My Client Can Now Talk About The Trauma Without Anger..."It’s Just Data."

“I had a 60 yr. old male, referred by his EAP. He's a teacher of High School social studies. In July of this year, his son returned from Iraq and moved in with him till he found work, place to live. His son was in the Navy, working with the Marines with a search and seizure team, highly trained in weaponry, hand to hand combat, invasion of buildings & taking captives, and also intelligence gathering by physical means - one "bad" dude.

On July 3, 2011, he and his father were talking about the son's experiences. Dad went out to the driveway to have a smoke and next thing he knew he was cold-cocked by the stock of an attack rifle along back of his head. Son didn't stop there, as he continued to strike him, all over his boy and finally got him in some kind of special choke hold which almost killed him. He was covered in blood and unconscious.

He of course lived and son was arrested (he is now out of jail and attending college - was given a break due to his PTSD). Dad, my client, since then suffered with permanently damaged vocal chords, has had headaches daily, suffered from insomnia, anxiety, flashbacks, anger, resentment, social isolation and sadness/depression.

After the second session with RRT this guy is sleeping better, can talk about the trauma without feeling afraid or resentful and now the trauma is just "data." He had spent Christmas Day with his son and was able to converse without anger or sadness.

This guy is amazed. So am I.

His son is in treatment somewhere else and "is improving" but has taken since July or August with a more traditional therapist. My client also has had headaches, which we are addressing now. It won't surprise me if he comes back next Monday and tells me his headache pain is gone.

Jon, I want you to know how many lives you have touched by training us in RRT. My client had the worst case of PTSD I have ever seen, and now his diagnosis is PTSD in remission. Awesome.”

~David L. Johns, LMHC, NBCFCH

2012 RRT Training Dates and Our New Brochure!

Thank you to our wonderful IRRT team for you hard work and creating this beautiful brochure announcing the 2012 Clinical Hypnosis Rapid Trauma Resolution Level I trainings!

Practitioners, if you would like a copy of the brochure to print out at your office, please comment below.

Here are the 2012 Training Dates! Hope to see you there!

February 3 – 5: Los Angeles, California

March 23 – 25: San Antonio, Texas

April 13 – 15: Tampa, Florida

June 8 – 10: Chicago, Illinois

June 29 – July 1: Denver, Colorado

September 7 – 9: Atlanta, Georgia

October 26 – 28: Orlando, Florida

November 16 – 18: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

"I Am Grateful."

"I never set one foot in a combat zone. Instead, each of my lifetime wars―Vietnam, the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Afghanistan came to me daily, in the form of wounded warriors and silent nurses. My lifetime mission was and still is, to meet them where they stand―to listen, to nourish, to heal if necessary and to stand up for them at every opportunity. I love my patients and the nurses who care for them, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to serve them and this great country."

~ RRT Certified Practitioner & IRRT Director of Research, Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan, Colonel, US Army Retired

Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan, Ph.D., is a Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist. Dr. Sharon also co-authored the book, "Angel Walk: Nurses at War in Iraq and Afghanistan," with Dr. Diane Vines, Ph.D, Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist. Within the book, Dr. Sharon recommends Rapid Resolution Therapy as a PTSD treatment approach (p. 97). To purchase your copy today, please click here.

RRT Cleared My Fear of Flying!

“Just wanted to publicly say that Rapid Resolution Therapy with Mark Chidley helped me end the 26-year-long battle with a plane crash. Today, we won the war!”

~ Vicki Foster Chavis

I was recently privileged to give a presentation on what Rapid Resolution Therapy can do for trauma survivors. This was easy with the help of my former client, Vicki Chavis, a survivor of Delta 191.

The crash took place in 1985 and left only 27 survivors, most of whom were seated in the tail section that tore off prior to the plane bursting into a fireball. She did an artful and convincing job explaining how she spent 26 years in emotional turmoil in and around planes. After my RRT session with her, she now flies without upset or incident!

To prove the point, she took her son up in a bi-plane for his 2011 Christmas treat, just to feel the open cockpit experience! These are her photos from a beautiful day cruising the Florida Gulf above Sanibel Island. Thank you Vicki for so effectively helping me get the word out about Rapid Resolution Therapy, the method pioneered by Jon Connelly.

Mark A. Chidley, LMHC, Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist, CAP, a fully licensed mental health counselor and certified addictions professional, offers counseling services at his office Kelly San Carlos Executive Center in Fort Myers, Florida.He has been in private practice since 1997. He holds certifications in Rapid Trauma Resolution (2010), Imago Relationship therapy (2001), and now specializes in the treatment of couples as well as individual trauma recovery and anxiety issues. He brings rich experience from a combined 26 years of hospital work and mental health counseling.

IRRT Research, Military Outreach and Book Update

By Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

We are closing in on the February 1 start date of our 2012 IRRT Study 2 with the identification of two new measures we will use in addition to the Study 1 Pre and Post treatment measure the PCL-C (17 item PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version). The second measure is the Life Events Checklist (LEC), a one page self-report measure designed to screen for 16 events known to potentially result in PTSD or distress in a client's lifetime. The client checks whether the stressful event (a) happened to them personally, (b) they witnessed the event, (c) they learned about the event, (d) they are not sure if the item applies to them, or (e) the item does not apply to them. Developed by Blake, Weathers, Nagy, Kaloupek, Charney & Keane in 1995 and available from the National Center for PTSD, the LEC has demonstrated adequate psychometric properties as a stand-alone assessment of traumatic exposure. Our third proposed measure, the 12 item Working Alliance Inventory will be filled out by both the therapist and the client following the first (and only for some) RRT session.

