Just one month after the earthquake in Haiti, a very thin woman, approximately 50 years old, presented herself to me complaining that she couldn't eat anything. She said all she could think about since the earthquake was finding food for her eight children. I tried to help her identify some resources, somewhere she had some kind of support in her life, but she repeatedly focused on her traumas and worries.
Not only did this woman lose her home and all of her belongings in the disaster but she also lost her best friend. She told me that her friend had abandoned her, feeling too overwhelmed by this need to support so many hungry children. This client even revealed to me that she was so overwhelmed, the thought of taking her own life had often crossed her mind.
She had suffered so many losses that she was completely stuck in crisis mode. She was unable to think about anything besides the survival of her children. My attempts to find a source of physical or material support were not going anywhere helpful, so I tried a different approach. Not knowing her religious background, I asked if she had any form of spiritual support or protection in her life. Without hesitation, she told me: “Jesus is a source of support for me, I have great trust in God.” So, I invited her to call upon Jesus for support in her life in the present moment.
She still continued returning time and time again to her emotional pain and trauma, so I asked if she would like to feel some supportive touch on her back. My translator seemed very connected with her through the resonance of the session, so I asked if it would be alright for the translator to give the supportive touch. The client agreed and before long she began praying and singing. Eventually she raised her trembling arms in the air and her whole body began to shake. I encouraged her to gently allow the shaking to continue in order to liberate the traumatic energy held in her body.
After some minutes of trembling, praying, and singing, her body began to settle. After a while, she expressed that she felt like a new person with renewed hope. I was very pleased, since just minutes earlier she couldn't even pay attention to her body momentarily, much less imagine a single supportive resource in her life.
I reminded her that she could call upon the presence of Jesus at anytime when she was feeling overwhelmed and a lack of support in her life. At the end of the session, she experienced a strong sense of gratitude and thanked us saying: “I think God has sent you to help me.” She felt like she could now start eating again. In the absence of any other physical or material support, the two resources that we were able to use to facilitate her renegotiation of trauma were touch and a spiritual resource of her choice.
Reverend Dennis Moorman, MM, SEP – Dennis is a Maryknoll priest and a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, currently working in Brazil with trauma renegotiation and assisting with SE trainings.