotions. Today,

1:22

we'll learn all about the core

1:24

components of hope and we will

1:27

hear strategies to implement a hope-based

1:29

framework in our lives. Okay,

1:31

without any further ado, I'm

1:34

so pleased to welcome Dr. Chan Hellman.

1:36

Dr. Hellman, thank you so much for

1:38

joining us today and for leading this

1:41

really provocative discussion about hope. Thank

1:44

you very much. It's a pleasure and an

1:47

honor to be here and to get

1:49

to discuss this

1:51

sort of introductory to the science

1:53

of hope. As

1:55

mentioned, I'm a professor at the

1:57

University of Oklahoma. I'm

2:00

a quantitative psychologists. My training

2:02

and the reason I like

2:04

to highlight. Of

2:06

that focus on my academic

2:09

training is because the science

2:11

of Hope has been very

2:14

very important to me on.

2:16

So for the last twenty

2:19

five years I've been doing

2:21

works have predominantly evaluating outcomes

2:24

of program services is pretty

2:26

high. trauma in inversely. Related.

2:29

Areas like domestic violence,

2:31

child maltreatment, Ah,

2:33

Homelessness, food and security. Ah,

2:36

I'm and it was roughly

2:38

fifteen years ago that I

2:41

was introduced her to this

2:43

concept of hope. And fifteen

2:45

years ago I was invited

2:48

to conduct a housing needs

2:50

assessment for an organization and

2:53

this organization provide services to

2:55

those living with Hiv. And.

2:58

Aids and I was fortunate enough

3:00

to get to meet a young

3:02

man who was nineteen. Young.

3:05

Man named David and David

3:07

and I had about seven

3:09

or eight minute conversation that

3:11

changed my life both personally.

3:14

And professionally, David shared with

3:16

me, of course, that he

3:18

was nineteen years old, or

3:21

more specifically, that three months

3:23

earlier, he learned that he

3:25

was Hiv positive. Now

3:28

when David share this with

3:30

me as a psychologist but

3:32

also or as somebody who

3:34

evaluates programs I'm the first

3:36

thing that came to my

3:38

mind was what must be

3:40

wrong given the adversity that

3:42

he was experiencing am I

3:44

began to think about how

3:46

things like depression and anxiety

3:48

as I continue to talk

3:50

with this young man. He.

3:52

Shares with me that two weeks

3:54

earlier in disclosed his parents and

3:56

he was Hiv positive. they

3:58

kicked him out of the and he

4:01

had spent the last two weeks homeless

4:03

in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, where

4:05

I live. Now

4:08

I'm listening to David at this

4:10

point, and I'm also thinking about

4:12

social isolation and all

4:15

of these adversities that he's experiencing.

4:18

But in that moment, David

4:20

shifted the conversation. And

4:22

as I mentioned, he changed

4:25

my life both personally and

4:27

professionally. In particular, David

4:29

began to talk about the future. He

4:33

shared with me that while

4:35

experiencing the adversity associated with

4:38

being newly unhoused, trying

4:40

to survive during this

4:43

time, he had also

4:45

made his way to the local

4:47

community college. He had met with

4:49

an academic counselor, enrolled in his first

4:51

semester of courses and declared a

4:53

major. And it just

4:55

struck me in that moment, 15 years

4:58

ago, that I

5:00

spent my entire life focused on

5:02

this idea of what's wrong with

5:05

you as a psychologist, understanding

5:07

the adversity that individuals experience

5:10

and the psychological impact

5:12

that that typically has. But

5:15

what David shared with me is that

5:17

there's probably a better question. And

5:20

that question is, what is right with you? What

5:23

is the strength that David possessed? What

5:25

is the strength that could be nurtured,

5:28

that could help people

5:30

navigate through trauma and

5:32

adversity? And

5:34

that was really my introduction to

5:36

this concept of hope. And

5:39

I've spent the last 15 years

5:41

dedicating my life to understanding what

5:44

is hope and why does it matter in

5:47

our lives? How

5:49

does trauma and adversity influence

5:53

our capacity for hope? And

5:55

then more importantly, what are the

5:57

simple strategies that individuals can use?

6:00

used to nurture and restore hope in

6:03

children, adults, and

6:05

families. So today I'm

6:07

going to discuss really a summary of

6:10

the last 15 years of that

6:12

research and work. This

6:16

research has culminated into a

6:19

curriculum and a training that we use

6:22

to work with state

6:24

agencies, with nonprofit organizations,

6:26

with school districts, in

6:29

an effort to promote the science of hope,

6:33

where hope is not the outcome, but

6:36

well-being is always the outcome,

6:39

and hope is the process. So

6:41

one of the things that I'll try to

6:44

navigate through today in our time together is

6:46

to demonstrate that hope is

6:49

a framework for action. Hope

6:51

and the science of hope

6:53

gives us very simple strategies

6:56

to nurture well-being in

6:59

children, adults, and families.

7:02

Now on this particular

7:04

slide that you can see

7:06

are typical responses that

7:08

people might have when

7:11

experiencing adversity or trauma. So

7:14

for instance, one

7:16

of our publications demonstrates that

7:18

when somebody is experiencing adversity,

7:22

it reduces their capacity to trust

7:24

others. We

7:26

also look at things like shame, guilt,

7:30

rumination, and one

7:32

of the things that we find

7:34

is that these things, these experiences

7:36

to adversity, reduce

7:38

our capacity for hope.

7:42

So one of our recent publications demonstrates

7:45

that adults,

7:48

when they were

7:50

children and experienced tremendous adversity,

7:54

experience a higher rate of

7:56

rumination, ruminating on the path

7:58

which diminishes their capacity. is hope. So

8:01

the work that I've been focused on

8:03

in the curriculum that we're working towards

8:07

is really about how do we

8:09

interrupt these trauma

8:11

or these types

8:13

of psychological responses to nurture

8:15

and restore hope. Now,

8:17

my personal philosophy is that everybody

8:19

has a role to play in

8:22

nurturing hope in children and adults.

