Paul Szmal: 737 now, FLX Morning Tuesday, and we're Zooming with Jim Loperfido and Sharon Payas, who are going to tell us about a HOPE Forum coming up in Auburn. Good morning to both of you.
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Good morning. Good morning. We're happy to have you here.
Paul Szmal: So let's start with the date, place, and time for the event, and then we're going to dive into the science of HOPE. So when and where is this forum?
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Thank you, Ted. Yes, it is Saturday, October 19th, and it's at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is 74 State Street in Auburn, and it's from 9 until 115, give or take a few minutes there. And we welcome everyone to come and join us in this very complex topic of the science of HOPE. So there is a HOPE Movement at hopemovementevent.com to tell you all about this forum.
Paul Szmal: So what is the science of HOPE? What have we found out about what HOPE is and how we can apply it in our lives in a positive manner?
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Certainly. Great question. And that's what we're going to explore on Saturday with our very esteemed speakers, which we can talk about those folks in a bit, too, but historically, HOPE has been viewed as both a psychological strength and a liability. It wasn't until the 20th century that formal psychological theories of HOPE began to emerge, and that was in the 60s and the 70s. It was studied as a form of positive expectation, and then along came Charles Snyder, who I kind of consider one of the fathers of this whole movement, and he introduced a theory that talked about setting goals, having a pathway to that goal, and having the agency and the willpower to be able to follow that through. So that's what we're going to explore in depth about how this applies to health care and also the environment.
Paul Szmal: Now I know you mentioned health care. I know there have been studies saying that it makes a difference what kind of attitude you have. If you're facing, for example, a serious illness, if you think you're going to beat it and say every day, I'm going to beat it, there's a much better chance you will.
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Absolutely. So tell us about some of these speakers at this roundtable.
Sure. So we have Dr. Barbara Conner, who is the former director of the Auburn Hospital, and she's now a renowned researcher. She's also been to Sudan and El Salvador, and she's got lived experiences that all connect HOPE with health care and what she has done in these third world countries, as well as what she's done here in the United States. We also have a partnering with Dr. Conner, Elijah Murphy. He is a doctoral student that is under the guidance of Dr. Matthew Gallagher at the Houston University, and he's very close to his finishing his doctorate, but he's going to really hone in on the science behind it and give us more about the studies and how this relates to health care in a clinical setting.
Then we have Dr. Qasem from Cornell University. He is, oh gosh, we don't have enough time in this broadcast to be able to talk about all of the things that he has done. He's an amazing, amazing human being, and both of, all three of these folks deserve heroes for, HOPE heroes, for all of the work that they've done in their lived experiences. Dr. Qasem is going to talk about how farmers, indigenous communities, and how all of that works together to create hope in this very difficult climate change situation. Jim, feel free to add anything that you'd like, too. You're doing great.
Paul Szmal: Thanks. So let's talk about this, because next October in 2025, you're going to have the Applying the Science Conference at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn. This is kind of like the big annual meeting, right?
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: It's going to be our first big, big meeting. So we decided to, we were going to have the conference this Saturday as a full conference. And then we decided to kind of pull back and have more roundtable forum discussions that apply to healthcare and faith-based education, as well as law enforcement and working with veterans, how HOPE all intersects with all of these different disciplines.
Paul Szmal: I want to read from the website, HopeMovementEvent.com, key insights. One, how hope is a learnable, measurable skill. Another is understand how to empower and infuse hope science into law enforcement, establish hope as a target outcome, and understand how faith and science can work hand-in-hand. So let's talk a little bit about law enforcement. One of the speakers in your Speakers Bureau is Sheriff Tim Whitcomb from Cattaraugus County. How do we apply hope in a law enforcement setting?
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: That's, I'm married to a retired law enforcement, so I get that. And the question is very complex, but we don't want our law enforcement to be seen as just adversarial. They, too, are the first responders on scene, so they can offer a bit of hope to that particular individual or individuals in a very difficult situation. It creates a different kind of dynamic between law enforcement and the individual that they have just encountered. So it's empowering them and being able to help them communicate in that community setting, that they're not just gun-toting law enforcement folks. They are there to assist and bring that community together. They're there to protect and to serve. And to do that, they need all the tools that they can muster in their toolbox. And hope happens to be one of those.
Paul Szmal: We're talking this morning with Sharon Payess and Jim Loperfido. The Hope Movement is holding a roundtable forum and discussion. It is the 19th, this Saturday, Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn. Nine o'clock is welcome and introductions, followed by speakers. You can purchase lunch at the venue. So how do we apply hope in our lives in a scientific way for ourselves?
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Thank you for that question, and it's one that all of us on the committee have really struggled with. You know, how do we apply this? Because we think of hope as wishful thinking. It's much, much more than that. For me, it's a face that's dirty. It's a face that also has experienced a tremendous amount of trauma. I used to work with... My past life was working with victims of extreme trauma, very complex trauma. So how do you give them hope that they are moved out of that situation, and what can they do further?
So in our lives, I think we all need to think about hope in the context of, what is the science behind it, and how does it change our brain? If we have a hopeful thought, if we have a goal that we want to achieve, set that goal out, have a pathway to reach that goal, and yes, you're going to have bumps and you're going to have obstacles that might come in your way, but the idea is to take that goal and see it through fruition. And what they have discovered in the science behind hope is that this, just being positive and having that outcome and achieving that goal, it triggers endorphins in the brain and it makes you feel good. So there's an awful lot more to the science of hope. Come join us, not only for this discussion, but for all the others that we have throughout this year.
Paul Szmal: Also, for those who are going, the HopeMovementEvent.com website has a resources link. There are articles and a number of books. There's an article from Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times called The Case for Hope. A number of books, including the Oxford Handbook of Hope, Hope Rising. So there's lots of resources here on this. And then again, the event is coming up on Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn. Nine o'clock, welcome and introductions, then the speakers that we talked about, and you can purchase lunch and save the date for next October, October 18th, 2025, the Hope Movement Applying the Science Conference, also at the Hilton Garden Inn.
This is all completely new to me and one of the things that I love most about this job is to be able to learn. So thanks for bringing us this concept and thanks for sharing it with us today.
Jim LoPerfido, Sharon Pais: Thank you, Ted, very much. Thank you.
