Recent WMass Training

9/11/10:

VA Presents: Treating Combat Vets with EMDR

On September 11, 2010, Western Mass EMDRIA and the Veterans Administration Medical co-sponsored a day of training entitled “Treating Combat Veterans: The Role of Civilian Clinicians in addressing the Psychological Wounds of War” at Smith college.  The training was followed by an evening theatre production Ambush on T Street at the Northampton Center for the Arts in Northampton.

 This workshop was organized by Ted Olejnik, LICSW, who is the Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the VA Center in Leeds, MA and a familiar member of our EMDR community.  Other presenters were Ted’s colleagues Sheila Davies, MSW, LICSW who is the OEF(Operation Enduring Freedom)/OIF(Operation Iraqi Freedom) program Manager at the Veterans Medical Center in Leeds; Jill Hunsicker, MSW, LICSW who works in the Traumatic Brain Injury and Polytrauma program at the Veterans Medical Center; and Stan Gajda, MA, LMHC who is a Readjustment Counseling Therapist at the Veterans Center, in Springfield.  Stan is also an EMDR practitioner.

 The workshop was designed to sensitize participants to the common mindset of the returning veteran and included video and case depictions of the military experience and culture.  An overview of community services was presented along with discussion about how to best integrate veterans and community services . Many resource materials were made available.

 The afternoon portion of the workshop was geared more specifically to trauma-informed interventions for veterans with combat PTSD.  It included an explanation of Traumatic Brain Injury along with assessment and treatment considerations, as well as a protocol for treating nightmares.

 Also included in the workshop was a very moving video “Team Lioness”, about the experience of female combat veterans in Iraq.

 Though this workshop was  focused toward EMDR trained clinicians, it was designed to be welcoming and inclusive of other licensed psychotherapists as well as doctors and nurses in an effort to extend the outreach of this important information to as wide a clinical population as possible. We were very glad to be able to co-sponsor this workshop with our Veterans Administration colleagues.

Participants in the workshop also had the opportunity to attend the evening production of Ambush on T Street a theater production created and performed by Court Dorsey, Al Miller and John Sheldon. The performance featured three men (a trauma counselor, a street musician and a homeless veteran) coming together as they struggle to recover from old neglected trauma. The audience was treated to a stirring and stellar performance.  Present in the audience were a number of veterans as well as representatives of Men’s Resource Center, the Veteran’s Education Project, Amherst Writers and Artists, and Zen Peacemakers which co-sponsored this production along with Western Mass EMDRIA regional Meeting,

The day was a profoundly informative and moving.