8:25

And so what we want to make

8:28

sure we're doing is creating strategies that

8:30

are accessible to everybody, to

8:32

teachers, to parents, to coaches,

8:37

to youth ministers, but to everybody

8:40

who has a role to play in the

8:42

lives of children and families. So

8:46

I'm going to go ahead and get started.

8:48

What I will tell you is that I'm

8:51

going to periodically ask you some some

8:53

questions to get you to

8:56

reflect and perhaps participate or

8:58

engage a little bit

9:00

in the conversation. But the

9:03

basic idea is, we're

9:05

going to look at what is hope

9:07

and some of the basic strategies around

9:10

nurturing this hope. So

9:13

the first thing I would like for you to think about

9:16

is when you

9:18

hear the word hope, when you

9:20

think about this word, what

9:22

comes to mind? What do you

9:24

associate with hope?

9:28

And feel free to put that into the

9:31

chat or the question area,

9:33

if you can. But typically,

9:36

some of the things that I'll hear

9:38

are future things can

9:41

be better, positivity,

9:46

for instance. So

9:48

let me ask you a second question

9:50

to reflect on. Is

9:53

hope a feeling? Is

9:55

it an emotion that we have? Or

9:57

is hope a way of thinking? Is it a

10:00

a cognitive process. What

10:03

are your thoughts on on that is hope

10:05

of feeling? Is it emotion? Or

10:08

is it

10:10

a way of thinking? And

10:13

so looking through

10:15

sort of the responses, what

10:17

we do is we treat

10:20

hope as a way

10:22

of thinking. And this

10:24

is the simple definition. Hope is the

10:26

belief that the future will be better

10:28

than today and that we have the

10:30

power to make it so. So

10:33

a few things about this particular

10:35

slide. Now, the

10:37

reason that we treat hope as

10:40

a cognitive process as a way

10:42

of thinking is because if

10:44

hope was an emotion, it was if

10:46

it was a feeling that you and

10:48

I had, then really, at best, we'd

10:51

be able to help people manage those

10:53

feelings. But because hope

10:55

is a way of thinking that

10:57

it is a cognitive process, we

11:00

know it's something that can be taught. So

11:03

again, here's the definition, hope is

11:06

the belief that the future

11:08

will be better than today, and that

11:10

you have the power to make it so.

11:13

So a couple things about that

11:15

definition. If hope

11:17

was simply the belief that the

11:20

future would be better than today,

11:22

and we stop there, that's really

11:24

optimism. That's an optimistic expectation

11:26

that the future will work

11:29

out. But hope

11:31

goes beyond optimism, by the latter

11:33

part of the definition, that is

11:35

that you have the power to

11:37

make it so. So

11:39

in this way, hope is

11:42

about taking action to pursue

11:44

that future. And that's

11:46

a distinction between hope and

11:48

optimism. Now,

11:51

one of the things that I really love

11:53

about this concept of hope is

11:56

how simple it actually is the

11:58

simplicity of hope. Hope

12:01

is based upon three simple

12:03

ideas, goals,

12:06

pathways, and willpower.

12:09

Now, goals are the cornerstone of

12:11

everything that we do with hope.

12:14

Goals drive both pathways

12:16

and willpower. Goals

12:19

can be in the short-term or

12:22

goals can be in the long-term. From

12:25

the moment you wake up until the

12:27

moment you go to bed, we are

12:29

pursuing goals in our life. The

12:32

question with hope is whether or not

12:34

we have the ability to

12:36

identify the pathways or

12:39

the roadmaps that we can identify of

12:41

how we're going to get there from

12:43

here. Pathways thinking

12:46

is the strategizing piece

12:48

of hope. Pathways

12:51

also includes the ability

12:53

to identify barriers and

12:56

to engage in the problem

12:58

solving process to overcome those

13:00

barriers or to find

13:02

alternative pathways. So

13:05

again, pathway thinking is

13:07

the strategizing piece of

13:09

hope. Willpower

13:12

is really the motivational piece

13:15

of hope. It's the ability

13:17

to focus your attention

13:20

and intention towards those

13:22

pathway pursuits. So

13:25

it's really about focusing the

13:27

mental energy required to engage

13:30

in pathways, especially during

13:33

times of adversity. So

13:35

again, goals, pathways,

13:39

and willpower. And I'll talk more

13:41

about these three concepts. Now,

13:46

when I was visiting with this

13:48

young man, David, and I came

13:50

back to the university and

13:53

I was really reflecting on what

13:55

this young man had shared with me

13:59

because I had never... really thought

14:01

about the concept of hope before.

14:03

I'd spent my entire career focused

14:06

on things like

14:08

depression and anxiety

14:10

and isolation and

14:13

how do we not only

14:15

identify those things but to

14:17

effectively reduce those and that

14:19

is critically important. It is

14:22

absolutely important. So I

14:24

want to make sure that we understand

14:26

that what I'm not advocating is

14:29

just this positivity that everything

14:31

you know will work out or

14:33

we just need to have hope.

14:36

What we really need to make

14:38

sure is a more balanced perspective

14:40

that is well-being is

14:43

more than the reduction of what

14:45

is wrong with you. While

14:48

the identification and

14:50

reduction of depression is

14:52

critically important, the

14:54

reduction of depression is not happiness.

14:58

So what I'm advocating is a

15:00

more holistic perspective. But

15:02

when I came back to my office

15:04

at the University I actually drew this

15:06

graph on my chalkboard

15:10

and as a quantitative psychologist I do have

15:12

a real chalkboard in my

15:14

office. And what

15:17

I was reflecting on and what I

15:19

learned is that in order to be

15:22

hopeful we have to

15:24

have both willpower and

15:26

pathways. We have to have both. So

15:29

it might be for instance that I

15:32

have a lot of willpower or

15:35

energy towards a goal. But

15:37

if I don't know how to get

15:40

there from here we actually consider that

15:42

to be lower hope. If I don't

15:44

have the pathways piece. Now

15:47

alternatively it may be that we

15:49

have the pathways, the

15:51

strategies by which to achieve the goal.

