PROGRAM DIRECTORS/SENIOR INSTRUCTORS

Geneie Everett, PhD, RN, is the Founder and Director of Trauma First Aide Associates with thirty-five years experience as an Integrative Practitioner incorporating multiple Body/Mind techniques from western medicine and native cultures.  In addition to her integrative healing practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she worked on staff at a full integrative medical clinic in Santa Monica, California, served on the Subcommittee on Integrative Practice to the New Mexico Board of Nursing, and sponsored the “Hundred Medicines: Honoring Many Paths" conferences on integrative practice.  Dr. Everett’s hospital nursing experience included: multi-systems critical care, renal transplant, and emergency medicine. From 2005-2006, she served as the Director of the Foundation for Human Enrichment’s Trauma Outreach Program (TOP) leading a team to Thailand to assist tsunami survivors and deploying multiple outreach teams to Louisiana in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Currently, Dr. Everett travels extensively throughout the country lecturing and teaching Trauma First Aide™.   Her message spotlights ‘Prevent More and Treat Less’ and the possibility of reducing and preventing PTSD through education and using simple techniques that ‘Restore Resilience’ to the nervous system.  Her personal focus is working with the military, first responders and healthcare professionals.  Dr. Everett's coauthored book, Trauma First Aide©, will be published in 2009.

“Whether working with complex PTSD from child sexual abuse or teaching a soldier how to take care of himself or a buddy in the field, Trauma First Aide is the backbone of all interventions in my practice and is the way I take care of myself so I can continue to help others.” 

Contact: GEverett@TraumaFirstAide.com

Pam Burnham, PhD, LISW, SEP, Program Director, TFA for Youth & Families has been in clinical practice for 30 years with a focus on developmental and shock trauma in infants and children. She is certified in EMDR and Somatic Experiencing.  Dr. Burnham conducted research in parent-infant attachment, and teaches a somatic-based psychotherapy. From 2005-2006, Pam served on the Trauma Outreach Team traveling to Thailand post Tsunami to collect follow-up research data and worked with survivors in New Orleans post-Katrina/Rita where she provided sessions, collected data and helped with Trauma First Aide™ research.  Pam is a senior TFA instructor teaching in Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, California, Maine, Virginia and Texas.  In 2008, Dr. Burnham developed a new TFA program with special focus on youth and family and is the Director of that program.  She is currently managing the Santa Fe Public Schools Project to train all social workers, school counselors, school nurses, and teachers in TFA system-wide.  

"Trauma First Aide™ is integrated into every aspect of my work with children, adolescents, and adults.  I use it with clients to quickly settle anxiety, calm agitation and restlessness, dissipate fear, and ground the impulse to fight and or take flight.  I teach the principles of TFA to my clients, my students, and my family to use as a way to stay connected to themselves and present to what is happening especially in highly emotionally charged situations. TFA is user friendly, efficient, and it works." 

Contact: PBurnham@TraumaFirstAide.com

INSTRUCTORS

Holly G. Burnes, RN, MS, is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Mental Health and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner®.  Holly, a seasoned psychotherapist in private practice, has been using mind/body approaches to help people with trauma-based physical and emotional issues for thirty years. Her training as a nurse allows her to be comfortable in dealing with physical disease, disfigurement and being with people fearing death, recovering from loss, and reeling from life threatening news. She helps those with physical illness to grow personally as they recuperate physically. From the late '80s until 2001, Holly led mind/body therapeutic groups at a large outpatient medical practice. She created specialized groups for irritable bowel syndrome, infertility, heart disease, and fibromyalgia and has trained other clinicians to lead these groups. Holly was a member of the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina where she provided sessions, collected data, and helped with Trauma First Aide™ research.  She is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts and Louisiana and is a member of our military training team.

