NOTES ON PEOPLE (10/21/01)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Author pens book on 'mindful listening'

COLT'S NECK, N.J. - In the modern world, where most communication occurs not face to face, but in hurried conversations over the telephone, email or voice mail, Dr. Evan Polewchak, an expert in theocentric psychology, underscores the importance of something most of us take for granted - being a good listener.

After an illness drove her to re-evaluate her life eight years ago, Dr. Polewchak felt a spiritual urge to pursue lay ministry, or to help others live a better life by finding strength in God. Even during an extended period of medical treatments, Dr. Polewchak studied theology, biblical counseling and psychology, refusing to let her illness thwart her goal of a doctoral degree. In 1999, Dr. Polewchak received a Ph.D. from LaSalle University in theocentric psychology, a field in which Christian and biblical principles are applied as a counseling technique.

According to Dr. Polewchak, her studies and her own personal struggle taught her that what people need most in life is to "feel accepted, to be understood, and to be heard."

Thus, we must learn to listen if we want to help one another. In the modern world, explains Dr. Polewchak, "we rush through important conversations, finish other people's sentences, interrupt, think of things other than the speaker, and are generally not mindful of one another." Only through conscious effort can we start to communicate in a meaningful way.

These ideas are the basis of Dr. Polewchak's doctoral thesis, which she recently reworked into a book. Dr. Polewchak hopes that her book, "The Therapeutic Effects of Mindful Listening," will help people rediscover the simple, but lost art of listening.

Dr. Polewchak also earned a master's degree in business management from LaSalle University while waiting for her book to be published. She hopes that her business education will help her market her book more intelligently and will be useful in her plans to start a business in spiritual counseling.

A native of Elizabeth, N.J., Dr. Polewchak and her family are faithful members of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Elizabeth. Dr. Polewchak, who moved with her family to Texas during grammar school, began her undergraduate education at the University of Texas, but after two years transferred to Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., where she graduated with a degree in English.

Dr. Polewchak is a member of the American Counseling Association, the American Association of Christian Counselors, and the New Jersey Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling.

To buy a copy of "The Theraputic Effects of Mindful Listening," contact Dr. Evan Polewchak at (732) 780-0916; or e-mail [email protected].

Chicagoan retires from Customs Service

CHICAGO - Larissa Eliashevsky, assistant director of the Mid America Customs Management Center, Mission Support, retired from the U.S. Customs Service on March 31 after 38 years of service to the federal government.

Active in the Ukrainian community, Ms. Eliashevky has raised funds for the Gift of Life Foundation, providing children affected by the Chornobyl disaster an opportunity to receive life-saving heart surgery in the United States.

Born in Kalush, Ukraine, in 1940, Ms. Eliashevsky came to the United States as a teenager with few possessions and speaking no English. After arriving in Ellis Island, N.Y., her family traveled to Union Station in Chicago, here they were met and taken in by friends.

Upon graduation from DePaul University in 1963 with a B.S. in business administration, Ms. Eliashevsky began her federal career as a tax technician with the Internal Revenue Service. She went on to become a personal staffing and employee relations specialist within the IRS.

Later she began working for the U.S. Customs Service as a personnel management specialist and in 1981 was promoted to supervisory personnel management specialist. In 1986 she was promoted to supervisory executive management specialist, and in 1991 she was promoted yet again to the position from which she retired.

Family participates in annual art show

HAINES FALLS, N.Y. - Taras Schumylowych took part in the 54th annual art exhibition at the Twilight Park Clubhouse in Haines Falls, N.Y., on Saturday and Sunday, August 11-12. The artist exhibited three works: "His Holiness Pope John Paul II" (graphic sepia), "Where Patriarch Cardinal Josyf Slipyj Lived as a Child" and "Portrait of My Son."

A children's art show also was part of this traditional exhibition. Three of Mr. Schumylowych's grandchildren, Xenia, Justin and Larissa, displayed their new paintings in the Clubhouse Tea Room.

The Schumylowyches are members of Ukrainian National Association Branch 86.

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