15:54

We just don't have the energy. I

15:56

don't have one more thing to give.

16:00

not desire that particular

16:02

strategy. So in order

16:04

for hope to be activated, we

16:06

have to have both pathways and

16:09

willpower. So

16:11

as I started to look at

16:14

this graph and really reflect on

16:17

the definition of hope, goals,

16:20

pathways, and willpower, two

16:23

things really occurred to me. The

16:26

first thing that occurred to me is I think

16:28

that the language of hope, goals,

16:31

pathways, and willpower are

16:34

one of the best descriptions of

16:36

the program services in our communities.

16:39

For instance, school teachers are

16:41

pathways of hope for

16:44

children. They are the

16:46

strategies by which to gain

16:48

knowledge and education. Our

16:51

human service nonprofit organizations

16:53

are pathways of hope

16:57

for families who are really

16:59

struggling. So I really started

17:01

to see the language of hope, again,

17:04

of the description of

17:07

programs that exist in our community.

17:10

Now, the next thing that occurred

17:12

to me was that this is a

17:14

different way of thinking about hope than

17:16

I'm used to. So

17:19

let's for a moment, just

17:21

think about what are some

17:24

common phrases that we

17:26

use the word hope. So let's

17:28

say that you and I

17:30

pass each other in the hallway. What

17:34

are some common phrases that we

17:36

use the word hope? Things

17:39

like, I hope you're well. I

17:41

hope you have a great day. Now

17:44

I'm in Oklahoma. And so one of

17:46

the things that's pretty common for us

17:48

is to say things like, well,

17:50

I hope there are no tornadoes today. And

17:54

so when storms come in

17:56

Oklahoma, which is fairly frequent, I

18:00

I get a lot of

18:02

willpower. My energy and

18:04

focus really emerges. And

18:07

so when I say this word, I hope

18:09

there are no tornadoes. I certainly

18:12

have a lot of energy towards that

18:14

a lot of willpower. But

18:16

do I control the weather? Do

18:18

I have any control over whether

18:21

or not tornadoes will exist? And

18:23

the answer is, of course I don't. And

18:26

so at this point, what I really want

18:28

us to understand is the

18:30

distinction between hoping and

18:33

wishing. Hoping

18:35

and wishing. Wishing

18:37

is when we have a desire for

18:39

a particular outcome, but there's nothing that

18:42

we can do to pursue that

18:44

outcome. Hope is

18:47

about taking action to pursue

18:49

the goal. Wishing

18:51

is passive towards the

18:53

goal. This is a

18:55

really important distinction, because

18:59

most of us use the word hope when

19:01

what we really refer is a

19:03

wish. And so outside

19:06

of this webinar, for instance, you might

19:10

afterwards go and mention that you

19:12

listen to this hope talk. And

19:15

it's important to understand that the people that

19:17

you're talking to are going to interpret

19:19

that, oh, you went to

19:21

a wishing webinar. And so it's

19:24

really important for us to

19:27

understand and to communicate that

19:29

distinction. Hope is a framework

19:31

for action, goals,

19:34

pathways, and willpower.

19:38

Now, why does it matter? Why does hope

19:41

matter? So there are over 2000 published

19:44

research studies that demonstrate that

19:46

our capacity to hope is

19:49

one of the strongest predictors of well-being

19:51

for children, for adults

19:53

and families. Excuse

19:55

me. And so for

19:58

instance, just a quick summary of this

20:00

literature, we see that when we

20:02

nurture hope, we

20:05

see significant improvements in well

20:07

being, emotional regulation, coping

20:10

strategies, improved

20:12

sense of connectedness. I've

20:16

researched improved parent-child

20:18

relationships around

20:20

hope. When we

20:22

nurture hope, we see improved

20:25

pain tolerance, and

20:27

more compliance to treatment outcomes.

20:30

There's a really robust body

20:33

of evidence in education that

20:35

is very interesting. And

20:37

it demonstrates that when we

20:40

nurture hope, we see significant

20:42

improvement in attendance, grades,

20:45

graduation rates, improved

20:48

social emotional learning and

20:50

engagement. There

20:52

are now a number of

20:54

publications at the university level

20:57

that demonstrates that a child's

20:59

capacity for hope is

21:02

a better predictor of first

21:04

year college performance and standardized

21:06

testing over high

21:08

school grade point averages. Hope

21:11

matters in this context.

21:15

Now, it's also a good

21:17

opportunity for me to highlight that in

21:20

all of the work that I do

21:22

with organizations, and training around

21:24

this concept of hope, that

21:27

hope is not the outcome. Hope

21:29

is the process. And

21:32

well being is always the outcome

21:34

that we focus on. Hope

21:36

provides that framework for

21:39

action. So

21:41

for instance, the resilience literature

21:43

tells us that every child

21:45

needs a positive adult in

21:47

their life. Hope

21:50

tells us how to be that

21:52

positive adult in that child's life.

21:55

If a child makes a future

21:57

oriented statement, like I'm want

22:00

to join the school band. That's

22:03

a future expectation. And so

22:06

now it's time for us to

22:08

help that youth engage in

22:10

the pathways strategies by which

22:13

to achieve that goal. Again,

22:15

hope is a framework for action.

22:20

So one of the things that

22:22

I'd like to spend a little bit of

22:24

time on is to think about how does

22:27

trauma and adversity influence

22:29

our capacity for hope. And

22:33

so this is what we've been

22:35

studying and looking at other research

22:37

literature, but this is

22:39

a specific interest of mine

22:42

and at the university's Hope Research

22:44

Center. And this first

22:46

bullet to me is probably one of

22:49

the most profound discoveries that

22:51

we've learned. And that

22:53

is when you and I are

22:56

experiencing adversity, we

22:58

are much more likely to set

23:00

goals that are avoidant in nature.