“Trauma First Aide is the first action I take with clients, friends, or anyone I encounter in acute distress. As a psychotherapist, there are endless opportunities for me to help my clients with TFA as they face current and past horrible moments in their lives. It helps them regain a sense of grounding, and puts the memories more peacefully in the past. Just yesterday I used it on the phone with a friend who was in a roll-over car accident. TFA applications are endless!”

Contact:  HBurnes@TraumaFirstAide.com

Theresa L. Cangelosi, MA, LMFT, SEP is a Somatic Psychotherapist with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology.  She has been in private practice for seventeen years in San Francisco, California working with individuals, families, and couples. Following a psycho-dynamic and body-based approach, her work has expanded to include Attachment Theory, Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples, Bodywork, Somatic Experiencing, and Trauma First Aide™. Theresa specializes in early developmental shock and trauma therapy utilizing a neuro-biological foundation. Transformation and spirituality are respectfully held in her practice. Theresa has a strong passion to prevent and treat trauma by educating her local community whenever the need arises. Theresa is currently active in the Coming Home Project, which provides psychotherapy for veterans and their families, and she teaches Physical and Occupational therapists at San Francisco General Hospital how somatic psychotherapy can heal and prevent PTSD.  Theresa served as a member of the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina and is a member of the teaching staff in Louisiana, New Mexico and California.

“I use Trauma First Aide regularly in my personal and professional interactions as well as at the scene of accidents with strangers. When Trauma First Aide™ is utilized to stabilize the system, individuals and communities become more resilient after traumatic events.”

Contact:  TCangelosi@TraumaFirstAide.com

Jeanne Du Rivage, MA, OTR/L, SEP is a pediatric occupational therapist who has worked extensively with young children and their families, as well as in the public schools. She specializes in developmental disabilities, trauma, and self regulation. Jeanne believes that understanding the brain, the nervous system, and the impact of traumatic events on the nervous system is not only critical for personal self awareness and healing, but is also vital for assisting others in this healing process as well. Jeanne served on the Trauma Outreach team and assisted in the post-Katrina Trauma First Aide™ trainings.  She also worked in India with tsunami survivors.  Jeanne has assisted trainings since 2007 in Louisiana, Maine and New Mexico and works with Dr. Burnham in the TFA for Youth & Families.  

“Trauma First Aide is extremely effective and easy to learn and is an essential tool for anyone to add to their tool box.”

Contact: JRivage@TraumaFirstAide.com

Giselle Genillard, Licensed Midwife, SEP is a member of the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI) and is a TIPS Instructor. She has been working in the field of human endeavor for thirty years. In the early 80's, Giselle was deeply involved with the politics of childbirth in England and she studied with Sheila Kitzinger and Michel Odent. Later, Giselle became an Advanced Rolfer practicing internationally, and a Licensed Midwife practicing in New Mexico. Since 1999, Giselle has been healing by combining her training as a somatic therapist with her diverse knowledge and skills in the art of midwifery, the core principles of Somatic Experiencing, and her widespread cross-cultural experiences. She travels extensively for her work, massacres five languages with humorous fluency, and was a member of Trauma Outreach teams going to South-East India post-tsunami and to New Orleans post-Katrina. Giselle is the organizer of the SE trainings in both England and France and she is the director of "Sense of Self UK", a London-based organization designed to bring excellence in Eastern and Western approaches to somatic therapy for trauma resolution worldwide. Giselle specializes in working with PTSD, prenatal, perinatal, and sexual trauma, infertility, early attachment disorders, addictions, and international disasters.  She is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Maryland, Maine, and New Mexico.

"TFA forms the mainstay of my professional practice but far transcends the bounds of my profession. TFA is a philosophy for living; I use it in my personal relationships, I teach it to my daughter to use with her college students in distress, I used it at my father's death, and I use it with pregnant and birthing women and with mothers caring for young children. It is pristine, simple and essential to maintaining healthy relationships of all denominations."

