PARTICIPANT COMMENTS

FIRST RESPONDERS

EMTS/PARAMEDICS

I have been a faithful and strong supporter of the Critical Incident Stress Management program for many years and I still am. CISM is vitally important to our Critical Support Intervention program here at Acadian Ambulance Service and I want to make it clear that I am not in any way saying TFA is something to take the place of that process. The TFA Brief Stabilization Model is another excellent stress intervention tool which is very effective in some particular situations. We have learned this TFA Stabilization model and have already used it with excellent results in several situations in which our employees/medics were strongly impacted by a significant/traumatic incident.

Personally, I think CISM and TFA should get married. We are finding it to be a link that truly effectively completes the Critical Incident Stress Management process. What we have seen is that sometimes in some situations, our medics are literally "out of their body" mentally for the moment. They are literally gasping emotionally. This particular moment requires strong Peer Support. It is not the time for a Defusing, Debriefing, or Crisis Management Briefing - just loads of good peer support. Enter TFA. You won't find a better tool for Peer Support for this particular situation than the TFA Brief Stabilization model. It grounds them quickly and enables them to breathe again. The process is very simple and it works. It works. I also find that it helps to do it prior to an actual debriefing because it grounds them quite nicely and they seem to be more relaxed and we move very smoothly right into the CISM process. It is a nice combination plus when they leave they have learned another tool they can use any time they need to. It is that simple.

NREMT-P Employee
Support/CSI Coordinator

I participated in your Albuquerque workshop this past February, and came away so full of enthusiasm and passion for your work. I knew it made absolute sense, that, in fact, it was a critical tool for those of us working in the pre-hospital emergency care system.

Within days I had a chance to put the training into effect, utilizing it with a 14 year old boy with suicidal ideations. He was totally shut down, would not talk with his teachers or his counselor at school, extremely agitated and distressed. He had told a friend that he had a gun at home and was going to "blow his brains out".

I took him through the surprisingly simple TFA steps that led to his feeling safe and solid and grounded. He then opened up and talked non-stop for 30 minutes +. His counselor later reported that he was calmer, much more focused, doing better in school and excelling in basketball.

The other EMT and First Responder on this call were stunned by the results. They later reported that, even though they had simply watched the procedure, they felt much calmer and focused afterwards as well. I felt exactly the same way, and went away, feeling something very significant had been accomplished. Prior to the Trauma First Aide training we would have simply done vital signs, a rapid assessment, and sent him to a psychiatric facility, still agitated and non-communicative. TFA is making a huge difference in the lives of many people.

NREMT-P

I used Trauma First Aide yesterday on a call in which a young woman died and her parents performed CPR on her for 45 minutes. When we arrived on scene we attempted resuscitation, unsuccessfully. The father was inconsolable, and was rapidly deteriorating from the most intense grief I have ever witnessed. His wife and other daughter were in very rough shape, although not as wildly out of control as the father. In less than 90 seconds, using the Trauma First Aide techniques, the father was seated in a chair, saying "I'm okay, I'm okay now". His wife and other daughter were considerably calmer just from watching his responses. I did the TFA techniques with both this daughter and her mother, which had an immediate positive effect.

This was a particularly difficult call for my partner and me, because I had known this family for almost 30 years and my partner had gone to school with the young woman who died. When our fire chief suggested we bring in a Critical Incident Stress Management team, we both said no, we're fine. And we were. Trauma First Aide can work by proxy, as we both witnessed.

I use the TFA techniques you taught us on almost every call, with the same extraordinary results. 2 of our other EMTs are now utilizing them, too, after watching me. The difference it makes in how the patient responds is incalculable. I will continue to use this every chance I get because it works!

NREMT-P

FIREFIGHTERS

"We wish we had this training before the storm....Now we want more!"
Captain, New Orleans Fire Dept.

After a 30 year career as a firefighter, this is the first new technique I have seen to help others quickly and efficiently. The best part is that it is helpful for us too!"
Captain, Fire Dept.

"Both the firemen in the first responders group report that they profited from your Trauma First Aid workshop and feel more comfortable in dealing with clients who have physical manifestations of stress. They reported they have acquired practical skills that enable them to offer help to disaster victims."
Captain

HEALTH CARE

I recommend the Trauma First Aide training with the utmost sincerity for nurses in all areas of practice, as we can all use a reminder of the humbling basics of being in a body. I appreciate the flexibility of implementation that allows me to pull small portions of the work to implement as needed or commit a longer amount of time to the TFA process. I get excellent results with both. I am certain that everyone present at our training returned home with new tools to implement as they conduct their work with hurricane evacuees, soldiers, patients’ in pain, students in the psychiatric settings, and juveniles in the correctional facilities.

