DISASTER RELIEF

“We may not be able to control whether traumatic events occur, but we can help others more effectively cope and heal by enhancing our therapeutic skills.”

Somatic Experiencing® is a powerful way for teachers, caregivers, doctors, social workers, and community leaders, to help individuals cope, heal, and prevent further negative impact following trauma.

This body-based approach of restoring resiliency teaches how to release and transform the frozen energy that leads to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in the body/mind.

This body-based approach of restoring resiliency was originated by Dr. Peter A. Levine and demonstrates how traumatic memory gets locked in the body via self-protective mechanisms in the autonomic nervous and sensory-motor systems that were thwarted during the overwhelming events.

This dynamic training will be taught in various formats that include hands-on practice, power point lectures, experiential exercises, videos, live demonstrations, discussion and follow up with supervision and team support.

The Rational for the Technique:

It is important to remember that trauma is not an event, it is our nervous system’s response to an event. Realizing this, we are able to approach therapy on the assumption that our naturally resilient nervous system can fully heal, and balance can be restored, if properly treated.

The profound stress that is experienced as a traumatic event unfolds can surpass the nervous system’s ability to cope, leaving individuals in a persistent state of reaction characterized by anxiety, panic, hyper-vigilance on one end of the spectrum (representing the fight response) and depression, flat affect, and lethargy on the other (representing the flight response).

Through this body-based approach of restoring resiliency we are able to help individuals “deactivate” the stress that was ineffectively processed to restore the healthy balance, sense of presence, and wholeness they felt when they were properly self-regulating.

Training Format:

Trauma Healing for kids in Disaster Settings

This is a 4-day training curriculum is specifically focused on the use of SE® principles for stabilization and empowerment for children (and the adults who care for them) in mass fatality and other disaster settings.

TKS for Children in Disaster Settings offers a safe tool to gently release thwarted survival mechanisms, releasing both children and adults from states of shut down and terror bringing them back into the present moment and back into balance.

The “TKS for Children in Disaster Settings” curriculum topics will cover the 2 most import areas of work in disaster settings:

- Efficient therapeutic tools and resources for the victims.

- Team preparation and support.

This dynamic training will be taught in various formats that include hands-on practice, power point lectures, experiential exercises, videos, live demonstrations, discussion and follow up with supervision and team support.

Our Experience:

Ale Duarte has been working for different Agencies, Hospitals and Institutions across the globe, as well as administrating outreach.

Since the 2005 Southeast Asia Tsunami, Ale Duarte and other seasoned Somatic Experiencing® professionals have developed and evolved an ‘easy-to-apply’ program and participated in major natural disasters such as the Southeast Asia Tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, China’s 2008 Earthquake, 2009 South Brazil flood mudslides and others.

Please see www.traumahealing.com to download research articles on the efficacy of Somatic Experiencing® (SE) in disaster settings. Published studies include work in Thailand and India after the Southeast Asian Tsunami and in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.