Contact:  GGenillard@TraumaFirstAide.com

Lorin Hager, LMT, SEP is a somatic practitioner in Santa Fe , New Mexico , and a consultant to students in the SE training program. He served as Chairman of the Board for Foundation for Human Enrichment (FHE) for eight years and helped Dr. Peter Levine to write Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma. Lorin is the co-author of the Healing Trauma Guide Book, and It Won't Hurt Forever, also with Dr. Levine. He studied with Dr. Milton Trager and has taught somatic-based trauma therapy. He is the co-developer, along with Bhanu Harrison, of Trauma First Aide for Body Workers module (TFA-BW). Lorin served on the Trauma Outreach Program team in Baton Rouge and New Orleans post-Katrina and is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Washington , New Mexico , and Louisiana and is a member of our military training team. 

“Trauma First Aide training provides the essential tools needed to help yourself and/or others begin to calm down in the wake of extreme experiences. I use these tools everyday with myself as well as with my clients.”

Contact:  lorinhager@gmail.com

Cyndi Harris, MS, OD is a group and organizational development consultant, trainer and coach. Her work includes individual, group, and organizational change and transition, diversity and inclusion, organizational resilience, leadership development, interpersonal relations, organizational design and culture, strategic direction, navigating organizational dynamics for individual success and well-being, and managing individual and group dynamics in support of organizational effectiveness.  She conducts highly experiential workshops including Dealing with Covert Processes and Human Interaction Laboratory. Cyndi is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Hawaii.  She is also a member of the TFA training team for the US State Department and heads up TFA research.

“As a coach and consultant, I use Trauma First Aide to help individuals and groups ground and settle to promote resilience in highly charged situations and activities. In addition, Trauma First Aide principles guide my training design and coaching and consulting interventions allowing me to interact at individual and systems levels in a way that better supports learning and fosters resilience and sustainable action.”

Contact:  CHarris@TraumaFirstAide.com

Bhanu Joy Harrison, LISW, LMT, SEP is a body-centered clinical social worker, massage therapy instructor, and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner in private practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her private practice is focused on trauma resolution and she regularly uses Trauma First Aide™ and Somatic Experiencing approaches with clients. Bhanu has been an instructor at the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics since 1985 and has taught classes in polarity therapy, physiology, body-centered emotional support skills, business practices, and ethics. She is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as a continuing education Approved Provider.  She is the co-developer, along with Lorin Hager, of Trauma First Aide for Body Workers module (TFA-BW). 

“As a social worker, I use TFA skills to help my clients stay connected and grounded as they are processing difficult material. As they begin to understand what is happening in their body as emotions are discussed and processed, there is less anxiety or fear about the process. I also use TFA with my children as they deal with falls or other accidents and also to help them understand their teenage peers as they navigate this challenging time in their lives.”

Contact:  BHarrison@TraumaFirstAide.com

Brad Kammer, MA, MFTI, SEP holds a Master’s Degree emphasizing Somatic Psychology and is a California Marriage and Family Therapist Intern. He is also a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and assistant trainer for the Foundation for Human Enrichment. Brad served on a Trauma Outreach Program team to New Orleans, post-Katrina, and is currently working with a Northern California trauma outreach group. Brad has traveled, lived and worked around the world, and spent one year working with Burmese refugees in Asia. Brad and his family live in Ukiah, California where he practices and teaches Somatic Experiencing and Trauma First Aide, and works with at-risk children and their families through Redwood Children Services. He is also an adjunct psychology instructor at Mendocino College.  Brad is a member of the Trauma First Aide© teaching staff in Louisiana, California and New Mexico.        

“I use TFA effectively in many different situations – from stopping at an accident scene on the side of the road to a child getting hurt at a baseball game. In my work as a therapist, I use TFA skills in teaching clients how to use their bodies as allies in moving through difficult life experiences. I am grateful to have TFA as a skill set to offer people who wish to strengthen their resources and build resiliency.”

