迪克西·里德

2021年3月3日

Joyce Mikal-Flynn是护理学教授，也是心理恢复和创伤恢复方面的专家，她可能永远不会知道自己为什么会在1990年7月22日去世。

这件事发生在卡迈克尔的耶稣会高中，当时她的三个孩子中有两个正在那里参加游泳锦标赛。 When it came time for a parents’ fun relay race, Mikal-Flynn, a seasoned triathlete and marathoner, volunteered to swim the anchor leg for her team.

完赛几秒钟后，她就沉入了13英尺深的水中。 她不记得丈夫特里·弗林（Terry Flynn）把她毫无生气的尸体拖到泳池甲板上，也不记得其他父母对她进行了22分钟的心肺复苏。 她被紧急送往当地一家医院，在重症监护室用呼吸机维持了一周。

“I had tremendous brain damage from the extended CPR,” said Mikal-Flynn, who delivers the virtual Spring 2021 STEM Scholars Lecture, “Building Resilience and Grit in the COVID-19 Era,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 4.

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A nurse practitioner at the time, she could walk and talk but “couldn’t remember anything. 我很难抓住词语。 It was a dark time, and I had to struggle out of that dark pit to get back to a life.”

Most frustrating, she said, was doctors saying she’d never run or swim again.

“I told one cardiologist, ‘I am living what I can’t do. 你得告诉我我能做什么。 You need to ask me what I want to do, and your job is to get me there,’ ” she said. “I decided not to accept that negative mindset and moved my recovery in a more positive way – working diligently to recover my cognitive and physical acuities.”

2005年成为萨克州立大学教授的米卡尔-弗林（Mikal-Flynn）经过多年的研究，设计出了一种独特的康复系统，称为元康复（metahab）。 She defines it as “going above and beyond simple restoration to guide survivors toward post-traumatic growth.”

She helps people rally from all kinds of personal trauma, and now she’s taking on the global pandemic.

“COVID has involved itself in all areas of humanness: physical, psychological, social, and emotional,” she said. “This pandemic is unique in that it is relatable worldwide, throughout all cultures, genders, and ages.”

Mikal-Flynn’s lecture will address trauma as it relates to the pandemic and offer tips on how to successfully navigate through and eventually grow from the shared experience.

“I will include basic science concepts involving neuroscience and genetics to show how effectively engaging with this traumatic event can bring forth positive, productive responses that help us become stronger in the aftermath,” she said.

Mikal-Flynn’s lecture is the culmination of research and concepts from her second book, 幸存者解剖：创伤后的恢复力、勇气和成长； to be released Tuesday, April 27, by Post Hill Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Mikal-Flynn said she advises people she works with about what they can expect as they navigate metahab’s six stages, from the acute phase to the eventual mastering of one’s fate.

“We acknowledge and honor that life has changed, and then we focus on: ‘What do you want to do? 你想去哪里？ 你将如何做到这一点？’ It’s a better way to go about it than focusing on, ‘This is terrible.’ ”

Two years after what she calls “the event where I died,” Mikal-Flynn had recovered enough to return to work. But she knew if she really wanted to “get her brain back” that she should return to school to get her master’s degree in Nursing.

她选择了萨克州立大学。

巧合的是，当米卡尔-弗林晕倒时，当时的护理学院（现为学院）主席罗宾·纳尔逊（Robyn Nelson）也在耶稣会高中的游泳比赛中。 Nelson became the new student’s mentor and thesis advisor.

“My master’s thesis was about people who survived a death event and what they had endured,” Mikal-Flynn said. “听到这些故事，我很感兴趣。 我很好奇，我是不是唯一一个经历过抑郁，遇到障碍，并讲述了更多康复过程中消极方面的人。 To my dismay, I was not.”

1993年，她获得了博彩平台的护理硕士学位，回到了诊所，并于2005年加入了博彩平台。 She received a doctorate in Educational Leadership from St. Mary’s College in 2007.

Her 2012 book, 把悲剧 i走向胜利：元康复，当代康复模式， is based on her dissertation and profiles the six stages of trauma recovery. The upcoming 幸存者解剖 details the formation of a positive, productive survival experience.

“People have, over time, mastered their fate, and that capacity and possibility needs to be acknowledged from the moment a person starts their recovery journey,” Mikal-Flynn said. “When I work with people, I always say, ‘This is not an end point. 这是你新生活方式的开始。’ ”