Advanced Practice RN
Clinical Nurse Specialist

Had I been trained in Trauma First Aide earlier in my nursing career, it might have saved both patients and staff from the potential harm and anxiety that disruptive and aggressive behavior can cause. Nurses along with other hospital personal are frequently called to ERs, lobbies, outside clinics, different hospital floors when there is disruptive or challenging behavior from patients, family members, and visitors (invited and uninvited). This situation may create stress (accumulative) in the staff and also cause greater anxiety in the person with the challenging behavior. Pair this with the common stressors within any health care setting, death and dying, codes, chemicals and schedules and the outcome is predictable; burn out, increased absences, anxiety disorders, and physical illness to name a few.

Trauma First Aide is a process that puts us (health care personal) back in control of our internal world and a process that rearranges our approach to the unpredictable terrain we work in. I urge all health care settings to consider TFA equally important when developing their initial orientation programs as well as their yearly updates such as infection control, fire, safety, and CPR.

RN, PhD, ND, CADS

As a nurse/educator, TFA has given me a gentle tool for the prevention of my own vicarious trauma and that of colleagues. TFA offers a remarkably elegant, safe approach to the experience of being human during potentially damaging breakdowns with my patients, patient families, students, other faculty, your own family, friends and oh yes-myself.

Nursing Instructor
College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions

MILITARY

The training you provide in Trauma First Aide that you recently developed is a breakthrough in treating emotional stress and trauma. I have never before seen a program that is so straightforward, clear-cut, quickly learned and understood, and easily implemented that produces immediate results. I highly recommend your program for civilian and military first responders, paramedics, chaplains, and military personnel worldwide.

Since returning from the seminar I have already used the techniques you trained during the seminar with one of my staff members. After returning to my office on Monday I found her sitting in a fetal position holding her hands and not talking. When I asked what was happening she informed me that a close family friend had frozen to death in Minnesota over the weekend. She was scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C. to conduct training and said that she did not feel as though she could fulfill the assignment. After only a few minutes of using the Trauma First Aide techniques she went from complete withdrawal to a point of ease and relaxation in a matter of minutes. She is now deployed to DC to conduct leadership training for senior managers.

I truly appreciate your dedication to the healing profession and will continue to use the methods and techniques you have established to assist others. I now know that Trauma First Aide works!

Sincerely.
Chief Warrant Officer, US Army, Retired

Being a former Army Nurse Corps Officer, I have a special place in my heart for soldiers and feel the TFA model has tremendous application within the military setting. . Part of TFA’s attraction is how simple it is to learn and integrate into any pre-existing professional or para-professional skill set. As a nurse, I feel this training would be an indispensable skill set for all nurses (and physicians); especially those deployed to the combat theater. After attending your class, I was immediately able to use TFA in my role as an Advanced Practice Nurse with a veteran suffering from PTSD who was hospitalized for other problems. Following this intervention, the veteran thanked me profusely and told me “this was the first time in 17 years I have had any peace”. His response to your approach speaks for itself.

For combat soldiers, TFA could be taught in AIT or higher levels of required educational training necessary for advancement of a soldier’s military career. By enabling soldiers to understand, normalize (as you so beautifully teach!) and process trauma, individuals retain the ability to excel and avoid perpetuating “dysregulated” behaviors often exhibited by those suffering from PTSD. This type of training offers individuals the opportunity to fulfill their highest potentials. In turn, TFA could be a key factor in fostering strength of the military force. It prepares soldiers to maintain high levels of readiness and to respond appropriately under pressure.

It is my sincere hope you will continue to explore avenues to share this work with the military community. Not only does TFA have the potential to enhance the strength of the force, but also to strengthen military families who are the backbone of our service.

Army Nurse Corps Officer Ret.
CNS, ACHPN, AHN-BC

I have been working with our Iraq war veterans in the National Guard and after your training, I began to implement TFA. One immediate result was that it gave me had simple, basic language to describe their hyped-up sympathetic activation. This quickly put the unspoken problems they were experiencing (hyper-startle, hyper-vigilance, lack of sleep) into a domain that soldiers are accustomed to taking action in – the domain of the body. Several of the soldiers reacted to my explanation of their sympathetically dominant autonomic nervous system with questions such as, “Could you come home with me & explain this to everyone in my family please so they know I am not going nuts?”

In my experience when I explain what is happening to a soldier from a body-based perspective, as in TFA, it puts the problem AND the solution in a domain the soldier is familiar with - the body - which consequently removes the perceived stigma of mental illness.

You were so right when you say “Educate & Normalize goes along way!”.

RN working with soldiers

MENTAL HEALTH

The evening after the Trauma First Aide™ course had ended, upon trying to go to sleep, I had a major shift and emotional release at the deepest core level I have ever experienced (and I have done a lot of healing work). My shift was around finding out that "freeze" has been my primary response throughout my life...interspersed with "fight". Many of the impacts on my life of the freeze phenomena flashed before me and the feelings were profound. I had no idea that I felt so much despair and loneliness, such a sense of failure, and even suicidal. Using my Trauma First Aide skills, I just kept bringing my attention to what I was feeling in my body and recognizing my body on the bed; I just allowed the feelings to pass without any story attached to them. Pretty intense. Needless to say, I feel a lot different...a bit raw, but the world and my relationship to it has an expanded meaning for me. So, thanks for having created this model.

