We arrived in Sichuan Province after spending a night and morning in Beijing where we met with Rob Blinn our stalwart companion in CHERP at United Family Hospital in Beijing and Lisa Bow from the World Health Organization. We discussed the CHERP evaluation results and plans for the next two phases of the project. The CHERP evaluation results from trainings offered in Phases 2 & 3 show very positive results with trainees indicating they use somatic intervention for treatment of clients as well as self-care. Dr. Bow told us that a lot of groups have brought training to the earthquake area, some with positive results and some with negative results.

We then went directly to Mianyang where we have offered two rounds of somatic training thus far.…and the next morning were picked up by Dr. Da in the ambulance that has become our main way of travel here to spend a day in Jinagyou with previous trainees. Dr. Da jumped out of the ambulance and gave us big hugs…her enthusiasm made us feel very welcome and helped dispel the jet lag that tends to drain energy when we first arrive. We met for the day with 26 trainees…all those who were in our September Phase 3 training and 2 new trainees. It was very gratifying to see these familiar faces and especially great to hear about their somatic work. We reviewed the somatic skills we had taught in September, did demos, and had them practice with each other. They asked many good questions which showed us that they have a good grasp of the skills even though they need more opportunities to practice. The following is a sample of the questions that were asked:

These questions inspired lively discussion as well as some demonstrations of skills. They set a good foundation for the practice sessions that followed.

At the end of the training day two male trainees asked if we could do a demo with a friend who hasn’t been the same since the earthquake. The friend had told them he was willing to receive treatment while the training group watched. The man and the class met at a restaurant and we worked with him in a private room. Elaine did the demo with him. This man had lost seven of his ten closest friends in the earthquake and had, in fact, pulled their bodies, and parts of their bodies, out of the rubble. He could not even hear the word “friend” without going into great distress.

Elaine worked with him as he sat facing his good friend. At first he couldn’t even look at this friend. But as the titration and pendulation helped release much of the blocked traumatic energy we could all see the man actually coming back to life. All at once he began gazing at his friend with such love in his eyes. Everyone in the room had tears coming down their faces. His friend has been in our training since September and as Elaine worked with the client this trainee was able to mirror with his own gestures a lot of what Elaine was working with in the client. It was beautiful and very moving. At the end of the 45 minute session he told us we were his new friends. He could say the word “friend” now with no traumatic activation. Many photos were taken and we all left feeling that if this was the only day of work we did here on this trip it would be worth the seemingly endless hours of travel to get here.

Elaine told him that if he wanted her to do more with him in March when her team returns for Phase 5 that she would…and he readily accepted. There is work to be done on the many traumatic images of his dead friends that he is carrying. It is good to know that his work can continue. This is just one of the many benefits of a project that has six phases.

Because the work this time is more spread out geographically than on our last trip we move to a new hotel every night. This is quite tiring as we never can really unpack and settle in. In addition, some hotels have little to no heat…and it is very cold here in the early morning and at night. When we arrive at a new hotel the first thing we do is to check hopefully for some heat.

Our second day of work was a return to Mianyang where we thought we would be doing case consultation with trainees from previous phases. However, this is not what happened…instead we had 26 brand new faces awaiting us. These unexpected changes are a regular part of disaster work and we quickly shifted gears and did a half day of TRM and taught the SE skills of tracking, grounding, and resourcing. Hopefully, these folks will get the full training in March so they can learn the remaining skills. But at least they have some skills to use for stabilization. They practiced the 3 skills with each other after Laurie did a demo. They were an enthusiastic group, asked good questions as they practiced and we look forward to seeing them in March.

Day 3, we worked in a new area for CHERP…the city of Shifang. This city has received far less attention from responders and trainers than the other two cities we have worked in. We had agreed to do an orientation for 20 doctors, nurses, and teachers who would then come to a 3-5 day training, including fieldwork, in March during Phase 5. However, as is so often the case, the original plan changed and instead of 20 trainees we had 80 for the morning part of the training and forty who would stay for the afternoon…we met in a large, unheated tent because part of the hospital was structurally unsound. We taught with all our warm clothes on, including coats and gloves. One of the trainees shared her hot water bottle with us. It was actually fun…We did our usual warm-up dance…the hokey-pokey…and they begged to do it a second time and asked for the words to the song. The Chinese have a great sense of play.

During the morning break a psychiatrist came up and asked if we had heard of Porges’ Polyvegal Theory. We nearly fell over with surprise! Freudian “methods” are usually what we are asked to compare to somatic work…they are commonly used here in Sichuan Province…but polyvegal theory was not something we thought we’d be asked about. We ended up having lunch with this man and exchanged our mutual enthusiasm for Porges’ work.

Working post-disaster requires a lot of ingenuity and flexibility. For the afternoon portion of the training we had to move from the tent to a room in the hospital. It was crammed with the 40 trainees because of a huge table that nearly filled the room. Nevertheless, we divided them into two groups (squashed together at each end of the room) and we each did a demo, debriefing, then answered their questions. As in Jiangyou, the questions were excellent. They included:

We have learned over our repeated visits to China that the trainees need small groups to feel comfortable asking their questions so we always try to have at least part of the day in small group formats. It is exciting and stimulating to encourage dialogue among the trainees as they ask their questions.

In the middle of the afternoon the classroom door opened and in came a delegation from the Ministry of Health. They squeezed themselves into our already overcrowded room and thanked us for the work we were doing., They said many areas of Sichuan Province have received little to no attention from people offering training and for us please to consider going to some of these places. There were many photos taken by them and by the trainees.

Our final training was held in the city of Chengdu. The day before we arrived in Chengdu the city had experienced a 5.1 aftershock. Sichuan Province has continued to have aftershocks since the May 12 catastrophic quake…keeping many people in a state of activation. The training was held at the Peoples’ Provincial Hospital of Sichuan. Elaine and I had done a training there in September and it was good to see some familiar faces. Although we had been told to expect 50-80 people for the day-long somatic orientation, we had a group of 18…but what a great group they were! Laurie did a demo with a highly traumatized trainee whose healing images of Buddha were very moving. The trainees were from the Psychological Association and were eager to learn about a biological model. They will receive the full training in March along with physicians we trained in September 2008.

This trip was half the length of our usual trips to Sichuan Province…but we feel very gratified to see that the enthusiasm for somatic work is high among both former trainees and new ones. It feels especially good to know that CHERP is contributing to the sustainability of somatic work by sending teams in over a one year period. We feel very grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of this important effort in bringing somatic work to China and contributing in our small way to the healing. Elaine will lead a team of six back for Phase 5, March 8-22, and Laurie’s team will come for Phase 6, May 7-21, and will be here for the anniversary of the earthquake.