23:03

But when we nurture and

23:06

restore hope, we see a

23:08

transition towards an achievement mindset.

23:11

Let me give you a quick example

23:13

of the differences between these. So

23:16

imagine that a

23:18

basketball player steps out on the

23:20

court and their mindset is

23:23

I want to get the ball and shoot

23:25

the winning shot for the team. That's

23:28

an achievement mindset. But

23:30

imagine that same basketball player who steps out

23:32

on the court and their mindset is I

23:35

hope they don't throw me the ball because

23:37

I'm probably going to lose it and really

23:39

disappoint my team. That's

23:41

an avoidant mindset. But

23:44

the significance is consider

23:47

how those two basketball players

23:49

behave on the court. And

23:52

what we learn is that the

23:54

nature of our goals drives our

23:56

pathways strategies. The other thing that I want to

23:59

mention is that we're thing we've learned

24:01

is that we are much better

24:03

at short-term goal setting than long-term

24:06

goal setting, especially in the presence

24:08

of adversity. So when

24:10

somebody, when a child or a

24:13

family is experiencing adversity and

24:15

we go up and say, oh what are your goals? For

24:18

a family, a child, or an adult

24:21

who is really just trying to survive,

24:24

that question has no meaning. So

24:26

what we have to do is focus on what

24:28

are the goals today? What are

24:31

the things that we need to work towards this

24:33

week? Short-term goal setting.

24:37

What we've also found is that during

24:39

adversity we experience urgency,

24:41

a sense of urgency

24:44

that really detracts from our

24:46

ability to think about pathways.

24:48

In fact, we're more likely

24:50

to engage in rash decisions

24:53

during this time of pathways thinking.

24:57

The willpower piece to me

24:59

is really fascinating. So

25:02

this follows research

25:05

where there's roughly about 600 published

25:08

studies around self-control, self-regulation,

25:10

and this

25:12

idea of willpower. And

25:15

the first big takeaway is

25:17

to recognize that willpower is

25:19

a limited resource. That

25:21

is, your and

25:24

my mental

25:26

energy is limited. We only

25:28

have so much mental energy

25:30

to give and throughout

25:32

the day we are depleting that

25:34

willpower. The second

25:36

thing that is interesting

25:39

in this research is

25:41

showing a connection between glucose

25:44

in our system and

25:46

willpower. Now as we

25:49

all know glucose for us is

25:51

our source of energy and

25:53

when that glucose starts to be depleted

25:55

so too is our willpower.

26:00

The problem with this, the

26:02

fact that willpower is a limited

26:04

resource and influenced by glucose, is

26:08

this idea that nutrition matters.

26:12

But part of the

26:14

problem is that willpower is

26:17

strongly associated with self-regulation. And

26:20

so when willpower is depleted, so

26:23

too is our capacity to

26:26

regulate our thoughts, emotions, and

26:28

behaviors. So

26:31

that's kind of how trauma

26:33

and adversity influence this concept

26:35

of hope. So

26:37

what I'd like for us to do

26:39

real quick is I'll take us through

26:41

a hypothetical example of

26:44

how goals, pathways, and willpower

26:47

all come together, all intersect

26:50

together. And so what I'd

26:52

like for us to do is to use a

26:54

hypothetical example that I think all of us can

26:57

engage in. First

26:59

of all, what I would like

27:01

to ask for those of you

27:03

in the audience is how many

27:05

of you know how or have

27:07

ever attempted to drive a manual

27:09

transmission vehicle? Now,

27:12

not everybody has had this experience,

27:14

but for those of us who

27:17

have had the opportunity to attempt

27:19

to drive a manual transmission vehicle,

27:22

what I'd like for you to do is

27:24

to just remember that very first time, that

27:26

very first experience that you had. I

27:28

want you to remember the anxiety, the

27:31

fear, the excitement of

27:34

trying to figure that out. Now,

27:37

for those of you who've never

27:39

had that opportunity, I'm sure that

27:41

in movies or other scenarios, you've

27:43

actually seen that done, so you

27:45

know there's this let the

27:47

clutch out and all of that. So

27:50

the first thing I'm going to ask is,

27:53

can you picture this vehicle

27:57

in your mind, whether you've driven one

27:59

or not? but can you just picture

28:02

a vehicle that has a manual transmission?

28:04

Can you imagine it in your mind?

28:07

Can you see the pedals on the floor,

28:10

the gas, the brake, and the clutch? And

28:13

can you see the gearbox? Can

28:16

you imagine yourself setting in the

28:18

driver's seat? And then

28:20

ultimately, can you just imagine, even

28:22

if it's locked, can you just

28:24

picture and imagine that you're

28:26

driving down the road? And

28:28

in our training, in our curriculum,

28:31

this is part of a guiding

28:33

principle that imagination is

28:35

the instrument of hope. And

28:38

a big part of goals, pathways,

28:40

and willpower is that we

28:43

have to help people cast a vision

28:45

of what the future is going to be. We

28:48

can set the goal, but let's

28:50

begin to cast that vision of what

28:52

success is going to look like. That

28:55

is going to elicit the willpower

28:57

to engage. All

29:00

right, so we're gonna drive

29:02

this manual transmission vehicle for

29:05

the very first time. And

29:08

I'm gonna put two small pieces

29:11

of adversity into this hypothetical scenario.

29:13

First and foremost, you're

29:15

parked uphill. You're parked facing

29:17

a fairly steep incline,

29:19

so that when you let the clutch out,

29:23

you have to go up this hill. The

29:26

second small piece of adversity,

29:28

there's a brand new BMW

29:30

parked immediately behind you. So

29:33

whenever you let this clutch out, you've

29:36

gotta go uphill, and

29:38

you've got this brand new BMW

29:40

parked behind you. So

29:42

in that moment, as you start to

29:45

let the clutch out, going uphill, brand

29:47

new BMW behind you, as you slowly

29:49

let that clutch out, what

29:51

I want you to think about is, what is your

29:53

goal in that minute? And

29:56

oftentimes what people will tell me is,

29:59

don't hit the BMW. don't stall

30:01

the car. Now, what

30:03

I want you to understand is that

30:05

that's an avoidant goal. And

30:08

so it's just natural for us when

30:10

we're in stress and

30:12

adversity to go

30:14

into this avoidant space. What

30:16

I also want you to recognize

30:18

is not hitting the BMW is

30:20

a good goal, okay? In that

30:23

moment, it is a good goal.

