Brookfield Institute to Provide Trauma Healing for Chilean Earthquake Victims
A few weeks ago, Elena Huegel, missionary in Chile, was a participant in a workshop offered by the Brookfield Institute , called Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience. Immediately following the earthquake, Elena was prepared to offer trauma healing strategies to people most affected.
Who could have predicted how timely the training would be?
Elena and several others who attended the workshop gave a brief instruction in first aid for trauma for 100 Sunday school teachers. Each teacher oversees 20 classes. Within a few weeks following the earthquake, trauma healing will be brought to hundreds of children.
Elena also gathered a group of children in some of the most affected areas to process their experiences. These drawings, painted by some of the children at the workshop, depict their hope of what can be.
Damien 7 years old Maria Isabel 8 years old Geraldine 6years old
The devastation from the earthquake in Chile, measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, is mind-boggling. Homes and businesses are rubble, bridges are upended, cities are flooded with 8 feet of water and whole families have died.
Other organizations will provide the desperately needed shelter, food and water needed for physical healing.
And Centro Shalom will provide the trauma healing.
The nine newly certified trauma workers from Centro Shalom, the Brookfield Institute’s Chilean partner, have been helping heal the emotional and spiritual wounds that are all too rampant after a disaster, particularly in children.
When the quake stuck, the workers were in the mountains at Centro Shalom, leading a retreat to teach others about first aid for trauma — both physical and emotional trauma.
As they slept, the first shock of the earthquake rumbled across the mountains, knocking some people out of bed. They banded together to check on neighbors, equipped with lanterns, water, food and first aid. Assured everyone was OK, they began the trek down the mountain, carrying supplies and ready to face what lay ahead.
They traveled to Talca, the city with the highest death toll at this writing, immediately putting their training to work as they cared for families without homes, or those who had lost loved ones. The Centro Shalom staff has continued to reach out to traumatized communities across Chile.
One young woman wrote: “”I am grateful for the workshop in trauma healing. I have been inspired to help many people in these days. The course and the leadership has served me well. I have applied everything that I learned. Without a doubt, many people will need this help in the days to come.”
At the Brookfield Institute, we plan to continue and extend our work in trauma healing in Chile through Centro Shalom, a peace and environmental education camp sponsored by the Pentecostal Church of Chile and our partner for 10 years.
How can you help?
$25 Training manual for one person
$50 Training costs for one person
$200 Transportation, and resources cost for one hour workshops in “first aid” for trauma healing
$1,000 Translation of trauma materials.
Or Donate the amount that you are comfortable with by clicking the PayPay button below:
Trauma-Healing Retreat in Chile
The Brookfield Institute led a workshop in trauma healing three weeks ago at Centro Shalom, a peace and environmental education camp in the mountains of central Chile. The workshop was taking place in the open air of the Andes. As we listened to the birds and felt the breeze blowing, we heard a truck approach. A neighbor was passing through our road. “When I heard the tires crunching on the stones, I thought the military was coming to get me again,“ Trembling, Herman Valdivia recounted his experience from the overthrow of the government and the installation of the dictatorship in 1973. “I didn’t know they were coming. They just showed up and snatched me out of the home blindfolded, and I was blindfolded for three months as they held me and tortured me. My family didn’t know anything…if I was alive, where I was, nothing.” After seven months he was released, but the wounds of his detention and torture persisted for decades. By the end of the retreat, Herman was a changed man. He was beaming and hugging everyone. “It felt like a burden was released. I have never had a chance to tell what happened and to have it received with such love.”
In the parade of churches at the Annual Meeting, the men are dressed in suits and ties and women are wearing longer skirts and dresses, marching two by two. And Brother Herman proudly paraded wearing the t-shirt he had received at the Camp. The impact of the retreat has been enormous.
Others told stories that were just as dramatic. One young woman, Ellen, talked about her uncle who has never been the same. He was conscripted at 19 years old and forced to fire into the crowd on the day La Moneda (the Chilean White House) was attacked and the government was overthrown. He couldn’t bear to do it, but was told if he didn’t shoot, his family would be punished. He reluctantly closed his eyes and fired aimlessly into the crowd. Today, the weight of the guilt immobilizes him.
A trauma is any experience that overwhelms our ability to cope. A trauma could stem from childhood abuse, detention and torture during a dictatorship, a life-threatening car accident or a hurricane, earthquake or fire.
During the 10 day trauma healing event, 9 people were trained in the skills and theory of trauma healing. They conducted the retreat on the weekend, with the supervision of Brookfield Institute staff.
The Spiritual Journey Home From War: Ministering to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans and their Families:
Posted on October 26, 2009
Kevin Lucey spent his last moments with his son, rocking him in a chair and cradling him in his arms after he discovered his lifeless body in the cellar of their home. Iraqi veteran Jeff Lucey took his own life while suffering from post traumatic stress response (PTSD).Kevin Lucey was one of the speakers at the workshop Spiritual Journey Home from War: Ministering to Returning Veterans and Their Families at Edwards Church, Framingham last November. Lucey described the unraveling of his son’s life and, consequently, his family’s life, in the days and months after his son returned from military service, in order to save other families from the tragedy his has faced.
Though the subject has received much media publicity, veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan still face many hurdles as they re-integrate into civilian life. Of the 1.6 million service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, about 1 in 6 is at risk of developing some form of post-traumatic stress. Even those without obvious symptoms of PTSD often have difficulty resuming the life they left behind. In addition, families deal with the pressure and ever-present anxiety of having a loved one deployed.
The spiritual wounds of war are rarely addressed in the array of assistance provided for veterans and their families. For churches, separating the war from the needs of the ‘warrior’ is the first step in finding ways to care for returning military personnel. Susan Leary, staff at the Veteran’s Education Project spoke about the unique journey veterans and their families face as they move toward healing. Leary observes that each veterans’ path to healing is different and caregivers must be sensitive to the unique journey of each person. For some, the conviction that their wartime experience has served a higher purpose enables them to forgive themselves and to heal. Others seek to find some expression of their disillusionment with the war and their involvement in it. For many, traditional religion hasn’t been helpful in their spiritual healing and they seek a sense of grace or atonement in new practices of spirituality. For some, the rituals and traditions of their faith have provided the foundation to work through emotional and spiritual issues.
In order for churches to provide needed spiritual support for veterans, some preliminary discussion is necessary to lay the ground work. “Often congregations, pastors and veterans must work through their ambivalence about war and about caring for veterans before they are able to effectively minister,” observes Susan Leary of the Veterans Education Project. She continues, “For some veterans, a church or synagogue is still a difficult place to enter. Both clergy and members of congregations carry wounds from the country’s divided response to the Vietnam war and its veterans. These workshops offer a place for listening and healing for everyone. At a recent workshop in western MA, a Vietnam vet in attendance, witnessing the rapt listening to a fellow Vietnam vet, broke into tears saying this was the first time in 30 years he had ever felt ‘welcomed home.’”
In addition to Ms Leary and Mr. Lucey, a panel of knowledgeable and experienced speakers provided resources. Our next event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25th in Leominster, MA..
For more information, call 508-637-1215 or email Brookfield.institute@gmail.com
*Barry Walsh, “When Mommy Comes Marching Home Again,” Bostonia, Fall 2008
**
Finding the Calm in the Storm: A program for veterans
Posted on May 28th, 2008
Challenges facing returning veterans have been described in recent stories on television, in newspapers and magazines. Veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan have high rates of post traumatic stress, homelessness and suicide. Needs are overwhelming available resources to treat these symptoms. Though only a small percentage of all veterans are experiencing this kind of devastation, studies also show that most active combat veterans are returning with some level of trauma as they re-enter the life they left behind. Read the rest of this entry »
World Wide Views on Global Warming:
A ground-breaking event on September 26, 2009, to provide input to
UN Convention on Climate Change (COP15)
By David Sittenfield of the Museum of Science and Karen Nell Smith of the Brookfield Institute
The Brookfield Institute, in collaboration with Boston’s Museum of Science and Boston University’s School of Public Health, will convene one of only six US sites invited by the Danish Technology Board to contribute to “World Wide Views on Global Warming” (www.WWViews.org), a highly facilitated international effort to gather public input to the COP15 from over forty locations around the world. ( for more click here)
The UN Convention on Climate Change will create the international climate change agreement to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol. The convention is of critical interest to policy-makers and to the public globally. The historic COP15 is expected to garner even greater attention that the Kyoto Protocol, at the highest levels of governments globally, to command the public’s attention, and to produce outcomes that will be widely covered by the international media.
World Wide Views is the first event of its kind. Its mission is to capture citizen views on climate policy from citizens around the world, and then present them to the UN. This global citizen deliberation event will involve over forty nations with six sites in the United States. The event is being organized by the Danish Board of Technology (DBT), whose mission is “to promote the technology debate and public enlightenment concerning the potential and consequences of technology.”
As preparation for the World Wide Views deliberations, groups of 100 citizens who represent the diversity of each site’s demographics will be selected during the summer via an application and selection process analogous to that of a clinical research study. To learn more about this exciting opportunity or to submit an application to participate in the WWViews project on September 26, 2009, click here: WWViews participant application
Throughout the day September 26th, World Wide Views will take place at more than forty locations worldwide. Participants at each of these sites will gather for a full, 8-hour day of presentations about climate change, possible legislative responses, and moderated discussion. Experts will be present in each location to answer questions throughout the day. Deliberations will consist of discussions at tables focused on policy questions developed by the DBT. The participants’ recommendations will be tabulated globally, made available to the public, sent in real-time to the UN, and provided to the COP15 convention’s 170 delegates.
The Brookfield Institute is uniquely positioned to lead the project’s facilitation team and coordinate participant recruitment. Institute founders, Karen Nell Smith and Beverly Prestwood-Taylor, have significant experience in facilitation of Danish-style consensus conferences, having participated on the facilitation team of the first conference to be conducted in the United States at Tufts University in 1997, and in another at Boston University’s School of Public Health in 2006. The Institute has wide-ranging experience and training in the cultivation of diversity and facilitation of groups with diverse demographic characteristics such as income level, race, age and gender.
The WWViews program will have impact beyond its participants and the UN. A special WWViews Debrief for the public will be presented at the Museum on the following day. The WWViews Debrief will serve as an opportunity for both the public and the media to learn and ask questions.
Maria Puliafico, a local rising star, recently delighting audiences with performances in Boston’s Jordan Hall, at the Cutler Majestic as the lead in Menotti’s opera, “The Medium” and with the Boston Ballet, is singing a benefit concert to raise funds in support of returning veterans. The concert at the newly renovated Brookfield Congregational Church on Saturday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m., features love songs from jazz, musical theatre and classical genres. A reception follows the concert.
