Dr. Jon Connelly - Rapid Resolution Therapy

RRT Level I Training: “What? No note taking?! Is this guy SERIOUS?”

2012-03-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

“The training was enlightening, and nothing that I could have imagined. At first, I was very uncomfortable and out of my element…

“What? No note taking?! Is this guy SERIOUS? How am I supposed to learn?!”

At the end of the first day, I went to bed thinking that all of this great information had rushed into my head during the day and just as quickly rushed back out as soon as I stepped out of the conference room door. The next morning, we ran through an exercise in our small groups, and I was amazed to find that I remembered a few things. Not only that, but my first attempt ever at “inducing” someone was successful…the trance worked, in the end she had more peace about the situation, and the baseline visual had changed. “This stuff works?!”

Mid-way through the second day, I was finally getting it. I was absorbing it. I had it down. And THEN Dr. Connelly introduced a whole new element… working with sexual trauma. Bleh. I left feeling the same way I felt at the end of the first day.

But that night while I was going to sleep, I had a revelation: he had been giving us little hypnotic suggestions the whole time and that’s how we were supposed to learn! That’s why it was important for us to attend to him and not be glued to note taking. And it was working, because the language was repeating itself over and over in my mind like a record that night.

On the third day, working with sexual trauma became a little more cemented. Leaving the three-day training, I feel like I have the basic scripts down, but needed a lot of practice with the story-telling, which is something that Dr. Connelly is so good at. I have not had a chance to practice the scripts professionally yet, as Dr. Connelly suggested not implementing this with patients who are already being seen. On a personal level, of course I gained insight along the way, and gained my own peace about some things.

I am excited about the Level II training, as I have many patients who struggle with anxiety/panic/phobia.

This training was so different from anything I have ever experienced, and I am looking forward to the journey!”

Kimberly Wildes, DrPH, MA, LPC, NCC

www.kimberlycounseling.com

“One Starfish at a Time” – An RRT Success!

2012-03-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

“Immediately after training with you, Jon, I realized that Rapid Resolution Therapy would change the way I thought about the world. I no longer saw trauma or my clients the same way. But when I went back to work and used what you taught me, I realized that I could help children with their deepest fears and wounds, and I would never work the same way again.

I have never gone back to my old way of working. That was almost 8-years ago, and I still have the same feeling. Just last week a little girl told me, “Ms. Molly, I feel like I can breathe again.” One starfish at a time, Jon. Thank you for changing the world through your work and for being such an inspiration!”

~ RRT Master Certified Practitioner, Molly Sanford, LCSW

When More is Not Better

2012-02-29T09:00:00.004-05:00

For the past two decades, science has been uncovering some important features of traumatized patients. There is mounting evidence that traumatized individuals vary widely in their ability to adapt to trauma, in part due to underlying physical factors. For instance, some see the presence of chronic emotional trauma as having the potential to cause permanent physical damage in the hippocampus (Sapolsky, in Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (1994). This might mean that some individuals who have gone through multiple traumas or what in the DSM V will likely come to be called Disorders of Extreme Stress NOS, because of a changed hippocampus, will have diminished abilities to perceive or recover from subsequent stressors.

Other studies have shown that certain traumatized populations (traumatized women and combat veterans) share similar characteristics of neurological dysregulation. Susan Johnson noted (Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors, 2002) that one implication is that such individuals may be unable to use their emotions as an appropriate danger signal to prompt adaptive action. The chronic activation in their brain systems seems to result in overreactions to non-emergencies and freezing responses in the presence of real danger.

All the above ought to be enough to caution the use of any kind of therapy that exposes the client to more of the emotional impact of their trauma and instead turn our attention to therapies that emphasize the client's ability to build an emotionally neutral or regulated response to what has happened, as well as to foster an adaptive recognition and response to new dangers. Helping the client stay emotionally connected in the here and now, rather than being re-traumatized by the tendency to focus on the there and then, in other words, seems key.

One therapy that goes about it in precisely this way is Rapid Resolution Therapy, as developed by Jon Connelly. The therapist uses a strong interpersonal connection built from the first moments of the session and collaboratively builds a model for calm, centered, and enlightened functioning with the client. This is reinforced artfully in a variety of ways, such that when client and clinician finally deal with the trauma story, the most important thing going on in the room is the ongoing present connection between them. Clients find, to their amazement, that their stories can be told, neither in a dissociated way nor an overreactive way, but calmly and straightforwardly, as so much historical data about an episode in their lives, and in the same tone as one might read out of an outdated phone book. This produces an emotional freedom occurring from what seems like a shift in the brain's processing mechanism. Outcome studies are currently underway with regard to Rapid Resolution Therapy and more light will no doubt be shed on this interesting method which works quickly as well as painlessly for clients.

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.

How RRT Helped Clear, Resolve and Transform 3 of My Clients!

2012-02-27T13:30:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed the training thoroughly. Truly, I wasn't positive I'd be able to verbalize it in a way my primary population would understand--I work with 95 percent children and 100 percent special needs). However, even though I'm new and "green" with this technique. So far, so good!

First, I was working with a legally blind 30-plus year old male who had a long history of depression, anxiety and panic attacks. He recently married and is having difficulty adjusting and does not feel confident in his new role. The end result with RRT brought him to tears when he reported feeling happy and positive. He said, "This is crazy, I haven't felt this peace in such a long time!”

Second, I worked with a Gifted and Talented/ Emotionally Disturbed, 11-year old who was diagnosed with School Phobia. He was taking state exams the following week and was worsening the closer date came. The parents waited in lobby. After our session, they said, "Wow! Have we've missed that smile!” They looked puzzled but didn't question the session.

Third, I had an 18-year-old female client who was diagnosed with Noonan Syndrome, Moderate Mental Retardation, low self-esteem and is easily offended (perseverating thought: "thinks people think she's stupid."). Her parent, whom is a Pediatrician, was present entire session. She was amazed with the process and the immediate results. She added, "Even if it wears off at the end of the day...it's worth it! She hasn't stop talking about this topic ever."

Yeah, I'm enjoying witnessing and being a part of the transformation. I'm quite surprised with the lightheartedness and happiness the clients leave with. I'm no different than the parent curious how long the effects will last. Either way, they are better off than before session.

I do plan on attending the next training. I'll register soon!

Thanks for the follow-up, Jon!

LindaMay

Rapid Resolution Therapy and The Brain

2012-02-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

Researchers in the areas of neuroscience and trauma such as Bessel van der Kolk, MD, and Dan Siegel, MD, have made recent discoveries that back up the success of Rapid Resolution Therapy. In RRT, the practice of keeping clients “emotionally present” as they describe a traumatic event keeps their brains from activating the fight-or-flight response.

The specific part of the brain that normally triggers this response is the amygdala, which processes emotional reactions and stores some memories. A single, highly emotional event can be well-remembered because it triggers the amygdala. When the amygdala senses danger, the brain inhibits the hippocampus and parts of the pre-frontal cortex from tampering emotional responses and integrating memory into the conscious part of the brain. As a result, the memory stays in the deeper, unconscious part of the brain. However, triggers such as smells, sounds, or images related to the memory can cause an emotional response similar to that of the original trauma.

The process of RRT helps the client keep the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex active. Rather than re-living the emotional trauma of an event as they describe it, the client revisits the event while emotionally responding to the present situation. An RRT therapist will guide the patient through the process. By disassociating the emotions from the memory, the process seems to help the brain realize that the trauma is over.

The client can move into the present and leave the trauma behind.

Article courtesy of Patricia Duggan who has a Masters in Psychology and has been practicing for 11 years. She maintains the site Psychology Degree. She writes about various subjects within the psychology field.

One RRT Session Completely Cleared Her 35 Years of Guilt and Shame

2012-02-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

“Jon,

I got a new client today whose son-in-law was just arrested for a child molestation charge from years before he became involved with her daughter and grand-daughters. She does not think her grandchildren were molested by him because there are no behavioral indicators, and there is no present threat because he was extradited to another state.

She came to me because she was experiencing severe emotional and physiological symptoms that were affecting her work and personal life. She told me that she gave her father oral sex from childhood to the age of 25. She thought she was preventing her little sister from also being molested.

After one, 50-minute session she walked out of my office cleared of guilt and shame and feeling dirty. She said, "I am a good person." She has not thought or felt that for 35 or more years.

I am not sure why I am still amazed after three years of using RRT and RTR, because it ALWAYS works!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me help others!"

Randy

Randy M. Cisne, LMHC, CHT
Peace River Counseling
www.PeaceRiverCounseling.com

Depression + Rapid Resolution Therapy

2012-02-16T15:00:00.000-05:00

Rapid Resolution Therapy takes a rather unique view of Depression. Unique, I think, because it actually leads the therapist into unique and innovative ways of seeing the effect we want to have and using language to help our clients up and out of the bogs they get in.

Jon Connelly teaches that emotion is really effort. Nature has arranged it so that any negative emotion is the primitive brainʼs tool to get the animal to take an action to get something in the world to stop. Think of a mother bear defending her young or a rabbit fleeing from a wolf. Mind is using emotion to activate their whole system to take an action to affect a situation, in rabbitʼs case to run and in mother bearʼs case, to attack. This is a radically different way to see it than attributing the cause of emotion to the external thing. Mind is not pushing big negative buttons just out of boredom or to put the animal in a bad mood. Pushing the button always has a practical and survival- oriented purpose--to make the animal act to change a situation because thatʼs good for its bloodline.

But with humans, this older part of the brain has to constantly cope with a data flow about stuff that isnʼt in existence. Past things that are no longer happening and future things that we can forecast or imagine. So with us a threatening picture can come up on the screen and the older part of our brain doesnʼt take into account it really isnʼt in existence. Mind pushes negative emotion button in a rather indiscriminate and inaccurate way. Our negative emotions in these cases are all about effort to change that situation, no matter how off-target to what is actually going on.