30:25

The problem is where is it coming from?

30:28

And it's coming from a sense of

30:30

fear and uncertainty. So we don't

30:33

want to stay there. So let's

30:35

say you let the clutch out, you stalled the

30:37

engine, you didn't hit the BMW, but you killed

30:39

the engine. So our immediate

30:41

reaction is going to be things like, oh,

30:43

I can't do this. I'll never be able

30:46

to figure this out. And

30:48

this is the self-talk of a lower hope

30:51

scenario. But

30:53

what I also want you to recognize for those

30:56

of us who've had this experience is why we

30:58

didn't give up. And

31:00

why we didn't give up is because

31:02

we desire the goal. We wanted to

31:04

drive. And this is

31:06

really important because we have to

31:09

recognize that it's their goal, not

31:11

our goal for them. They have

31:14

to desire the outcome. So

31:17

let's say that you start the car

31:19

back up, you let the clutch out

31:21

and you lurch uphill, you're successful, you're

31:23

driving. So the

31:25

third time you get in the car

31:27

going uphill, you let

31:29

the clutch out and you kill the engine again.

31:33

But this time, what I'd like for you to

31:35

think about is what are you saying to yourself

31:37

now in this moment of failure? And

31:39

it may be something like, well, I've done it before, I can

31:42

do it again. And

31:44

what this reflects is another

31:47

one of our guiding principles,

31:49

which is hope begets hope.

31:52

Hope begets hope. So

31:55

this one opportunity for success that

31:57

we've had in the past helps

32:00

us understand that the future is

32:02

possible, even if it's luck, it's

32:05

still possible. And it's

32:07

shifting the mindset from the I can't

32:10

to the I can. And

32:12

so pretty soon we learned to

32:14

drive. Now this

32:16

is the pathways component. And so

32:19

the next piece is how well

32:21

can you manage your willpower? And

32:24

what we have to understand is then we have

32:26

to remember that when we're

32:29

first letting that clutch out, it requires

32:31

all of our attention. We have to

32:33

be able to focus all of our

32:35

energy on that process. The

32:39

problem is that willpower is

32:41

a limited resource. And

32:44

so oftentimes people are experiencing

32:46

all of these detractors that

32:49

detract our capacity to focus

32:52

our willpower on those

32:54

pathway pursuits. And this

32:56

is how hope starts to get interrupted.

33:00

All right, so one of the things

33:02

I'd like for you to reflect

33:05

on, I ask this question at every

33:07

presentation I give, but, and

33:10

if you don't mind, please type it into the

33:13

comment box. But what

33:15

is the opposite of hope? What

33:19

is the opposite of

33:21

hope? And I've asked

33:24

this question in all

33:26

over the United States and various countries

33:28

that I've been to. And

33:30

the response is typically the

33:32

same. And that

33:34

is oftentimes people will respond despair.

33:38

The despair is the opposite of

33:40

hope. It's

33:42

the most common response that I get.

33:45

However, the

33:48

opposite of hope is apathy.

33:50

The opposite of hope is

33:53

apathy. So the loss

33:55

of hope is actually a process. So

33:58

when we begin to... experience barriers,

34:01

we have an emotional

34:03

reaction of anger, frustration,

34:06

anxiety. And the

34:08

harder and more difficult the barrier

34:10

becomes, we can begin to experience

34:12

a sense of urgency that

34:15

we're going to have to hurry up and

34:17

figure this out. If

34:19

we're unable to overcome the

34:21

adversity, we can transition into

34:23

despair. Now despair

34:25

is still an important part of

34:27

hope because with despair,

34:29

I still have a lot of

34:32

willpower or mental energy towards

34:34

that thing that I cannot have. And

34:37

the problem with despair is that

34:40

it can transition into desperation.

34:43

And in desperation, we can grab

34:45

a hold of pathways that are

34:47

very dysfunctional, or unhealthy.

34:50

Ultimately, apathy is the opposite

34:53

of hope. And in apathy,

34:56

our basic perspective is looking

34:58

at a goal or potential

35:01

pathway through the idea

35:03

that no matter what I do,

35:05

I'm going to fail. So why

35:07

try? The good news is, we

35:10

know how to nurture hope. We know

35:12

how to do this process. And

35:15

in other research studies, other

35:17

researchers, and in our curriculum,

35:20

we can see a statistically significant

35:22

increase in hope in about 60

35:25

minutes. We know

35:27

how to nurture this

35:29

process. So nurturing hope

35:31

with children and adults follows

35:33

the same process of

35:36

setting goals, identifying what

35:38

the goal is, why it matters,

35:40

is that an achievement is an

35:43

avoidant goal, what

35:45

is goal success going to look like.

35:48

And then once we identify the

35:50

goal, then we begin the experience

35:52

of trying to identify the viable

35:54

pathways. And it may

35:56

be that there are multiple pathways, but

35:59

some pathways have more barriers than

36:01

others. So it allows us

36:03

to practice that pathways thinking. Now

36:06

I'm a big fan personally, once

36:09

we identify the goal and the pathway

36:12

is to engage in that

36:14

process of creating future memories

36:17

of success. That

36:19

is beginning to reflect and

36:21

imagine what could be.

36:24

And these are the simple strategies we

36:26

use to nurture hope.

36:29

Sorry, I clicked that a little

36:32

too fast. So basically, it follows

36:34

this process of introducing

36:36

hope, the basic definition,

36:39

and that it's different than

36:41

wishing, and to introduce its

36:43

three main components. And then we

36:46

simply engage in the goal setting,

36:48

pathways and willpower part.

