han proactive. Resilient people have the ability to accept things rather than fight them; instead of why me, it’s why not me, it’s happened and now I have to respond. Most participants saw some difference in resilience based on gender. Ms. Patterson said there is an equality when the monetary dynamic and the accompanying power dynamic are removed. There might not be a lot of possessions or money but everyone was really strong because they want to find their way to somewhere safe. At REST’s women’s shelter, women seemed a bit more territorial as a way of showing they are valuable and contributing. At the Men’s shelter they said “yeah sure, go ahead”. For Mr. Skovensky, it’s more difficult for women to succeed than men. Women have more barriers because the way society is set up. It’s almost like they have to work harder to overcome barriers and trauma. I don’t think I can comment on whether men or women are more resilient. Barriers include more violence (domestic, sexual abuse during childhood) against women, more stereotyping and expectation of what women’s roles are, exploitation of women on the street (prostitution), unequal power dynamic in society. The literature I found does not explore differences and similarities in how men and women show resilience and the role socialization plays in those behaviors. Ms. Birhle and Ms. Hutchinson agreed that men and women display differences due to gender socialization playing a role. Sometimes men think they have to be rugged individualists. As a result it may more difficult for them to ask for help in certain things; be vulnerable or show vulnerable feelings (Hutchinson). While Ms. Birhle does not subscribe to women are this way and men are a different way, she noticed that it takes men more time to ask for help. They try to suck it up, saying “I can handle it.” Ms. Ryan said there were differences at a surface level but not much individually. The issues are the same with men and women exhibiting similar reactions. I asked Ms. Hutchinson and Ms. Birhle if there are any differences along racial or ethnic lines. Ms. Hutchinson said that it might have more to do with class issues then ethnicity. It’s about access to resources in a way. If you don’t have resources, it plays a bigger role than ethnicity or race, which is more about economics than race or ethnicity. If people feel there is a place to reach out to they’ll do it. We can find differences in places people have access to resources than the role race plays, which tends to be more monetary. A white person may have skin privilege. A white person might not feel harassed in a store where a person of color does. I consider this to be significant since she is black. Ms. Birhle noticed it mainly with minority communities. African-Americans and Asians tend to ________ more of a stigma; as a result members of those communities tend to a harder time doing it. Asians are more private; mental illness is considered a problem and they might not get help. African-American people in our society have adapted to more oppressive situations and probably been resilient to racism and lack of great opportunity. On the one hand, African-Americans can be really resilient because they have always dealt with a lot; black people have to work harder. On the other hand, the environment contributes to a lot of problems, whether violence or poor education and not seeing a way out. It is different for whites. Blacks having less access to resources and racism, which is institutionalized in society. There is a similarity class-wise (economically) across race and ethnicity but whites don’t have the issue of race in this society Interview Summary 2 I asked what the organizations do to help their clients with resilience. Ms. Patterson said that HOW teaches their clients what they need to do but won’t do it for them. I was unable to ask Ms. Ryan. The LPCS website mentions three tracks clients can participate in that he>