Rowan University’s Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication hosted a virtual conversation with Melissa Fox, the chief operating officer at Acenda Integrated Health on Feb. 27.

The talk was held through Zoom, where it was moderated by Associate Provost for Wellness and Inclusivity Kha’ Sadler. The theme for the talk was “Communication Strategies In Times Of Stress,” though it jointly served as a celebration of Black History Month, as it was being held on one of the final days of February.

“Those who are on this call, I certainly would encourage you to commune with your own heart and recognize that, no matter what the messages that are coming your way externally or internally, you make every effort to not allow these weapons, and only you can identify what those weapons are, hinder you from being able to show up, to speak up and out regarding issues that certainly can begin to be burdensome, that can begin to bring a level of weariness because it’s certainly our desire for each and every one of us on this call to be well,” said Sadler. “May you be well, and no weapon formed shall be able to prosper.”

The Zoom call began with a breathing exercise for the estimated 67 audience members, inhaling whatever they believed they needed in the moment, whether it be patience or love, and exhaling what they needed to release, whether that be frustration or stress.

Fox spoke a great deal about her book, “No Weapon Formed”, which was released in November 2021, using her own personal experiences and connecting the themes of learning to cope with stress and other emotions back to the questions she answered during the talk, urging for listeners to advocate for themselves and communicate in whatever way feels safest.

“It’s really started down this journey of self-understanding, but not just self-understanding. Understanding why there were women who looked like me and sounded like me and had my experiences, we were all aligned in what we were dealing with, and then because of the work that I’ve done in health disparities, there was so much repetitiveness,” said Fox. “So that’s where the book came from, really understanding the ‘why’ of that and then exploring it and then trying to find a reason or a way to help address it.”

The virtual conversation detailed how communicating can be difficult while facing pressure and distress, but anyone can navigate high stress situations as long as they aren’t going through it alone. Everybody has a different way of communicating their thoughts and emotions, but by beginning to work on healing trauma, the ability to have a stronger voice and the ability to assert wants and needs become available to individuals.

“I just wanted to reiterate that idea that being in community and surrounding yourself with like-minded people, people who you can be yourself,” said Julie Haynes, Ph.D, the director of the Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication. “I had a job for years also where I couldn’t be myself, so I think those are just incredible words of wisdom.”

After an hour-long conversation, the Zoom call with Fox and Sadler ended with a note about the word “survivor,” instead offering a suggestion that rather than call someone a survivor for getting through hardship in their life, they should be considered a victor instead. No one simply just survives a bad situation, they come out of the other side victorious.

“I kind of explored that in myself the difference between how I feel about the word survivor versus strong,” Fox said. “I look back at the women in my family who have endured so much: my mom, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and they did survive, but I wouldn’t leave it at just surviving. I would leave it as thriving at some point because they were able to come through, forge their way through, and come out on the other side and still build these wonderful things.”

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