36:52

So again, simple strategies on how

36:55

to do this. Some

36:58

in some contexts, it's much more

37:00

difficult doing hope work. When

37:03

somebody is experiencing apathy and despair

37:05

is much harder when

37:07

people are already experiencing success.

37:10

But we're doing

37:12

those strategies and the

37:14

various organizations and spaces that

37:17

we're working with. So

37:19

that concludes my introduction to

37:21

hope to the science

37:25

of hope. And so

37:28

now I believe we have a little

37:31

bit of time for some

37:34

Q&A. Yes,

37:36

thank you so much, Dr. Hellman.

37:39

Before we start with the Q&A, I

37:41

want to just touch back on our

37:43

results from the poll question we asked

37:45

at the outset, which was, what

37:48

is one big goal for you or your child in

37:50

2024? And then on a scale of one to five,

37:54

how hopeful do you feel that you will achieve

37:56

this goal? And to goals

38:01

rose to the top

38:03

to use time more

38:06

wisely and to

38:08

strengthen relationships, which

38:11

is really wonderful

38:14

to see, much

38:17

less response

38:19

to the sort of standard goals

38:21

we think of, exercising, losing weight,

38:24

eating more healthy. Those are in

38:26

there, but in this crowd, strengthening

38:28

relationships and using time more wisely.

38:30

So on both accounts, we thank

38:33

you for being here today because

38:35

that is exactly what we are

38:37

trying to do. And how hopeful

38:39

do you feel? This group is

38:42

right around, well, three was

38:44

the most common, more than a third of people

38:46

said on a scale of one to five, they

38:48

feel three, but overall

38:51

we're more hopeful than not. So

38:55

there were, I'm going to do some

38:57

quick math here, 70, oh my goodness,

38:59

80% of people,

39:04

even more 85, felt more

39:06

hopeful than not. So I feel like

39:08

we are off to a good

39:11

start already. And

39:13

on that, I wanted to just

39:15

share because we had so many

39:17

wonderful interpretations of hope that were

39:20

contributed by people live in the audience

39:23

today. And I wanted to share a few

39:25

of those at the

39:28

outset. One interpretation

39:30

of hope, hope gives me the

39:32

ability to not give up. I

39:36

thought that was a lovely

39:38

one. And let me,

39:40

sorry, toggle over to get

39:44

the wording just right because these

39:47

were very well thought out. Hope

39:53

is taking comfort in your

39:55

belief that you can. Also very

39:59

nice. And

40:01

the last one, where are you? You're

40:03

hiding from me. I'll have to come back to it.

40:05

It was lovely. I saved it and now it's missing.

40:08

So a lot of

40:11

people have obviously thought very deeply about

40:13

this and you've provoked them to do

40:15

even more today. So that's wonderful to

40:17

see. So

40:19

I wanted to go into some

40:22

questions regarding specifically

40:24

the executive function

40:27

deficits that are inherent in

40:29

ADHD and how

40:31

those might complicate this

40:33

process of recognizing

40:37

goals, but more acutely of

40:40

defining those pathways. And

40:43

we know that the executive

40:46

functions impacted by ADHD include

40:49

the ability to plan and

40:51

prioritize, read your time wisely.

40:54

So a lot of people here feeling like

40:56

they are fighting even

40:58

more of an uphill battle.

41:01

Can you and your experience

41:03

working with different populations offer

41:06

some insight into how specifically

41:08

the neurodivergent brain might approach

41:10

that part of the puzzle?

41:13

Sure. So there's not

41:16

quite as much research on hope in

41:20

this context of ADHD. However,

41:23

the research that does exist is really

41:25

in two spaces. One is when

41:29

we nurture hope, we see improvements

41:31

in coping strategies. We

41:34

see improvements in self-esteem,

41:37

some reductions in depression

41:39

and anxiety, some of the common

41:41

sort of

41:44

reactions to a life of

41:47

kind of that adversity in our

41:49

systems that push back against that.

41:52

There's also a little

41:54

bit of a body of research of

41:57

really doing

41:59

hope strategies. for caregivers

42:02

and really making sure that we nurture

42:04

hope. Because

42:07

one of the things that I firmly

42:09

believe in, it's a kind of a

42:11

Bernie Brown moment, but you can't give

42:14

what you don't have. And so it's

42:16

really important, I think, for

42:18

parents, for caregivers, grandparents,

42:21

teachers, that we

42:23

have to nurture their hope

42:26

as well in this space. Now,

42:31

with this idea of executive

42:34

function, clearly very, very

42:36

important. I'm actually involved right now

42:39

in some brain scan

42:41

studies. We've got a little

42:43

over 6,000 brain scans around hope and

42:48

the location of the structures

42:51

of the brain. Clearly

42:54

it's going to be in the prefrontal cortex, and

42:57

in particular some areas where

42:59

we see hope activated, it

43:03

actually mitigates where anxiety is actually

43:05

fired. So

43:10

a little bit of brain research there.

43:13

Now, the issue

43:15

of, issues of planning, impulse, self-control,

43:19

those kinds of functions,

43:22

leads us into figuring out some

43:24

of those strategies to create environments

43:26

that are conducive to

43:31

not being overwhelming of

43:35

all of the different

43:37

distractors. So thinking about the

43:39

environment or

43:42

the built environment as a way

43:44

to nurture hope. But to really

43:46

get down to trying to answer

43:48

the question is we really start

43:50

to focus then on

43:53

much smaller increments of time. to

44:00

be able to go in and say

44:02

something like, what are your goals? Hope

44:04

is about goals, pathways, willpower. And

44:07

in my brief presentation, I talked

44:09

about hope in a global fashion.