Contact:  BKammer@TraumaFirstAide.com

Kristi Kennen, LISW has conducted a private practice for over twenty-five years specializing in working with clients, including adults and children, suffering from traumatic events, PTSD, and DID. In the 90’s, Kristi studied the effects of trauma in China, India, and Thailand, and most recently, Kristi was a member of a trauma team led by Bessel Van der Kolk studying the impact of Apartheid in South Africa. She currently acts as a team member and consultant for an inter-disciplinary treatment team of physicians, doctors of Oriental Medicine, body workers, herbalists, and psychotherapists who treat people with auto-immune disorders, and trauma-related syndromes. She incorporates Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Eriksonian Hypnosis, Ego-State Therapy, Play Therapy, and Equine Therapy in her clinical practice offering individual and group therapy.  Kristi has presented at major conferences studying PTSD and DID disorders.  She was a member of the Trauma Outreach team in Louisiana post-Katrina/Rita where she provided sessions, collected data, and helped with TFA research and is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff.                    

“As a psychotherapist who is a certified trauma specialist, I specialize in working with children, adolescents and adults who have been diagnosed with PTSD. I find the user-friendly skills of TFA invaluable in my sessions and also to use as recovery skills for my clients to use in their everyday life to help stabilize and calm and help restore the nervous system due to the traumatic events they have experienced.”

Contact:  KKennen@TraumaFirstAide.com

Patrick McCarthy, PhD, LICSW, SEP is a clinical social worker in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. Trained originally in psychodynamic therapy, he weaves family systems theory, cognitive behavioral principals, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing and Trauma First Aide™ into his therapeutic practice. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor for the Boston University Graduate School of Social Work for the past 25 years. Dr. McCarthy served on the Trauma Outreach Program post-Katrina/Rita and helped organize and set-up the data collection for the research that has been published and been on the Trauma First Aide™ teaching team since 2006 in Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Mexico

“Increasingly, I have come to rely on Trauma First Aide to help my private clients manage and settle their own emotions both in and out of the clinical sessions.”

Contact: PMcCarthy@TraumaFirstAide.com

Starr Potts, MA, MSW, LICSW is a clinical social worker and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner® who has blended numerous mind/body/spirit approaches throughout her twenty-nine years as a clinician, community and life skills educator. She has participated in and organized community-based trauma response teams and prevention networks through her earlier involvement in local disaster response, diversity training initiatives, as former director of the Massachusetts Child Assault Prevention training center, and as a consultant/trainer in her company, Dreamweavers. As a body-oriented psychotherapist, EMDR and integrative therapy consultant, and psycho-spiritual practitioner, Starr currently works in private practice with individuals, couples, and groups coping with trauma, health challenges, grief, life transition, and lifestyle issues. Starr was a member of the Trauma Outreach teams in post-tsunami Thailand and post-Katrina/Rita in Louisiana.   She is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and Maryland.

“I frequently use Trauma First Aide™ with my clients to teach its simple strategies to help them reconnect to their own ability to reset during major upsets and everyday stressors.”

Contact:  SPotts@TraumaFirstAide.com 

Kristin Sagert, PhD, LISW, SEP is a psychotherapist in private practice.  In her work, Kristin uses a mind/body approach and focuses on adults with all types of trauma including unresolved life transitions, emotional distress, acute and chronic health issues, and grief. Her integrative approach incorporates an understanding of the diverse methods of Eastern and Western healing modalities informed, in part, by her extensive healthcare experience as a Medical Social Worker and her completion of a PhD in Preventive Medicine.  Dr. Sagert‘s  broad range of experience has included research, teaching, and numerous presentations on physical and emotional health issues, including trauma, to audiences in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico and Louisiana. Kristin was a member of the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina/Rita and is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Louisiana, New Mexico, California and Minnesota.

"As a psychotherapist, TFA is the foundational work with all clients. I use Trauma First Aide daily as a vital aspect of therapeutic interventions because it provides my clients with essential ‘take away’ skills to use between sessions as they work toward improved self-regulation and resiliency”.

Contact:  KSagert@TraumaFirstAide.com 

TFA Teaching Assistants