But hereʼs where it gets interesting. When you put effort into something that doesnʼt respond to your effort, you have done what is ideal to prepare the ground for depression. Jon explains this in terms of the old isometric exercises that TV workout shows used to feature. Nobody does these anymore. Why? Because they are depressing! Imagine going to a gym five days a week and trying to heave a bar bolted to the floor. The intellectual part of our mind wouldnʼt keep this up more than a minute or two. But the older part of the brain, with itʼs eternal now orientation, keeps trying and trying. Pouring effort into something that wonʼt respond to your effort breeds the sense of powerlessness and hopelessness that is the perfect witchesʼ brew for a depression. If someone really puts their all into this, their whole heart, telling themselves it is now a need like air and food and that their lifeʼs happiness rides on producing an outcome, even though itʼs patently impossible, you have amplified the possibility of creating a real whopper of a depression at least tenfold. Think about people you know whoʼve spent a substantial part of their lives trying to get someone or something else to change, despite ample evidence to the contrary. They are not brimming over with vim and verve. Iʼll tell you itʼs not the intellectual part of the brain thatʼs at the wheel, but the older part, attempting to pour effort and then more effort into something or someone who doesnʼt respond.

Some of Connellyʼs newest thinking on this incorporates rage. Suppose someone got violated and her brain is flashing the threat signal to do something to take an action about a situation thatʼs no longer in existence. Her mind is using negative emotion to get her to stop a situation. Could be anger, could be fear. So far you have the first part of the problem. Now add to that the human propensity to react with anger when something is perceived as wrong. Then secondarily something else happens-- anger kicks in because it shouldnʼt have happened in the first place. The moment humans tell themselves something “shouldnʼt have” happened, anger flashes as if to an actual threat happening here and now. Her mind is screaming at her to get it to stop, only she canʼt do anything about it, it happened 15 years ago. She gets the feedback signal that she hasnʼt yet got it stopped so she tries harder. Both vectors are working on her. Or to say it differently, with emotion added to the scene about shouldnʼt have, we have a second vector of threat. Anger in nature means threat, so the secondary anger from “shouldnʼt have” piggybacks on and feeds the original threat. As she gets angrier she gets more threatened which gets her angrier, which begets more threat, and so on and so on. This loop has her pouring in emotional effort from deep reserves to get something to stop or turn out differently and itʼs impossibility always leads her back to the same place. This is a desperate place to be and the only word for it is rage.

What happens next is profound. All that rage is hot, like steam in a pipe. Think about a pipe with superheated steam running through it, so hot the pipe itself is glowing red. Now the participant has to be shielded from an element of her own system. Itʼs just too hot to be tolerated. She canʼt get her hands on it to do anything with it and she cannot stay in close contact with it for very long. So her mind wraps the pipe in a thick asbestos batting. That batting is depression. Thicker and deeper than usual to keep it all under wraps. From outside, the anger can now appear quite cool, disguised, hidden far below the surface. But from inside, the batting is poisoning her with the accumulating crud of threat-- a muffled protest, an abiding bitterness, hatred, jadedness, giving way to a detachment or numbness that spiders out through more and more of the personality. There can be a near total withdrawal from life and things that might bump or wake up all the rage. Weʼve all known people wrapped tight like this.

Just putting these concepts out there is part of Connellyʼs genius. His seemingly limitless fund of metaphors and perspectives gives us more and more ways to language things. We see more clearly what to clear and how to work with people to have the effect we intend for them. I am now thinking and seeing in terms of annihilating lifeʼs should or shouldnʼt haveʼs or any other distorted meaning that has her trapped. Thereʼs plenty in life we could think of as “wrong” but how much rage do we want to swallow? Iʼm thinking lifeʼs knocks are tough enough without all the distortion. I want to blow away rage by shifting mind into done and finished with that. Iʼm seeing her free from her thick casing, graceful, content, at peace, totally in touch with what is beneficial and possible for her now.

“Thank You Jon For All That I Have Experienced and Learned”

2012-02-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Dr. Connelly

I am writing to thank you for all that I have experienced and learned during the Level I and Level II trainings over the past month or so. Prior to and during my training as a child clinical psychologist and pediatric neuropsychologist at the University of Minnesota, I studied human neuroscience. The metaphor you have created for the working mind is tremendously useful and extremely powerful – far more so than the prefix “neuro”, often sadly employed and exploited by others as an insidious marketing ploy. You have managed to remove the complex and complicated jargon and scientific terminology that often serves to distance students and instead provided a metaphor for brain function that is direct, specific, and readily graspable by both novice and expert.

I am also a war veteran. Perhaps more relevant, I became interested in psychology and behavioral neuroscience via a need to understand the impact of trauma and war, and have studied and worked with veterans of six wars over the past nearly 20 years. It was impossible not to be frustrated by the futility of therapies, particularly those described as “scientific” or “evidence based”, simply because people did not get better. There may have been some percentage of improvement in symptom reduction reported relative to research often questionable both in ecological validity and scientific rigor, but the people simply did not get better. Your method, your therapy is the first that I have seen that actually provides true relief for trauma survivors.

Beginning with an interest in war veterans and trauma, I became increasingly interested in victims of child maltreatment. One of the aspects of child victimization and exploitation that was most difficult was the deep-seated, hideous internal identity often carried by survivors of early trauma. None of the therapeutic methods appeared to work, including those involving abreactive methods. Whatever relief was produced seemed nearly always to be either short-lived or shallow. I must admit that, prior to your training, I never considered the elegance and beauty of simply replacing one mind-created image for another, in this case one of light and beauty for one of darkness and horror. It is as I briefly mentioned during the training, reminiscent of martial arts master Bruce Lee’s “The art of fighting without fighting.”

Although my practice is currently primarily based on evaluation and courtroom work rather than therapy, I hope to begin to provide RRT here in Gainesville together with the other practitioners with whom I work.

I have spoken with Sharon and Melinda regarding the possibility of working with them and with you on research and publication to extend the exposure of RRT. Although there are many peer-review journals that would not likely publish this work, there are others that indeed would, and they are serious and substantial in their contributions. I am excited about being able to contribute something, to try to begin to pay back my debt to you all. Also, if anything I have written seems quotable or useful, please feel free to use it in promotional material.

Warmest regards to Sharon, Melinda, and all the others who have been so helpful.

Thank you again,

Tom

Thomas N. Dikel, Ph.D., Florida Psychologist License # PY 6256

New Therapy Tool on the Horizon For Survivors of Sexual Assualt – The Therabot!

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Dr. Bethel at Mississippi State is developing a robotic support tool, called the "Therabot" initially in a teddy bear form. Dr. Bethel and her team will conduct further study to determine the best form for the “Therabot.” As a survivor of sexual assault Dr. Bethel has a special interest in developing therapy support tools for therapeutic use with survivors of sexual assault and other traumatic events. The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence and The Institute for Rapid Resolution Therapy along with IRRT Certified Practitioners across the country have partnered with Dr. Bethel in this exciting research.

For more information about this research or to participate, contact IRRT Executive Director, Melinda Paige, Ed.S, LMHC, NCC at 800-587-2623 or cleartrauma@gmail.com.

Bio for Cindy L. Bethel, Ph.D.

Cindy will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Mississippi State University in August 2011. She will be the Director of the Social, Therapeutic, and Robotics Systems (STaRS) Laboratory that she will be starting at MSU. Cindy is a NSF/CRA/CCC Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow and Postdoctoral Associate in the Social Robotics Laboratory at Yale University. She is currently working with Brian Scassellati as her fellowship mentor. She was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and the recipient of the 2008 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Graduate Fellowship. She graduated in August 2009 with her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Florida. Her research interests are in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), affective computing, robotics, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence. She has doctoral minors in psychology and applied statistics. She graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science Summa Cum Laude from the University of South Florida. She was awarded the King O’Neal Scholar award, the Computer Science and Engineering Outstanding Graduate Award, and the Engineering Alumni Society Outstanding Senior of the Year Award.

Additional Information:

Cindy is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assaults. She received counseling as an adult from different counselors, but received the most significant assistance from Melinda Paige, RRT Master Certified Practitioner, using the Rapid Trauma Resolution. She has a personal interest in trying to enhance the therapy process through the use of technology. Providing a robotic therapeutic support tool to not replace a therapist but provide support during therapy. This will also be a tool that patients can take home to assist in practicing their therapy techniques while at home. The platform will take the form of a stuffed animal but will be responsive and provide support and encouragement to patients undergoing therapy.

Mississippi State University and other Resources:

Mississippi State is a land-grant university with a focus in the Engineering and Agriculture disciplines. The university is a Carnegie Research Intensive university. It was established in 1878. Cindy will have the full support of the university in the establishment of a robotics program in the Computer Science and Engineering Department and will work closely with Bryan Jones, an Associate Professor in Robotics in the Computer Engineering Department. She will also collaborate with professors in the Cognitive Science and Psychology Departments at MSU.

Additionally, Cindy has resources in the Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering Departments at Yale University and a Psychophysiology professor at University of South Florida.

Thank You Jon, “My Life Is Much Richer, Joyful and Fun!”

2012-02-07T08:10:00.001-05:00

“Jon-

I have thought over and over again how to verbalize my gratitude for all that you have done and created. And yet I have been unable to really find the words. What I know is because of you I have become closer to the wife, mother, and counselor I have always wanted to be. My life is much richer, joyful, and fun since getting a chance to see you and work with you.

The best way to express myself is this:

With all my love and gratitude I shall continue to move forward seeing the world clearly with joy in my heart!”

Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Executive Director of the Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence

573-754-0348

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

www.mylifecoachtara.com

Complex Trauma and Human Trafficking

2012-02-02T07:30:00.002-05:00

I spoke at the Florida Association of Women Lawyers’ daylong seminar on human trafficking. I had prepared thoroughly for the talk, and I was honored to present on this all-too-common crime. Women and children, primarily, are trafficked every day into the United States from all over, for both labor and for sex. Actually, statistics indicate that 70 percent of trafficked women and children are forced into the sex trade—in prostitution, brothels, and sex slavery. People are trafficked into every town, every city, every state, every country, mostly from developing countries into developed countries, but not always. One 12-year-old girl from right here in Sarasota, FL, was taken to Mexico and forced into drugs and prostitution, until she was rescued three years later.

