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RoCo visits a place at which Howard County raises its children.

Solving Puzzles With Dr. Zaneb Beams

It’s a Puzzle

Because I know the Beams family so well at this point–they’ve become dear to RoCo’s heart over the last three years–I knew I could let myself into their house. I turned the knob of the garage door and stuck my neck in with some sense of hesitancy, so as not to act like I was entitled to come in, no matter how close we’ve become. Dr. Zaneb Beams was standing at the kitchen counter with one hand on top of a blender. She was getting ready to make a green smoothie, which are some of her favorite libations. And you can taste why–she makes them like a true pro. Healthy, thick (in a good way), and with just the right amount of sweetness.

“Come in, Colleen,” she said, turning toward me with an inviting smile and engagement that didn’t break her smoothie-making stride. I did. She offered me a smoothie, too, which I happily agreed to drink. We looked around the first floor of her three-story, one-family home in Western Howard County/Ellicott City for a place to have our chat in, our heads moving from side to side, up and down as if we were doing the newest dance craze. There were so many kids (four), pets (three), and projects in progress in her lovely, lived-in home. But we had to find a place that would be just quiet enough. We settled on the formal dining room, sitting at the table across from each other.

Wellness, Wherefore Art Though?

Let’s define “wellness” first so that you, readers, can see for yourselves how Zee’s wellness tool, Rubix, is a sure bet to increase that of the people who partake in its workshops.

The National Wellness Institute defines wellness thusly: “Although variously defined, depending on context, according to the National Wellness Institute, wellness is considered, ‘an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence’”

The flip side of that coin is the definition of mental illness. In my life, I’ve always gone by a great definition of mental illness I came across in the early years of my journey inward to change my life so that I was the most content, satisfied, and, well…well! It’s the definition the international, professional mental health community goes by in identifying pathological mental illness. To qualify as such, something must: 1) interfere with the sufferer’s normal, daily function and 2) cause that person distress.

In the following paragraphs, you’ll see, then, what a potentially game-changing tool Rubix could be in increasing the wellness of Howard County residents–and maybe one day, the world.

Related: What Rev. Regina Clay had to say about spirituality in HoCo.

Old Habits Don’t Have to Die Hard

The germ of the idea that became Rubix, a wellness tool that I simply had to talk to her about because of how life-changing I found it upon partaking in a part of it, came to Zee a decade ago. Then, Dr. Beams–as she’s known to her pediatric practice patients and those she interacts with about Rubix about, as opposed to Zee, which we, her friends call her–read some books on habits, including Adaption to Life by George Vaillant, among many others. She found that these authors, dissatisfied with certain aspects of their lives, set out to change them. They used habits, the “byte-sized”, as Zee put it, segments of our behavior that become ways of being, little by little, almost sneakily at times to change people’s behavior. The authors focused on habits and adjusted or eradicated some to make people’s lives better–happier. After all, if you break something down into its constituent parts, it’s much less overwhelming. It’s the difference between saying, “I want to be happier” and “I want to lose five pounds this year because my weight is making me unhappy.” The authors Zee read also decided to track and measure the progress of their habit-changing charges. Needless to say, with all the detail Zee told me about these books, often looking up and to the side in thought, with a placidly serious look on her face, she was taken with the idea of bettering one’s life by changing one’s habits.

Zee said that now habits are “trendy”, but that even as late as 2015 people weren’t thinking about behavioral change in this way.

“A lot of these folks, like Carol Dweck and Adam Grant, who are out of the Positive Psychology Department at the University of Pennsylvania [mental note: look that up!], gave this idea of changing habits to change lives, a lot of traction,” she said, closing her eyes for a second longer than a blink and giving a slight nod. Her spine relaxed a little as she went on.

She reached out to Kendra Benesch, LCSW, a local social worker, to whom she had referred many patients in her local pediatric practice to and been pleased with the outcomes of Benesch’s work with them. She asked Benesch if the idea to use habit-change to elicit big change in people’s lives was silly. She was sort of hoping Kendra would say yes so that she could go back to the Dr. Zee Beams life she knew. But Benesh, who has a private practice called Orenda, said it was a great idea! Zee told Benesh she wanted to create a program that could help people who were beginning to go down the dark road of diagnosable mental illnesses rooted in depression and anxiety and lead such people through the creation of positive habits of change, diverting them from that road.

“I was seeing so much more suffering in my community that I couldn’t take it anymore,” Zee said, putting a hand around the cold glass her smoothie was in and squeezing it.

Increase Without Cease

Benesch did a deep dive into the research on habit-change and discovered the idea of the Wellness Wheel. A psychologist developed the idea some 4o years ago. If you complete the Wellness Wheel, as I’d done a few days before, you get a truly life-changing idea of where you need to beef up healthy behaviors and where you’re doing well with them.

“The Wellness Wheel is literally a wheel with different pie sections that correspond to a self-evaluation quiz you take,” Zee told me. You get, then, a visual representation of your habits, including ones you need to work on. I’m not one who learns through visuals so much, but when I did just that part of Rubix, I was amazed.

“This is it!” I thought. I saw where in my life I was doing well and where I needed to make changes.

