The film showed each persons face and upper body along with the facilitators voice. The voice belonged to Jon Connelly, PhD, LCSW the founder of the training. His work is sponsored by the Institute for Survivors of Incest or Sexual Violence, a non-profit corporation in Jupiter, Florida.

Courtney Armstrong, LPC/MHSP was the presenter of the six-hour workshop called “The Connelly Method of Rapid Trauma Resolution” I was attending.

Armstrong said Connelly purposely allows only his voice in the film as he wants students to focus on the participant’s face and body language.

Connelly’s Trauma Resolution has two phases: the setting up of positive anchoring and the clearing of the trauma.

The positive anchoring includes connecting with the participant through purposeful communication, using body mirroring, effective language, establishing a visual metaphor (picture) baseline and setting up a realistic activator model.

The trauma is cleared via “ghost busting.” The participant is asked to share the details about the trauma while staying connected to the facilitator in the present. The therapeutic techniques include replacing the participant’s meaning, guilt and shame, their internal geography and their perceived identity.

To set up positive anchoring Connelly shares two stories:

Story one: You can change. Most people believe they are reacting to stuff rather than to their response to stuff. If you’re not happy you may try to change the stuff or you may move on to other stuff. Your willingness to change your mind’s response to stuff provides a point of adjustment, flexibility and power. You CAN change the way you think, feel and act in response to stuff.”

Story two: Perception is a choice. “There is a traffic jam…and it doesn’t look like anyone is moving. Two drivers have equally important appointments. One is so frustrated that he is pounding the steering wheel with his fist. The other has put on his favorite music and is swaying to the beat. The second man explains, ‘I have no power to change this and therefore I have no responsibilities, I’m on vacation.’”

Positive anchoring is necessary to facilitate a “connection” with the participant. It’s a special experience of “being with” the participant. The facilitator/participant connection becomes a magnet to affect the participant’s energy level, mood and outlook.

To build a facilitator/participant connection the facilitator’s role is to be positive and appreciative. To show an interest in understanding the participant’s experience and to demonstrate understanding via feedback. Match the participant’s volume, speed of speech, body position and align with their breathing. Use humor and positive statements like “If you want to move ahead, clear your mind and be at ease” or “You have courage and stamina.” Avoid disagreement or using negative or poisonous statements. Be aware that the participant-facilitator connection is an altered state of consciousness where the participant becomes particularly responsive. Effective language is hypnotic when it gets the desired response from the subconscious.

Effective language includes the use the “Invisible Tense Change Process.” For example, refer to the trauma in the past tense. “I am depressed” becomes “Your have been depressed.”

Use “The Wedge” to separate the participant from a belief where “I can’t do anything right” becomes “You’ve been feeling like you haven’t done anything right.” Other wedges include, “You thinking has been…” or “that would be one way of thinking. Another way could be…” Use legal questions: “What have I missed?” or “What else should I know to really understand?” or “What else should I know to understand where you are at with this now?” Use dumb questions: Instead of asking about the participant’s feelings say. “I want to know how this was for you? What was it like when…? What made that disturbing? I don’t want to think I understand just by knowing how you feel.”

Describe positive and personal attributes in the present tense: “I try to be good to people” becomes “You are a kind person.” End with the Positive: “Even though I try to be nice, I can’t make friends,” becomes “You haven’t made friends, even though you are a nice person.” Bring the participant into the present: “I want to understand where you are with this now.”

For a Baseline Visual Metaphor ask the participant to describe a picture using lines, color, shape etc. (without recognizable content) about how their mind is responding to the trauma. What are the lines (jagged or smooth), the color and the shape? When the trauma has been cleared ask the participant to return to their baseline picture metaphor and describe what they see. The picture will have changed or will be in the process of changing.

The Baseline Visual Metaphor is a powerful confirmation symbol that shows change has occurred within the mind. Connelly says the Baseline Visual Metaphor is a thermometer that gives a reading on the participant’s internal environment and mind regarding the issue. If there’s a different reading after the trauma has been cleared it means that there is a change. No effort is put into changing that picture and there’s no suggestion that it would change. It is different because the environment within the mind changed. This happened because the participant’s mind is responsive to collaborating with the facilitator. The participants positive response means that there will be a more profound responses.