A question I heard over and over again at the seminar was, “How come I didn’t know about this?” The reason is because human trafficking is an underground business. The victims are hidden in plain sight, so to speak. They are told not to reveal their identity, not to speak of their living conditions or any other information that might give away their status as victims or the status of their perpetrators. All identifying information is taken from them, and the perpetrators tell them that either they or their families will be greatly harmed if they ever disclose their conditions.

Human trafficking is truly horrifying.

What was also really interesting, I found, was how every facet of the trafficked individual’s being is affected as a result of human trafficking. The new diagnosis of Complex Trauma refers to the affects of interpersonal traumas, multiple traumas over a prolonged period of time. It refers to people in concentration camps, living in a war zone, in forced prostitution, human trafficking and ethnic cleansing, among other heinous conditions. The individual suffers emotionally, behaviorally, physiologically and perceptually, so it may be seen how it is a wrap-around condition.

Luckily, not all victims of human trafficking are scarred for life. Many do in fact go on to lead productive, even stellar, lives. Somaly Mam is one of them. She is a Cambodian woman who was sold into prostitution when she was 12-years old by a supposed “grandfather.” She was kept in deplorable conditions, beaten and raped daily, tortured and punished constantly. When she finally did escape, she decided to work to save others who were taken by kidnappers and human traffickers. She founded the Somaly Mam Foundation (www.somaly.org), which has homes/shelters all over the world for women who have escaped such torturous experiences.

For those women who do not fare as well, however, there is Rapid Resolution Therapy to create clarity and understanding. People like Somaly Mam can talk about their experiences as information about their past, without the emotional attachment. That is the end result of RRT, and by disappearing those disturbing emotions they end up with clarity and strength.

Susan Wolfson.LCSW

Susan Wolfson, LCSW, is Certified Practitioner of Rapid Resolution Therapy. Please visit Susan’s website for further information at http://www.susanwolfson.com.

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

2012-01-30T09:39:00.005-05:00

“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!

2012-01-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

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."

2012-01-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

"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!

2012-01-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

“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

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

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

Certified Practitioners Please Submit Your Miraculous RRT Stories!

2011-12-27T09:20:00.005-05:00

We are in need of more case studies (3-5 pages) about your RRT clients for our upcoming RRT book. We want the book to speak to the miraculous stories of healing that you are generating in your practice. We have received some exciting and profound stories, but we need more. Please take a moment, think back over this year and share with me (via email) at least one case that can touch someone else out there who is searching for help.

Our goal is to have the case study drafts in by mid January so we can edit and polish them for publication. Together we can finish building our book, get it in the hands of our potential clients, enhance marketing your RRT practice, build your client base and heal more people! Please contact me at drsrichie@earthlink.net or at drrichiemelvan@gmail.com.

IRRT's Veteran Salute and Military Speaking Opportunities

2011-12-22T13:30:00.003-05:00

The IRRT joined our nation in honoring our Veterans in November 2011 with participation in the Military Officers Association of America's (MOAA) salute to Veteran Caregivers in San Antonio, Texas. It is clear that more help is needed for our men and women returning from the today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and those who fought in previous wars).

Look for more timely information about our troops at our upcoming "Veteran Care" button at our cleartrauma.com website. This new button will serve as a resource for you and a central place for us to disseminate all new information coming out from the VA and the Department of Defense. It also has a recently published article about my military career and work with IRRT entitled "Leading from the Rear...A Retired Army Colonel Still Serves." There, you also will find a soon to be published case study about a Vietnam Helicopter Pilot treated by Dr. Jon Connelly.

Look to hear from various MOAA chapter presidents in January 2012 to request speakers for their upcoming monthly chapter meetings. I will be presenting the list of volunteer speakers from the IRRT Military Interest group at the Winter MOAA meeting on January 14th. If you have not signed up yet and want to be included in the list of potential RRT speakers please contact me at drsrichie@earthlink.net or at drrichiemelvan@gmail.com.

IRRT Pilot Study Results from the 24th Annual US Psychiatric Mental Health Congress Poster Session

2011-12-19T10:30:00.004-05:00

The results of our 2011 IRRT Pilot study were presented at the 24^th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress Poster Session, Venetian Hotel on November 8, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The RRT poster elements and the accompanying white paper "An Evaluation of Rapid Resolution Therapy for Post-Trauma Survivors" can be found under our new "Research" button at www.cleartrauma.com. The conference participants included 75% psychiatrists/other physicians and 14 percent nurse practitioners/psychiatric nurses; with 45% office based, 25% community based and 18 percent hospital based. We had brisk traffic by our poster table and it generated much interest our RRT treatment and training throughout the day.

The pilot study validated the PCL-C (17 item PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version) as a quick, efficient and reliable tool to measure the degree of PTSD in our RRT clients and in the control group of clients treated at Manatee Glens. A comparison of pre and post treatment scores demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in the trauma scores after one session of RRT treatment for four of five RRT clients (one client's scores did not change). Of the two Manatee Glens clients who returned their post treatment PCL-C, one demonstrated a reliable improvement (not by chance) and the other had no change after eight weeks of CBT treatment. We extend our sincere thanks to our volunteer RRT therapists who helped with the study and to our research partners Manatee Glens Non-Profit Behavioral Health Hospital & Out-Patient Practice, the University of Portland and Georgia State University.

With our lessons learned, the IRRT is now ready to move forward with an expanded study in January 2012. RRT Study 2 will include 60 RRT clients and qualified volunteer certified RRT therapists (professional degree with minimum of 100 RRT training hours). We are identifying a second assessment tool (in addition to the PCL-C) for Study 2 which will enhance our ability to publish our findings in several professional journals. All study documents (ie., welcome letter, invitation flyers, consent forms, assessment tools, data sheets and stamped/addressed envelopes) will be provided to the RRT therapists. Stay tuned at the research button for updates and be ready for our announcements and invitations to participate in Study 2.

Helping Returning Troops With PTSD

2011-12-15T14:00:00.002-05:00

By Courtney Armstrong, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

As we recognized Veterans Day last month, many prepared for troops deployed in Iraq to return home, following President Obama's recent announcement that troops there will be withdrawn by the end of 2011. Despite varying opinions on the troop withdrawal, there is no question that life can be difficult for troops making the transition back to everyday life.

A RAND Corporation study has shown that nearly 20% of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression upon their return home. Even older veterans, like those who served in Vietnam, can experience a resurgence of PTSD when they retire and have more time to reflect on the past.

So what are symptoms of PTSD and how can we assist our veterans in overcoming it and enjoying life again?

PTSD can occur after someone has witnessed or been involved in an event that was life threatening or was an extremely disturbing event out of the realm of normal human experience. Symptoms include reexperiencing the event in the form of nightmares or flashbacks; feeling easily startled, anxious, or irritable and on edge most days; avoidance of anything that reminds you of the event; and/or feeling numb and detached from things.

Fortunately there are better treatments available for PTSD than there were 20 years ago, and the majority of these treatments can bring relief in as few as one to ten sessions. Treatments usually involve training you in effective ways to calm your emotions and bodily responses, reprocessing the traumatic memory (or memories) so they do not replay or haunt you, and creating new meaning in your life in spite of the trauma.

I use a method called Rapid Resolution Therapy that has been very effective in clearing PTSD. RRT differs from other methods in that the person does not have to relive the painful emotions associated with the event in order to clear it. In addition, this approach seems to shorten the time needed in therapy with many of my clients reporting complete relief from PTSD symptoms within 1-6 sessions.

Other treatments for PTSD include Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. SSRI antidepressants like Paxil, Zoloft, or Lexapro have also been shown to reduce symptoms, but work best if the person is also involved in trauma-focused therapy of some sort.

Many Vets don't seek treatment for PTSD because there is still a stigma attached to going to a "shrink" and frankly, they don't want to discuss what happened. I understand- the horror many Vets have witnessed and experienced is beyond human imagination. Some Vets are also haunted by the missions they had to carry out that harmed or killed others in order to protect democracy. They often do not feel a therapist could understand or be able to relate to these experiences, unless the therapist has also had experience in combat. However, what is most important is that you find a therapist who has the capacity to understand what the experience was like for YOU, knows how to assist you in reprocessing the memory, and collaborates with you to access your resilience and reconnect with life.

PTSD is treatable. Sometimes symptoms clear on their own, but the earlier you seek treatment, the better. If symptoms go on for a year or longer, the less likely they will subside without treatment. For more information on combat related PTSD, visit the National Center for PTSD. Click here for more information about Rapid Resolution Therapy.

Courtney Armstrong, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor and nationally known speaker on trauma and grief. She is the author of Transforming Traumatic Grief: Six Steps to Move from Grief to Peace After Sudden or Violent Death of a Loved One.

The ISSV Holiday Wish List

2011-12-13T08:30:00.002-05:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Did you know that next year will be the 10th anniversary for the Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence? I'm really excited to be a part of this organization, and I want to make our 10th anniversary an amazing one. One of the big plans we have for the ISSV in 2012 is to have booths and presenters at local and national conferences in conjunction with an amazing fundraising project created by Melinda Paige, Ed.S, LPC, LMHC, NCC. However, I need help getting this large project and many others off the ground and flying.

So consider this my ISSV holiday wish list, Santa! I'm looking for Certified and Master Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy Practitioners to volunteer their time to be on a committee to help make our 10th anniversary a big bang. Let's get the word out locally and nationally that trauma treatment need not be painful; that in fact trauma treatment can be painless, effective, and long lasting. As well, we are reaching out to survivors of sexual violence to let them know that this cutting edge treatment is available to those without the financial resources. If you're up for volunteering, please drop me an e-mail at ISSVed@gmail.com. (E-mail is the best; I have a bit of an addiction to my e-mails!)

Last but not least I hope your Thanksgiving was delightful, and the rest of your holiday season is filled with joy and love!

