“The talking tradition of storytelling to impart wise and serious truths is successfully employed in this novel and workbook. Dr. Breazeale brings in focus researched and teachable tenets behind the quality of human resiliency. A number of individuals have attempted to bring these learned skills to students and teachers, relief workers, and others but none have been found to do so as well as Dr. Breazeale.
“The application of storytelling is a particularly successful vehicle in teaching these proven skills and shaping problem solving approaches in times of need. Throughout the ages myths, legends, and stories have effectively presented important messages of human nature and trials of life to listeners in a manner that pervades our awareness and fosters growth in not only an entertaining manner but also one that has a subtle but profound impact.
“By employing a novel he had authored, Dr. Breazeale has kept the topic instantly meaningful in our new day and age of the twenty-first century. The foundations of resiliency have been discovered in a wide range of problem solving and trials faced by people. We understand that the application of adaptation to the real issues confronting us is of paramount importance, as well as recognizing and acceptance of our social dependency. We have found that simple socialization markedly improves thinking skills and problem solving in the elderly. We have discovered that steadily persevering in actions that earn us self-respect create a reservoir from which to draw when the going gets tough.
“We know that finding meaning in our lives builds resolve and provides direction when a storm hits. Dr. Breazeale has created an excellent mode of delivery in teaching these and related concepts to those that can put them into action and best cope and manage that which life presents us. This novel and workbook can be applied in groups or individually, in high school or junior high school classrooms as well as senior centers or adult education programs.
“This is an example of applied psychology based on solid research that can be employed to strengthen not only individuals but groups and cultures of any kind. Providing a new framework in which to help others to meet individual, family, and group needs Dr. Breazeale has stepped into the future of psychology.”
—RJ Parker, PhD
“Ron Breazeale has used his life experiences to present a format for resilience training. Inoculating people with resilience before disaster strikes is the next logical step to debriefing after the disaster.”
—Diana L. Prescott, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
“Fear and panic are normal reactions to abnormal situations. In our lifetime we have witnessed the apparent escalation of the frequency and magnitude of traumatic events affecting western culture. Through storytelling, Dr. Breazeale is able to capture one individual’s journey for establishing a system for self-regulation in the face of adversity. His process is well-organized and uses methodologies, concepts, and systems easily understand by professionals and laypersons alike.”
—Michael Burd
“Thank you very much for the effort you have put forth on the Maine Resiliency program. There has been a great deal of interest in the project since you first introduced it at our Cumberland County Fire Chiefs meeting. I look forward to the video tools and further implementation of the program throughout the fire, police, and EMS services. It is a worthwhile and important project and I wish you continued success and support for future grant funding opportunities to continue the good work you and your team have started.
—B. Michael Thurlow
Fire Chief, Scarborough, ME
“I have been working closely with the Resilience Project and Dr. Ron Breazeale. The program parallels a lot of what we do here in the Portland Police Department to assist employees in developing positive coping mechanisms in their difficult environment. We have a long history of developing peer support programs in conjunction with employee assistance. I have also attended a training program on resilience and found it to be helpful and worthwhile. I believe in this project and the work of Dr. Breazeale. It is paramount for the health of emergency workers in the field. The work completed so far have been successful and has made a difference in people’s lives.
“We continue to face many challenges and support programs as this is important for the well-bring of many who not only deal with day-to-day crisis, but for those to manage their lives in many difficult situations.”
—Joseph K Loughlin
Chief of Police, Portland, ME
“Duct Tape Isn’t Enough takes a timely look at the pressures we face in today’s world. Through his original story and guided exercises, Dr. Ron Breazeale offers workbook users a concrete way to explore resilience and other survival skills needed in the 21st century.
“Dr. Breazeale combines compassion and insight into human nature with practical advice for becoming prepared. The story he tells will give readers many ideas for integrating the skills and attitudes they need to build personal resilience, as well as that of their families and communities.”
—Glen H. White, Ph.D.
