Val LougheedNorthern Lights Canada

Trauma, Rehabilitation and Recovery

ACTION Makes it

Happen

1-800-361-4642 * www.northernlightscanada.ca * vlougheed@northernlightscanada.ca

“You don’t want your impairments to define you – you want them to inform you.”

(Hanita Dagan, personal communication, 2005)

www.slideshare.net/vlougheed

#NLCAN

www.northernlightscanada.ca/about/about-val-

lougheed/be-still

Agenda

•Beginning …

•Middle …

•End …

ACTION Makes it Happen

1. What does it mean to recover?

2. What can I do to recover and return to a life that includes work?

3. What can we do to facilitate recovery and a return to work?

Rated PG-113

People Strongly Cautioned!

May contain bad language, brief nudity, sexual overtones, and drug usage.

Beginning

My Story

Sept. 9, 2003 - morning

Sept. 9 – p.m.

Sept. 15 2003 – Jan. 19 2004

Journey Back to Life

Journey Back to Work

February 2004 – Present

Starting Point

Identity Disintegration

and

The Re-organization of Self

March 2004

“In the aftermath of traumatic life events… [the] sense of self has been shattered.”

(Herman, 1992, p. 61)

“An existential crisis…”(Dagan, personal communication,

2005)

Middle

Research

Foundations for Understanding

Experience

Body-Mind Connection

Psychoimmunoendocrine Network

The nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are functionally integrated – the brain is only one part of this non-hierarchical network Memories, emotions, behaviours and physiology are all connected at the molecular level

(Candace Pert, 1997, p. 171 – 179)

Body-Mind Connection

“The words and attitudes of others … are potent. They help or hex healing and

recovery.”

“ Expectations are powerful.”

“Neutrality can be deadly.”(Bolen, 1996, p. 94; Sternberg, 2001, p. 65)

Quantum Connection

The Living Matrix -- 1995• A type of energy exists that has previously gone unnoticed.

• Cells/DNA influence matter through this form of energy.

• DNA Phantom effect.

Braden, 2007, p. 45

The Re-Organization of

Self

“Loss of identity can evoke a personal crisis, creating a

need for change.”

(Ornelas, in Smith & Johnson (Eds), 1997, p. 172)

End

Reflections

ACTION Makes it Happen Resilience

Ability to return to original form after being bent (bounce back)

Thriving in constant change, ability to be:

• Flexible

• Creative

• Adaptable

• Learn from experiencehttp://www.resiliencycenter.com/articles/5levels.shtml

ACTION Makes it Happen

Rehabilitation (habiter – to live inside)

“Rehabilitation (the re-organization of self) is the learning to live inside not only one’s body, however it is after an injury or illness, but inside one’s very being.”

(Kabat-Zinn, in Meili, 2003, p. 241)

ACTION Makes it Happen

RecoveryCuring Focus on the illness/

impairment [outside]

Healing Focus on the person [inside]

Crombez, October, 2003

Be Still