This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing olivia@smithcenter.org.

with Brandi Rose

Welcome to “Pop-Up Book Club,” a community of book lovers diving into current and relevant book material.

We will read The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Dr. Gabor Maté & Daniel Maté and on February 27th, Brandi Rose will lead us in a lively discussion about the book. Please join us no matter how much or little of the book you have read. Please read below for a description of the book.

Pop-Up Book Club will be held from 12:00-1:00pm ET.

By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.

In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?

Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Co-written with his son Daniel, The Myth of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.

Get The Myth of Normal <HERE>

About Brandi Rose (Artist-in-Residence Program Manager)

Brandi was thrilled to join Smith Center for Healing and the Arts as the new AIR Program Manager for Inova Fairfax in April 2023. In 2000, she received a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Music Education from James Madison University. After working for several years as a music educator, she transitioned to arts management with a focus on arts education. During her career, she worked for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Washington National Opera, and the Smithsonian Associates. In 2009, Brandi received a Masters in Arts Management with a specialization in Arts in Youth and Community Development from Columbia College Chicago. Upon her return to the DC area she spent nine years as the Program Director at Arts for the Aging, a local nonprofit providing multidisciplinary arts engagement workshops to older adults in senior care facilities and community settings. In 2021 she received a Graduate Certificate in Arts in Medicine from the University of Florida. In her spare time Brandi performs with Capital Blend, DC’s premiere all-female a cappella group.