About a year ago I heard a sermon about two brothers, Cosmas and Damian, both of whom were doctors. Trained in Syria they practiced as physicians in the seaport Ægea, now Ayash, on the Gulf of Iskandrun in Cilica.
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Teaching Children Safety With Verbal First Aid
According to a growing number of experts, a human's need–and search–for safety starts at conception. Studies have shown that mothers who do not want or are overwhelmed by their pregnancies induce the production of stress hormones in their newly forming babies.
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Verbal First Aid as an Attachment Aid
Babies come into the world crying, cooing and clinging. They need—food, warmth, love, and safety.
They are born with the innate capacity to feel fully, scream for us, hold onto us.
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In a radio interview this past weekend with Mimi Stoneburner at KTIP-AM, we got to the topic of dogs as we discussed Verbal First Aid. We were on the topic of leadership and how Verbal First Aid helps parents develop rapport so they can give their children therapeutic suggestion to help them stay calm and heal faster.
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When people talk about infidelity—whether in marriage or in committed relationships—they talk about trauma.
I recently met a man whose wife cheated on him repeatedly. As he told me the long and circuitous story of suspicion, denial and revelation, he moved through a snake pit of emotional confusion—anger, hurt, longing, disbelief, shock. And as I watched him weep, rant, deflate in despair only to bound back in self-reproach (“how could I have been so stupid?!”), I saw that he was still in shock, in the trance of his own disappointment. He was only bodily in the office with me. Most of him was lost in the torment of his recent past and his fear about the future.
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Holistic Psychotherapy With A Heart
The other day a patient told a story of how she got her first kitten. It wasn’t anything like what one might expect—found a litter in the alley behind the house, or a stray wound up on their porch. Her family doctor was over for dinner with his wife and he had found a kitten.
“Your doctor came over for dinner?” I asked.
More on Psychotherapy and Boundaries: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
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Holding the first copy in my hand.
Hard to believe!
For more information, go to: www.verbalfirstaidthebook.com
Also go to www.radicalparenting.com. Very hip.
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Verbal First Aid With Children
This morning I woke up and it was snowing! I don’t usually watch the news (morning or evening) because it is so filled with madness and fear, but today I wanted to hear what was going on with the weather. Unfortunately, I first had to hear all about the gruesome BP oil spill in the Gulf, the Goldman Sachs debacle and finally an insane, unpredicted, and vicious attack on nursery children in China.
More on Nursery Children in China: Verbal First Aid in the Face of the Unspeakable.
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In a recent episode of Bones, the psychiatrist on staff, Sweets, is on a train with a kid who’s just received a text. He looks like he’s crying, so Sweets leans over and asks him if everything’s all right. The kid is weeping and excitedly recounts for Sweets how he’s had lymphoma for years and has finally been declared cancer-free. He tells Sweets all the things he’s going to do with his new lease on life. The kid is obviously overjoyed and Sweets is clearly moved by the good news. Because it’s a dramatic series, as the Producers would have it, an earthquake rattles the train, turns the cars up and over, and throws the delighted kid into a pole, killing him instantly.
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(This article is dedicated to R.M. who inspired it. Thank you for reminding me of what we are supposed to be doing.) 
For some reason lately I have been seeing quite a number of brand new social workers for supervision, some of whom are still in graduate school. It has been a poignant and privileged rite of passage for me after all these years to be passing on what I’ve learned.
More on On The Way to Becoming A Healer: The Journey of a Young Social Worker
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