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The Recourse* at Lilac Springs
Mind/Body Dialog
During trauma and the ensuing upset, many individuals dis-integrate, spiritually, interpersonally, physically, cognitively, emotionally and behaviorally.
At Lilac Springs our goal is to re-integrate individuals in all spheres with them reporting:
· Less sadness
· Less nervousness
· Less fear of death
· Less fear of getting worse
· Less panic breathing
· Less need to take care of others
· Less continuous upset
· More sleep
· More satisfaction with their appearance
· More comfort with sexual activities
· More contentment with the quality of their lives
· Better attitude toward treatment
· Less physical reactivity in anticipation of treatment
*RECOURSE – a turning to someone or something for help or protection
In life, certain events take our breath away. We gasp, our breaths are shallow the brain goes into a survival mode and the mind/brain dialog is disrupted; the alarmed brain exerts dominance and the mind/brain balance is interrupted.
Hans Selye described the body’s reaction to crisis as Alarm-Resistance-Exhaustion – the alarm signals danger, our body puts up resistance to the threat, and unless is turned off our reserves become depleted.
It is important to intervene during a Therapy is needed when
state of Alarm and the best method the crisis has passed, but
is Psychological First Aid (PFA): alarm continues to sound:
Relax Psycho-education
Educate Relaxation
Proximity Affect Modulation
Assess Cognitive intervention
Immediately Trauma Transfer
Restore-Return-Refer In vita Desensitization
Conjoint Therapy
Empower Enhance Trust/Safety/Socialization
Motivate
When humans are in a state of alarm information within, and outside of a person is processed differently. That information, along with sights, sounds, touches, smells, tastes and emotions, gets jumbled together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and can be stored in our memories differently from learned facts and figures. These memories can be likened to a bundle of clothes thrown into a dryer i.e. the tumbling is chaotic and usually unresolvable through self-examination. We carry those bits and pieces of memories around at a preconscious or subconscious level and often we cannot understand or access them.
A goal during crisis to prevent the long term storage of memories in the implicit memory and that is when the REPAIR EM model is utilized when our bodies are in the state of alarm. During this phase it is important to calm the brain by calming the body and preventing the over storage of information in the implicit memory.
The PRACTICE phase occurs after a person has been trauma has occurred and is designed to move traumatic memories to the explicit memory (like an encyclopedia) so that they can be accessed in an orderly manner. The ordering of information sets the stage for desensitization to upsetting materials and occurs in a safe/therapeutic setting. The safe/therapeutic setting, also, provides an opportunity to learn “portable” skills to use in life.
Program Components
Assessment: research shows that when a person experiences four or more traumatic events, they are at risk for developing what might be called complex trauma syndrome. A critical part of our intervention will be determining which individuals are, or are not, at risk following a traumatic event and to provide different levels of intervention.
Massage: The principle technique will be infant type massage. At the end of the session a closing/lingering compassionate touch will be applied to the forehead and they will be swaddled in a blanket.
Massage will:
· Facilitate basic attachment to other human beings
· Facilitate trance induction
· Create a common positive experience for group psychotherapy members
· Reconnect the patient to professional warmth and comfort through compassionate and caring touch
· Stop the dis-integrative process
· Aid in the development of “portable” techniques
· Be the catalytic modality for a synergistic treatment regimen consisting of hypnotherapy, biofeedback, group psychotherapy and equine facilitated therapy.
Hypnotherapy: hypnotherapy will be used to induce altered state of sensory awareness that helps an individual deal with heightened brain activity. The relaxed state of massage will be coupled with a cue so a person can engage in self-hypnoses.
Bio-feedback: this modality will allow a person to use their “portable” techniques when they contemplate traumatic materials.
Group therapy: the primary goal is to focus on the universality or human problems and the commonalties that each person in experiencing.
Conjoint therapy: the goal here is to involve family members in experiencing the designated client, learn intervention techniques for themselves and to become a support/facilitator for the client.
Equine Facilitated: Therapy: this modality will be precipitate emotional reactivity and cause the person to access their “portable” techniques to communicate to what might be described as a living/breathing biofeedback machine. | 