Director, Research and Training Center on Independent Living
University of Kansas
“First there was the terrorist attack of 911, then Hurricane Katrina, followed by the economic meltdown and widespread unemployment. And now fears of pandemic flu. We all need to be resilient during these difficult times and Duct Tape Isn’t Enough is ‘spot on’ as a manual for surviving tough times. Ron Breazeale has created a tool that teaches resilience skills; he has brilliantly identified that people with disabilities are skilled practitioners of survival. They have the know-how and are eminently qualified to teach these skills to others. It has been a pleasure to be involved in the development and testing of this fine manual.”
—Dennis Fitzgibbons
Executive Director, Alpha One
South Portland, Maine
“In Duct Tape Isn’t Enough, Dr. Ron Breazeale has created a remarkably innovative and highly effective method of instilling resiliency. It is timely and much needed in an era when Americans are experiencing increasing personal and economic stress. His unique use of the novel, much of which is autobiographic from his own triumph of resiliency over adversity, is accompanied by a step-by-step method of marshaling one’s own resiliency. If you are facing a crisis or know of someone who is, or if in living your daily life you wisely want to increase your survival skills for an adversity that may befall without warning, this book is a must.”
—Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D.
Distinguished Professor, University of Nevada, Reno
President, Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health
former president, American Psychological Association
“An intriguing perspective on the impact of long-held personal experiences on one’s response to life’s unexpected challenges...insights of a gifted clinician.”
—Pat DeLeon, Ph.D
former president, American Psychological Association
“Interesting, fascinating reading...I’m sure it will be a contribution to the field.”
—Charles Rothstein, Ph.D.
former president of the Maine Psychological Association
“Dr. Ron Breazeale and his colleagues bring a variety of perspectives to create a stimulating learning environment for participants to delve into Survival Skills for the 21st Century, i.e., resiliency. Their knowledge, techniques, and materials engage the participants effectively. The story telling and sharing are especially valuable. Participants relate to the applicability of the skills learned to the classroom, their personal lives as well as relationships with colleagues in today’s ever-demanding world.”
—Cheryl Lunde
director of training and professional development
Maine Education Association
“Duct Tape Isn’t Enough opens one’s thinking to possibilities and strategies to address adversity and fear. A compelling story carries the reader through obstacles and solutions outlining pathways where personal resilience provided valuable safeguards to threats on health and wellness. The book offers self-help and a model to train others in resilience, a powerful combination for any individual or group.”
Richard C. Lumb, Ph.D
criminologist and contributing author, The Police Journal
Reviews of Reaching Home
Ron Breazeale presents a dynamic, cautionary tale concerning the consequences of terrorism. The foreword establishes the tone as the reader enters a world of the future in which a grandson has edited a manuscript written by his grandfather, Lee Brazil.
Breazeale has created an absorbing novel, warning readers to be aware of the importance of point-of-view and cultural differences. He establishes a platform for perspective and understanding proposed to avert the ultimate destruction of the world. The author is also providng the reader with insight on resilience or the buoyance of the human spirit.
Reaching Home will make you laugh, make you think and make you glad you read it. It is a superior, powerful novel and highly recommended.
Georgeanne Small, Retired Librarian
Georgeanne Small Media Center
Biddeford Primary School, Biddeford, Maine
the book is down-to-earth ... everyone can understand and relate to. ....Reaching Home tells me many things. Two of the many are, let your heart and mind tell you the truth, who and what you are. And ...always stand up for what you believe in. ... a wonderful piece of writing ...
Gerald E. Talbot
Author Visible Black History
What do terrorists hold over us? Is it their weapons, their knowledge, or is it our own fear? They elicit terror, and when we allow ourselves to be afraid, we give them power. Our fears can control our lives in many ways. In Ron Breazeale’s novel, Reaching Home, we are brought face to face with the fears that many of us cling to.
Dr. Lee Brazil left the south for the open arms of Maine. He’s raised a daughter, and lived life, despite his own demons of fears. While back in the south, doing research for a book in Pine Grove, Tennessee, and a meeting of SOMAP—Save Our Mountain and Our People, Lee falls victim to an accident at the Pine Grove Lab incinerator for nuclear waste. This accident is mistakenly believed to be a terrorist plot and Dr. Brazil is taken into protective custody. The fallout sickness not being enough to deter him, Dr. Brazil escapes and hitches a ride in the back of a truck hauling port-a-johns. Thus the journey begins, and develops into a discovery of how people will help a stranger, and how they either live by or face their fears.
