IRRT Level I Participant Success Story!

By Michael Cortina, LCSW 

Level I Certified, Rapid Resolution Therapy               

I recently attended the Level I training given by Dr. Connelly. I am glad to say that he has taken my model and framework of working with individuals for nearly the past two decades and turned it upside down! This was a thrilling, thought provoking, practice changing, and extraordinary experience! This training reignited a strong passion in me regarding my professional/clinical work that I have not felt in some time. I am spreading the word about RTR to my team, my executive administration, and beyond. I feel compelled to practice this approach with as many clients as I am able and to encourage the professional development of other professionals in the field by attending this training. I am excited and honored to tell you about the experience I had with the very first client using RRT.

The client and I both had the most amazing experience. I met with a client who was referred to me by one of my staff therapists. She had been in therapy for one year with no improvement. She said she usually left the session crying or left early as she just couldn't handle it. She described feeling depressed, angry, and hopeless regarding the traumatic event she had experienced. After a single 45-minute RTR session, she was freed from that persistent emotional pain. She kept saying over and over again, "You have no idea what you just did," "Oh my god," "I can't believe I am smiling - you can see my dimples again," "I have not been able to do that (tell that story) without breaking down for the past year!" It was probably the most rewarding experience in my professional career! It was completely surreal! She said she would be shaking her head the whole way home and was going to call her sister and tell her how 'this man' just changed my life. As I mentioned above, it was clearly amazing for her but it was also amazing for me. To be able to influence and experience that kind of a profound impact on somebody's life is simply phenomenal. This was very reinforcing for me!

Michael Cortina is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois and Indiana. He obtained his Master of Social Work Degree from Jane Addams College of Social Work and his Bachelor Degree in Psychology from   PurdueUniversity. Michael has worked in a variety of clinical settings including adolescent residential, adolescent independent living program, child, adolescent, and adult inpatient, adult partial hospitalization program, emergency services, outpatient and private practice. He is currently Director of Outpatient Services South for   RegionalMentalHealthCenter.