A new group-based training program from is taking an innovative approach to treating trauma.
The aim of the Trauma Resiliency Program, which launched last weekend, is to treat members of the Canadian Armed Forces, veterans and first responders, who are often diagnosed with higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Tim Black, associate professor of counselling psychology at the University of Victoria, developed the program with clinical counsellor Alex Sterling, who has previously worked with Wounded Warriors with a focus on trauma.
The goal of the program is to chip away at the isolation that wounds like these can breed, and provide peer support for an illness steeped in stigma. Addressing the shame and the societal response head on is a new approach, Black said.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 tied into almost all traumatization,B次元官网网址� he explained, saying these issues usually arenB次元官网网址檛 at the forefront when studying or treating trauma. B次元官网网址淛ust living with trauma requires resiliency.B次元官网网址�
Black said the programB次元官网网址檚 focus is to build on that resiliency to make survivors proud of the work theyB次元官网网址檝e done to heal. B次元官网网址淪ociety itself has a responsibility. Part of what traumatizes people is the social response that people get.B次元官网网址�
While itB次元官网网址檚 hard to track exact numbers of those suffering from PTSD, he estimates itB次元官网网址檚 three to 10 per cent of the general population. Among the military and first responders, itB次元官网网址檚 more like 10 to 20 per cent. Black and Sterling are looking at what itB次元官网网址檚 really like for people to live with symptoms of trauma, asking what they struggle with most.
B次元官网网址淎nybody whoB次元官网网址檚 been to therapy knows, being in therapy is far harder than being out of therapy,B次元官网网址� Black said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a lot harder to do the work than it is to avoid the work.B次元官网网址�
