17 June 2008

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

            The Chinese earthquake has left millions of suffering adults and children. The photos and news reports being sent to the U.S. are heart-wrenching and vivid reminders that the traumatic effects of natural disasters can last for many years if left untreated. FHE and the SE community have an opportunity to help alleviate some of the suffering. We are writing to ask your help in funding a very special humanitarian project.  The following is a description of the project; if you would like to skip right to the donations instruction, please scroll to the last paragraph.  Thanks. 
                       
            Three weeks ago we were contacted by Dr. Rob Blinn, Ph.D, psychologist and Director of Family Counseling Center at Beijing’s United Family Hospitals and Clinic. Rob has studied SE ® with Peter and Maggie Kline in the states, and Maggie Phillips in Hong Kong this past May, at the first-ever SE ® training in China. Rob asked if there was any way that we could help bring SE ® to earthquake-ravaged Sichuan province.
 Below is a picture of the Beginning class.

            Peter and Maggie Kline responded that we could, and contacted Lisa LaDue, requesting that she collaborate with Dr. Blinn and lead a team to assist with psychological recovery efforts.  Lisa is the Senior Advisor for the National Mass Fatalities Institute in Iowa and has extensive experience in disaster response, having provided disaster mental health services with the American Red Cross at the Pentagon and New York City after 9/11 and following many other national disasters over the past twelve years.  As a member of the Iowa-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Lisa provided (SE-influenced) disaster mental health services in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi in the immediate post-Hurricane Katrina environment.  You might remember that she was a member of the first Trauma Outreach Program (TOP) Team that went to Thailand in January, 2005 after the Indian Ocean Tsunami and she co-lead an international team of SE practitioners to India with Raja Selvam in July of that year.

            The China project is being co-coordinated by Lisa and Laurie Leitch.   Laurie is Director of Research for the Foundation for Human Enrichment. She is also Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI), a non-profit trauma training organization that provides training in trauma stabilization nationally and internationally. She has spent over 25 years as a psychotherapist using competency-based, mind-body psychotherapy. She has extensive experience providing clinical training and consultation in diverse settings. She has particular interest in "at risk" populations including survivors of catastrophic events. She provided treatment after 9-11, as well as treatment and clinical training in southern Thailand after the tsunami, in Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita where she made 10 trips to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and in Rwanda with post-genocide counselors and prisoners. Dr. Leitch's research has included social program and clinical evaluations for national foundations, the federal government, and non-profit organizations. She has conducted two studies of the effectiveness of somatic intervention after natural disasters. One was published in September 2007 in Traumatology and the other has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Social Work. Her specialty is cross-cultural training and research with populations who have experienced complex trauma.

            The primary focus of this project is to provide training for healthcare providers, school personnel and others who are in key positions to help children heal from the potentially devastating effects of the trauma they have experienced.  It is known that thousands of people have died, many more thousands were injured and thousands of children have been orphaned.  We know that many, many more children have been traumatized by the experiences they have endured during and following the earthquake.

            Now the SE ® China Earthquake Relief project is formed and ready to go. The project has three phases. In the first phase Laurie Leitch will Laurie Leitch will meet with Chinese researchers in Beijing to collaborate on the design and implementation of an assessment package. The assessments will focus on 1) evaluation of all trainings provided by the teams. Trainings will be assessed for relevance, use, and satisfaction and 2) assessment of earthquake survivors pre/post/follow-up who are treated by those receiving training from our teams. Assessments will include symptoms as well as resiliency indicators.  

            The second phase will involve Lisa and her team: Maggie Kline, Daniel Bruce, and Ale Duarte all of whom were part of the initial TOP Team that went to Thailand.  Daniel and Ale accompanied Raja, Lisa and others to India.  This team will travel to the earthquake-affected area of Sichuan Province with Dr. Blinn to provide culturally-appropriate psychological (trauma) first aid training, in conjunction with our Chinese hosts, to facilitate psychological stabilization in these early stages of intervention.  As we know, stabilization and re-establishment of equilibrium in the nervous system can often allow individuals to access their own resilience and healthy coping methods.  Others may need more intensive interventions that require additional training and skills.  For this reason, we hope to provide an ongoing and sustainable support program for ongoing training in SE-based interventions for trauma healing through implementation of Phase 3.

            Phase Three will entail Laurie and her team: Elaine Miller-Karas, LISW, Ellen Elgart, LISW, Brenda Williams, LISW, and Pat Kouwbunpat, M.D. The Phase Three team is from the Trauma resource Institute (TRI) and will provide 3-day trainings in China in TRI’s brief somatic model, Trauma Resiliency Model. TRM has been field-tested in natural disasters as well as in international settings suffering complex trauma such as Rwanda and with east and west African activists against female genital mutilation and Safe House counselors. The Trauma Resiliency Model is a skills-based, biologically oriented intervention which offers practical stabilization skills to practitioners as well as survivors. TRM training can be offered to clinical responders as well as others who are working with survivors of natural disasters such as teachers and parents of suffering children. TRI is experienced in delivering training using translators and has training materials that have been tailored for use across cultures. The TRI team will provide training as well as a model of in-the-field demonstration and coaching that was developed during the fires in southern California in fall 2007. Phase 3 will include training for those working with adult survivors as well as children. Ideally, funding permitting, FHE-sponsored teams will return over the course of the year to provide further Somatic Experiencing training, case consultation. Team members will also go into the field with local clinicians to provide support for deepening learning of somatic work, and to collect follow-up data in conjunction with China-based project staff.

            Here’s where we need your help.  The more funds we can generate for the SE ® China Earthquake Relief project outside of China, the more we can do there on the ground. Every donation helps.  Go to the FHE website at www.traumahealing.com.  You’ll see the “Donate Now” button in the upper right hand corner, where you can designate a donation for “China Earthquake Relief Project”. 

            Thank you for your investment in bringing SE ® to China at a time when it is most needed.

Peter Levine
Lisa LaDue
Laurie Leitch
Bruce Gottlieb
Jane Hansberry