WATERLOO -- A nationally known author hopes to help Cedar Valley residents affected by this summer's natural disasters find a "new normal" during two educational sessions Thursday.

Elizabeth Harper Neeld is the author of several books on personal and organizational change including "Tough Transitions" and "Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World." Her presentations will include research on the impact of emotions during tough transitions and offer solutions for achieving "creative and victorious outcomes."

"I have a deep concern for what everybody is experiencing. I was able to work with professionals after Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, so I have some direct experience and stories from individuals involved in and helping with Katrina. I hope to pull from that experience," she said.

Ann Black, a spokesperson for AARP Iowa, said Neeld's Iowa visit is part of a response effort from the national and state organization to this summer's natural disasters.

"In the wake of the flooding and tornadoes, we called together our volunteers and members to see what we could do to respond. They told us there was a need for financial assistance and an even stronger need for emotional support," Black said. "… There has been a lot of attention to the bricks and mortar, but the emotional aspect is just as important, if not more so."

Though life will never return to normal for those who have experienced great loss, Neeld said, the new normal can be just as fulfilling. She hopes people leave the seminar with practical solutions on how to find their personal equilibrium once again and with a greater sense of their "signature strengths."

Neeld said when people are in the middle of a disaster and still dealing with the fallout on a daily basis, it is hard for them to believe that they can ever achieve some of the simpler things in life, like energy for daily life.

"We get up and do what we have to, but a lot of times we do it without much energy for it," she said.

She also hopes to help audience members decrease the distress in their life and help them feel pleasure again.

"I hope people walk away from this program with a renewed sense of hope, with the renewed sense of having identified one or two things they can do right now to improve their life that from that minute on will make a difference," Neeld said.

The program is sponsored by AARP Iowa, Hawkeye Valley Area Agency on Aging, Hawkeye Chapter of the American Red Cross, Catholic Diocese, Allen Hospital, Catholic Charities, Black Hawk Grundy Mental Health Center and KBBG. CEU credits are available for professionals through Allen Hospital.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.