As a teacher of Focusing-Oriented Therapy, I am amazed at the impact of Focusing in paving the path to community wellness and social change. Prairie Region Centre for Focusing, Complex Trauma and Experiential Therapies (PRCF) was founded ten years ago spearheaded by Shirley Turcotte. Since then, hundreds of mental health workers have participated in training programs, seeking culturally relevant and effective therapeutic approaches in addressing complex trauma, and Focusing-Oriented Therapy proved relevant and effective in their work.

Focusing-Oriented therapeutic process reflects aborginal cultural imperatives of non-interference and allows people control over their healing process. Focusing also implicitly resonates traditional teachings. I have heard aboriginal elders say many times that when people experience problems in their lives, they need to turn around and look back to where they came from, find the place where the trouble started, see what needs to be done there, then make their way back to the present--the Focusing trauma work, in a nutshell.

Aboriginal communities have struggled with the impact of colonization, and present-day systemic oppression compounds the debilitating effects. Front line workers come to PRCF work with post traumatic stress resulting from intergenerational trauma, grief trauma, familial trauma and various types of abuse experienced in residential schools. Suicide rates in aboriginal communities are five times higher than those of the general population. Effective complex trauma treatment tools are of utmost importance to them.

The training at PRFC emphasizes several key components. First, students are provided with safety tools.These include: working with one small piece at a time and letting the body determine that piece; negotiating a collaborative relationship with the trauma place and/or pieces of it; visiting a memory as an adult observer, not reliving it as a child or as the victim; bringing an attitude of interest and curiosity into the process; and most, importantly, closing all memory places fully and completely before ending a session.

When working with the crux of the trauma, a safe/manageable distance is emphasized. Possible crux questions in Focusing may include: Do you see yourself there, in that place you are describing? In working with regression, using past tense and referring to the child place in the third person also helps build a manageable distance from the trauma: How old was that little girl when it happened? Students learn to work through the crux completely, integrating the memory and separating merged time zones that produced traumatic symptoms.

It is essential to properly exit the processed memory. Questions such as: How did you survive that? or What was the best of you there that you can bring into today? help to move the Focuser out of the memory and into present time. Students are reminded to close each trauma piece, and the session, at least four times: 1. What do you need to do to close this now? 2. Is there anything else you need to do with this before you leave it? 3. Is there anything else? 4. Check. Are you back to your adult self? A solid closing esures leaving the session in a grounded state.

How does FOT translate into community change? First, the cultural imperative of interconnectedness in aboriginal communities is experienced in close multi-level attachments: individual, family, community and, ultimately, the nation. Every step towards health by any community member impacts at all those levels. Secondly, many traditional approaches, such as healing and sharing circles, are ideal spiritual practices that move the FOT tools far beyond one-on-one work. In such groups, connections are naturally created; common ground is found in individual experiences, and past atrocities are witnessed not just by the therapist, but also by community members. Shared spiritual experiences often result in megashifts. They build connections and strengthen communities socially, spiritually and even economically. I value our students and our graduates for the personal courage and professional integrity they bring to the journey of possibilities.

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