I hope your Holiday Celebrations have brought you closer to friends and family, and may 2007 be all that you wish for.
A little about what I’ve been up to in 2006…
This year brought a lot of change to my practice. At the beginning of the summer I moved my office to Midtown Manhattan where I share an office with a fantastic colon therapist, Rachel Bastow. While I miss being able to walk 8 minutes to work, being at 34th and 6th Ave. has made my office much more accessible for the majority of my clients, and even better, I no longer have to convince anyone how close Williamsburg is to Manhattan.
In September I finished my Somatic Experiencing Training and I am now a full fledged Somatic Experiencing Practitioner! It was exciting to have completed the three year training and I’m looking forward to assisting the upcoming trainings with some of my favorite teachers.
This summer took me to New Orleans where I joined a team of trauma therapists with the Trauma Outreach Program (TOP). We provided sessions and training for Social Workers from Catholic Charities, and other care givers who provide direct services to people in New Orleans. The most exciting part of the trip was our training where we taught the basics of Somatic Experiencing and how to work with Traumatic Stress in a disaster situation. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and it was an amazing experience to watch how quickly they were using the material and how empowered the participants became in the process.
During frequent trips to New Orleans and to Thailand after the Tsunami in 2004, TOP has done two initial studies to determine the effectiveness of Somatic Experiencing for working with PTSD after a disaster. Results showed the highest level of statistical significance with a high reduction in symptoms in only 1-2 sessions, both in Thailand and in New Orleans. Obviously more studies need to be done, but it’s exciting to see some credible research to back up this exciting work. Results of the studies can be found here.
With the help of a fantastic designer I was able to put the finishing touches on my new website. I’m very excited to have it up and would love to get your feedback to make it as articulate as possible. I’ll also be updating it throughout the year with body awareness and movement tips, so be sure to check back every now and then.
As you have probably already heard, the biggest excitement in my professional life has been my project to design a line of therapeutic shoes. My idea to start designing shoes came from my difficulty teaching movement to people wearing shoes, especially shoes with heels or that restrict the movement of the foot. This summer I began partnering with a very enlightened Podiatrist and a team of design engineers to create an initial design. Coming up with a design that’s both flexible, supportive and stable is not an easy project! The process has brought up all sorts of questions about how we connect and relate to the ground, and while I don’t think our first design will create world peace, our first round of prototypes were a great success. As part of our commitment to promoting alignment, each pair of shoes will also come with a DVD that teaches a lot of the movement principles that I cover in my Hellerwork sessions. It’s certain to be like no shoe you’ve ever worn and the feedback we’ve gotten on looks have been extremely possitive, so my hopes are high that this project will be a success. We’re planning to spend the first half of the new year continuing to develop the footbed while we secure funding. I’ll keep you posted as it develops.
On a personal note, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to spend the holidays with family in Georgia, Nevada and California, which meant a lot of traveling, not including my now annual surf trip to Puerto Rico before Christmas! This year I’ve been blessed with a growing practice, fun travel, great friendships and a supportive family. I couldn’t be more thankful.
Wishing you great success in the coming year,
David.
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