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Reaching Resilience: Achieving Community Wellness through Focusing; a Training Manual
As a medical anthropologist, Dr. Patricia A. Omidian has learned to compare different cultures and their approaches to health. In 2001 she was asked by an Afghan non-profit called Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) to help design a mental health program for their staff that would support their unique psychological needs. Pat turned to a friend, Nina Joy Lawrence, who suggested Pat use a psychotherapeutic process called Focusing. It was the combination of Pat’s skills as a trainer and Nina’s basic knowledge of Focusing that formed the beginnings of the culturally flexible Community Wellness approach.
In 2002, Pat had the opportunity to design a teacher training/community wellness course for Afghan teachers for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and again she found that Focusing was highly effectual. Before long, Focusing trainers elsewhere noted the success of Pat’s approach and asked her advice in taking Community Wellness Focusing to El Salvador, Haiti, the Gaza Strip and other locales across the globe, where large groups of people were suffering from the aftermaths of war and natural disaster. Pat has now used the approach, with adaptations of course, in Japan, Liberia, Mexico, and the USA.
Focusing is a practical way of bringing psychological help to a broad variety of people. This natural process, discovered by psychologist and philosopher Dr. Eugene Gendlin, is now practiced by thousands throughout the world through training by the International Focusing Institute and other Certified Focusers. Focusing allows deep work on psychological issues without breaching ethical dilemmas of trust and disclosure. Focusers have complete control over what is shared and they draw upon their inner understanding for their healing process. Participants are invited to sense their own body-wisdom, with the recommendation to hold any feelings that arise in a calm, safe place, and to welcome all feelings, even unpleasant ones, as honored guests.
This workbook is designed to be used by a facilitator who is somewhat familiar with the inner process known as Focusing, and who wishes to lead a group towards psychosocial health. Each chapter explains a principle and offers the facilitator a choice of established activities to teach inner sensing, stress management, dealing with emotions, and listening, to name a few topics. It works well with refugees, people who have experienced violence in their community, those experiencing intergenerational trauma, and young people at risk. The workbook shows how to adapt these principles to reach unique cultures and situations.
In 2002, Pat had the opportunity to design a teacher training/community wellness course for Afghan teachers for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and again she found that Focusing was highly effectual. Before long, Focusing trainers elsewhere noted the success of Pat’s approach and asked her advice in taking Community Wellness Focusing to El Salvador, Haiti, the Gaza Strip and other locales across the globe, where large groups of people were suffering from the aftermaths of war and natural disaster. Pat has now used the approach, with adaptations of course, in Japan, Liberia, Mexico, and the USA.
Focusing is a practical way of bringing psychological help to a broad variety of people. This natural process, discovered by psychologist and philosopher Dr. Eugene Gendlin, is now practiced by thousands throughout the world through training by the International Focusing Institute and other Certified Focusers. Focusing allows deep work on psychological issues without breaching ethical dilemmas of trust and disclosure. Focusers have complete control over what is shared and they draw upon their inner understanding for their healing process. Participants are invited to sense their own body-wisdom, with the recommendation to hold any feelings that arise in a calm, safe place, and to welcome all feelings, even unpleasant ones, as honored guests.
This workbook is designed to be used by a facilitator who is somewhat familiar with the inner process known as Focusing, and who wishes to lead a group towards psychosocial health. Each chapter explains a principle and offers the facilitator a choice of established activities to teach inner sensing, stress management, dealing with emotions, and listening, to name a few topics. It works well with refugees, people who have experienced violence in their community, those experiencing intergenerational trauma, and young people at risk. The workbook shows how to adapt these principles to reach unique cultures and situations.
156 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2017
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June 4, 2019
Really amazed how good this book turned out to be! Very practical and gives a lot of ideas to anyone who will be facilitating. This book is going into my library straight away, no doubt that I will return to it!
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