My wife Paula and I are both SA survivors and DV/SA crisis counselors and we've been teaching New Directions (ND) for over 25 years now. The thing is, tho' we deal with all kinds of trauma and abuse in ND, we have found that molest, rape and incest have the deepest, most pervasive/profound effect/affect on people. (Even over people we've had from concentration camps!) The emotional impact is amazing, and horrible, but also, I'm happy to say, we're finding them quite healable! We say, "You gotta feel it to heal it." Once we allow ourselves to feel our pain and anger, the wounds can heal, we can become empowered, and we do NOT have to live as a Victim! We help people regain (often for the 1st time in their lives), their own, self-generated, self-created, self-controlled Personal Power (PP). It's a beautiful thing! We take 'em back and help 'em say what they need to say, punch a pillow, scream at the top of their lungs, cuss and spit and whatever (well, not spit, we do have/model good boundaries, too... very important!)... and then we hug 'em, and hold 'em after. It's about love, and acceptance, and allowing. We create a super-safe, super-loving place where people can let 'er rip, and express everything they need to say, at the INTENSITY they need to release it. Trauma and abuse are right-brain problems, so it takes right-brain techniques to release 'em. We are just on the tip of iceberg about what we can do with EQ! read our testimonials page: www.newdirectionsworkshop.com/testimonials. side note: we just got home yesterday from an ND weekend in Fresno on Veteran's Day. In our last 3 classes, we've had at least 1 veteran... not a lot, but all 3, count 'em, all 3, have now said, to my face, "I would not be here if it wasn't for ND." I'm not taking total credit for these 'saves', but I AM giving the credit to high EQ and the "processing" of feelings for healing! this shit works. Did you know that we have lost more veterans to suicide in the last years than in combat?!? That's absurd, and so unacceptable. How can we help? - Matt
