grief – Page 2 – TFT Trauma Relief

TFT Trauma Training for Survivors of Haiti Earthquake

UPdate Magazine, Issue 16, Autumn 2010

Haiti 2010: TFT Mission to Haiti

By Phyllis Robson, TFT-Adv, and Howard Robson, MD, TFT-Algo

When we heard of the disastrous earthquake that struck Haiti on 12th January 2010, we immediately thought that TFT would have much to offer to the traumatised population following the initial rescue and emergency interventions.

Haiti has a troubled history; It was occupied by European colonists. The native population died out and African slaves were used to replace them.

Plantations and logging provided great economic benefit for the colonists, but at a critical cost to later generations of Haitians. Deforestation caused soil erosion and mudslides. Despite achieving independence over 200 years ago, the country has been marred by violence, instability, poverty and corruption. There is a lack of infrastructure and a susceptibility to hurricanes.

When the opportunity to visit Haiti came later in the year, on behalf of the ATFTFoundation, we were in a position to volunteer. We were to be part of a mission led by Dr. Jean-Murat Carolle (Angels for Haiti), which was part of a larger medical mission led by Dr Charles René.

We immediately thereafter began collecting supplies for the visit, especially as part of the project was to enable the children to express themselves through arts. These supplies included pens, paints, brushes, books and paper, as well as some medical and dental supplies and toiletries.

We were particularly grateful for the help of our dentist and family and friends. We were also grateful for the provision of the TFT algorithm manual in French from Suzanne Connolly, which we modified slightly for the local requirements, and printed sufficient copies for our expected training sessions. We managed to obtain a reasonable rate from the airlines for our considerable luggage excess.

Essential to visiting a country such as Haiti is to understand the local culture and attend to personal safety and health (vaccinations and anti-malarial drugs). We attended to these issues as much as possible, to maximise our contribution to the mission and not be a burden.

We left home in the early hours of 1st July, 2010, via Newcastle, London, Miami and Port-au Prince for La Vallee de Jacmel in Haiti. La Vallee is a mountain village serving a rural population in southern Haiti, 11 miles from the coastal city of Jacmel. The primary occupation is farming; there is economic hardship, and lack of resources and infrastructure.

Although some distance from the epi-centre of the earthquake, there had been ten deaths within the region of La Vallee Jacmel which also had suffered considerable structural damage. The experience of the earthquake and after-shocks had affected many local people. There had also been an influx of people from more affected areas. These people had lost homes, possessions and whole Continue reading “TFT Trauma Training for Survivors of Haiti Earthquake”

Relieving Trauma of Refugees and Immigrants

Thought Field – Vol 4 Issue 4

Thought Field Therapy and Traumatic Stress Recovery of Refugees and Immigrants

by Robert L Bray, PhD, LCSW, CTS, TFT-Adv and Crystal Folkes, MS

A pilot project in San Diego has demonstrated the effectiveness of TFT in helping immigrants and refugees to resolve post traumatic stress symptoms. The San Diego Elementary School Counseling Partnership (through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education) sponsored a traumatic stress clinic for children and families in the mid City area of San Diego for two months.

Although short in duration, it proved to be of great value. This project, serving an inner city school area, provided services primarily to immigrant and refugees. Andrew Jackson Elementary School, home base for the study, serves several immigrant communities.

Seventy percent of the 1,165 students at the school have limited English proficiency. Ninety-seven percent of the students receive free breakfast and lunch at the school. This population was chosen for several reasons. Continue reading “Relieving Trauma of Refugees and Immigrants”

Relieving Trauma from Earthquake in Japan

We have instructions for the TFT trauma relief technique in Japanese. Go to the page listed on the right that says “Japanese”. It will give a link to the ATFT association website in Japan, which has complete instructions in Japanese. Please pass this on to those you know in Japan. It can greatly relieve the suffering involved in such a crisis.

If you need any assistance with this, please let us know by submitting a comment. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

TFT for Crisis Intervention

By Jim Mc Aninch, CTR, CEAP, TFT-Dx, from the “ATFT Update”, Issue 3, Summer 2005:

A Great Crisis Intervention Tool

I am the Industrial Coordinator for Pittsburgh’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team and I have found TFT to be a very powerful tool in working with the individuals in these situations.

The principal goals of a CISM team are: (1) To reduce emotional tension. (2) To facilitate normal recovery process of normal people having normal, healthy reactions to abnormal events. (3) To identify individuals who might need additional support or referral to professionals for specific care. A CISM program is neither psychotherapy nor a substitute for psychotherapy. When I receive a call it is generally associated with a fatality at the workplace.

