NZ Trauma Recovery Team continues work in Samoa

NZ Trauma Recovery Team continues work in Samoa

The NZ Trauma Recovery Team returned from Samoa earlier this month, following a successful first trip. Over forty people attended the three-day training held at Aggie Gray’s Hotel in Apia. Day One opened with the Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Aiono Sailele Malielegoai, welcoming the team and talking about how important the skills people are learning on the training are going to be for “re-building people’s minds to enabling them to rebuild communities in Samoa”.

During their stay the team was evacuated due to the Pacific-wide tsunami warning on Saturday 27 February (Samoa time). Having never experienced this kind of emergency before, some of the team experienced a sense of the fear and panic some people must experience in Samoa at the very thought of another tsunami. That day brought home to the whole team just how very real the threat of natural disasters are for the Samoan people and the impact of that following such a devastating experience just months ago.

The team spoke with people on the days following the warning and they talked of how scary it felt for them, one woman explained how her whole body was shaking as she drove down from her house to warm people at around 2am. Many people were in tears talking about it. While some people have been able to let go of the trauma and move on, the team has seen how traumatising these warnings can be for those still suffering from the September disaster.

There is still much to be done; the team is planning follow-up work with those in Samoa who are newly-trained in these techniques, as well as one-on-one help with people still suffering from trauma.

The Trauma Recovery Team is a group of nationally and internationally certified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioners and Trainers experienced in working with victims of trauma, using ground-breaking techniques that provide profound and lasting relief from trauma and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

The techniques the team employs have been shown to be the most effective solution to treating PTSD in war zones, and following the 9-11 events in the US. Research is being started in the US following clinical use after 9-11, where NLP techniques relieved PTSD symptoms over 80% of the time in two to four hours. The next best results were with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), the best of the researched methods. It was effective 32% of the time and took four to nine months (Frank Bourke, Ph.D. & Richard F. Liotta, Ph.D.).

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming, the study of excellence in a range of areas including therapy, personal change, communication and education. While NLP is still considered by many in New Zealand to be new and alternative, it is well established in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe where it is part of University programmes and national health services.

ENDS

© Scoop Media