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Speaker Series

October 31, 2003

“Wearing a Mask? Don't Let It Limit You When Meeting New People”
With: Paula Leslie, LCSW, BCD

If your answer to the above questions is affirmative, don't miss Paula's program! Join us to discover if your "Masks" are creating barriers in relationships.

Paula will discuss the various masks that people secretly wear. These masks often cripple one's ability to find and create a healthy, happy relationship. Taken from her book, Women Taking Charge, she will talk about how to identify your masks and change your behavior into positive ways of relating. This program is interactive and since it is Halloween, we will have fun, while learning important relationship tools.

About the presenter:
Paula Leslie, LCSW, BCD has over 23 years experience as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. She is also a coach, speaker and writer. Her book, Women Taking Charge: 5 Steps To Succeed In Life And Work, was published in February 2003. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Paula is a frequent keynote speaker. Her company, Essential Life Strategies, offers consulting and speaking to help people achieve peak performance in all aspects of their personal and professional lives.

Paula's articles have appeared in newspapers and she has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows. Her consulting and lecturing has taken her throughout the United States and Capetown, South Africa. Paula has offices in Palo Alto, California.

Visit: www.ELStrategies.com

Review of this program:

Staying in the theme of Halloween, I chose to talk about "masks" people wear when in relationship. Masks or "scripts" as I call them in my book, Women Taking Charge: 5 Steps To Succeed In LIfe and Work, are chronic ways of behaving. While masks serve to protect us in order to survive our hurts while growing up, they usually create distance and disharmony in adult relationships.

Unfortunately, unless we become aware of how we may be still hiding as adults, we cannot come from an authentic place in relationships. Communication breakdowns and unhappiness result!

During the evening, people identified their chronic masks. Then, they drew the mask and spoke to others from behind their mask.

We also explored some "Psychodrama techniques to practice new behaviors. Psychodrama helps to practice new, positive ways of behaving. A powerful scene occurred when 2 volunteers (male/female) enacted a scene where the husband came home late from work. Initially, the couple played out the scene with the husband acting tough and the wife acting as if she was a victim. The couple reversed roles --the woman playing the man and man playing the wife. This time they communicated from a deeper, more authentic place and their talking resulted in closeness, not distance. It was a great example of unveiling the mask to create intimacy.