Zee understated the case when she said it’s “a pretty reasonable” tool for locating what areas of your life put you at risk of sliding into depression or anxiety. You can use your filling in of the Wellness Wheel to see where you stand in the areas mental and public health specialists identify as vital to psychological health.

But it doesn’t stop there. Two days after I interviewed Zee and filled out my Wellness Wheel, I got a detailed analysis of my answers, complete with various modalities (charts,  that helped me understand how my answers to the questions Rubix asks fit together and how I can use them to change my ways to increase my well-being. graphs, and what I see as verbal reminders of what I learned from filling out Rubix.

Now, I should say, I didn’t partake of Rubix in the workshop format that it’s ideally meant to be experienced in, so I could have gotten even more out of it if I had. But still, the analysis I got is now on my desk at all times. I look at it whenever I feel I need a psychological tune-up

Anybody There?

I thought of Barbra Streisand’s classic song, “Papa Can You Hear Me?” when Zee told me how her experience has been trying to get the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) to take Rubix into their schools and avail their students of it: “Papa, can you hear me?/Papa, can you see me?/Papa, can you find me in the night?” Ok, maybe that last line doesn’t apply as much here as it does in Yentl, but still, that’s what I thought of.

HCPSS hasn’t been receptive to Zee’s overtures in getting Rubix into the curriculum.

“I guess because I just so deeply believe in the program and it seems very straightforward and obvious to me, it’s very surprising to me to that I’ve had to try to convince our school system and the health department of the power and value of this program,” Zee said, her shoulders dropping a little.

She told me the frustration she’s experienced getting HCPSS–the system all four of her children are or have been in and whose school board she once ran to be on–to see her, hear her, as Babs sang.

“I’ve actually moved on from the public school system and it’s ‘glacially moving bureaucracy’ [love that turn of phrase!] and the health department, and I’m building connections with private, independent schools in the area,” she said, her posture rising again in hope.

Zee attended private elementary and high schools. She also went to Swarthmore College for her undergraduate degree, Drexel College for some pre-med classes,  and Rush University for medical school. Perhaps it makes sense, then, that the first place Zee’s had positive results in getting Rubix adopted is St. Timothy’s School in Baltimore. By the way, Zee’s also attended public school: she completed most of her pre-med coursework at the University of Maryland at College Park. One of the private elementary schools Zee went to was Glenelg. And yes, I’ve just learned it’s pronounced “Glen-ELLE.” Zee’s younger sister, local writer, and HoCo politico, thanks to Zee’s introducing her to that world, Akbi Khan is not a fan of living in a world where the final “g” in Glenelg is silent! Especially because in the eight years Akbi went there, everyone pronounced the “g,” and…wait–where was I?

And: This is what Natalie Ziegler, a local politico, thinks could shrink the political polarization we’re living with.

Oh, right! So, Zee’s an eternally optimistic person. She once noted to me that when I experience a challenge, I shouldn’t just give up. I should keep on going. She loves that quote, “Never, ever, ever, ever, ever give up,” famously uttered by Winston Churchill, perhaps as he puffed on his signature pipe at a meeting in the war room during World War II. And look–he came out a winner in that conflict.

Future Fiat

“In five years, I would like to be in at least two or three public schools and a number of private schools in the area. I would also like to be in at one or two post-secondary institutions, potentially UMBC [University of Maryland Baltimore Countuy] and College Park,” she said, looking out a window to her right at the vast expanse of green that is her front lawn for a moment and then back at me with a smile. She’d also like, she said, to create a “sophisticated technology platform” for Rubix that could help people from 12-years-old and on, families, and international users take advantage of Rubix.

Study, Study, Study

I once had a conversation with Zee about her experiences in the various educational institutions she’s attended, and I got the feeling she loves to learn, to study. And when she’s working on fine-tuning and advancing Rubix, she says a big part of that is research.

“I get up, go for a walk or run, get out a few different books that I–I’m usually using three or four different books that I hear about in podcasts on this topic. She then reworks the statements in the self-evaluation part of Rubix, to, as she said, “make them more efficient, accurate, and useful.” Aside from that, she’s also constantly on a mission to come up with new strategies to help people be their best selves through Rubix, nipping in the bud any unwise behaviors they may be struggling with. And, of course, she’s making green smoothies! I meant that as a cute comment, sure, but part of Rubix is learning to eat healthily. In fact, every Rubix workshop ends with participants sharing a meal. This is after they’ve performed creative activities and intellectual projects that help them see, hear, taste, touch…smell? how their habits may be hurting them and how they can change those habits.

Well, it was time for me to take my leave. Being of Pakistani descent, Zee’s a warm, solicitous host, and she walked me to the door I came in through, standing there the whole time I got in my car, arranged my notebooks and such on the passenger seat, and put my car in drive. Zee smiled and waved goodbye. As I  drifted down their long driveway, which has some gorgeous trees lining it, I was sure–simply convinced–that Rubix may become as essential in mental health treatment settings as a talk with a therapist.

Also: See what I learned at HoCo’s Alpha Ridge Landfill!

Thanks for reading! Check back with us here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.