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

RRT Training Corner - Mother Bear, Out of Range, The Snowflake and Goat

2011-12-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

By Tamara Ashley, LAPC, NCC, IRRT Training Director

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Hello fellow RRT Practitioners! I am so grateful to be part of this community of healers and to have the opportunity to serve as IRRT's Training Director. So much has changed in the past year--the Institute is growing stronger, word is getting out about RRT, and the demand for therapists skilled in this approach continues to grow. Just as Jon continues to refine and improve his approach, we are working together to make our training program even more effective, and to support you as you keep building your skills. This column is a place for me to share some recent updates with you, including Jon's newest refinements to the RRT process.

For those of you who haven't been to a training recently, I'm going to share a new addition to the RRT way of thinking about how our minds work and why we experience painful emotions. If you are familiar with goat and snowflake, this gives us some new language, and adds the concept of "out of range."

Mother Bear

When mother bear sees a crazy guy smacking her cub with a broomstick, she gets angry. Why is mother bear angry? Most people would say that the guy is making her angry, but we're going to think of it this way: when mother bear sees what's happening, her mind causes her to become alert, motivated, and strong--what we call angry--in order to get her to do something to make it stop. Every time an animal experiences a painful emotion, it's designed to get the animal to do something in order to make something in the world stop. Every time a person experiences a painful emotion, it's coming from the primitive part of the mind, and it's designed to get the person to do something in order to make something in the world stop.

How long would the mother bear be feeling a painful emotion before doing something? You don't see a bear just sitting there feeling resentful. The mind of an animal causes the feeling to get the animal to do something, and it only causes the feeling when the thing is happening, and if it is within range. This is why we don't see dogs jumping into the air trying to catch eagles. Your primitive mind will only generate an emotion to cause you to do something if it believes the thing is happening, and that it is within range.

"Out of Range"

Here's an example to illustrate "out of range." The door behind you opens, and somebody screams "there's a little girl choking!" What happens in your body? You become alert, and your heart's beating faster. You're ready to take action. And you say "Where?" And he says "Idaho." Immediately, your heart slows back down, shoulders drop, breath returns to normal, and you calmly get back to what you were doing. Not because you don't believe that a little girl is choking in Idaho, and not because it's fine with you if people choke as long as it's in Idaho, but because it's out of range.

The Snowflake and Goat

The intellect (snowflake) can access data about things that aren't happening and can think about things that aren't within range. No other animal's mind is flashing information about a thing if the thing doesn't exist. If a rabbit sees a wolf, it means there is a wolf--not just data about a wolf. Primitive mind (goat) misreads the data about the thing as the thing; it misreads it as being within range when it isn't, and then it causes an emotion in order to get us to take action. As soon as goat gets that whatever it's jazzing us up about is out of range, it stops jazzing us up.

Things can be out of range geographically, but they can also be out of range for other reasons--an action might be out of range because it isn't possible, or because it isn't possible at this moment, under current circumstances. If a potentially useful action hasn't yet come to mind, then right now, it's out of range. If you are already familiar with the process for eliminating guilt and anger, you'll find that the responses "it's out of range" and "there's nothing that needs to be done" are extremely effective and can be applied in a variety of situations.

New Workshop at the RRT Level III Training - Learn How To Market Your Practice!

2011-12-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Marketing Your Rapid Resolution Therapy Practice

Pre-Conference Workshop at the Level III Tampa Training

Certified RRT Master Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, will be offering her workshop on "How To Market Your RRT Practice" at the Level III training. Courtney has seen great success within her own private practice and would like to share her expertise with you!

What you will learn:

How to create a niche market
Elements of an effective website and blog
How to build strong relationships with referral sources in your community
How to use social media marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Coordinating with RRT's website, marketing materials, and peer relationships

Dates/Times/Locations/Cost:

Tampa, Florida

January 20, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
Franciscan Retreat Center
3010 N Perry Ave., Tampa, FL 33603-5345
Click here to register!

Cost: $100; includes a workbook and presentation DVD.

There are no CEU's for this workshop. It is for educational purposes only.

For assistance with registration, please contact Lynne Frost at 1-800-587-2623 or rtrblue@gmail.com

Reminder: Level III RRT Training in Tampa Jan. 20 - 22

2011-12-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

Reminder: Level III Clinical Hypnosis with Rapid Trauma Resolution Therapy Training in Tampa, FL Jan. 20-22, 2012.

If you haven't already registered for Level III training with Dr. Jon Connelly, Master and Certified RRT Practitioners, and your fellow mental health practitioners, the time is now!

During the training, you will further refine your skills learned in Level I and Level II trainings. You will have more opportunities for experiential learning in one-on-one break-out sessions and small group sessions lead by one of our Certified Practitioners or Dr. Connelly.

To register for the Level III Training in Tampa, please visitwww.rapidresolutiontherapy.com or call 1-800-587-2623. If you are registering for the Level III training as one of your tuition waived trainings (a $595 value), please contact Lynne at 1-800-587-2623 or you can email her at rtrblue@gmail.com.

Hope to see you all there!

RRT Success at the 2011 Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress

2011-11-30T11:55:00.002-05:00

Rapid Resolution Therapy treatment outcome study results recently presented at the 2011 Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress are available under 'Research' at www.cleartrauma.com. A follow-up study will begin in January 2012.

Presenters at the conference included (shown left to right) Master Rapid Resolution Therapist Melinda Paige, Ed.S, LPC, LMHC, NCC, Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist Sharon Richie-Melvan, Ph.D., and Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist Diane Vines, Ph.D., R.N.

For more information about IRRT research contact Research Director, Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan at 352-476-5599.

Rapid Resolution Therapy Training IMMEDIATELY Worked For Me!

2011-11-25T08:30:00.001-05:00

Holy smoke! I just got back from Level II training.....I shared the Changing Perceived Identity stuff with a patient during a biofeedback session today, in the context of a grief issue (using the EXACT WORDS AS I LEARNED THEM)......and watched her transform in front of me! It was amazing.

Please tell Jon THANKS. I was already in awe. Now I am dumbfounded.

I will be signing up for Level III in Tampa immediately!

Thanks to all of you,

Amy Hudson, Jackson, MS

New Workshops at the Florida and California Level III RRT Trainings!

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Marketing Your Rapid Resolution Therapy Practice

Pre-Conference Workshop at the Florida and California Level III Trainings

Certified RRT Master Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, will be offering her workshop on "How To Market Your RRT Practice" at both Level III trainings in 2012. Courtney has seen great success within her own private practice and would like to share her expertise with you!

What you will learn:

How to create a niche market
Elements of an effective website and blog
How to build strong relationships with referral sources in your community
How to use social media marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Coordinating with RRT's website, marketing materials, and peer relationships

Dates/Times/Locations:

Florida

January 20, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
Franciscan Retreat Center
3010 N Perry Ave., Tampa, FL 33603-5345
Click here to register!

California

June 1, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
The Glen Ivy Center
25005 Glen Ivy Rd., Corona, CA 92888
Click here to register!

Cost: $100; includes a workbook and presentation DVD.

There are no CEU's for this workshop. It is for educational purposes only.

For assistance with registration, please contact Lynne Frost at 1-800-587-2623 or rtrblue@gmail.com

RRT: An Innovative Approach For Healing Trauma

2011-11-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

By Courtney Armstrong, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Rapid Resolution Therapy is my treatment of choice when it comes to clearing the negative effect of traumatic memories. This innovative method was developed by Dr. Jon Connelly and often yields results in just 1-3 sessions.

Below are some of the elements of RRT that I love:

1. Start with the solution

In RRT, you start by creating a symbolic image of your desired way of thinking, feeling, and responding. We use elements of hypnosis to get your mind responding even more to this image and experience this desired response in a deep sensory way.

2. Stay emotionally present

The above process has the effect of creating a positive space where you can feel okay staying connected to the present moment. Then, we use a process that will cause your mind to pinpoint the exact event to be cleared and reprocessed. You will be able to describe just the factual details of the event while remaining emotionally present to the current experience. You do not have to emotionally re-experience or relive the event. There are some neuroscience discoveries that suggest why this practice of staying present works so well to clear the emotional intensity of a traumatic memory. For more info, see my post on Neuroscience and RRT.

3. Use of playfulness and humor

Dr. Connelly is masterful at using play and humor to diffuse fear, anger, and shame. We make new associations through use of humor and games that reach the deeper level of the mind and create emotional shifts. Clients who came in crying, are able to laugh and find joy. Many clients tell me that they actually had "fun" during their RRT session and were so happy it was not a painful experience.

4. Use of metaphor and stories

In RRT we use lots of stories and metaphors to activate new ways of thinking about things and perceiving yourself.One of my favorite metaphors is to consider that who you are is not your body, your thoughts, or your beliefs. Let's think of who you really are is a being of Light at your center. A Light of peace, wisdom, and excitement. Nothing can harm a beam of light. Someone can shoot at a light beam, curse at a light beam, or try to chop it with an axe. Yet, that Light keeps on shining. It is resilient, clean, and clear. Someone may have messed with your body, but they didn't touch that Light. That "Light" can only be touched by love that you welcome.

If you want to learn more about RRT, you can visit Dr. Connelly's website at www.cleartrauma.com and check out our training video!

Courtney Armstrong is a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in trauma therapy and has a practice in Chattanooga, TN. She leads workshops for mental health professions in Rapid Resolution Therapy and other creative therapeutic approaches. To contact Courtney, visit her website at http://www.courtneyarmstronglpc.com/. Visit Courtney's blog at http://traumatherapyalternatives.com/.

Encouraging Primary Care Providers to Screen for Post-Trauma Stress Disorder

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

By Diane Vines, Ph.D., R.N.

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

The number of Americans identified as suffering from PTSD is increasing dramatically. Most of these victims receive their health care in the primary care system. These providers need to be encouraged and taught how to identify these clients and refer them for such effective therapies as RRT.

The National Institute of Mental Health (2011) estimated 7.7 million American adults 18 and older suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This number includes both active and retired military and civilian survivors. The survivors may have experienced acute stress reactions immediately following a traumatic event but, unlike most trauma victims, do not recover after a a few weeks following the traumatic event and have either an acute or chronic PTSD reaction. Another possibility is that the survivor may appear to recover and months or years later experience an acute or chronic reaction.

Why should primary care providers screen for PTSD in the patients they evaluate and treat. For military survivors, the Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs are diligently attempting to identify and treat cases especially of acute stress reactions.

