In 1994, Lanette Brown, a TRIO program director, created an award winning program for talented California high school students from low income families. Recognizing the crucial role that emotions play in success, she hired Loma K. Flowers, MD as a psychiatric consultant. Ms Brown asked Dr. Flowers to “teach the students everything they need to know, psychiatrically, to succeed as first generation college graduates in an accelerated seven year program.” Although psychiatry in the twentieth century focused primarily on mental illness, Ms. Brown’s ambitious charge pointed the way to the new field of managing normal emotions in everyday life. This field is now known as emotional competence. Dr. Flowers used her broad experience with psychodynamics in extremely diverse patients, from community psychiatry and veterans to private practice, to separate out the normal dynamics, (“psychonormality,”) and articulate them as easily understandable steps. Her work is consistent with that of Comer, Gardner, Goleman and others.

Dr. Flowers led numerous workshops and seminars with students, faculty, staff and parents in California, and later nationally and in England. Steadily integrating the feedback and experiences of participants, Dr. Flowers developed a program to teach adults, teens and children a comprehensive understanding of feeling management along with practical skills and strategies designed for individual applications. Because these skills are grounded in fundamental principles - not just rules - they foster resilient character development and are adaptable to most situations, from survival to the highest professional achievements.

One of the remarkable things about this program is the broad range of its applicability. It has been well received by teens, parents and professionals. Equilibrium Dynamics was formed in 2006 to broaden the reach of the program by training more teachers and providing funding for workshops for members of underserved groups. Continuing to integrate feedback, we will also incorporate standard research methods into workshops to enhance effectiveness.

The Pleasure of an Award: Dr. Flowers in San Diego with Sonoma State University staff for the California
School Boards Association Golden Bell Award ceremony, presented to the innovative program for which
Dr. Flowers developed her Emotional Education curriculum, 1998