Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett Develops Workshops to Train Professionals How to Use Intervention to Reduce Anxiety Among African American Women

TALLMADGE, Ohio, Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Research on anxiety and fear among African American women has led Dr. Angela Neal Barnett to develop Sister Circle workshops for leaders in organizations who seek to reduce turnover and retain workers.

"The economic burden of anxiety, fear and panic disorder on business and other organizations is well documented," explained Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, award-winning psychologist and associate professor at Kent State University.  "Based on my research with African American women dealing with anxiety, fear and panic, we have been able to use Sister Circles to develop an intervention that can help to reduce the high cost of turnover for the organization."

Anxiety, panic disorder, and the feeling of isolation are the most expensive and prevalent health problems in the United States, with annual costs estimated at more than $40 billion*.  Anxiety lasts longer and has a higher perceived intensity among Black professional women due to the multiple roles undertaken by Black women and pressure to live up to those many roles.

Neal-Barnett's Sister Circles workshop training sessions provide human resource professionals in corporations and organizations the opportunity to learn how to develop their own internal Sister Circle programs to help African American women who are dealing with anxiety, fear and panic issues and to ultimately reduce the high cost of recruitment and turnover. The workshops use the best-selling book written by Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, Soothe Your Nerves: A Black Woman's Guide to Overcoming Fear, Panic and Anxiety, published by Fireside/Simon and Schuster, as a resource.

About Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett

Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett is a national award winning psychologist, professor, author, and leading expert on anxiety disorders among African Americans.  Currently a tenured member of the psychology faculty at Kent State University, she directs the Program for Research on Anxiety Disorders among African Americans. Dr. Neal-Barnett's work focuses on fears and social anxiety in African American children as well as panic disorder and worry in African American adults. She is a sought-after workshop presenter and speaker, and the author of "Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear." For more information, visit www.SootheYourNerves.com or call 330-608-1937.

* R.L. DuPont, DP Rice, LS Miller, et al. Economic costs of anxiety. Anxiety 1996; 2:167-172.  

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1522-7154(1996)2:4%3C167::AID-ANXI2%3E3.0.CO;2-L/abstract

SOURCE Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett