Feeling Good Associates produce and distribute educational and therapeutic products that inform and educate people in the areas of self-esteem, socialization skills and sex information, with an emphasis on serving individuals who are disabled and/or need self-confidence.
About the Creators
Gloria Blum, M.A.
Gloria Blum, M.A., is an Educational Consultant. Her teaching credentials include Adult Education, Vocational Training for the Handicapped, General Elementary, and as a Specialist for Physically Handicapped, Exceptional Children, Developmentally Disabled and Hearing Impaired persons. She has been the keynote speaker and presented seminars and workshops at conferences and meetings throughout the world on the subjects of Self-Esteem, Socialization Skills and Sex Information. While in graduate school she embarked on a project that later bore fruition as the M.E.N.C.H. Project. This innovative program which was funded by the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, trained young adults who were themselves labeled mentally retarded, to become co-teaching para-professionals in a program that offered self-esteem, social skills and sexual information to special education classes in San Francisco. The heart of the program is described in herActivity Guide entitled, "Feeling Good About Yourself" co-authored with her husband, Barry Blum, M.D. The fourth and latest edition of this book is now available.
She also produces the "Feeling Good Cards," a playful question-card game; a recording (CD or audio cassette) of her keynote presentation "Breaking Through the Social and Personal Barriers of Disappointment and Fear," from her workshop at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada; and a DVD entitled "I Can Say 'No!'", teaching the "Yes-No Process" to youngsters.
Gloria wrote a screenplay and stage play of "Jenny," an original drama, inspired by a true story about a young woman labeled mentally retarded who nevertheless decides to succeed and create a family of her own. The play won first prize in the Hilo Community Players Big Island Original Play Contest and was then produced at the Aloha Theatre. She remains active with the Aloha Performing Arts Company as volunteer producer and director.
Gloria became a consultant for the Hawaii Association for Retarded Citizens, at the Kona Krafts Workshop (a sheltered workshop) in Kealakekua. Gloria was the first President of the Board of Directors of The West Hawaii Fund, an Affiliated Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation. She was chosen Woman of Distinction for 1995 by Soroptimists International of Kona.
Barry Blum, M.D.
Barry Blum, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon and former Medical Director of Kona Community Hospital. He has collaborated with Gloria on the projects and programs of Feeling Good Associates for over forty years. The Blums’ first major project in Hawaii was to create the International Congress on Self-Esteem and Sex Education in 1988, co-sponsored by the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii (Manoa). This seven-day conference had a faculty of over 43 speakers including professors, physicians, psychologists, scientists, therapists and educators from all over the world and was attended by 120 professionals.
Together, the Blums also serve as marriage officiants on Hawaii’s Big Island (Shaloha Weddings); perform in Kona’s Traveling Jewish Wedding Band, having produced “Shaloha Oy”, a unique CD of klezmer music Hawaiian style (reviewed online at Klezmer Shack); and they founded and performed in the Golden Gate Gypsy Orchestra of America & California also known as the Travelling Jewish Wedding, producing an album which later became a CD distributed by Folkways/Smithsonian Institute, selling over 75,000 copies.
Michelle J. Blum, LCSW
Michelle J. Blum, LCSW. Alicensed clinical social worker assisting adults living with severe mental illness including depression, trauma, bipolar disorder, anxiety and schizophrenia, adjusting to life changes and stresses of relationships, self-worth, grief/loss and substance use. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Oregon and her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University.
Alicia Bay Laurel is best known as the internationally lauded author, illustrator, designer of the best-selling, trend-setting, back to the land bible "Living on the Earth" (1970) and nine other illustrated bohemian books, Alicia Bay Laurel also makes her way as a singer-songwriter, Hawaiian slack-key guitar player, storyteller, wedding planner and visual artist.