Certified Practitioners (CP) may volunteer to participate in the study at the January 2012 retreat or via an email request to cleartrauma.com. The minimum qualifications are a professional degree and at least 100 RRT training hours. A detailed procedural guide for the study will be posted on the CP website and made available at the retreat. Once you receive your study documents (ie., a client welcome letters, consent forms, client data sheets, assessment tools and stamped/addressed envelopes) you may begin screening clients for the study. Our goal is to have at least 60 RRT clients who complete their RRT treatment and submit all of the pre and post treatment assessment measures.

There is still time to get your name on the list of certified RRT practitioners who volunteer to speak at local Military Officer Association of America (MOAA) chapter meetings. I will be presenting that list of CPs at the state convention of MOAA chapter presidents on January 14, 2012. Thanks to LTC Sandra McNaughton (see photos), I will have the opportunity to welcome home from their deployment and interview the nurses of the 86th Combat Support Hospital on February 4, 2011 at Fort Campbell, KY. LTC McNaughton is featured in the book Angel Walk: Nurses at War in Iraq and Afghanistan and serves as a soldier advocate for those currently serving and those medically retired. She like other Army nurses can serve as our "Town Criers" to remind veterans that we are here and ready to serve them.

Photo: Army nurse LTC Sandra McNaughton with the M240 machine gun preparing to leave for a mission.

The IRRT is one of several hypnotherapists asked to propose a smoking cessation and weight loss program for the civilian employees at the Tampa, FL VA Hospital. Given our group of certified practitioners, we are uniquely qualified to provide a standardized quality assured program to this large group of clients. Stay tuned for developments. Many thanks to Sue Morrow, a recent Level 2 student who provided RRT for an Army Surgeon who had served two tours of duty in Iraq and to the other CPs who have treated veterans. We hope to capture their stories and include their healing RRT work in a special military chapter in our upcoming book. Another addition to the book will be provided our Executive Director Melinda Paige. She will be combing the RRT video library for unique RRT cases and identifying miraculous healing stories of clients seen by Dr. Jon Connelly. Thanks to all who sending in their case studies; keep them coming!!

Article courtesy of Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan, Ph.D., Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist. Dr. Sharon also co-authored the book, "Angel Walk: Nurses at War in Iraq and Afghanistan," with Dr. Diane Vines, Ph.D, Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist. Within the book, Dr. Sharon recommends Rapid Resolution Therapy as a PTSD treatment approach (p. 97). To purchase your copy today, please click here.

How RRT Cleared A 7-Year-Old Girl's Trauma

By Joy Finch, M.S., NCC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

This 7-year-old child was referred by the psychiatric hospital upon release. One year prior to her hospitalization she was physically and sexually assaulted by two babysitters. Her presenting issues prior to treatment were escalating behavioral issues, anxiety, suicidal ideations, threats and attempts which led to being hospitalized three times within one year. Her suicidal attempts included cutting, hanging and suffocating herself. She had also been through four months of therapy. Her single mother was desperate for help with several younger children to care for while providing 24/7 suicide watch.

When I met with her for treatment she refused to leave her mother's sight so I sat with her on the front steps of her mobile home with the door open and her mother sitting just inside. I established connection with her and created a baseline visual metaphor with her which is a visual symbol created by the participant for the way her mind has been responding to the traumatic event. Her baseline visual metaphor was, in her words, "like a tornado--dark."

I cleared the traumatic memory using RRT while keeping the child emotionally present and responding to what was happening which was sitting with me playing a game on the front steps of her home. This game involved her sharing the narrative of the traumatic event with ease and laughter. This game of telling and retelling her story while correcting me as I recounted the story with intentional inaccuracy was so funny to her that she collapsed in laughter and her mother, overhearing this life changing conversation, was laughing too. The horrible "incident" had become as innocuous as data on a sheet of paper. The setting allowed mom to reprocess the experience too.

A final RRT intervention intended to update inner mind involves a process through which the child learns that the traumatic event no longer exists and that there is nothing that needs to be done was once again completed with ease and laughter. When I asked her about the "tornado-- dark", she said, "It's not there anymore." Then she added, "It's done!" while motioning her extended thumb over her shoulder with a big smile.

It has been almost two months since RRT and this child has had no further mention or indication of any suicidal thoughts, ideas or plans. The family continues to experience difficulties including eviction, however, thankfully they are no longer dealing with this stressor.

ISSV: The Violence Against Women Act

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

As shocking as it may seem, there are many amazing and talented women in the ISSV/IRRT community. We are dedicated, both men and women, to making this a safer and healthier world. One way that we have made a step in that direction is to make it known that we, as a community, stand by the policies of the Violence Against Women Act. The way we have recently done this is by signing on to the NFT VAWA (National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women) letter to our Senators and Representatives to reauthorize the VAWA.

VAWA programs help create safety for victims of domestic and sexual violence as well as holding perpetrators accountable. It was amazing to me to learn that in the first six years of the start of the VAWA, such programs saved nearly $12.6 billion net averted social costs. Did you know that the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence against women has decreased by 63 percent because more women are reporting domestic violence to the police? To me those are amazingly huge numbers!

The VAWA is due for reauthorization soon. If you would like to voice your opinion personally or if your organization/company would like to take a stand for this incredibly significant organization, please click here to see how to make that happen.

I also want to put out a big THANK YOU to everyone who has come forward to volunteer their time, knowledge, and talents to the ISSV committee. I am so amazed and excited to see the ISSV growing. We will be 10 years in the making next year, and I have no doubt given all the support and input that I am finding as the Executive Director that 2012 will be the best year yet. I cannot say it enough how grateful I am to be a part of this amazing community of transformative healers. May we continue to find ways to transform the lives of the many survivors out there!

Be well, Be happy - Tara

Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

573-754-0348

1360 S 5th St., Suite 394, St. Charles, MO 63301

www.mylifecoachtara.com