Things get quite heated when a second incident occurs at Pine Grove. The FBI is looking for Brazil, and a terrorist cell is being tracked in Boston. Emotionally, Lee is dealing with old feelings of lost love, nightmares of terrors, and an unquenchable thirst to return to Maine. Will he make it home? Will the real terrorists realize their terrible quest?
Breazeale’s novel is an enticing, captivating read. Set in the very near future, the book rings true with many current public fears. This work of suspense also holds deeper messages of love, life, and understanding our demons. The plot is tight and well planned, and the characters are undeniably human. Easy to read and impossible to put down, Reaching Home is bound to be a great hit!
Reviewed by: Heather Froeschl of
BookReview.com
In Reaching Home, Ron Breazeale touches on many of the issues most of us experience as persons with a disability: denial, fear and aloneness followed by acceptance of ourselves as individuals and that our disability is only a facet of who we are not our defining characteristic. As I moved through this story I found myself silently smiling or nodding my head in acknowledge of a shared experience. Ron Breazeale offers his personal journey through a fictionalized account of his own life experience with a disability. All the prejudice and misconceptions about disability in our society are here and one by one Ron puts them in perspective and clearly shows that what makes a disability disabling comes both from within us and from society’s fear of differences.
Dennis Fitzgibbons
Executive Director
Alpha One
Maine Independent Living Center
I've recently completed a book, Reaching Home by Ron Breazeale, Ph.D. that is a “keepuh”, as we Mainers are known to say. That’s a “keeper” to those of you “from away” and the levity, such as it is, ends here.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing light hearted about living with a handicap, a terrorist plot to end corporate greed in an imperalist, insular America, or murder. But the people we meet in Reaching Home all deal with the aforementioned in their various ways and are as flawed or as saintly as any of us. Adaptibility to change is an underlying theme here as well as how we all must change directions in our lives as a result of a handicap, loss of a loved one, or a catastrophic event. There are many valuable lessons in this book, and if you enjoy “locational” stories, you visit Maine, Boston and the New/Old South among other locales.
This book is a great read; I’ve read it twice, a rare-enough occurrence, and will doubtless read it again. There is also a companion guide you can download from the website.
Read On!
Tony Strodel
The main character in Reaching Home transcends typical notions of how a “hero” acts and appears. Disabled from a birth derfect and wearing a prosthetic hook, Brazil uses his intelligence and quick wit to navigate through the physical and cerebral challenges he confronts while solving the mystery and mastering his own psychological quandaries.
Reaching Home takes on concerns about terrorism and human rights with a sensitivity that is both incisive and humorous.
Reaching Home, which was released October 31, is a compelling adventure that takes the reader on a geographic and psychogical tour into the heart of issues that drive our society.
Matt Peterson
Alpha One
“One in Five”
Maine Independent Living Center
Vivid and fast-paced...a well written piece of work, better than much of what I see on the Best Seller list...if I don't always like what you say, I like the way you say it.
Jack Neely,
author, Knowville’s Secret History
and staff writer, “Metro Pulse.”
This provocative, entertaining novel reveals how our childhood experiences mold our character to that of courage and altruism, or fear and destructive behavior when confronted with a struggle to survive.
—Diana D. Sarkar, MD
Each of us harbors fear and apprehension and in the dark of night...the mind can extend the shadow of doubt and worry. Reaching Home draws the reader from story to real life associations compelling us to relive and confront our own experience.
Richard C. Lumb,
criminologist and contributing author,
The Police Journal
Reaching Home affords us a discerning and deeply human view into the political-psychological realities of disability in America. Down-to-earth, diverting and dynamic, the characters reflect the struggle we all confront to surmount our own diffferences—and discover our strengths—as they lead us in this moving journey home. Inspiring!
Dr. Gianna M. Settin, author,
Perspectives on Growth
Through a strong story line, skillfully developed characters, and fast-faced action, the author involves the reader in events that could potentially happen to any of us. Reaching Home is exciting and provocative!
Marti Richardson, author,
Succeeding with Struggling Students
Ron Breazeale demonstrates a Faulknerian understanding of his native south leavened with the wisdom and understanding of human nature gleaned from years of psychological practice.
Don Nalls, Jr.