Archive for December, 2009

Robert and I did another EFT session on numerous of the issues he has been through as a Vietnam combat medic and paramedic. I just received this email from him:

“I’m singing the praises of you and EFT everywhere I go… Amazing. I’m down to 1 and a half vicodine a day; when I met you I was taking 4 a day. Talk soon… R”

The physical changes, the release of his restless leg syndrome, as well as the huge improvement in his sleep were some astounding components of his improvement.

But what delighted him the most was that he can now talk about the death of his buddies and his first patient in Vietnam without any of the emotional upset he had endured before. As a matter of fact, losing his first patient had been so difficult for him to talk about, that he had never mentioned it to others before our session.

We also released the guilt and shame he felt over other situations in his life, when he saved other people’s lives, but could not acknowledge the heroism he had shown. More about this  in the next post.

It is such an honor to be able to facilitate this work.

“Robert” is available for you to talk to. If you would like to learn more about EFT4Vets and his progress, please send me an email: ingrid@eft4vets.com, and I will forward it to him.

Thank you!

Research shows that most Veterans prefer to talk to a family member or buddy over talking to a professional. When I first began to help Veterans with EFT, I needed to understand as much as possible why this would be the case, what it is that makes Veterans feel that they get more healing from talking with a spouse or friend than with someone who is trained to help them release trauma.

There is much to be said about this, and it will be material for many posts and the book I am writing. However, I think that, besides the natural trust bonus that family and friends have over a professional, an important factor is that those close to us take the time to listen with compassion.

My Veterans tell me how hard it is to not have a professional available at the time when they need him or her the most: at 11:30 pm when nightmares haunt, after having endured a challenging situation, while being in an uncomfortable public environment, that lets hyper vigilance flare up, and every person behind a curtain seem like a potential threat. If they have to make appointments that are weeks away, if they know already that they will not have 15 minutes, not enough time to truly explain and work  through what happened, if they are challenged by the fear that they might just be given a drug, without being truly listened to, if they have the slightest fear that they might be judged for what they have been through, there is a very good chance that Veterans will not reach out but rather talk to a person in their most immediate circle, a spouse or friend.

Families can offer comfort and time, availability and trust, and non judgmental listening, while they are doing whatever they can to help their loved one heal and relax.

EFT in the hands of a compassionate spouse or friend is a magical  tool to support the healing process in amazing, astounding ways. It is  my hope that all military families in the future will be  trained to use EFT effectively as a self help tool for themselves and their soldiers.

The time frame for Veterans healing sessions should, be as customized as possible to the individuals needs.

Veterans healing is very different, depending on what a person has been through, and what the needs are.

As an interfaith minister, independent life coach and registered, alternative provider with the NH board for mental health practice (the board has no oversight over my practice), I am fortunate to have the freedom to adjust my hours according to my Veteran’s needs. When I began helping and  teaching my Veterans EFT, I realized the importance of having enough time to work together. Even though our research shows that 6 one hour sessions of EFT bring very significant and relevant results to Veterans, I often felt that those who have a hard time trusting and opening up, truly need all the time and attention they can get, once they decide too make this step and open up to healing.

I honor my veterans courage to trust me, a non-veteran with a rather unusual self help approach, and understand that when someone has the courage to open up and speak, he or she deserves to not be interrupted or pressured by time restrictions.

In an ideal world, I believe that it is important to schedule at least two hour sessions with every Veteran, to give him or her enough time to relax and feel safe.

Should this not be possible, due to the restrictions that some practitioners or offices may have, I recommend to at least schedule regular appointments that are not too stretched out in time. In our research, we used 6 one hour sessions, which were to be administered within 4 weeks. I usually schedule 2 sessions per week (Mo/Thu or Tue/Fri), so that we can keep “rolling” when we are making headway. this also gives enough time to find an alternative appointment should one have to be cancelled.

Your input or experience is very welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment!

An interesting article to share…

Global Blog:

Blog: Humanitarian Relief

Blogger: Humanitarian Relief

Michael Kleinman has worked for NGOs in some of the worst places in the world.  From 2004 to 2007 he was with CARE, first as the organization’s Advocacy Advisor in Afghanistan, then…

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December 28, 2009 12:27 ET

Women 14% of US Armed Forces and 5% of Homeless Vet Population

If you haven’t seen Ilona Meagher’s website focused on combat-related post-traumatic stress among US soldiers and veterans, go here.

Meagher wrote a book called, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops.

And this week, she’s gathered a very useful collection of statistics on the military services with some of the following highlights. Better not to quote me directly here; go to Ilona’s site and see the sources she cites for the study parameters and context…

• For every soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan there are about nine who were wounded, compared to only three per death in previous conflicts (Boston Globe).
• A Pentagon health survey revealed that about one in four US soldiers admitted to abusing prescription drugs (USA Today).
• Worldwide, women make up about 14% of US active duty forces, higher than any previous record. (Philadelphia Enquirer).
• Over 120 American women have been killed and 600 have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan (Philadelphia Enquirer).
• Women make up about 5% of the homeless veteran population, roughly about 6,500 homeless female vets (Associated Press).
• For more, go to the source: PTSD Combat Blog.

The only thing I would add is to remind everyone that post-traumatic stress-related issues do not affect all veterans, and plenty of people who are not soldiers, including refugees and former frontline aid workers, may have similar experiences. Peace.

[Photo: Veteran's Day Parade, Detroit, Wigwam Jones]

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When I first came across Gary Craig’s EFT in early 2002, I immediately recognized it as not just a new and powerful approach to healing that can be used by laypersons all over the world, as well as by practitioners and healing professionals, but also the beginning of a healing movement as has never been seen before.
With the basic teachings being available as a free download online, EFT has encouraged, honored and included people’s use of intuition and special and unique gifts, even their modification into new techniques that worked better for them.
I realized that the motivating energy of this technique is love, and many have benefitted in numerous ways from the generosity of the founder, Gary Craig. Many other powerful techniques have been derived from EFT, with the goal of finding the most gentle, powerful and lasting ways to heal.

Gary Craig explains that negative emotions can be understood as fears of something or someone, including our past, and that these feelings are caused by blocks or disruptions in our energy system. EFT releases these fears at the source.
EFT combines a gentle tapping technique on designated acupressure points (acupoints) on the face and body with statements that represent either the negative issues to be released or a positive outcome. EFT recreates balance in relation to those statements and what they stand for, and allows us to release negativity for good. This process often causes cognitive shifts that allow us to see the true motives and backgrounds of our feelings and actions clearly. Since EFT is such an easy method to apply and a freely available tool, it truly has the potential to allow all of us to release our fears and understand that we are indeed all connected. Readers will find a
wonderful collection of reports of benefits of EFT on Gary Craig’s website http://www.emofree.com.
Important information can also be found on www.eft4vets.com.
Gary Craig has recently announced that he intends to retire and close the emofree website, however, it seems that the archives and other important information will be transferred to other sites, so that the public can continue to have access to these powerful healing stories.
Please stay tuned for more information.