However, often active military members refuse to admit to their stress reactions believing it will harm their career. Also, their reactions may be delayed and not recognized until the member is back into the non-military primary care systems. Civilian survivors of such traumas as rape, natural disasters, and domestic violence usually are receiving their health care from community primary care providers.

Since primary care providers are so important in identifying cases of PTSD in the community, it is important for RRT practitioners to encourage and teach these providers to screen patients for PTSD. The two most commonly recommended screening tools are the Primary Care PTSD four item instrument (PC-PTSD) and the 17 item PTSD Checklist - Civilian (PCL-C). Both tools are used to identify the presence and intensity of the three or four major symptoms of PTSD - re-experiencing, avoiding, arousal, and numbness.

Once RRT practitioners help primary care practitioners identify PTSD victims, they can encourage these providers refer to the practitioners for RRT treatment of their reactions. So the encouragement and education of providers should pay off in additional persons experiencing the healing benefits of RRT.

Diane Vines, Ph.D., R.N., is a Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy and is currently the associate professor of nursing at the University of Portland. In addition, Diane is the Chair of the Board and Co-owner at Arnica Creative/Publishing. To connect with Diane, please click here.

Call To All Certified RRT Practitioners The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence

2011-11-16T08:30:00.000-05:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence (ISSV) community is getting bigger! The ISSV now has a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn page, and we even have our own blog. Soon, and I mean really soon - like so soon I can almost taste it (if a website had a taste), our website will be up and running!

The ISSV's mission is to train mental health professionals to utilize cutting edge methods of trauma treatment to eliminate the ongoing effects of trauma. In addition, our mission is to make sure that treatment is available to those with financial limitations. Finally, we are committed to continuing research and development of these therapeutic methods.

The institute must reach out to health and mental health professionals, law enforcement, clergy, hospitals, prisons, school systems, and social service agencies so that victims of sexual trauma can receive treatment from trained practitioners. Our main focus for the ISSV website is getting the word out to those survivors with financial limitations.

***CALL TO CERTIFIED PRACTITIONERS***

I am putting out a request to all our Certified Practitioners for any testimonials you may have from survivors. Whether they are written or video clips, we want to make our client testimonial page as powerful as possible! Also if you, as a Certified Practitioner, have a testimonial about treating survivors through Rapid Resolution Therapy I would like to add those to clinician's testimonial page as well. You can e-mail those testimonials to me at ISSVed@gmail.com.

If I haven't said it lately....THANKS for all the great work being done out there through RRT!

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

Rapid Resolution Therapy: A Brain-Based Approach To Trauma Therapy

2011-11-14T07:30:00.001-05:00

By Melinda Paige, Ed.S, LPC, LMHC, NCC

and Courtney Armstrong, LPC
Master Certified Practitioners, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Painful exposure techniques are not required to clear the emotional charge of a traumatic memory. All that is required is keeping the client "emotionally present" as she describes the details of the event. This concept was introduced by trauma clinician and founder of Rapid Resolution Therapy, Dr. Jon Connelly, Ph.D, LCSW. Current neuroscience and trauma research by Bessel van der Kolk, MD and Dan Siegel, MD have also reached similar conclusions.

Why does this work? According to Master Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, it works because when we keep the client emotionally present, we are helping to prevent the amygdala from activating the fight/flight response. The problem is when the amygdala and fight/flight response go into high gear, the brain inhibits the function of the hippocampus and parts of the pre-frontal cortex. The hippocampus and certain aspects of the pre-frontal cortex are responsible for integrating memory and tempering emotional responses. If these parts of the brain are "off-line," then the memory stays seared into the deeper brain as a non-verbal, implicit, felt memory. When a memory stays in this implicit form, associated sensory details like smells, times of year, sounds, and visual images can trigger the same feelings of terror as the original event. However, these triggers are often "unconscious" to the client.

One goal of any trauma therapy is to integrate the traumatic memory into conscious, explicit memory. To do this, we have to keep the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex open and on-line. If you have the client emotionally re-live the event then you inadvertently activate the fight/flight response right there in the session and cause the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex to go offline again. According to Connelly (2011), in order to facilitate client recall of a traumatic event without abreaction, effective trauma therapists ground clients in the present by providing experiences in session that require them to respond emotionally to the present situation or "what is happening."

Connelly also suggests providing opportunities for clients to be in a "power position" while retelling the trauma narrative so that the client has a resolution experience which is the antithesis of the often disempowering traumatic event. This process allows the client's central nervous system to remain within the "window of tolerance" (van der Kolk, 2010) for reintegration of the previously traumatic memory within normal memory.

Another Rapid Resolution Therapy Success Story!

2011-11-10T18:30:00.001-05:00

I work in a community mental health agency in Pasco County, FL. Today I was booked from 8 am to 6 pm....including an Anger Management group! At noon, my schedule was blocked for 120 minutes....my morning was running behind as I tried frantically to be fully present and get the paperwork done. My noon client hadn't checked in so I reviewed the file. This client was a woman I had met one time in her home through our Veteran's initiative grant at the request of the therapist working through this grant. My schedule was blocked, but I was supposed to be at her home, not in the office and it was pouring rain. It seemed like a good way to get out of the office at the time!

I rushed to the appointment and met the primary therapist there. The client is a 40-plus year old woman who had been sexually abused by her father and uncle from the age of 6 until she escaped the house at 16-years old. She is married and has an adult son, however the impact of the trauma was getting increasingly worse for her.

My client was able to identify a specific incident from when she was 6-years old. She remembered being forced to perform oral sex on both her father and her uncle in the presence of her 3-year old sister. The threat was do it or she and her sister would be killed. Using Rapid Resolution Therapy I stepped her through the events that occurred and her symbol was the wind. The wind was able to blow the meaning her mind had placed on the event away. Her mind of course showed her the perfect symbol! At the end of the session she reported, "I don't feel anything about it now....my nightmare is over."

I am so grateful for the RRT skills I have learned and the opportunity to use them with people who many times have given up hope that the trauma will ever go away.

~ Elizabeth Dillon, M.Ed

Heal Trauma and Grief with Storytelling

2011-11-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

By Courtney Armstrong, LPC
Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Sometimes people are so disturbed by the way someone died that they focus more on the deceased person's "dying story" than they do on the person's living stories. Yet reflecting on our living experiences with the deceased is an integral part of healing.

When I interviewed grievers for my book, they consistently stated one of the most healing experiences is hearing stories about their deceased loved one. Yet, people are often afraid to mention the name of the deceased to the bereaved. Please know that the majority of grievers enjoy reminiscing about their deceased loved one and want to remember their life, not their death. A reader recently wrote me about this stating:

"I read your book and thought it was fantastic! I have tons of memories [of my deceased mother], unfortunately all of the ones I remembered or chose to remember were painful. After reading your book, I started looking through my photos and videos and I found myself laughing and remembering how that laughter came about. My memories of my mom now have some laughter in them, and so do some of my dreams...You helped me to see a section that I have been missing, thank you."

Constructing stories is valuable for another reason. Frequently after a traumatic event, feelings, sensory information, and implicit memories of the event are typically left hanging in fragments that researchers believe are mostly processed and stored on the right side of the brain. Yet, the logical, linear-oriented left side of the brain has a drive to make sense of these fragments and put them into some kind of logical order. Building a coherent story based on your memories incorporates these fragments, bringing context and structure to them, which can help you heal.

Welcome! New Rapid Resolution Therapy Mentor Program!

2011-11-03T14:15:00.002-04:00

Calling all Certified RRT Healers!

Remember the first day of your Level 1 Training? Baffled, confused, and excited; unsure of what was going on. Even so, you stayed in your seat and now are ever so grateful that you did. You did it by sheer will power (and you wanted to see what Dr. Jon would say next!); but now we want to make that transition easier for the next Level 1 students by providing each with a "welcome" sponsor/buddy/greeter/translator. This RRT volunteer would telephone an incoming student with just a few words of wisdom and advice to prep them for class eg., welcome to our family/community; be prepared to experience a profound change in your practice and your life; fasten your seat belt and get ready for an exciting roller coaster ride; this is not your grandmother's class with power points slide and death by hand written notes (note taking is prohibited, you will get a workbook at the end); let yourself relax, absorb and experience this revolutionary healing process!"

We recently piloted this process quite by accident! It started with a phone call from a potential student during our RRT August 2011 retreat. She had poured through the RRT website and just wanted to talk with someone about the training and treatment process ("Is all of this really true?"). She went through our list of certified therapists and contacted the one who lived closest to her; it turned out we are neighbors. We chatted just before her training weekend and I shared some of the above thoughts with her. She left me a telephone message the very first night after her training; she was flying high with excitement. We finally met face to face the next day and she shared that had I not "prepped" her, she might have left training the first day: "It was so different and I was so lost, I didn't know what I was doing. But I remember you said to hang in there and sure enough by Sunday I knew this is what I wanted to do." Personally I had been blessed to have had Dr. Jon as my RRT healer before I went to my Level 1 training. I had no problem staying in my seat during my first training; I just wanted to lean so I could give someone else the gift that I had received.

But, if you haven't experienced an RRT session, remember what it was like that first day of class. Remember those feelings and vow right now to help smooth the transition for an incoming Level 1 student. If you can spare a few minutes to call and welcome someone, please send an email to me at drsrichie@earthlink.net and we will set it up. Thank you to those who have already volunteered to send in your experiences as an RRT healer and your RRT client stories. If you have not done so yet, it is not too late. Send me your thoughts and ideas for our Book of Hope so you can be listed as a book contributor (great marketing tool for you!). Another big thank you to our RRT volunteers who have offered to speak to military groups in their community. I just returned from the annual Wounded Warrior Symposium in Wash., DC and witnessed some powerful and profound speakers. The program title said it all, "The Journey Back: Helping Wounded Warriors and Their Families Transition [back to their communities]." Clearly they need our help to heal and get back to their communities. Again, email me if you want to join this growing military interest group of RRT healers and speakers. In next month's issue, look for new details about the completion of RRT Study I and preparation for RRT Study 2. Until then, know that I am so very proud to be taking this healing journey with each of you!

