Friday, April 27, 2012

Upcoming IRRT Level III Training at the Award-Winning Glen Ivy Center in California!


Join fellow mental health practitioners, Certified and Master Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy Practitioners, and Dr. Jon Connelly at theLevel III Clinical Hypnosis with Rapid Trauma Resolution training in Corona, 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.
 Glen Ivy Spa
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 concDr. Jon Connellyepts learned at the Level I and II trainings are honed within small skill-building groups with other clinicians. 
 
Join us June 1 - 3 in Corona, CA, for Level III training. For more information on the trainings, visit rapidresolutiontherapy.com. To make your reservation, please contact Lynne Frost atrtrblue@gmail.com or call 800-587-2623.


Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa
Glen Ivy Hot Springs
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!
 
 
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.
Glen Ivy Center 
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 atrtrblue@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.  

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Clearing Feelings of Resentment


Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy
 
Resentment about the past feels awful. Many people will tell you the only way to clear it is to forgive... let it go... make peace... and a lot of other well intentioned, but rather trite statements. I've learned a more liberating and simple way to move beyond resentment.
 
Did you know that resentment isn't caused by people or past events? The response is actually caused by a glitch in communication between the logical and emotional mind. If your logical mind has a thought about an upsetting event, the emotional brain reacts as if the event is currently happening and sends the anger response to get you to stop the event from happening in the current moment. Once you clear the perception of a current threat, the anger recedes. That's it. You don't have to forgive anyone or change yourself.
 
If you watch animals in the wild, you don't see them carrying grudges and holding resentments toward each other. Why? Animal minds are not as complex as human minds. They are not able to reflect on the past or project into the future. Animals are totally oriented to the present, so their minds don't send a lot of unnecessary adrenaline if there is nothing posing an actual threat in the current moment. Dr. Jon Connelly, a mentor of mine, illustrates it with this story:
 
"If some monkey saw some other monkey monkeying around with his monkey girlfriend, he'd run up to that other male monkey snarling, posturing, and showing his teeth until that other monkey beats it out of Dodge. Two weeks later, you see the monkey sitting up in a tree eating a big, fat banana. It's a nice sunny day and his girlfriend is scratching his back in just the right spot and you ask, 'Hey, what about that other monkey? Aren't you still pissed off?' He'd say, 'What monkey?' You say, 'The one that was monkeying with your girlfriend two weeks ago.' The monkey looks confused and says, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' Then he goes back to eating his banana."
 
Dr. Connelly came up with a funny, clever way of bringing the mind to the present that clears resentment quicker than anything else I've seen. First give your mind something to consider that it realizes you don't need to do anything about RIGHT NOW. Then say out loud, "There's nothing I need to do about that right now." After you use the process with a few obvious statements, apply it to things from the past. Here's an example: 
  • People are polluting the Mississippi river. Stop them, stop them right now!
    • (You reply, "There's nothing I need to do about that right now.")
  • The population is exploding in China, go ahead stop it, stop it right now!
    • (There's nothing I need to do about that right now.)
  • There is a Civil War soldier being shot at in 1862, do something, do it right now!
    • (There's nothing I need to do about that right now.)
Now- try applying the same responses to something from your past. See the examples below for some ideas for how to do this.
 
  • Stop him from saying that to you when you were a kid. Stop him right now.
    • (Now reply: "There's nothing I need to do. I'm not a kid. It's not happening.)
  • Stop him from doing that to you back then. Make him be more enlightened. Do it now!
    • (There's nothing I need to do about that right now.)
  • Make her be nicer to you. Make her be a more compassionate person. Go ahead- do it!
    • (There's nothing I need to do about that right now.)
Now check out how you feel. I hope this gives you ideas for ways to coax your mind back to the present and release what is beyond your responsibility or control. The present moment is where you have power. All there is to do right now is anything that would bring you more peace and joy in your life. Be that monkey and go get your fat banana!
 
 
 
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.

Friday, April 20, 2012

How To Forgive and Let Go!


 
Certified Practitioner, Rapid Resolution Therapy 

Recently I had several clients who stated that people in their life had been hurtful or even down right abusive towards them in the past; but they had "forgiven" them. Even so, these same clients continued to bring up the hurtful events over and over again in the session. Prior to being trained in Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT), I also focused on forgiveness with my clients. But now, it's not a word I use in or out of my office. 


Just because one "forgives" another in the logical mind (snowflake) does not mean that our subconscious mind (goat) stops creating an emotional reaction to what has happened. In fact, as I work with clients who believe they have to "forgive" another, it is obvious that their subconscious mind is still reacting to a past event trying to get them to make something in the world stop. In the mind of my clients it was to motivate them to get people to stop doing mean and abusive things that actually were not happening in the present.

In situations like these, my job is to help the subconscious mind understand that the incident is no longer happening; that in fact the situation is completed and defeated. It is also my job to help my client better understand how the brain works and why it originally had reacted in this way. I help them "to erase the meaning that their mind had attached to the event."  Typically those meanings are that the other person was a bad person, that my client thinks they must have done something wrong to deserve being treated that way, or that they could have done something to stop it all together. Since they didn't stop it, then they believe there must be something really wrong with them.


None of that is true! Once the inaccurate meanings are successfully cleared, then the client can no longer be held hostage by inaccurate meanings of an incident. Prior to my RRT training when I assisted a client with forgiveness they left my office still heavy with emotions. Since RRT training my clients now leave lighter and brighter!
Be well, Be happy - Tara
Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC
1360 S 5th St., Suite 394, St. Charles, MO 63301

Monday, April 16, 2012

How To Help Military Clients


The IRRT has partnered with "Not Alone, Inc.," a non-profit organization which pays licensed therapists to provide confidential, anonymous PTSD treatment for active duty military members and their family members. To be eligible to provide this service, a certified RRT therapist must be a military veteran, the spouse of a military veteran or have at least 3-5 years of experience treating veterans. To learn more about this organization, see their website at www.notalone.com. If you would like to be one of their providers email Jennifer Andrews, their program director (jenny@notalone.com).
 
I introduced RRT to their spouse and significant other online support group called "Trench Talk." In the coming weeks, I will offer another online support group targeted for female veterans. Thank you to certified practitioner Courtney Armstrong who helped me to welcome home, back to Fort Campbell, KY the 86th Combat Support Hospital from their overseas deployment. We learned about their sexual assault prevention program and we shared the effectiveness and timeliness of clearing traumas with RRT. We are on a mission to ensure that every soldier who is a victim of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) has the opportunity to be healed with RRT.
 
 
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.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

“Intimidation” by Certified RRT Practitioner Mark Childley






Beginning this month I switch things a bit, taking a look at some common life problems from a Rapid Resolution Therapy perspective. The topic this month is Intimidation, a theme that seems to show up in a lot of people’s lives.


We know in these times of economic challenge, some may be in jobs that are not to their liking. Others may have returned home or to a relationship of situational dependency. In both situations, leaving may have a steep downside, and may be perceived as not an option. Intimidation seems to take root in these soils, causing great anxiety and pain. As one person put it, “I seem to just freeze when he (she) acts that way. I should know better and usually hate myself afterwards, but at the time, I just take it. It’s like I can’t think of anything else to do.”


This deer-in-the-headlights effect is commonplace around an intimidator and should not be taken as a sign of personal weakness. We’ve all heard of the fight/flight response, but freezing around a predator is also one of nature’s built-in options that takes place in the oldest part of the brain. When a cat catches a mouse, and its brain understands that both running and fighting are no longer possible, the mouse goes totally limp, its mind and body cooperating to feign death. The almost instant down-regulation of the nervous system and mental numbing is meant to keep us and all other animals still until the predator loses interest and danger passes, or at least keep us anesthetized if we are going to be eaten alive.


People often try to reason with an intimidator or express their hurt, hoping to wake up empathy and understanding. They may persist despite evidence to the contrary, especially if caught up in their own expectation that people should always be reasonable, responsible, and kind. The problem with this approach, I believe, lies in not recognizing that the intimidator’s prefrontal cortex is off-line. This is the part of the brain in charge of self-awareness, empathy and good judgment, where normally a person could look at the whole picture, and back-off for the good of all concerned.


But intimidators are dealing mainly from the older brain, where perceived powerlessness and threat to survival register and have to be acted upon. That part of the brain doesn’t have what Dan Siegel has called mindsight, the ability to read the inner world of someone else, and may not compute the valuable social information coming in from others. For intimidators, the threat is immediate and must be acted upon. Displays of anger, aggression, and control become appealing because they work–temporarily. They intimidate others in order to go one-up, to climb up and out of the victim position, which is where they see themselves. They learn powerlessness and emotional pain don’t have to be felt; they can be short-circuited and transferred to another. But this loops back on them. Control and aggression carry within them the seeds of heightened insecurity. Fear, rigidity and loss of mindsight amount to a massive inability to adapt, which sets intimidators up for even more vulnerability in each new situation.


From the view of this as a relational system, this is a powerful cue that pulls for a symmetrical (complimentary) response from others. They simultaneously hate and are drawn to the vulnerability which they create in others or others carry for them. And vulnerability seems to activate them when they come across it in others. They don’t see the outstretched olive branch their victim may be holding. They see a red flag, a reminder they could be weakened and hurt again.


So here’s a story that might help. Long ago in old Mexico, on a remote hacienda, young Pedro was watching his father and the other men handle the cattle at branding time. Pedro wanted to take part, and be more like the men. His father said, “Pedro, my son, to be a man you must first deal with El Malo, the bull.” El Malo stood about ten hands high at the shoulder, was solid muscle, and known for his nasty and unpredictable temperament. More than one of the ranch hands had a long scar along the ribcage from getting careless around El Malo’s great horns. His father continued. “My son, you must go into the corral and face El Malo. And you must find a way to get him into the barn. Then you can take part in the branding.”


The boy was very scared, and didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he climbed into the corral. The bull was at the other end nosing in the dirt, his huge withers and flank shining in the sun. Pedro advanced slowly, one tentative step at a time, until he was within arm’s reach of the bull’s nose. He was still very frightened, but he observed: the bull, looking back at him, had a mixture of emotion in his eyes. There was anger, but there was also fear, sadness, and confusion. Mostly confusion. Pedro leaned way forward and dared to touch the great muzzle and for just an instant, the bull let him. But then becoming wary again, El Malo snorted and backed up, waving his horns. Even more of that confused look was in his eyes. Suddenly, Pedro turned around and with his back to the bull, walked even steps across the corral back to the barn door, counting to himself as he went. When he got to the barn, he made sure to lean his back right against it so his hands found the crossbar that locked the doors. Then he started yelling and dancing, shouting “Toro, Toro”, making quite a fuss. The bull hooved the ground one, twice, and then charged. Pedro watched him come, counting the bull’s strides and at just the right moment, lifted the crossbar, spun out of the way, opening the barn door, as El Malo’s massive head and trunk whisked by. His momentum carried him all the way into the barn, with his backside facing out, whereupon Pedro quickly shoved the doors closed and dropped the crossbar. The men cheered and clapped his father on the back, as his father smiled broadly and nodded at his son. Pedro had figured out how to get El Malo the bull into the barn.


(Disclaimer: The reader should not to take this as literal, specific advice. It would, for instance, be a very bad idea to purposefully incite a more powerful person who is in a position to harm you. The point of the story is get us to realize we may have more of our brain on-line, as it were, than an intimidator usually does, and hence, more creativity ready at our disposal)




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.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Testimonial: “Now I’m Helping People and Lives Are Truly Changing For The Better!”



Just wanted to thank Jon for teaching me a skill I use every day when I work with people who ask for my help. For the first time in my many years of working in this field, I feel as if I have finally found the answer to how to help.


It took me awhile to fully grasp the reasons behind what we were taught to do, but eventually it started to make more and more sense. Now I know I am helping and people's lives are truly changing for the better. They are not trying to change or in the process of changing. Nor do they need to work hard at changing or any other stuff I used to tell my clients.


Thanks again, Jon. Looking forward to seeing you again in June!




- Joan Scanlan

Friday, April 6, 2012

Tampa Level III Training Recap




I just had the pleasure of attending the recent Level III
Rapid Resolution Therapy training in Tampa, Florida along with 77 other Certified Practitioners. It was wonderful to hear from so many about the life-changing work they've been doing with clients! If you haven't yet been to a Level III training, it's a great opportunity to practice and refine your skills, learn new stories and processes to create change, and get coaching from Jon as well as from experienced fellow practitioners. Not only that, but you'll get to spend the weekend with an amazing, supportive community of healers, and feel renewed by the energy of our shared vision!


One of the things Jon spoke about at the training that stood out for me is the value of taking the time to hear and understand what your client wants you to know and to make sure that the client feels that you've understood. Jon said that most of us have had a tendency to rush through this step, and he encourages all of us to spend as much time as necessary to make sure we really get it. This creates connection, gives us the information we need in order to know what effect we want to have, and gives us a better idea of what to do in order to have the effect we intend.


Think back to your first Level I training, and remember what it was like to watch films of Jon's work for the first time. How was he causing such dramatic transformation in his clients? It seemed like magic, and many of us wondered whether it was even possible to learn how to do what Jon was doing. I remember trying to figure it all out, to find the secret of it, like an alchemist searching for the philosopher's stone. Why did he do a particular process with one client, but skip it with another? Why did he do things in a particular order here, and in a different order there? How did he know what to do, and when? When Jon is asked these types of questions at trainings, his typical response is something like this: "I don't know. I knew the effect I wanted to have, and did what came to mind."


That answer makes more sense to me now, but I know how frustrating it can be to hear it. One of the most effective ways to learn is by listening to the audios that are sent out each month--over time, as you listen to a variety of sessions, you'll find that more things will come to mind when you work with clients. We would like to make the learning process easier in whatever ways we can, and I've often heard people at trainings say that they'd like help getting a better understanding of how and when to use some of the stories and processes in RRT. There have been some substantial updates to our Level I manual, which should soon be available on the website. One of our next projects will be a book of edited and annotated transcripts, with notes that should help clarify what is being done and why.


I'd like to put this question out to you, our Certified Practitioners: What kinds of training materials would you have found helpful when you were getting started? What do you think would be valuable to you now that you are further along in the learning process?

I'd love to hear your suggestions! Email
cleartrauma@gmail.com.


Article courtesy of Tamara Ashley, IRRT Training Director
Certified Practitioner,
Rapid Resolution Therapy




Tuesday, April 3, 2012

RRT as a Strategy with Prostituted/Trafficked Women and Their Children






By Diane Vines, R.N., Ph.D.
Certified Practitioner,
Rapid Resolution Therapy
Principal Investigator on the RRT Research Studies



At the fall international conference of the American Public Health Association, Dr. Diane Vines presented on her work with prostituted and trafficked women and their young adult children in Portland, Oregon. As part of her presentation, she included the success of Rapid Resolution Therapy with this population.



The project in Portland is part of Global Health Promise (GHP), an organization dedicated to protecting mothers and their children from the impact of trafficking, prostitution, and sexual exploitation. As part of GHP, Dr. Vines was one of the founders of Our Mother's House (OMH), dedicated to connecting women from prostitution and their children to various services for abused and victimized women and their children in order to provide support and healing strategies. Portland was featured by Frontline as the "porn capital of the country" and is infamous for the level of trafficking and prostituting of women and girls.
Dr. Vines is also the Principal Investigator on research into the childrearing strategies of prostituted women. The study is collecting information on the health of their childr
en and on where the children stay while their mothers are working.

In an attempt to prevent violence and the exploitation of prostituted/trafficked women and their children, OMH recognizes the following: 1) the relationship between prostitution/sex trafficking and family violence; 2) the need for a community approach in working with them; and 3) the importance of supporting and encouraging the growth in the prostituted/trafficked mothers, their youth and their young adult children; 4) the intergenerational nature of violence and the exploitation of women; and finally 5) the relationship between being a child of a prostituted woman and later becoming a victim or victimizer as an adult. The project further believes in the destructive role of the pimp or trafficker in child rearing.



OMH includes a drop-in center for homeless and transitionally housed women who have prostituted or trafficked. It also includes a spiritual retreat customized for them and a support group run by Dr. Vines for the young adult children of prostitutes.



Dr. Vines uses Rapid Resolution Therapy as an excellent intervention for these women, girls and their children. These are some of the most traumatized groups in the United States and RRT is a wonderful addition to the support services provided by OMH.




Diane Welch Vines, Ph.D., R.N. is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Portland and lead faculty in the population/public health nursing program. She is co-author of the book Angel Walk: Nurses at War in Iraq and Afghanistan and an author of a women's health book. She was the first civilian nurse White House Fellow and served with the U.S. Secretary of Education. She taught psychiatric, pediatric, and medical surgical nursing in California, New York, and Massachusetts, and was a counselor and psychotherapist in private practice in Boston and West Los Angeles. Diane is a nationally certified Rapid Resolution Therapy practitioner in private practice in Oregon.