I first used TFT at a construction site where an individual witnessed an individual fall to his death. What created a problem for him was that he had a very similar near fatality for himself a numbers of years ago which ended up resurfacing for him creating visible anxiety for him.

I was able to have him follow me with the trauma algorithm and you were able to see the change and he was no longer feeling the anxiety from his previous fall.

The next time I had an opportunity to use TFT at an electrocution of an employee at a small company with a family type environment. I first treated them as a group using the complex trauma with anger and guilt. I also included hopelessness.

I then found that some people we’re having problems with other traumas in their past so I treated them separately.

I was able to use this procedure at a number of fatalities at a number of large industrial settings with ease and great success. My team coordinator was very skeptical at first on my using this until he was able to see the success and rapid results. The coordinator was quick to see the value in TFT and we are now planning a training for the team.

Recently, I was able to take HRV readings in addition to using the TFT protocol with very interesting results.

I was called to the fatality and I was there a couple of hours after a conductor on the plant railroad was crushed between two cars. Continue reading “TFT for Crisis Intervention”

Local Rwandan TFT Therapists Relieving Trauma

We would like to share with you reports by ATFT Foundation-trained TFT therapists at the IZERE Center for Peace and Reconciliation in Rwanda:

“When we observe change in the lives of the people we are treating using TFT, we really feel a deep joy in our hearts and all this is because of your generosity which pushed you to think about us, and your love for us, that led you to decide to send again the team from the USA to train Rwandan therapists who are now doing their best to help people using TFT.”

“What is pleasing us the most is that after the departure of the team from USA, now many people are coming every day at IZERE CENTER to be treated, the average number being 30 people a day, and we are trying our best to treat them and finish them all.”

“Thank you for TFT which we are using to heal the people.”

“Those who are treated tell us that TFT helps so much and do not cause any danger to them; this because our clients fully participate in what is being done to them by tapping where we tell them to tap according to their problem. We also see ourselves that their facial expressions change drastically after treatment. They do not remain the same as before treatment. We see that they are happy again and confident. We are happy and empowered when we observe such great change in the lives of suffering people. There is nothing better than seeing somebody smiling again after so many years without smiling. Many of them became our friends.”

“Many Persons are excited too about TFT, and they have shown interest in our work. They know we are there and we are working for the good of our nation. We are constantly in touch with them so that we can always carry out our work publicly. And The IZERE Center is becoming the model of social center in our District. Our dreams are to see TFT growing bigger and reach as many people who need it as possible. The work we do speak itself and makes us known even without our notice. After the training of the trainers, we will be able to make sure our dreams.”

“Many Rwanda citizens are living with trauma and other Psychological problem because of the genocide and the war, the poverty. Consequently, there is a really a big need for services like these for many Rwandan people. Thank you very much.”

There are still hundreds of thousands of yet untreated genocide survivors who suffer from PTSD in Rwanda. The Rwandans need to be trained as TFT trainers so they can train others to use TFT in their homeland. This year the ATFT Foundation will be training four lead therapists from Byumba and Kigali to become TFT trainers themselves.

They will be brought to Hawaii for an intensive month-long training. As part of this training, the Rwandans will train 16-20 therapists over two days. They will then supervise the Hawaiian trainees in their own pro-bono clinics that serve needy populations.

Please consider helping the ATFT Foundation with this project. If you are able to donate funds to this effort, please click here. If you can donate needed United Airlines mileage for flying the Rwandan therapists to their training in Hawaii, please e-mail sheila@atft.org.

TFT Relieves Young Jamaican’s Trauma from Violence

By Chrissy Mayhew, TFT-Adv, Well Within Reach, U.S.A.

In a recent mission trip to Jamaica with our church to build housing for the less advantaged, I wanted to take the opportunity to share with the beautifully spirited people of Jamaica and the various organizations who support them how Thought Field Therapy can be a much needed tool for healing many problems.

I knew TFT could help with the many stresses and traumas associated with living and working in a country that has very meager resources, out of control teen pregnancies, high crime rate, limited medical facilities and other types of challenges that exist in less advantaged countries.

Our group was counseled not to go off on our own anywhere, walk outside the compound of our facility at night, drink water outside of bottled water, or carry a lot of cash with us.

The church facility where we stayed hired a night guard to watch over the groups during the night because of previous problems with break-ins and theft. Continue reading “TFT Relieves Young Jamaican’s Trauma from Violence”