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.

Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong Interviewed On National News!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.002-04:00

Courtney Armstrong, LPC, Interviewed on Coping with the

9/11 Anniversary

As this year marks the tenth anniversary of 9/11, many individuals are reminded of their friends and family who were lost that day. Dr. Steve Salvatore of WPIX-TV New York's "Dr. Steve Show" interviewed Rapid Resolution Therapy Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, last month about coping with traumatic grief.

During the interview, Dr. Steve highlighted Courtney's recent book "Transforming Traumatic Grief." Courtney shared her insight on how to stay in the present, how to cope, and how survivors can still feel connected with their loved ones.

Click here to listen to this wonderful interview!

Post-Traumatic Growth

2011-10-27T14:00:00.000-04:00

By Mark A. Chidley, LMHC, CAP
Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Recently on National Public Radio, three trauma experts discussed what we have learned in the 10 years since 9/11. Two of them, professors, remarked on developing a fascination with Post-Traumatic Growth. The term refers to the fact that some people who go through a trauma of seismic proportions move out of their grief rather quickly, take stock of their priorities, and redirect their effort and commitment in an all-encompassing way. They do so in a way that clarifies identity and direction, stabilizes emotion, and makes them stronger for the future.

It rather amazed me that this was considered a new concept. The Chinese character for crisis is a combination of the words for "danger" and "opportunity," the possibility of two roads leading out of trauma. China has been around a long time. So who could argue that civilizations have experienced, from the earliest times, traumatic blows that challenge their very existence, and advance, or not, depending on how well they are able manage the opportunity side of the equation? Post-Traumatic Growth is no new thing either for a person or society.

So what is Post-Traumatic Growth? To put a human face on it, I saw an interview leading up to the 10-year mark with former mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani, who walked New Yorkers and much of the country through the hell of those days. The reporter asked him how 9/11 changed him. He paused a long minute. You could tell he didn't have a prepared response.

And then he said, 9/11 had changed him in just about every way a person could be changed.

Spiritually, as he learned to pray at his time of greatest need and got the answers he sought, enlarging his faith forever. He had awareness of his mortality. He realized we all, sooner or later, will face a situation that dwarfs the resources, skill, or strength we can bring to it. Or, as jazz great Wynton Marsalis once put it, "Life has a paddle for every behind." And it stretched Rudy Giuliani into a greater grasp of his life's work and the call the hour had placed upon him. It was as if history itself had put a hand on the middle of his back and pushed him onto the stage to lead the people of New York through their darkest hour. He discerned that his message on behalf of all New Yorkers had to be this: that though buildings may come down, New Yorkers would not be cowered by terrorist acts. That their answer had to be they would not live in fear, scared into a despair that would make them relinquish the freedoms we live by. Being the voice of that message and getting it out in those days following the attacks took him into territory he never knew he could travel. The look on his face told me this was no mere flag-waving by a veteran politician. He meant every word. He really had been stretched. He had experienced Post-Traumatic Growth.

What to notice is this: Post-Traumatic Growth turns on getting a sudden glimpse of the direction life wants you to go. It is not about being brazenly over-confident or well-prepared. No one is. You may wonder, "Wow, am I strong enough for this?" People interviewed after a disaster usually admit to such thoughts. But they also say they just did what they had to do; they couldn't have done it any other way.

As one moves into Post-Traumatic Growth, mind is shifting into HD mode and getting a picture, a vivid model of how to function optimally, for that moment and future moments. There is no division in the mind, but a rapid winnowing out of what no longer matters, and sudden clarity about what matters most and what one needs to do next. The mind seems to zero in and see the bigger picture all at once; it brings to awareness what is most beneficial and possible. So there is an economy of thought and of action for that particular context. It is a transcendent moment that may be over in a flash, like the passengers who rushed the cockpit of United 93 to save the lives of people they would never meet. Or it may reshuffle things for a lifetime, like the widow of a fireman killed in the line of duty, who started a national foundation to benefit the kids of all fallen firemen everywhere.

One gets a vivid model of the self they are meant to be. The mind accelerates toward it, getting on all levels how most of the rules, roles, and messages that pertained to one's former life are no longer relevant. One sluffs off a skin that no longer fits and moves ahead with a unified identity and mission. The energy that is thrown off in this metamorphosis is palpable to those around, the difference in strength - unmistakable. As it expands, this energy can connect with others and take them in. On the anvil of humanity falls the hammering blow of trauma that life deals out. Some metal shatters and breaks off as slag. But some metal is tempered, made stronger as its atoms rearrange, and are fashioned into a whole new instrument, capable of more.

Mark A. Chidley, LMHC, 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.

Thank You To The IRRT Community!

2011-10-24T07:30:00.001-04:00

Thank you to RRT Certified Practitioners Tara Dickherber, Tamara Ashley, Melinda Paige and Alicia Dorton for assisting Jon at this Atlanta training. Participants at the September Atlanta training had the following to say about their experiences with Dr. Connelly:

"Not what I expected, and I wouldn't have changed the outcome. Perfect!" ~ Vicki VanDeiler, LPC

"Complete paradigm shift on many levels. This training shifted my entire perspective of the therapeutic process. To continue with my old ways of doing therapy would be completely unethical."

~ Deborah Blanchard, LPC

"Undoubtedly the best training I have attended! It will change the way I think about and conduct therapy."

~ Barabar Keown, Ph.D., LPCwth

How Does One Benefit From Rapid Resolution Therapy?

2011-10-21T07:40:00.001-04:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

I was recently posed with this question: How does one benefit from Rapid Resolution Therapy?

And obviously that triggered my mind into finding a way to verbalize how to answer that very specific question. To some it may seem like a relatively simple question. Honestly I usually get asked, "What is Rapid Resolution Therapy?" I've got that answer down! But, "How does RRT benefit the clients we see?"

Well first let me tell you how it's benefited me, because yes I have been a client of RRT. My ability to remain calm when facing a storm of some stressful event is amazing now. I used to be a ball of anxiety, worry, and insomnia when faced with such times. It wasn't just anxiety either though. I used to get mad at people or events so easily and hold grudges; if there had been a contest for the longest held grudge I'd likely have a pretty big trophy. It's not that stressful events don't happen to me now, they still do. When it happens I can now look at it, see what I can and can not, act accordingly, and be at peace with what I did and how it turned out. Oh my gosh, can I tell you HOW grateful I am to feel OK with what I did (or didn't do) and not be riddled with guilt, shame, or over analysis?!

My husband (pictured on the right) tells me he enjoys being around me now more than he did before I saw an RRT therapist. My friends ask me how they can get what I have because they see (in their words not mine) how confident and comfortable I have become in my life.

It's not that someone becomes emotionally neutral after RRT. I've started explaining to clients that it's what I call blips. Anxiety, anger, even some sadness may come up, but they will be minor compared to what they had been. Best of all, they will leave quickly and barely register on the emotional radar. Mostly people are left with gratitude, joy, and peacefulness. It just spills out and makes a noticeable impression upon others! So that's my long answer to my short question!

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

Thank You For Your Support!

2011-10-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

Thank you for your continued support for Jon and his Institute for Rapid Resolution Therapy. Your support has allowed for the tremendous growth of the IRRT over the last several years. There are 225 Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy practitioners and that number continues to grow as Jon trains and certifies increasing numbers of mental health and medical practitioners throughout the country. In addition, nearly 2,000 friends follow our Rapid Resolution Therapy Facebook Fanpage! The successes of both the Institute and its practitioners have created a stronger RRT brand that we can now use to market ourselves as certified practitioners.

We are excited to share these new IRRT Certification Programs with you: the Master Certified Practitioner program and the Centers for Rapid Resolution Therapy program. Our IRRT community includes private practice building, web development, internet marketing, branding, public relations and training specialists available to assist you in marketing your RRT practice in your community. We belong to a collaborative of highly skilled psychotherapists working together to build our practices in order to eliminate our dependence on managed care while allowing us to serve those without access to financial resources.

The IRRT has assembled a team of experts who will assist us in building independent mental health practices that meet our financial needs as clinicians and provide excellent mental health care for those we serve. Finally, as we build a strong consortium of mental health practitioners working cooperatively to build our referral-base we also continue to grow and develop our therapeutic skills as RRT practitioners. When we combine our intentions to build successful practices our energy and expands and we all benefit as a unified collaborative of healers.

Your feedback is welcome and has been integral to the creation of IRRT Certification Programs. These new IRRT Certification Program Guidelines are now available online at www.rapidresolutiontherapy.com and www.cleartrauma.com. Also, information about the Centers for Rapid Resolution Therapy can be found at www.rrtcenters.com.

Warmly,

Melinda

Melinda Paige, Ed.S, LMHC, NCC

Executive Director / Master Certified Practitioner

Institute for Rapid Resolution Therapy

Eliminating Anxiety and Panic with Rapid Resolution Therapy

2011-10-17T09:30:00.002-04:00

By John Smith, Ph.D., LCSW
Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

One of the most common problems faced by many people is anxiety. Many people with anxiety also experience what are called "panic" attacks. This is where the anxiety becomes so severe that the person literally thinks that they are dying or that something is seriously wrong with them. They often wind up in an emergency room or seeking medical treatment. The usual treatment for anxiety is for the physician to prescribe medications to treat the symptoms. The most common medications used for treating anxiety are the benzodiazepines (Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, or others). SSRI anti-depressants are also prescribed. These medications often provide some symptom relief, but in the case of benzodiazepines they can become habit forming and may require increasingly higher dosages to achieve the desired effects. For many years I have treated people with anxiety related disorders. The most common therapy for treating these problems has been Cognitive-Behavioral therapy. This approach has been somewhat effective and is the most common approach used by psychotherapists.