Anonymous

SOCIAL WORKERS

"Concise, clear, complete. What else can I say but thank you for some new skills to help not only my patients but myself as well deal with our trauma in Louisiana!"
LCSW, Disaster Team, Baton Rouge

"This training will not only benefit my clients but me as well!"
LCSW, New Orleans

A lot of trainings have come to New Orleans to help us since Katrina - this is the best yet to help us deal with our own trauma and our clients! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!"
LCSW, Disaster Response Team
Catholic Charities, New Orleans

'This somatic-based approach is the missing link from my practice and my life! Thank you for giving me back to me.'
LCSW, Louisiana Spirit Project
Catholic Charities, New Orleans

"Rarely in a lifetime does a class provide a shift of paradigms and offers a whole new healing perspective. Bravo and in just 3-days!"
LCSW, Disaster Response Team
Catholic Community Services, Baton Rouge

"This class made me feel both whole in myself and hopeful again!"
LCSW, Louisiana Spirit Project "
Catholic Charities, New Orleans

"I just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed the training and how I heard so many positive comments from the participants. Some people have described it as” a life changing experience”! Your entire group was so knowledgeable, compassionate, and willing to help us to reenergize. Thank you. "
BD, LCSW, Catholic Charities, Baton Rouge, LA

CRISIS COUNSELORS

"Thank you. It was a truly life changing class."
Crisis Counselor

"I'm so thankful for this important information and work. It changed my life."
Crisis Counselor

"I learned and grew so much in those two days. Thank you for your sustaining wisdom."
Crisis Counselor

"We were so inspired by you and this work."
Crisis Counselor

"Thanks so much for sharing this liberating information and for your enthusiasm."
Crisis Counselor

PSYCHOLOGISTS

"Very clear presentation that left me wanting to learn more...excellent, succinct and info packed...Thank you! It was great."
Psychotherapist, NYC

"This is one of the best trainings I have attended in my career. It was well organized and well executed as well as packed with new information and simple techniques to work with acute trauma. Thank you for your efforts!"
Psychotherapist, New Mexico

"Excellent! One of the best organized, well-taught presentations I have ever participated it. Clear, concise, and extremely effective for both myself and my clients!"
Psychotherapist, Boston

NURSES

"This is the best training I have attended in years combining mind-body approaches to trauma. I really appreciate reviewing the nervous system in the context of trauma as it will help me in the emergency room."
R.N., Louisiana Spirit Project, New Orleans

"Usually when people talk about PTSD, they only see in light of mental health. This class really broadened my perspective to the physiological aspects of trauma and will help me working with Katrina survivors and returning Iraqi vets."
R.N., LSU Nursing Faculty

"Thank you so much for all the support you and your team gave me and for all the knowledge and skills you graciously shared. I use those gifts whenever I can!"
R.N., SANE, Charities Hospital, New Orleans

“Rarely does a technique come along that helps the nurse and the patient too! I started using the skills on the first day of class and plan to continue the rest of my career."
R.N., Louisiana Spirit Project Lake Charles, Louisiana

I work at a shelter in Connecticut as an outreach worker and RN. I have a client there that I know is diagnosed with DID. One day I encountered a new side of her personality when she called from a nearby town saying she didn't know where she was. She told me, however, that she was with her husband, who had a truck. We were able to contact him and tell him to bring her to a hospital, but he drove her back to the shelter. The program director wisely said that the client couldn't come back to the shelter until she went to the hospital. This client was very manic and in a provocative, loud, entitled, and cocky mood. When she got to the hospital, the hospital staff was ready to move the client into restraints because she was so uncooperative, but I managed to hold them off. (The client had been in prison for a year and really reacted to those uniformed security guards.)

It took a while, but finally we got her into hospital garb and a bed. I had to take away a bottle of vodka she grabbed out of her purse and started drinking. When I finally got her lying on the bed, she said to me that she had a huge weight on her chest. I suggested thinking of feathers on her chest instead. Then we talked in detail about how the feathers would feel. When she mentioned her dog, I knew I was home free. I got her to describe all sorts of aspects of her dog. Then, when the hospital staff came with her meds, I talked her into accepting the shots. Finally she fell asleep. Thanks to Trauma First Aide this situation didn't explode. Her manic mood almost led her to being tied down and with her trauma history, being tied down would have made her worse. By applying my Trauma First Aide skills, I was fine through the entire ordeal. I didn't even need to use an oxygen mask! So, thank you. I was very grateful to have had the course. I fell very naturally into doing this intervention.

RN, Anonymou

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