44:12

And in this context of

44:16

ADHD and some of the other spaces

44:18

that I work in, we

44:20

have to become much shorter in

44:23

our time focus, like developing goals

44:25

for this week or goals

44:27

for today, or

44:29

even goals for this hour. Now,

44:33

we may also need to get

44:35

even more specific of

44:38

goals in the context of,

44:40

say, family, goals in

44:42

the context of work, or

44:45

education, or health. So

44:47

getting domain specific and

44:50

doing those willpower strategies.

44:54

I've also published about four

44:56

studies looking at mindfulness practice

44:58

as a way to settle

45:04

the mental processes so that we

45:07

can focus on that willpower.

45:10

Not as much research in the area

45:12

of the question, but some of the

45:14

research suggests that there are strategies that

45:17

we can build in

45:19

that context. Wonderful.

45:21

I think it's fascinating what you

45:23

shared about the areas of the

45:26

brain associated with hope, mitigating those

45:28

with anxiety. And it just reinforces

45:30

what you said about hope be

45:33

getting hope in a way that anxiety

45:37

can get in the way

45:39

as we see so often,

45:41

you know, anxiety is highly

45:43

comorbid with ADHD and

45:45

that it can get in the way of

45:47

setting the goals and also identifying and

45:50

sticking with those pathways. Yeah,

45:52

that's why we were really interested in

45:55

mindfulness practice yoga. So I've been working

45:57

in some some

46:00

progressive schools and some alternative

46:03

schools where mindfulness practice and

46:05

yoga is in

46:07

breathing and other

46:10

strategies are really focused on kind

46:13

of settling again, the willpower

46:15

piece so that we can focus on

46:18

those pathway strategies. And

46:20

this idea of hope begets hope,

46:22

I think, is a critical, critical

46:25

principle. Start small, small

46:28

incremental steps and success

46:31

is going to nurture that hope. Right,

46:35

so break down those goals of improving

46:38

relationships. Think about what's one goal

46:40

for, as you said, today, this

46:43

week, maybe this month and building

46:46

on it, it builds

46:50

on what you shared that experience

46:53

of success makes success more

46:55

likely as you move forward. And

46:59

a number of people wondering

47:01

about the overlap with

47:05

the growth mindset as opposed to

47:07

a fixed mindset, something that

47:09

I think that several educators in

47:11

our audience today are asking about.

47:13

And if there's overlap

47:16

here with the two and

47:18

anything that educators can take away, I

47:20

feel like they've been working a little

47:22

bit more in promoting a growth mindset

47:24

and wondering if that will have an

47:27

impact on hope and education. Yeah,

47:30

so I start to look at

47:32

the existing curriculum, for instance, growth

47:34

mindset perspective. There are a number

47:36

of other curriculum strategies.

47:40

And those, from my perspective, are

47:43

pathways, really, to goal

47:46

attainment. So when I

47:48

work with teachers or case

47:51

managers, counselors, others, it's

47:53

really starting to look

47:58

at the idea that the language of hope,

48:00

is a pretty good description of some of

48:02

the things you're already doing. And

48:04

so what we really need to do is

48:07

recognize the three components and

48:09

to do those things with

48:11

intention. So when I

48:13

work in school districts, when

48:16

we begin to introduce hope, it's not

48:18

necessarily about creating one more thing you

48:20

get to do. It's how

48:22

do we infuse it in what you're already

48:24

doing. Okay,

48:29

yeah, that makes sense.

48:32

We've got a number of questions here today from

48:34

the parents

48:36

of teenagers and

48:39

specifically wondering

48:42

about fostering hope in the midst

48:46

of quite a bit of apathy. So

48:48

someone wrote in to say that their

48:50

teenager went from straight

48:52

A's to a failing student. They're

48:55

experiencing anxiety and depression. They

48:58

start to set small goals,

49:01

but it's snowballed. They feel

49:03

like they can't keep up

49:05

the energy to sustain the goals

49:07

and then they feel like it's

49:09

pointless. Why should I even try?

49:12

And I'm kind of seeing, you know,

49:14

echoes of this throughout the questions here today.

49:17

Can you offer some help

49:20

to these parents of adolescents?

49:23

Yeah, so we've created

49:25

some infographics and

49:29

sort of parent guides of

49:31

working with youth

49:33

both really elementary

49:36

age, pre-k, elementary,

49:38

middle school age, and then more

49:41

high school transitional

49:43

age. The core

49:46

components of goals, pathways,

49:48

willpower remains consistent. The

49:51

way in which you do

49:53

those can depend on those

49:56

strategies. Task

50:00

that we've seen some success

50:03

in both Northern California and

50:05

Washington with

50:07

some school districts is Really

50:12

Starting to take advantage of some of

50:14

the some of the real strengths that

50:17

that our youth have especially around technology

50:21

and so You know

50:23

one one quick example It probably doesn't

50:25

get into all the nuances of the

50:28

questions that you have but you

50:30

know It's worth in

50:33

in this Northern California in

50:35

Washington What

50:38

the what these groups are doing

50:40

that's teachers and some after-school programs?

50:43

but it's basically Introducing

50:48

the concept of hope and you can do

50:50

that in about 20 minutes, you know, what

50:52

is hope how's it different from wishing? What

50:55

are its three major components? but

50:59

then asking youth to take their

51:01

their smartphone or Or

51:04

you can do this with magazines or pictures on

51:07

the internet But to find symbols

51:09

of goals that they might have And

51:12

say, you know find five pictures or that

51:15

symbolize a goal that you have and

51:17

then you come back and you talk about each

51:19

of those pictures and goals and

51:24

Prioritize and pick one you can

51:26

have this conversation about achievement avoidance

51:30

Etc and then go and

51:33

have up to three pictures

51:36

that may symbolize pathways to the goal

51:38

that they That they chose

51:41

and maybe write a couple of sentences

51:43

about how that pictures a symbol to

51:45

the pathway Do the

51:47

same thing with the willpower and

51:49

at the end you have a

51:52

graphic display of hope goals

51:54

pathways willpower that is picture

51:57

a framework so The

52:01

idea is that goals, pathways,

52:03

and willpower is the process.

