Embody Mental Health

Celebrating the Joy of Survival: Coping with Trauma Anniversaries
…will be the first event of its kind to allow survivors to come together in a live virtual format and trade ideas and suggestions for how to deal with difficult dates.

I have been asked, and am honored, to participate in a wonderful roundtable TELESEMINAR with MICHELE ROSENTHAL at HEAL MY PTSD, LLC.  August 31st is her trauma anniversary and the day she will be launching her book Before the World Intruded: A Memoir About Trauma, Survival, Identity, and the Pursuit of Joy. She has asked me as well as the following other 3 speakers to participate in a panel discussion on trauma, recovery, and dealing with trauma anniversaries.  I am truly honored to be a part of this event and with such esteemed and passionate co-panelists.  As a trauma survivor, a therapist, and a believer in everyone’s capacity to not just survive life but thrive at living I think this groundbreaking event is a beautiful thing.  To find joy out of sadness and brokenness, to be able to celebrate what once was a point of darkness, and to be able to speak one’s experience out loud to help others.  I hope this event will be just the precipice, the beginning of a new way to conceptualize trauma anniversaries.  Empowering.  Strengthening.  Reflective.  Reverent.  Beautiful.

The next few Mondays I will be discussing trauma and healing as a primer for this wonderful virtual roundtable event!

John W. Fisher, DC

Dr. Fisher served in the U.S. Army with the 4th Infantry Division, Vietnam, in 1968 at the age of 20. One year later, he returned home appalled, angry and unbeknownst to himself, stripped of his own identity. The sport of surfing and later discovering his professional desire in chiropractic kept his shattered perspectives on life “alive,” but he knew he was different. After a twenty-year marriage dissolved, he began his search for healing, using the same model that had been successful in his Wholistic chiropractic practice — heal by correcting the cause of the disorder without treating the symptoms.

Psychological counseling was important in this process and led him to become an author of two novels: “Angels in Vietnam” and “Not Welcome Home.” He has traveled back to Vietnam several times and now leads trips through Soldier’s Heart initiative, an organization founded by Dr. Ed Tick, author of “War and the Soul.” The latter writing was the icing on the cake for John’s healing venture of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Dr. Tick redefines the disorder to read post-terror soul distress, or estrangement of one’s soul or identity during trauma and leads his readers to understand why it happens and how to get it back. Dr. Fisher is now the Senior Veterans Liaison for Soldier’s Heart and travels nationally to speak of the methodologies necessary to heal PTSD. For more information about Drs. Fisher and Tick, please review the following websites: www.johnwesleyfisher.com,www.soldiersheart.net

CPL Eric Cox

US Marine Corps combat veteran CPL COX is not a hero. He’s an average American who joined the military during peacetime with the dream of honor and willingness to sacrifice in the service of his country. On February 6, 2003, he left loved ones behind, stepped into the darkness of the unknown and found himself in the midst of Operation: Iraqi Freedom.

This memoir, rewritten from the pages of his journal, delivers an informative, personal, thought-provoking and sometimes poignant look into his wartime experience.  But, even more remarkable, is the insight it provides regarding the inner struggles CPL COX had to face as a member of the United States Military ¾ the physical, emotional and psychological challenges faced similarly, yet in their own individual ways by American servicemen and servicewomen all over the world.

Kellie Greene, SOAR Founder

Kellie Greene is a rape survivor and now activist and founder of Speaking Out About Rape (SOAR). Kellie has been National Spokesperson for the Pfizer/YWCA “Moving Past Trauma PTSD Community Outreach Program”. In 1999, she founded SOAR, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of victims of sexual assault. SOAR is committed to raising awareness about rape and its consequences, including PTSD. Kellie also coauthored Florida’s “Sexual Predator Prosecution Act of 2000?. The law mandates consecutive sentences, rather than simultaneous sentences, for any repeat sexual offenders. In addition, Kellie helped pass legislation that prohibits hospitals from charging rape victims for forensic teams. As a result of her efforts, Kellie earned the Survivor Activist Award from the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence.

To join us for this special event all you have to do is register to receive the call information. That’s it! Just click on the link below to go to the REGISTRATION PAGE!

VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION will be held at 8pm EST/5pm PST on August 31st.

REGISTRATION: Access registration through the link below

http://healmyptsd.com/awareness/celebrating-the-joy-of-survival-coping-with-trauma-anniversaries

If you’re on Twitter, we’ve set up a hashtag for the event: #TraumaAnniv. You can follow and tweet along with Michele and the rest of us @healmyptsd and@michelePTSD.

If you are on Facebook Michele has designed a Facebook page where survivors can post their own ideas about coping tips. Feel free to add your presence: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Heal-My-PTSD-The-Joy-of-Survival/142523485765647?ref=ts