Over the past few years I have begun to use a new approach to treatment called Rapid Resolution Therapy, This approach, developed by Dr. Jon Connelly, is quite different than other forms of therapy, which may explain why it is so effective. With this approach the person learns how to eliminate the physical sensations caused from the anxiety response, thus disabling them. Common physical sensations associated with anxiety are: rapid heartbeat and breathing, light headedness, tingling, fainting, tension, nausea, numbness, to name a few. The person learns to recognize these sensations and eliminate them before they become too intense. After only 1 to 3 sessions, most clients have reported that their anxiety has drastically diminished and/or completely disappeared. Panic attacks actually disappear and are no longer problematic. All of this is done without medication. In fact, most of my clients report that they no longer need to rely on their anti-anxiety medications. (Note: please do not stop taking medications without your physician's advice).

I recently saw a client who had been suffering from debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. She had been to several therapists and doctors over the years and found little relief from her symptoms. She came to me desperate and feeling hopeless that her problems could be treated successfully. By the time she got to me she had become homebound and was unable to work. She had become isolated and the problems had caused friends and family to avoid her. She was skeptical that anything would work and saw herself being a recluse and invalid for the rest of her life.

{ "So, I am not crazy?" }

Upon meeting this woman I intently listened to her about her problems and began to explain to her how the mind works. She immediately perked up and became interested. "I never thought of it that way," she said. I also explained that anxiety is "fear of the fear response". For example, if one steps out into the street in front of an oncoming car their mind will immediately cause their body to become "supercharged" and cause her to jump out of the way. Her heart will pound, she will shake, and her breathing will increase. When she is safe her mind will cause her body to return to normal. Anxiety is when the mind causes the body to do the same thing, but what the person is noticing are the physical sensations caused from the fear response. Thinking that something is wrong will increase these sensations because the mind perceives a threatening situation. The normal fear response becomes the threat.

I taught the client how to decrease and eliminate these physical sensations, giving her a sense of control over her body and easing her mind. "So I am not crazy," she said. I laughed and told her that she wasn't.

It has been a few months since that session and the client reports that she has not had any further panic attacks and that her anxiety has diminished. She feels in control again and has begun to reconnect with friends and family.

Another Rapid Resolution Therapy success!

Dr. Smith is a California licensed psychotherapist with a doctorate in psychology and addictions as well as a Master's degree in social work. He is a Certified Practitioner in Rapid Trauma Resolution Therapy and the first psychotherapist to be certified in this new approach in southern California. He maintains an active private practice in the Los Angeles area, and he is also a professor of alcohol and drug counseling at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. For more information on Dr. Smith or to follow his blog, please visit johnsmithphd.com.

Thank You To Certified Practitioner Kathleen Gierhart! Another RRT Success!

2011-10-13T12:30:00.002-04:00

I’d like to give a shout out of praise and thanks to Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist Kathleen Gierhart, LMHC, for submitting a very interesting case study chapter that will be included in our soon to be published RRT Book of Hope and Healing.

Here is an excerpt:

“She had been living alone in the camper while her partner moved away to start a new job with the idea she would join him in a few months. That has been going well, but, while she was napping one day, and she was awakened with a neighbor on top of her trying to rape her. She ordered him to leave her home, get out and never come back. She has taken steps since then to insure her continued safety. But again, feelings surfaced about what she might have done differently. We cleared the emotions and thoughts that were connected to that event in about 15 minutes.”

*Post courtesy of Sharon I. Richie-Melvan, Ph.D., Colonel, US Army Retired, Author of Angel Walk: Nurses at War in Iraq and Afghanistan

Dr. Connelly Invited as Keynote Speaker at the The National Trauma and Addictive Disorders Conference

2011-10-10T11:00:00.002-04:00

Dr. Connelly has been invited to speak at The National Trauma and Addictive Disorders Conference on Thursday, Nov. 3 in Delray Beach, FL. From 4 to 5:30 pm, Jon will present “Healing Posttraumatic Stress: Rapid Trauma Resolution.” The Rapid Trauma Resolution method enables the troubling influence from impressions left by traumatic experience to be cleared quickly, painlessly and completely. This presentation will include filmed clinical demonstrations of Rapid Trauma Resolution.

Dr. Connelly directs the Trauma Resolution Program at Palm Partners Residential Treatment, the 2011 co-sponsor of the conference presented by US Journal Training, Inc. The Conference on Trauma and Addictive Disorders is a premier training event, specializing in trauma, mental health and the addictions fields. U.S. Journal Training, Inc. and The Institute for Integral Development present a combination of nationally recognized faculty who can address a wide variety of today’s most relevant topics. The result is a highly acclaimed national training event featuring customized training opportunities for developing new treatment strategies and the sharing of research advances for clinicians and counselors.

The conference is being held at the Marriott Hotel in Delray Beach, FL, from Nov. 3 through 5. Licensed mental health practitioners can earn up to 20 continued education contact hours. To see the entire conference schedule, for further information or to register please visit www.usjt.com or call (800) 851-9100 and speak to Lorrie Keip.

RRT Presenters at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress

2011-10-05T14:00:00.008-04:00

Certified Practitioners and Rapid Resolution Research team members Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan, Dr. Diane Vines and Melinda Paige will present 'Evaluation of Rapid Resolution Therapy for Post-Trauma Survivors' for the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Me ntal Health Congress (Psych Congress) November 7 - 10, 2011 in Las Vegas. Thank you for your wonderful contributions and congratulations!

Poster presentations convey innovative, clinically relevant information that enhances the professional skills of mental healthcare professionals. The Poster Sessions will provide presenting authors a forum to showcase their work and provide those interested with the opportunity to review the information and talk with presenters.

Mental health practitioners can earn up to 30 continued education hours at the conference. For details on the poster sessions, presenters, travel information and more at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress (Psych Congress), please click here!

We look forward to seeing you there!

How Does One Benefit From Rapid Resolution Therapy?

2011-10-04T09:35:00.000-04:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

I was recently posed with this question: How does one benefit from Rapid Resolution Therapy?

And obviously that triggered my mind into finding a way to verbalize how to answer that very specific question. To some it may seem like a relatively simple question. Honestly I usually get asked, "What is Rapid Resolution Therapy?" I've got that answer down! But, "How does RRT benefit the clients we see?"

Well first let me tell you how it's benefited me, because yes I have been a client of RRT. My ability to remain calm when facing a storm of some stressful event is amazing now. I used to be a ball of anxiety, worry, and insomnia when faced with such times. It wasn't just anxiety either though. I used to get mad at people or events so easily and hold grudges; if there had been a contest for the longest held grudge I'd likely have a pretty big trophy. It's not that stressful events don't happen to me now, they still do. When it happens I can now look at it, see what I can and can not, act accordingly, and be at peace with what I did and how it turned out. Oh my gosh, can I tell you HOW grateful I am to feel OK with what I did (or didn't do) and not be riddled with guilt, shame, or over analysis?!

On another side of this I see huge changes in my clients. The effects of RRT can be subtle sometimes. Sometimes what I hear as they are telling me about life, in follow-up appointments or phone calls, is a sense of ease and peacefulness. Many times they tell about situations that they faced that they breezed through like it was nothing. I often notice how even when faced with people who used to be bothersome for them they just shrug it off and move on. A few times clients have even laughed in the face of someone who was yelling and obviously mad at them. And guess what? By the end of those conversations the upset person was apologizing to my client(s).

It's not that someone becomes emotionally neutral after RRT. I've started explaining to clients that it's what I call blips. Anxiety, anger, even some sadness may come up, but they will be minor compared to what they had been. Best of all, they will leave quickly and barely register on the emotional radar. Mostly people are left with gratitude, joy, and peacefulness. It just spills out and makes a noticeable impression upon others! So that's my long answer to my short question!

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

A Poem For Dr. Connelly

2011-09-29T08:30:00.001-04:00

Dear Jon,

You began by sharing with us how in 1968

You put your life on the line,

And I knew right then you'd have our full attention the entire time.

You proceeded to tell us that most of what we learned and were doing

though well-intentioned was flat out wrong.

Had this guy spent too much time with a bong?

Yet the more you shared, the more sense you made,

and the more we "got it" our sacred cows seem to shift and fade.

Using acting, humor, science, and metaphor,

we began to see therapy as never before.

Even though sitting on the stool could get a little hot,

your competency, transparency, and encouragement helped us give it a shot.

Using acting, humor, science, and metaphor,

we began to see therapy as never before.

Even though sitting on the stool could get a little hot,

your competency, transparency, and encouragement helped us give it a shot.

Thank you for teaching us about connection, symbols, and trance

as you walked us through the steps of a strange new dance.

Helping us see through a different lens and try on clothes

that didn't seem to fit.

And realizing in the Here and Now, the woulda, shoulda, coulda's

don't mean Jack Shit!

And even though it hurt when we stepped on toes and you'd yell "wrong!"

Your persistent patience helped us move along.

With ducks in the water and where's the bread?

Most of it doesn't exist when it's all been said.

You wouldn't let us take any notes

and pay attention to rabbits, wolves, and goats.

We'll never see zebras and snowflakes quite the same way

as we go about our lives from day to day.

So thanks again Jon for sharing your wisdom

and once again putting your life on the line for us.

Thanks for a bedtime story of 4 little men.

We'll think of you fondly, and our group experience now and then.

Happy trails until we meet again.

~ David Cooper, Fort Wayne, Indiana

IRRT Level III Training at The Award-Winning Glen Ivy Center and Spa - Los Angeles June 2012

2011-09-27T09:20:00.001-04:00

Join fellow mental health practitioners, Certified and Master Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy Practitioners, and Dr. Jon Connelly at the Level III Clinical Hypnosis with Rapid Trauma Resolution training in Los Angeles, CA, June 1 - 3, at the famous Glen Ivy Center. Clinical Hypnosis with Rapid Trauma Resolution is an integrative approach developed by Dr. Jon Connelly that completely resolves the psychological and physiological effects of trauma.

Practitioners will earn 25 continuing education contact hours throughout the three-day intensive weekend training. The Level III training is offered at the serene Glen Ivy Center, which includes the award-winning Hot Springs Spa. The spa is available at half-priced admission with your reservation at The Glen Ivy Center!

During the retreat, participants have multiple opportunities for one-on-one coaching with Dr. Connelly and his Master Certified Practitioners. The skills and concepts learned at the Level I and II trainings are honed within small skill-building groups with other clinicians.

