Hi, Den – I just wanted to catch that you were in the place of “I must get this
right for the participants” – and wondered how it would be to imaginally set
yourself up as the part of you saying that outside the circle (in your own
mind, without sharing that with the participants) before you begin, so that
your longings for tenderness and precision and exquisite care could be
acknowledged without hampering your movement as facilitator?
I wonder if your wish to “get this right” captures a bit of the fragility of
the frozenness of the trauma you are holding with these vets, like a sense that
it needs to melt, rather than shatter, and that without the precision,
gentleness and deftness that comes with knowledge, you might shatter the peace,
rather than melt into healing?
In terms of PTSD, although I haven’t worked with vets, most of my practice is
about how to use constellations and language to support healing from trauma,
and I work with women in prison weekly on these issues, so I’ll chime in a bit
here with the thoughts and musings this question has inspired –
I believe that with constellations we are most often working with an unnamed,
and as-yet-unknown, frozen moment of trauma for the person and their system.
And that the movement that starts to happen is the system looking to find its
way through to fluidity again (so I’ve really been appreciating the title of
your work, “The Vet’s Journey Home,” and the perspectives and inspiration that
our colleagues have been offering here.)
In the brain, PTSD shows up as activation of the amygdala and either
hyperactivity of the right insula (in which case people tend to heal more
quickly) or dampening of the right insula (in which case people can get stuck
in the healing process) – (this is the work of Ruth Lanius). The right insula
is the part of the brain that lets us know what’s happening in our body and
makes social meaning out of our emotions. If we have that shut down, we suffer
much longer from experiences of overload and horror. My sense of constellation
work is that with it we can get some of the overload out of an individual’s
brain and body so that their insula can come back on line and they can start to
see and move again.
This can be done much like Peter Levine’s somatic experiencing, where the
original traumatic event is only lightly referenced, and the focus of the work
is on physical experience, or more traditionally, where more of the players in
the system or event are represented in the field.
Bertold Ulsamer speaks cogently of the need to stay connected with the seeker’s
body, as do Franke and Bryson, so as not to retraumatize. How is the seeker
doing? Is he or she breathing at all? Just in the chest? Down into the
abdomen? How do we resource the seeker most fully so that the constellation is
actually supportive? If we allow the traumatized part to be moved out of the
seeker and represented by another in the field, will that permit the seeker to
“see?”
Whatever the approach, in my opinion the most important part of all of it is
the moment by moment connection between facilitator and seeker. Does the
facilitator know what’s happening with the seeker’s breathing?
Very warmly, Sarah Peyton
On 23 Sep 2014, at 4:49 pm, Denis Fitzpatrick DenisFitzpatrick@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:DenisFitzpatrick@xxxxxxxxx> [ConstellationTalk]
<ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
wrote:
G'day All,
At the end of Nov. co-facilitating a program called "The Vets Journey Home".
It is the first time in Australia for this cultural adaptation of a successful
USA program which now serves Paramedics & other emergency services as well as
Vets.
I am wondering if any of you have worked with Vets and / or PTSD and have
anything like processes or experiences that you might share.
In discussions with my US piers I am given to understand much of the work is
listening and then facilitating an often powerful and deeply emotional process
for an each individual when they arrive at the place of being ready.
I "feel" there could be some healthy appropriate way to apply constellation
work yet I seem to have a mental block as to how that might be. Unusually for
me I seem to be stuck in the place of "I must get this right for the
participants"....:-)
Sooooo Help please. I'm really interested in what you have to say, even if it
is simply stretching your imagination and general experience to looking outside
the box for something that might benefit these people.
Many thanks
Love, Light and Laughter...Den
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