Pastor Jay's Reflection on Trauma Care at the Welcome Minsitry

I have been amazed at the short term and long term effects of Somatic Experience counseling on our ability to help guests meet their own needs.  One individual I have worked with has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on top of other neurological disabilities. Her experiences of both acute and chronic trauma are so big and omnipresent that we made little progress in 10 meetings. Her history includes lots of mental health contact, but she reported this simply made her re-traumatized each time because they wanted her to relive her overwhelming experiences without her coping mechanisms or sufficient support.

Together we began work toward goals of safer housing, reducing despair, making at least one friend, getting health care, and reducing substance use. But every time we started to get into working on these goals, her trauma was telling her not to trust me, and it tried to push me away through yelling, swearing, and when that didn't work, she fled or had panic attacks. While we met for 2-3 hours each week, we rarely had more than 30 minutes to be able to work toward her goals. Although we talked at great length about the effects of trauma, how to build social skills, and what we could do to get housing and health care, none of it sunk it.

When I wasn't available one day, she met with Pastor Megan and began Somatic Experience (SE) work. It took a few weeks, but we began scheduling her SE before meeting with me. In the last two meetings after SE, I haven't heard any yelling and she was able to report many insights. She is able to go to apply for housing on her own for the first time, and although feeling many strong feelings, has also begun keeping track of positive interactions and successes. She even found a potential friend, and we were (for the first time) able to role play some social skill-building.

Her story isn't unique. Homelessness and poverty are themselves traumatic, and most people who spend time on the streets either have a history of abuse and/or experience it while homeless. We work with a number of veterans from various wars. During Fleet Week we have airplane demonstrations in San Francisco- I had three Viet Nam vets in my office with increased agitation and flashbacks. All three remained homeless and isolated despite years of counseling. Even broaching the topic of PTSD was triggering to some people I've worked with. But SE is gentle and respectful enough to feel safe, it teaches healthy and adaptive boundaries, and it's effective at teaching healthier coping skills.

As a MSW-educated social worker experienced in disability advocacy, and as a Lutheran pastor, I see the benefits in physical, mental, and spiritual health in the short time we've been implementing this program.