Join us June 1 - 3 in Los Angeles, CA, for Level III training. For more information on the trainings, visit rapidresolutiontherapy.com. To make your reservation, please contact Lynne Frost at rtrblue@gmail.com or call 800-587-2623.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa

SpaFinder's "Favorite Day Spa" and Reader's Choice for "Favorite Mineral Springs Spa!"

The Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa offers a wide variety of services including massages, facials, body treatments, pool access, sauna, mud baths and their famous Grotto!

Training attendees receive 50% off spa admission upon reservation at The Glen Ivy Center. Click here for more information on the spa and services!

www.glenivy.org

The Glen Ivy Center

The Glen Ivy Center is a place for spiritual renewal that calls to the inner greatness and personal mastery of each person.

Lodging (Includes all meals):

Double Occupancy: $310

Single Occupancy: $380

Commuter Cost: $200

Tuition:

Certified Practitioners receive full-tuition waiver with active membership. Regular cost is $595.

Please contact Lynne Frost to make your reservation today at rtrblue@gmail.com or call 1-800-587-2623. The Glen Ivy Center and Spa is located at 25005 Glen Ivy Rd, Corona, CA, 92883.www.glenivy.com

*All reservations must be made and paid for by May 18, 2012. For a full refund cancellations must be received by May 23, 2012.

Recognizing Our RRT Practitioners!

2011-09-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

This summer I have been fortunate enough to assist Dr. Jon Connelly with several trainings. In doing so I have had a chance to meet so many great therapists and catch up with many of my RRT buddies. I just wanted to take the opportunity to remind our newsletter readers of the many great things going on with some of our RRT therapists.

First let me revisit Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan and Dr. Diane Vines' book Angel Walk. This book is written about the men and women who fought for the lives of our wounded soldiers, the effects war has had on all, and how those effects can be treated; of course Rapid Resolution Therapy is noted in this book since both Sharon and Diane are RRT Certified Practitioners.

Currently I am reading Courtney Armstrong, M.Ed, LPC's book "Transforming Traumatic Grief Six Steps to Move From Grief to Peace After the Sudden or Violent Death of A Loved One." Again RRT is weaved throughout this book. I just can't help but be amazed by our RRT authors. And I know there are other RRT therapists out there writing books, soon to be published!

Also let's not forget how Mark A Chidley, LMHC, CAP and Courtney Armstrong, M.Ed, LPC have been on radio stations around the country lately taking about a variety of topics, too many to name each one. And last, but certainly not least Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan and Dr. John Smith are actively seeking pro-bono work for our veterans.

I'm just really excited for all the amazing stuff going on, and I'm honored to know these people and be able to call them my friends!

Be well, Be happy - Tara

Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist

573-754-0348

2081 Collier Corporate Parkway

St. Charles, MO 63303

www.mylifecoachtara.com

Become a Published Author!

2011-09-15T10:45:00.001-04:00

Volunteer IRRT Book Contributors and Military Interest Groups

By Sharon Melvan-Richie, Ph.D.

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

"Book of Hope" Contributors:

For each of you who has a story to share please know that YES we can do this!! If that is intimidating for you, know that we will be building our book in bite size pieces. If you'd like to share a story, I would love to hear from you. Please let me know your intention of the types of stories you will be submitting.

· Changed Lives: client story by diagnosis such as depression, frozen grief, addictions/cravings, anxiety etc. and or your own personal story if you have been treated.

· Changes Clinical Practices: stories about specific practices such as in-patient facilities (ie., Beachcomber; Palm Partners); Child and Adolescent work

· Changed Education and Training Practices: we'll have a general description of the trainings but we need testimonials of how the training effected you personally from Level 1 and 2; Certification benefits with twice Monthly Case Studies and conference calls; Retreats, and Master Certified level benefits.

Your intention can just be a statement, an outline or a first draft depending on how fast you work. The subsequent updates from you will flush out your first thoughts so that soon we will have a working draft of your contribution. We always have time to edit and refine it later, so just get the words down on paper. You can also change your mind, add or delete as you are comfortable. If this is your first time writing, remember that the first hour you wake up is the golden creative time so heed that call when your eyes open. If you get stuck, try using sticky notes with ideas and then move them around until you know the order in which to write something.

Welcome to our IRRT Book Team! Remember that we are on a mission to change lives by giving them hope for a better tomorrow. Know that you can always contact me at 352-476-5599 or drsrichie@earthlink.com if you are stuck!

IRRT Military Interest Group:

I am looking to hear from two groups focused on our active duty military and veterans; those who want to volunteer pro bono hours to see military clients and those want to speak to military groups (potential clients). Once I know your intention, I can help get you to the next step. For the pro bono therapists, I will send you info about the "Give an Hour" program and info about these special clients. For the military speakers' program, I will provide you with the contact information for your local chapter of your Military Officers' Association of American. If you are interested, please contact me at drsrichie@earthlink.net or on my cell at 352-476-5599.

Rapid Resolution Therapist Emilio Jimenez Special Guest on the Dr. Carol Show 9/12

2011-09-09T07:08:00.000-04:00

Rapid Resolution Therapist Emilio Jimenez, M.A., LPC, will be a featured guest on the Dr. Carol Show this Monday, Sept. 12, from 3 - 4 p.m.

During the show, Emilio will speak to the effects and recovery of trauma through a Rapid Trauma Resolution lens. Another exciting tribute to RRT. Tune in here to listen to Emilio's one-hour show!

Emilio Jimenez, MA, LPC
National Counseling Center
10001 Westheimer Rd., Suite 2115
Houston, Texas 77042
(713) 581-1008
www.nationalcounselingcenter.com
info@nationalcounselingcenter.com

Taking A Detour: The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence

2011-09-07T08:00:00.001-04:00

By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy

Typically I write about clients I have worked with, but this month I want to take you on a little side journey. Have you ever done that on a road trip where you made a turn based on a whim and ended up getting to see some really wonderful sights or meeting some amazing people? Well recently I was asked to take what might be called a little scenic side route into the Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence^(TM) (or ISSV for short). To be honest, I was asked to be the Executive Director for the ISSV. If you've not heard about the ISSV it is a non-profit organization (501C3) dedicated to healing the effects of sexual violence both by providing training in advanced clinical methods of trauma resolution and by providing trauma-informed treatment to survivors without access to financial resources. It has become not only my job but a part of my mission and vision to take the ISSV and breathe life into it. Isn't there a saying somewhere by someone..."Go big or go home!"

I see the big picture created by the ISSV Founder Dr. Jon Connelly. At this point I'm mapping out the steps, which seem small, to get us to that very big and bright picture. One thing that is completed and available is the ISSV Facebook page. Please stop by and "Like" us! I have created the website, and it is now in the hands of my website designer; looking to see a mock up of the website within the next week. I have several other projects for the ISSV and have many more rambling inside my head. Last I want to mention this beautiful bracelet designed by Farrielle Design where all proceeds from the purchase of this bracelet will go directly to the ISSV.

Be well, Be happy - Tara

Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC

Certified Rapid Resolution Therapist

573-754-0348

2081 Collier Corporate Parkway

St. Charles, MO 63303

Dr. Jon Connelly - Rapid Resolution Therapy

RRT Level I Training: “What? No note taking?! Is this guy SERIOUS?”

“One Starfish at a Time” – An RRT Success!

When More is Not Better

How RRT Helped Clear, Resolve and Transform 3 of My Clients!

Rapid Resolution Therapy and The Brain

One RRT Session Completely Cleared Her 35 Years of Guilt and Shame

Depression + Rapid Resolution Therapy

“Thank You Jon For All That I Have Experienced and Learned”

New Therapy Tool on the Horizon For Survivors of Sexual Assualt – The Therabot!

Thank You Jon, “My Life Is Much Richer, Joyful and Fun!”

Complex Trauma and Human Trafficking

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

2012 RRT Training Dates and Our New Brochure!

"I Am Grateful."

RRT Cleared My Fear of Flying!

IRRT Research, Military Outreach and Book Update

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

ISSV: The Violence Against Women Act

**Certified Practitioners** Please Submit Your Miraculous RRT Stories!

IRRT's Veteran Salute and Military Speaking Opportunities

IRRT Pilot Study Results from the 24th Annual US Psychiatric Mental Health Congress Poster Session

Helping Returning Troops With PTSD

The ISSV Holiday Wish List

RRT Training Corner - Mother Bear, Out of Range, The Snowflake and Goat

New Workshop at the RRT Level III Training - Learn How To Market Your Practice!

Reminder: Level III RRT Training in Tampa Jan. 20 - 22

RRT Success at the 2011 Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress

Rapid Resolution Therapy Training IMMEDIATELY Worked For Me!

New Workshops at the Florida and California Level III RRT Trainings!

RRT: An Innovative Approach For Healing Trauma

Encouraging Primary Care Providers to Screen for Post-Trauma Stress Disorder

**Call To All Certified RRT Practitioners** The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence

Rapid Resolution Therapy: A Brain-Based Approach To Trauma Therapy

Another Rapid Resolution Therapy Success Story!

Heal Trauma and Grief with Storytelling

Welcome! New Rapid Resolution Therapy Mentor Program!

Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong Interviewed On National News!

Post-Traumatic Growth

Thank You To The IRRT Community!

How Does One Benefit From Rapid Resolution Therapy?

Thank You For Your Support!

Eliminating Anxiety and Panic with Rapid Resolution Therapy

Thank You To Certified Practitioner Kathleen Gierhart! Another RRT Success!

Dr. Connelly Invited as Keynote Speaker at the The National Trauma and Addictive Disorders Conference

RRT Presenters at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress

How Does One Benefit From Rapid Resolution Therapy?

A Poem For Dr. Connelly

IRRT Level III Training at The Award-Winning Glen Ivy Center and Spa - Los Angeles June 2012

Recognizing Our RRT Practitioners!

Become a Published Author!

Rapid Resolution Therapist Emilio Jimenez Special Guest on the Dr. Carol Show 9/12

Taking A Detour: The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence

Certified Practitioners Please Submit Your Miraculous RRT Stories!

Call To All Certified RRT Practitioners The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence