October 2019 – Unicorn Shadows

The Healing Place Podcast: Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD – Journey Through Trauma

Thank you, Dr. Gretchen Schmelzer, for enlightening us even more about the “journey through trauma”. Listen in as Gretchen shares her insights on trauma GPS, her work in the field of trauma-recovery and healing on individual and societal levels, Nelson Mandela, her five phase cycle for healing repeated trauma, and more!

Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube. These hope-infused episodes are also now available on Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more!

Bio:

“Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD is a licensed psychologist, trained as a Harvard Medical School Fellow and the author of Journey Through Trauma published in 2018 by Penguin Random House. She is a trauma survivor, who has worked for twenty-five years with the complex issues of trauma, integration and behavior change across every level of system from individuals, to groups, to large systems and countries, including her role as the expert consultant for documentary film The Silence which aired on April 19, 2011 on Frontline regarding priest sexual abuse in a Native Alaskan Village to ensure adequate resources for viewers and for proper follow on support for trauma survivors.
Since 2002, Dr. Schmelzer has also been a senior consultant with Teleos Leadership Institute, an international consulting firm serving leaders of fortune 100 businesses and major not-for-profit organizations such as the United Nations. Her expertise in long term trauma was used to inform the design and delivery of a four year large scale intervention for the UN in Cambodia. She and her colleagues worked with 150 leaders each year who were survivors of the Khmer Rouge in a large scale leadership initiative to strengthen the county’s response to HIV/AIDS. The program integrated work in self-awareness and self-regulation, gender issues, communication skills, relational skills and action learning. This program was rated one of the most successful leadership development programs run through the United Nations Development Program by an independent research team.
Gretchen received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University, and her Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology from Springfield College, and BA from Mount Holyoke College. She completed her clinical training as a Harvard Clinical Fellow and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at UMASS Medical Center and The Center for Mindfulness. Since October 2014 she is the founder and editor of The Trail Guide, a web-mag featured on www.gretchenschmelzer.com dedicated to healing repeated trauma.”

Learn more about Gretchen and her mission at:

Blog: http://gretchenschmelzer.com/

GPS blog: http://gretchenschmelzer.com/blog-1/2019/9/1/learning-to-live-with-what-is-broken

Book Excerpt Blog: http://gretchenschmelzer.com/blog-1/2017/12/7/book-excerpt-read-the-invitation-from-the-upcoming-book-journey-through-trauma

Letter you teen can’t write you: http://gretchenschmelzer.com/parents-corner/2016/7/4/the-letter-your-teenager-cant-write-you

Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Through-Trauma-5-Phase-Repeated/dp/0735216835

Book is available in the UK at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-through-Trauma-5-Phase-Repeated/dp/1788171020/

Book is available in Spanish:https://www.amazon.es/viaje-trav%C3%A9s-del-trauma-PSICOLOG%C3%8DA/dp/8491114009/

Book will be available in the next year in German and Chinese. Stay tuned.

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Books That Helped Me Transition from Trauma to Triumph: A Book Review Series – “Getting Past Your Past”

Book three in this blog series – Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by Francine Shapiro, PhD.

This book was recommended to me by my therapist in the midst of our four year, ninety-eight session, EMDR healing journey. For those unaware what EMDR is and how it helps, I will give you my trauma-warrior perspective, a view from the inside. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. During most sessions, I would watch a light bar flash from left to right and back again or hold vibrating paddles in my hands, alternating left, right, left, right. This would result in my eyes naturally falling into a rhythmic back and forth as I was encouraged to revisit traumatic events from my youth.

What would arise during these sessions ranged from body memories, such as a feeling that someone was squeezing my left shoulder in a fierce grip, to flashbacks of images, such as seeing my mother’s face from beneath water as she held me down, to sensations of a spirit presence in the therapist’s office (I believe it was my deceased father trying to help me). Naturally, I would at times experience panic attack symptoms, and would almost always cry. Sometimes slow tears cascading down my cheeks. Other times full-on ugly crying, requiring a pause in the action.

While at times I found this to be terrifying, my therapist was always there to remind me to keep myself grounded, be gentle with myself, just notice the body memories or panic symptoms without judgment, and to guide me to tuck the session into a storage box, until next time, so I was able to walk out of her office, most days, emotionally exhausted but able to continue with my day. EMDR was life-altering. I would not be in the place of tranquility I am today without it.

This book, penned by the developer of EMDR, kept me holding on to hope as I weaved my way in and out of horrific childhood and young adult memories. It was my reminder that the symptoms of my Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) diagnosis need not be permanent. I could learn to process the memories in a healthy way, release stored negative energy, rewire neuron pathways, and create healthy coping strategies and new habitual patterns. Whew! Sounds exhausting, right? It was. But, wow, was it worth it.

PTSD makes life unmanageable. It pushes people into trying to do something to survive the chaos within them.
Francine Shapiro, PhD in Getting Past Your Past

Using real-life stories throughout this book to guide us readers through the lessons to be learned about trauma and its effect on us in brain/mind/body/spirit levels, helped me feel not-so-alone in my journey. Dr. Shapiro also took me by the hand, along with my therapist, and guided me toward a better understanding of the physiological processes that had occurred during the traumas, and helped me understand what being triggered was doing to me in the present day.

Dr. Shapiro takes us into exercises we can utilize as we move along our healing journey. Trying to survive the chaos within me was a heavy load to carry each day. Not knowing when I would be triggered. How severe the panic attack would be. Wondering if I would actually die from it this time (a racing thought that haunted me mid-panic). However, these self-help techniques outlined in the book encouraged me to believe in the possibility. The possibility of relief. The possibility of hope. The possibility of true healing.

Basically, life is not just about getting rid of suffering. It’s about expanding our potential while embracing feelings of joy and well-being.
Francine Shapiro, PhD in Getting Past Your Past

This incredible book introduced me to life changing concepts such as mindfulness (which I practice on a daily basis now, particularly on my nature hikes), post-traumatic growth (which I can proudly claim has occurred in my life), and Hope for Healing (my own coined term for what I experienced in my life as a result of EMDR – and also the name of my monthly newsletter).

I hope you find comfort in this collection of stories and pertinent information on trauma-recovery. You are so very worthy of the possibilities EMDR can offer.

The Healing Place Podcast: Heather Askew – Jojo’s Sanctuary (Thailand)

What a heart-warming conversation I engaged in with Heather Askew, co-founder and co-director of Jojo’s Sanctuary, a beautiful space that works to re-unite children with families and provide opportunities for children in Northern Thailand. Heather has been a foster parent to three Thai teenagers herself and is currently parenting a teenage son. Please join us as we discuss her journey from the film industry in Los Angeles, California to changing lives in the villages of Thailand.

Bio:

“Heather Askew, originally from Washington State, was a script supervisor in film and television for ten years before moving to Thailand. She moved to Chiang Mai in 2011 to work at Taw Saeng as program coordinator for the after school program. While there, she taught English, gave piano and guitar lessons and planned field trips for the children. After working with Taw Saeng for 3 years, she was invited to join the team at HUG Project as the case manager for child victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse. While at HUG Project, she also started an after school program with her Thai colleague, Win, for the Burmese children who lived in the neighborhood and were at risk of exploitation. The program, called Moulding Stars, continues today and Heather volunteers teaching English once a week to the pre-school class. Heather left HUG Project in 2016 to found Jojo’s Sanctuary with two Thai colleagues, Butsaba and Jay and acts as the co-director. Heather has also been a foster parent to three Thai teenagers and currently has a 17-year-old foster son.

Jojo’s Sanctuary seeks to educate, protect and empower vulnerable children, families and communities in Northern Thailand. They aim to prevent human trafficking by focusing on family strengthening and keeping children in families rather than orphanages. Jojo’s Sanctuary was named in honor of Jojo, an 8-year-old boy who died as the result of child abuse at the hands of an aunt. Their goal is to provide families with the tools to maintain a safe and loving home for every child, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Jojo’s Sanctuary provides educational scholarships, child protection and parenting workshops, assistance with citizenship for stateless children and a holistic family strengthening program for lower income families.”

Learn more about Heather and her mission at:

www.jojosthailand.org

www.facebook.com/JojosThailand

www.Instagram.com/JojosThailand

www.twitter.com/JojoSThailand

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Books That Helped Me Transition from Trauma to Triumph: A Book Review Series – “The Power of Now”

I climbed the step stool to peer at the book titles atop the shelves in my closet, hoping to find this week’s must-share for the book review series. I prefer to hold a collection of words in my hand (the smell of a bookstore makes me giddy). But, nothing jumped out at me. So I grabbed my Kindle and opened it to my Book tab. And there it was . . . The Power of NOW: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle. Definitely in my top ten most-inspirational books of all time. This was the first book that created a shift in me, an awaking of new perspectives.

The author takes us on a journey into a deep place within us, a place where the truth is known “within every cell of (our) body”; beyond the masks we wear, the criticisms we’ve cloaked ourselves in, our over-thinker personas, fueled by the old doubts we’ve absorbed into our beings.

One of the most difficult, yet rewarding, ventures I have embarked on has been that of learning to silence my mind in order to truly hear. I, personally, believe I am in tune with my spirit guides, angels, The Universe, whatever you would like to call those spiritual nudges, when I purposefully stop the chatter in my mind and welcome the calm. But, wow, is that a difficult task to learn. However, I shout out an even louder WOW for having gifted myself the transition. This was a life-altering read in that I started the learning journey with this book and that would evolve into my healing journey.

I used to be, most assuredly, an “incessant thinker”, an over-thinker, a ponderer. The ever-persistent bearer of logic. And when I could not “logic” my way out of a panic attack, I felt even more broken. Oh my God, Teri, you’re fine. It’s just a bridge. Yet, there I would sit, mid-bridge, frozen and terrorized, shaking and wanting to leap from it just to escape the invisible monster haunting me.

The Power of Now gently took me by the hand and guided me toward an understanding of tranquility. Yes, it took tremendous effort to change habitual patterns and “disidentify from my mind,” however, I was worth it! Eckhart Tolle shares: “Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it.” Oh. So. True.

To continue with my poetic analysis as I did with my book review of Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Dr. Wayne Dyer, here is the impact of The Power of NOW: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle:

Silence my mind
As I am worthy
There is only Now
Not what was
I am still in my Being
I am light
Free from Fear
I know God by its flow
Joy is my purpose
I surrender to Now without judgment

The Healing Place Podcast: Kathleen Friend, M.D. – The Greatness Chair

Thank you, Dr. Kathleen Friend, for sitting down with me to discuss your philosophies on mind/body/spirit connection in regards to healing, your recently released children’s book The Greatness Chair, your beautiful approach to honoring children and their caregivers in the therapy setting, and much more!

Bio:

“Kathleen Friend MD is a Child Psychiatrist, children’s author, musician and heart rhythm meditation teacher currently living in Tucson, Arizona. Her mission is to expand the paradigm of Child Psychiatry to embrace a holistic view of mind, body and spirit. Dr. Friend now teaches a simple, accessible method to help grownups bring out the best in children through the concept of the greatness chair. Her recent book, The Greatness Chair (2019) published by Words Matter Publishing is a children’s story to inspire a shift to seeing the positive in children in order to build their emotional wealth from the inside. This work is based on seeing clearly with our hearts what is true about a child and helping them see themselves in a new light. This is not false praise or “good job”. Finding greatness means uncovering the truths about a child’s individuality so they can grow into that and learn to contribute to the world in their own unique way.

She is available for book signings, workshops and lectures and can be reached at drfriend@drfriend .net or through www.greatnesschair.com or through the Facebook page: The Greatness Chair. Further information can also be found on her author page at Words Matter Publishing.

The Greatness Chair is available through Amazon (kindle or paperback) or Words Matter Publishing.” Learn more about Kathleen and her mission at: https://greatnesschair.com/

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Books That Helped Me Transition from Trauma to Triumph: A Book Review Series – “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life”

As I sat here contemplating ideas for my next article, I glanced around my sacred writing space only to find myself staring at a beautiful stack of books. This assorted collection of signed copies of books, written by my podcast guests, their pages filled with the light of hope and healing, reminded me how a perfectly timed read can truly change a life. I am that person who makes a book my own by highlighting those ah-ha phrases or drawing five giant stars on a page so I can easily flip through the book to find those “spoke to my soul” words.

Today my eyes fell upon the small stack to the left of my podcast guests’ collection. And there it was . . . Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Dr. Wayne Dyer. A deep, poetic, powerful, life-altering translation of the Tao Te Ching. While I can go on about what the Tao is and give you the low-down on its original author, Lao-tzu, I will merely allow you the opportunity to discover it for yourself in the reading of Dr. Dyer’s book, just as I did.

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Instead I want to share its impact on me and my healing journey. Perhaps then you will be inspired to pick it up yourself and allow a similar transition to happen for you. There were many more books, which I will review in this series, which have had a powerful affect on my journey, such as Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma and The Power of Now: The Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

I have been saying for awhile now that I finally learned to “find the gifts within the chaos,” meaning I am now able to search for the positives that resulted from traumatic or what I used to only perceive as negative events or circumstances in my life. I told my sister the other day that I now look for the positivities of growing up with an addict as a parent. Instead of seeing an alcoholic who struggled to offer her children emotional support, a mother who dished out criticism as a “joke,” one who chose nights out partying with co-workers over tucking her children into bed, I now say to myself:

My mom worked six days a week; she taught me work ethic. My mom drank after work with her followers and fans; she taught me loyalty to friendships. My mom was a partier; she taught me how to entertain. My mom was traumatized, too; she taught me how to keep going in the face of adversity. My mom was a “Jesus-freak”; she taught me how to believe even when in doubt.

Learning to find my gifts within my chaos has changed everything. Everything.

In the preface of Dr. Dyer’s book, is the following quote from one of his journal entries, which speaks directly to this philosophy:

Nature doesn’t create a storm that never ends. Within misfortune, good fortune hides.
Dr. Wayne Dyer

This review will be poetic in nature as I could truly write another book in response to this book’s based on my highlights and exclamation points and stars scribbled onto its pages. Here is my simplistic analysis of the first twenty verses as translated by Dr. Dyer and how I try to live them based upon the lessons I learned in their depth:

I try to be present in the moment.
I live to be me and the universe simultaneously.
I want to serve others.
I observe.
I give the gift of myself.
I let my creativity radiate.
I try to meet the needs of others.
I allow my thoughts to flow freely.
I seek joy in the act of doing in lieu of the results.
I let go of what is mine so it may become someone else’s.
I allow silence.
I treasure what is within rather than what I can possess.
I trust my own perceptions of me.
I practice walking meditations.
I allow my life to unfold as planned.
I observe life.
I allow others to travel their own path.
I am virtue, not virtuous.
I learn to let go of attachment through generosity.
I let go and let God.

There are eighty-one verses total.

Eighty-one gifts.

Eighty-one powerful lessons surrounded by and filled with an infinite number more. Different for all. Yet, the same.

I hope you gift yourself this transformative translation of the Tao.

The Healing Place Podcast: Alison Morris – Full Potential Parenting

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with Alison Morris of Full Potential Parenting to discuss her work with parents where she offers support solutions for challenging behaviors in children, along with her philosophies on adverse childhood experiences, trauma, Emotional Freedom Technique, and more. Join us for a brief EFT session at the end of the interview!

Bio:

“Alison Morris is a certified, accredited “trauma mama!” As the single adoptive mom of a child with attachment and developmental trauma challenges, Alison started looking for answers, and one of the answers she found was Emotional Freedom Techniques, otherwise known as EFT or Tapping. Alison created Full Potential Parenting to help other parents of children with emotional and behavioral challenges understand what’s really going on with their children and what’s going on for them. Through the Full Potential Parenting Summit and the Full Potential Parenting Show, she interviews providers, doctors, therapists, and parents about non-pharmaceutical approaches to healing, and she offers individual coaching and group tapping classes so parents can make friends with their own emotions, and thereby provide a safe and compassionate space for their children to express their big feelings.” Learn more about Alison and her mission at: http://www.full-potential-parenting.com/

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Healing Place Podcast: Christina Beauchemin – Let My Legacy Be Love

First off, I apologize for the feed issues with the sound in a few spots! I put forth my best editing efforts. Still on the learning curve with editing software. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you, Christina Beauchemin, for sharing your beautiful insights with me and The Healing Place Podcast audience. Christina and I discussed her book, Let My Legacy Be Love, her work as a passionate speaker and truth seeker, as well as her coaching practice where she works to guide others along their healing journeys.

Bio:

“Christina is an author, speaker, and truth seeker. She is an advocate of curiosity, courage and honesty as a path to personal transformation. She facilitates workshops as well as working privately with those who are serious about changing their life for the better.

Christina is married to her best friend, Rick and is a mother to two grown boys. A combination of running, Zumba, and yoga keep her healthy and a positive attitude keeps her happy. Her only real complaint is her unfortunate allergy to many dark chocolates.” Learn more about Christina and her mission at:

www.letmylegacybelove.com

www.facebook.com/letmylegacybelove

www.instagram/christinabeauchemin

www.twitter/com/christinabeauchemin @chrissiesings