Summary: So many people (survivors, mental health professionals, society) are dedicated to the idea that once you are broken you can’t be fixed. So many times I hear people say, “You can’t overcome trauma, you just have to learn to cope and live with it.” I completely disagree! And so should you if your goal is to feel better. One of my favorite things to do is talk to experts who know, see and help survivors overcome the effects of trauma posttraumatic stress. This week, my guest, Mr. Tom Cloyd, and I will discuss how possible it is to heal trauma and PTSD. As a clinician, Mr. Cloyd has a fantastic story, plus examples of success. Tom and I covered such a wide array of topics in our quest to pin down whether or not trauma and PTSD are possible to heal, including: statistics on who heals + a discussion of why you will or won't what makes your odds of success good 2 evidence-based treatment ideas, and what to do if they don't work for you questions to ask a new therapist + how therapists screw up 1 test you can use to assess whether or not your recovery is working how trauma impacts identity Clearly, there was a lot to cover - this is only a partial list! MEET MY GUEST: Tom Cloyd says: I specialize in psychotherapy of trauma and dissociative disorders. This necessarily means that I also do a lot of work with anxiety, depression, and couples-in-crisis. I use evidence-based, “best practices” approaches, and often use ego-state psychology to augment and facilitate these approaches. My focus is on treatment of adults, but I am experienced in treating adolescents and children as well. I have recently moved to Utah, and I will be re-opening my private practice in Cedar City & St. George in late Winter of 2013. I have a particular interest in under-served and neglected populations affected by psychological trauma. I have identified what has to be the largest such population, found in every country in the world, and routinely ignored. They are all but invisible, and their neglect has grave consequences. I am presently designing an intervention demonstration program, to be implemented locally, where I live, to show that initiating a reversal of this problem is within the reach of most local areas, certainly in first world countries, and possibly in second and third world countries as well. Formerly Director of Admissions at Pacific Gateway Hospital (Portland, Oregon), and Program Manager & County Designated Mental Health Professional (CDMHP) at Grant Mental Healthcare (Grand Coulee, Washington), I’ve also been a subcontracted mental health services provider to agencies on the Colville Indian Reservation (WA), the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation (ID), and the Lummi Indian Reservation (WA). I am the founder/moderator of the EMDR Resource Cooperative Internet Discussion List (for professionals), and of the Google+ Trauma and Dissociation Education and Advocacy Community (https://plus.google.com/communities/106042234820400717450) and website (https://sites.google.com/site/tdadvoc/home). My professional website (http://www.tomcloyd.com) contains a number of my articles.