52:06

What we have to do is figure

52:08

out the strategy that connects with the

52:10

youth that we're working with. We

52:13

have to remember that it's in the context

52:15

of their goals. Now, I

52:17

will tell you that I do

52:19

a lot of work with foster

52:21

youth and adjudicated youth and juvenile

52:24

affairs. That

52:26

apathy and despair really changes

52:31

the nature of these conversations.

52:34

It is not a one-time

52:36

conversation. It's not a five-minute

52:39

conversation. It's

52:41

goals, pathways, willpower, and

52:44

as parents, be

52:46

attentive to future-oriented

52:49

statements like, I

52:52

would like to x or listen for those

52:55

future orientation statements

52:59

and then begin to have conversations

53:02

about pathways. It's

53:04

just those really small incremental pieces

53:07

of the conversation. We

53:10

are actually seeing really significant

53:12

improvements and I'm personally interested

53:14

in despair and apathy in

53:17

my research. I

53:20

love the idea of the vision

53:23

board for lack of a better

53:25

term that you describe because we

53:27

do find that ADHD brains in

53:30

particular sometimes need to see things

53:33

quite visually. We

53:36

recommend this sometimes with younger kids with

53:39

things as simple as your morning routine

53:41

and to present it visually in a

53:43

way that they can

53:45

really, it feels more real. I

53:49

love that idea for this. Well,

53:51

I know we're running out of time, but

53:54

one thing that parents can also do, especially

53:57

with really young children, is

53:59

to use children. movies. So

54:02

for instance, finding Nemo, I'll kind of date

54:04

myself. But you know, when Nemo,

54:06

what is the goal? What was the major barrier

54:10

that Nemo experienced? And then if

54:12

you look at all of those

54:14

children's movies, every

54:16

movie has the same solution to

54:18

the barrier and that is Nemo's

54:21

friends were the ones that helped

54:23

overcome the barrier. And so a

54:26

parent can actually use those movies

54:30

to have conversations about what are

54:32

the goals? What are the pathways? How

54:35

are your friends helpful for you? How can

54:37

you be helpful for your friends to

54:40

really have intentional conversations? That's

54:44

great. We got one question

54:47

that I found was so intriguing.

54:51

Someone said that they in

54:56

therapy, they had

54:58

actually been told that

55:01

their hope was getting

55:05

in the way of their ability to learn from

55:07

experience. So in other

55:10

words, they kept hoping that things would be

55:12

different without changing their methodology. And

55:14

they're wondering, is there a way that I

55:16

can put a positive spin on

55:19

this attribute that was presented in

55:21

quite negative way? Yeah,

55:25

yeah. So, you know, we use the word

55:27

hope all

55:29

the time. And so I think the first

55:31

thing is to really make sure that, you

55:33

know, that hope it, you know, in

55:36

terms of being told that it's

55:38

getting in the way. You know,

55:40

the idea is that if the

55:43

goal is has a viable pathway,

55:47

you know, I guess I'm

55:49

curious because, you

55:52

know, within therapy within

55:54

psychology and psychotherapy,

55:57

hope is actually one of the one of

55:59

the common facts. And

56:01

so, you know, we go into

56:04

therapy from the framework of things

56:06

can be better and there are

56:08

strategies to do that. And it's

56:11

a significant component of therapeutic success

56:14

along with that therapeutic alliance piece.

56:17

So, you

56:19

know, another piece of that

56:21

is sometimes what is a goal for you

56:24

may be a pathway for me.

56:27

And so, you

56:29

know, having a little

56:31

bit of conversation about what goal attainment

56:34

will allow us to do or

56:37

to see how that therapeutic process may in

56:39

fact be a pathway. Maybe

56:43

that's a way to try

56:45

to engage in that. Okay.

56:49

Wonderful. I do

56:51

want to wrap up just reminding everyone

56:53

that Dr. Hellman does have a book

56:55

that goes into much greater depth on

56:58

the topic called Hope Rising. And

57:01

a number of people wondering if

57:03

you have recommendations for other books

57:05

or resources for people who want

57:07

to dive in deeper on this

57:09

topic. Yeah, there's a

57:11

number of really good videos.

57:13

There's another book by Shane

57:15

Lopez called Making Hope Happen.

57:19

And Shane Lopez, who passed away a few

57:21

years ago, did a lot of work in

57:23

education and has

57:26

quite a few YouTube

57:28

videos. I have

57:30

a TED Talk. I think Shane

57:32

also has a TED Talk.

57:36

But you can actually find quite a

57:38

few materials. If

57:41

you Google things, I would

57:43

specifically put in the science

57:45

of hope. Otherwise,

57:47

you're going to get such

57:50

a wide variety of resources. I

57:53

will tell you one final

57:55

resource is Gallup. It's

57:58

a Gallup's website. really have

58:00

a behavioral science unit that focuses

58:02

on hope. So

58:05

a lot of really good resources there. Wonderful.

58:08

Oh my goodness, Dr. Homan, thank you

58:10

so much for joining us today and

58:13

introducing us to this really rich concept

58:16

of the power of hope.

58:18

We so appreciate your time and expertise.

58:21

Thank you. And I want

58:23

to thank everyone who joined us today. Your

58:25

comments and feedback were very

58:28

much appreciated and really helped

58:30

to steer this conversation. If

58:33

you would like to access event resources

58:35

from today, visit attitudemag.com,

58:38

search podcast 486, or just

58:41

click on the episode description wherever you

58:43

stream your podcast. We hope to see

58:45

you again. Our next free webinar next

58:47

week is on seasonal affective disorder and

58:50

how it affects uniquely affects people with

58:53

ADHD. So to

58:55

make sure you don't

58:57

miss any upcoming webinars,

58:59

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59:02

check out attitudemag.com/newsletter. Thank

59:05

you everyone for joining us. Have a wonderful

59:07

rest of the week. For

59:11

more Attitude podcasts and information on

59:13

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59:15

visit attitudemag.com. That's

59:19

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59:25

you.