Using your mind create a person called an “Activator Model” to elicit a sensory response. To adjust the participant’s mind ask them to create a person (activator model) with similar experiences and reactions to theirs. This exercise optimizes the participant’s mind to work at its best and in the most ideal way. The participant is fully present, has a long view, sees the effect of different choices and automatically behaves in ways that are in their long term best interest.

Tell the participant in phase 1: “Lets create a person neither of us knows who’s had similar experiences and reactions like yours.” If the participant has difficulty the facilitator could suggest a person (activator model) who is energized and joyful, who prefers good things for others and the world and is sourced from within with joy, energy, peace and wisdom. The facilitator could say, “This is what came to my mind but I want the person to be the way we would both like. What would you change or add so the person is ideal for you?” This process is like erasing or uninstalling useless programs in a computer.

Tell the participant in phase 2: “Out there in front to you, it doesn’t matter how far, (a few feet or football fields away) there is a person who feels and thinks and acts like our person model. But the person looks like you. How far from you are they? Create a person activator model that has a balance of appeal and possibility. Too much appeal turns down possibility and too much possibility turns down appeal. Check for conflict of objections to the person activator model. It is good to tease out any conflict the mind has about reaching the goal. Ask the participant if being like the person model is okay.

The person represents the desired response. The person should do something that would lead to the desired behavior. (loosing weight, more friends etc.)

Ask the participant if the person (model) has a down side? Would this person be okay? Can the person be improved?

If there’s conflict tell the participant: We will carefully consider every side. Any conflict needs to be resolved before proceeding. Our goal is getting there not being there.

Create a number of “Film Clips” in phase 3 : Tell the participant we now have an acceptable person model. While I describe your person doing various daily activities I want you to create two or three one second film clips of what I describe in your mind. This will make your mind hundreds of times more responsive.

Ask the participant to describe six to eight daily activities for their person like waking up in the morning, laughing with a friend, doing something physically active, kicking back at the end of the day or feeling satisfied.

Inhabiting the person Activator Model in phase 4 tell the participant: Picture a magnificent outdoor scene. What is the person (model) seeing, feeling and hearing. Now close your eyes and bring your consciousness forward so you can inhabit the person. See out of their eyes and feel what they feel as they look at an outdoor scene. Describe what the person hears and experiences. This process will make your mind even more responsive.

If the participant needs help be artfully vague to ensure what you describe does not conflict with the participants experience.

Creating a symbol of what your mind desires as the mind is more responsive to symbols. Develop a symbol for the way the person model’s mind is working. For example, if we used an animal found in the wild what would it be? You can also use a symbol of a plant, natural formation, something in the heavens or a color. Let the participant know that their mind has come up with the perfect symbol to influence and represent about what is desired. The symbol’s lock creates the perfect key.

The Clearing or Ghost Busting: Before clearing deal with the past by verifying if the participant is okay in the present. Verify that there is a deep participant/facilitator connection.

To teach concepts tell the participant there are other ways of thinking. The ways of thinking may or may not be true . The effects of the views are more important than the truth of the views. Learn the principles first. The principles are applied later. Facilitators should become familiar with positive events that happened to the participant later in life. Point out how the painful event lead to the current pleasing events. Use your connection, credibility and effect-driven communication to eliminate negative impressions and distorted meaning in the participant’s mind.

Ask the participant to describe the painful past while being emotionally present with the facilitator.

Create positive triggers to help the participant access feelings of competence and joy when helpful.

Ask the participant: Where is the traumatic event? Is it in the past? Is it in the mind? Tell the participant: An event cannot be inside the mind. The event is not having an effect on you. It is a facet of your mind that has been affecting you. Since the event does not exist we’ll call it dragging a ghost.

The three reasons ghosts exist: The event left an impression on a deeper part of the mind and now it confuses the impression with the event itself. The mind may attach meaning to the experience and may confuse it with the event. The mind may respond to current or similar experiences or thoughts as if it were in the initial traumatic experience.

