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2-week Day Program:
The trauma program is a treatment program for service personnel
exposed to stress and trauma connected with their work
An innovation in trauma treatment:
Resolve ReclaimPTSD symptoms, however, occur because one’s brain has not recovered from an extremely distressing, painful, fearful, or shameful experience. Recovery from the traumatic event had not occurred because the emotions stimulated by the experience were simply larger than the brain could handle. An emotional injury has occurred and it has not healed. As a result, a person with PTSD has symptoms that are seriously disruptive to their family or social activities, their work, or their recreational activities.
Without your being aware of it, you have “learned” several things through the trauma. For example, you have learned that there are many dangerous situations around, and that your body should be alert and prepare for the worst all the time, especially in situations related to the trauma (physical arousal); you also have learned that you should avoid things that remind you of the trauma (avoidance). You may have intrusive thoughts when there is something to remind you of the trauma (e.g. similar stories on news) or even when there is no obvious reminder in the environment.
The program is designed to assist you identify problem areas in your life related to your values, and set realistic & achievable goals to move for- ward.
It will assist you in developing a framework for understanding the current difficulties & learn best practice techniques to better manage difficult & unpleasant situations & emotions.
In this way the RR program is designed to empower you to become your own therapist by learning effective coping & problem solving skills.
We believe these skills will help you to get better, & stay better .
Why group therapy?
There are many advantages, including:
- It provides you with multiple perspectives and input that promote faster and more effective learning. You are more likely to get better in the minimum time possible, allowing you to return to your everyday functioning as soon as possible.
- Participants in group tend to help each other by providing mutual support and understanding, which promotes a sense of care, trust, concern and respect.
- Group therapy helps you to recognize you are not alone, that other people like yourself experience mental health problems. This often reduces the stigma and feelings of guilt, shame, weakness and/or embarrassment that is often associated with issues.
- Groups also provide you with an opportunity to apply new skills and coping tools that you are learning in a safe, supportive environment.
To get the most out of it:
Attend daily sessions: Therapy can only be effective and help you achieve your goals if you attend. There may be times that you may not feel like attending group therapy, however you are likely to discover that you often feel worse rather than better for not attending. Therapy helps to keep you focused on learning adaptive coping solutions to your problems and hence keeps you from focusing on negative thoughts that only serves to worsen your mood and ability to cope. So even when you don’t feel like attending, it is often worth trying as hard as possible to do so.
Contribute: When attending group, be willing to contribute in an open and honest manner. Put your own issues forward, ask questions if you don’t understand something that has been discussed or that you disagree with and be prepared to do so in an assertive and respectful manner.
Listen: Ensure that you don’t “tune out” during group. You can’t learn if you don’t listen. This relates not only to when you are being directly addressed or if the topic of the group is relevant to you, but also at other times as you might find the information to be valuable or you might be able to contribute something that could be helpful to another group member.
Stay focused: While group therapy enables members to help each other it is important to remember to stay focused – you are in group to deal with your own issues and find solutions to your own problems and difficulties. You are not responsible for finding solutions to the problems of other group members. Therefore remember to maintain appropriate boundaries when interacting with others, both in and out of therapy.
Don’t compare: While there may be similarities between yourself and other patients, it is important to remember no two people are exactly the same. Therefore the nature of their problems and illnesses, its treatment and response will be different. Be careful not to compare yourself to other patients in group, as this often serves to increase stress levels and interfere with treatment.
Maintain confidentiality: Therapy loses effectiveness when patients don’t feel as though what they disclose in group stays in group. Therefore it is a requirement that all patients respect each other’s right to privacy.
Take responsibility: The Marian Centre requires patients to take an active and responsible role in their treatment. Therapy can often be thought of as a simple equation: What you put in = What you get out. Therapy can only work if you follow the above suggestions and be prepared to work with us in helping you to ultimately help yourself. A non-active approach to therapy where you wait for the therapist to “cure you” tends to result in no positive change.