trauma, PTSD and grief training
I am on vacation and finally had time to say a few words about the training that I attended on Monday.
It was an awesome training about trauma, PTSD and grief. I have learned so much about physiological responses of our bodies in relation to what we see, perceive and experience. It was a great review of all my practicum plus I acquired more understanding and skills in helping people deal with fears, trauma and grief.
The presenter, Duane T. Bowers is seasoned counselor who has years of experience working in first aid teams after the disasters and traumatic events. He also works with families who have lost their children either they were kidnapped or dead or both and many horrible variations. He works with Virginia morgs as a consultant when family members have to come and identify the body. His stories were giving me shivers. Please, G-d, do not allow any of these horrible events happen to us ever!!!
I have learned a lot of practical skills in dealing with anxiety and depression caused by trauma. One of the skills is to manipulate our brain. I realized that I have been doing it already with my clients and was wondering why they all leave so happy with smiles on their faces after our sessions. This training gave me the answer.
Clients come to me seeking change in their lives through education. They are scared, anxious, confused, there are a lot of unknowns, unfamiliar grounds, etc.. In some cases they had been lost and couldn’t find my office or was referred to me by someone who according to them treated them rudely. Their brain is full of cortisole - the aging hormone that is part of “survival hormone.” As Boweres explained, it is very important to reduce the level of cortisole and it is super easy to do. A counselor must engage client in thinking about future, hope, comparison, self-reflection. When we ruminate about something the level of cortisol rises but when we have hopeful thoughts cortisole level goes down and those thoughts apparently also release endorphins that make us feel good and happy.
So, when I work with my clients, I engage them in all of the above plus we develop realistic manageable steps to follow in the next few days or months. By the time they leave my office, they know where they are in the process, what is needed and what steps they can take (be in control). Plus, they know that they can contact me if will get stuck in the process, so we can figure it out together. It means that they are not alone! There is a lot of hope, there is no more unknowns that can cause fear and anxiety, there is a backup plan. I praise them for their questions and for every step that they did by themselves. I put responsibility on them and show my humanness by allowing myself to make mistakes and be corrected by the clients. I acknowledge their feelings of anxiousness and frustration - normalize it and move them on. I make them reflect on their future career and on their dreams that can become a reality.
I did not realize what was going on physiologically until this training. I kept wondering, what am I doing that they leave our office in such a positive mood even if we find problems and obstacles. Bowers indicated that if there are thoughts of hope in the brain, the chemicals that cause depression and anxiousness can not exist together. Hopeful thoughts kill and not allow for depression and fear to be present.
The training was very deep with excellent strategies to deal with various levels of trauma. According to the research that Bowers presented, most of the depressive, anxiety, and chemical dependency disorders are caused by trauma. The trauma could be anything that person believes to be traumatic at any given time. Even trauma that our body remembered and our brain didn’t.