To “Clear Impressions” and do an “Incantation for summoning a Ghost”: Tell the participant three stories to demonstrates the power of an impression:

The sand story/metaphor: Imagine drawing a line in the sand at the water’s edge. A wave breaks over the line in the sand. When the water withdraws the sand is smooth and clean. The line no longer exists. If you slam your hand into the sand you’ll see an impression when you take your hand away. Although your hand is no longer there the impression remains. It’s as if the sand was not informed that your hand is no longer there. Traumatic events leave an impression when they slam into our awareness. The mind confuses the impression with the event. It’s as if a part of the mind has not been told the good news that the traumatic event no longer exists and that it can eliminate the impression.

The next two more stories demonstrate distorted impressions:

A woman is speaking to a kind man. She tells him about a past traumatic event. If she feels sick or troubled while describing what happened it indicates the trauma was still active. She is responding emotionally to the earlier trauma instead of the current situation.

Two women are sitting at a beautiful fountain. There are bottles of delicious water around them. They crossed a hot, dry desert earlier. They laugh, splash and enjoy the sweet taste of the water. There’s no “ghost.” There’s no numbness or dissociation in defense against the painful emotions or experiences.

To summon the ghost tell the participant: Your mind had the ability to multi task. Use your mind to scan through your personal history and select the best event for us to bring into the light. Energy will be freed and used by your mind as it organizes towards what you desire. The healing process empowers your body. Distorted impressions cannot live in the light. Light penetrates darkness and eliminates distortion. Light is more powerful than darkness. There’s the light of knowledge, the light of wisdom and the light from our connection.

Ask the participant to describe the details about the painful past while being emotionally present. Focus on the facts of the event rather than the effects. Focus on only one event even if it happened many times. Include relevant and irrelevant details. (Be positive and appreciative when the participant succeeds.) Tell the participant to say what they think might have happened if they have trouble remembering the trauma: Make up what you think might have happened. Emphasize that the real and unreal is not happening now and takes away the pressure of the event. It’s all in the “not” box.

To Keep the participant emotionally present: Start and stop, change voice tone, tell it like a valley girl and sing it like a rap, be a mirror, snap your fingers when there is detail and rapid speaking.

Use the past tense, draw attention to what’s going on in the present. Repeat back what the participant has said and ask if you’re getting it. Put the focus on your ability to remember and repeat back and ask them to judge your performance. Break the story into chapters and alternate telling it in reverse or going over it both sides toward the middle. The participant should continue to describe the event until they can do so without emotional disturbance.

To “Replace Meanings” tell the participant: After eliminating the impression you can eliminate the distorted and disturbed meanings that the mind has attached to the traumatic event. Meanings can be eliminated or replaced. Don’t be concerned with actual meanings because things don’t mean anything. A person’s mind is likely to attach a meaning to a disturbing experience. Usually, the more disturbing the experience the more distorted the meaning. When the mind attaches meaning a person is more likely to confuse the meaning with the event. People are often more affected by the meaning their minds attached to the event. Events do not have inherent meaning. The meaning is in the mind of the perceiver.

Be aware a facilitator can become hypnotized by the meaning and impressions the participant attaches to the event. When the facilitator experiences a similar emotional response they have little to offer but sympathy. Sympathy is poison. Avoid expressing anger at the perpetrator. They do not exist now. They pose no threat. Do not encourage forgiveness. Understanding precludes forgiveness. Eliminating the perceived threat eliminates the anger.

To avoid making the survivor a victim tell them: “Survival is a victory. The war is over. You won. You have more wisdom and more credibility. Your roots are deeper, your branches more flexible. The water is sweater because you are thirsty.”

To replace guilt/shame: Tell the participant: Don’t look to the past to understand current problems. To create change clear the negative effects of the past events. You did what came to you then. The freeze response was adaptive. God is more compassionate than me. If I’m not mad at you, neither is He.

Look back at your “younger self” who is going through the traumatic experience. It’s really not your younger self but an image created in your mind, a chemical electrical brain response. You know what the “younger self does not know…the good things that will be happening. You know the trauma is not happening…that the traumatic event will never happen. You are looking at your younger self with love. You know what a part of your mind is yet to learn. As you are aware of what you know the part of your mind you are accessing will also know. See how you glow as your realize that you are on your way to a pleasing and wonderful event. Watch yourself get it from inside out. YOU were never touched. You can only be touched by love that you welcome.

Beware of “abreaction.” This occurs when a person re-experiences a disturbing or frightening past event. The participant is fully associated with the event, seeing, feeling and experiencing what happened at the time. It might happen when you are using regressive or uncovering techniques. It can happen spontaneously. Poorly managed abreactions can be harmful. If abreactions happens: Stay calm and positive. If participant is fully associated with the event do not attempt a rapid recovery as it conveys nervousness. Don’t touch the participant for two reasons: The participant may confuse the facilitator’s touch with a past disturbing touch. The facilitator may set up a trigger in the participant where a similar touch causes similar feelings. The facilitator should avoid being sympathetic, compassionate or alarmed with the participant as it could be perceived as something bad is happening. The facilitator should use their connection with the participant to demonstrate a positive attitude, that everything is under control and that all is well.

If the participant is confused and upset or in a crisis they will follow the directions of a facilitator that is alert and seems to know what they are doing. The facilitator is the mind doctor. If everything is okay with the facilitator, it must be okay.

Tell the participant: You are here with me. Things are fine now. You are doing great. Make sure the participant knows you are pleased with what is happening because of the future benefits. Let the participant know you have no desire to withdraw from being their helper and guide.

To Change “Internal Geography” tell the participant: There was a time, I’m not sure when , perhaps it was a long time ago. You are outdoors in a natural setting and you see something that is beyond beautiful, breathtaking and awesome. What is it? How do you feel as you look at the outdoor scene? Is there a feeling of peace and excitement? Yes___No___ Imagine the feelings of___and___being dropped into you. As your awareness is drawn towards your center you feel___, (peaceful and excitement) all the time. Continue to think about these feeling while you are with me. Okay? Imagine I am holding a lit candle and moving my hand closer and closer to the flame. The flame is getting hotter and hotter. Is it getting hotter or am I just getting more aware of the heat?

As you became more aware of the light, the peace and the excitement you see____ .

At your center, you are peace and excitement. When you saw___ your awareness was drawn closer to the peace and excitement. Peace and excitement is always at your center. It is your essence. Sometimes you may not be aware of it, but it is always there. Just as we know the sun is still there on a overcast day. You use your senses to bring in information and your intellect to organize it. This is called knowledge. Some people call it the light of knowledge. This light of knowledge at the surface is your intellect. There is an even brighter light at your center, this is your essence of peace and excitement.

Would you think of your essence of light, peace and excitement while you are with me?

Another story: A woman shared her feelings and perceptions concerning a past traumatic event. She spoke of discomfort and shame. The facilitator asked where she thought the shame was located. Was it at the surface? She said, No, the shame was not intellectual.” The facilitator asked if the shame was at her center. She said, “No, it cannot live in the light.” She and the facilitator figured the shame must be hiding in a shadow between the light of knowledge and the light of wisdom. The woman’s shame can only come from distortion. Distortion takes place in the shadows. To look scary a child might hold a flashlight below their chin in a dark room where the shadow distorts their features. It you turn on the light you spoil the fun. Light eliminates distortion and darkness. You are brightening the light of knowledge and opening the light of wisdom. As you experience enlightenment, you are filled with peace and excitement.”

To change “Perceived Identity” ask the participant: If someone who’d lost their thumb came to visit you, you would not say, “I’m glad you are here even though your thumb is missing. Even with a missing thumb you realize he’s here. Tell the participant: You have a thumb but you’re not your thumb. You have fingers and toes but you’re not your fingers and toes. You have a body that is complex and amazing but you’re not your body. You have thoughts. Since your thoughts can change you’re not your thoughts. Some people identify with their beliefs or political party. Since beliefs change you’re not your beliefs. Some people identify with their profession. A profession is something you do it is not who you are. You existed before you got the job. Others identify with their possessions, habits or limitations. That is also not their identity. If you change what you do naturally you still exist. You still are who you are. If you’re not your habits, your beliefs, thoughts, emotions or your body who are you? Let’s think of it this way. You are the light where the peace, excitement and wisdom comes from. The thoughts and feelings you had in your outdoor scene is your center. It’s not what you had but who you are. Wisdom, peace and excitement are not yours. It is you.

Give up being right! Lighten up, laugh, learn and have fun.

For more information call 1-800-587-2623 , email: clear trauma.gmail.com, website: www.rapidtraumaresolution.com