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Lampion Center helps brain to heal
'Installed images' banish distressful memories
By Susan Orr (Contact)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Crime victims, combat veterans and disaster survivors have something in common — they've all endured traumatic experiences that can result in lingering emotional distress.
But all can also potentially be helped by Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, a type of therapy developed in the late 1980s that helps people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and distressing memories.
ERIN McCRACKEN / Courier & Press Linda Roth, clinical director of the Lampion Center.
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"We're learning the brain does have the capacity to heal itself from emotional and mental distress," said Linda Roth, clinical director of the Lampion Center.
The Lampion Center provides a range of services for children and adults, including counseling, skills classes, school-based programs, adoption services and workplace services. It serves those who live, work and/or attend school in Vanderburgh, Warrick or Posey counties.
In 2006, the nonprofit agency provided 17,225 hours of counseling. Some of their clients are self-referred, while others are referred by another agency.
Some clients have private insurance, while others pay as little as $10 per hour on a sliding fee scale.
In November 2006, the Lampion Center added to its counseling toolbox when it began offering EMDR. Two counselors are trained in the technique.
When Roth uses the therapy, she first has the patient create a mental image of a place that makes him feel secure. Next, that image is "installed" in the mind as the patient thinks of that place while also performing a series of eye or body movements. The patient may be asked to perform rhythmic eye movements or body movements, such as tapping or drumming with both hands to stimulate both sides of the brain.
Then, the patient thinks of the memory that is troubling him while again performing the eye or body movements.
The technique works with both recent and older traumatic events, and the patient does not need to provide the therapist with details of the trauma in order for the treatment to work. EMDR can be used on both children and adults — Roth has used it on patients as young as 2 years old.
Because the technique is so different from traditional talk therapy, Roth spends a lot of time explaining it to patients so they know what to expect.
"It's not intrusive, it's not hypnotism, but some people still are fearful of it," Roth said.
Experts aren't agreed on exactly how EMDR works, Roth said, but studies have shown that it is effective.
During the first month that the Lampion Center began offering EMDR, Roth said, 92 percent of patients reported a significant reduction in their stress levels after one session. That number is higher now, Roth said, because the therapists have become more skilled in the technique.
One of Roth's patients, a woman who asked that her name not be used, tried it to help her with anxiety related to finances.
To date, she's been through one session.
"I was really pretty amazed by it, that it did help calm me down," the patient said. "I am really intrigued by it."
She said EMDR has also helped her 14-year-old-son, who had been experiencing anxiety so severe it was interfering with school.
The Lampion Center has a long history of helping the community.
The agency was founded in 1885 as the Women's Relief Corps to provide food and clothing to Civil War veterans and their families.
Over the years the agency merged with other groups and changed names several times: to Associated Charities, then Community Welfare, then Family and Children's Service, and finally Lampion Center.
Services offered have also changed over time.
For instance, the organization no longer provides poverty relief — its focus is on mental health and community services. And, though the agency still offers some pre- and post-adoption services, it no longer offers adoption placement services.
The agency has an annual budget of about $937,000, 39 percent of which comes from the United Way. The rest comes from program fees, grants and contracts and donations.
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Troubled teenagers' parents
get a hand
By MICHELLE
BRUTLAG Courier & Press staff writer 464-7431 or
mbrutlag@evansville.net
March 8, 2004
Parents and
guardians of troubled teenagers are a constant presence in Vanderburgh
Juvenile Court Judge Brett Niemeier's courtroom.
"One of the recurring
themes we see continually in juvenile court is parents who are having a
difficult time with their teenagers," Niemeier said. "Sometimes it's the
teen's fault, sometimes it's the parent's fault, sometimes it's a
combination of both."
With that in mind,
Niemeier collaborated with the Lampion Center, a local nonprofit counseling
agency formerly called Family and Children's Service, to create a program
that would offer parents and guardians an educational parenting program at
the same time their teenagers were in a counseling support group.
"I've been wanting to
have a class like this ever since I took the bench," Niemeier said.
Tentatively named
Family Choices, the parenting portion will begin March 18 and will continue
Thursday evenings at the same time as the teen support group, Choices, which
began last summer.
Most of the Family
Choices group members will be court-referred by Niemeier, though other
people will be accepted. He said the program will be a wonderful resource
for the court, particularly the juvenile probation officers.
"The probation officers
are often between a rock and a hard place, between the parents and their
kids," Niemeier said. "It's often hard to discern the truth. They try to
counsel them, but they don't have the time to be a tremendously big help."
Lynn Kyle, executive
director of Lampion Center, said the parenting education was a structured,
six-session program, but people could start at any time. The center also
operates a parents-of-teens support group called Parent Link, which meets
once a month. Niemeier said that when he orders parents to the educational
program, he will also require that they attend two Parent Link meetings
after they complete Family Choices.
One of the benefits of
the program, Kyle said, is that parents can start at any time because the
sessions will be offered continually.
"You can come in at any
point. The judge might see people and sometimes they have to wait two months
for another program to begin," she said. "All that time is lost. This is
very fast, immediate feedback."
Some of the topics
covered in Family Choices will be styles of parenting, building courage and
self-esteem, problem-solving, respectful discipline skills, effective
communication skills and family talks.
The parenting group
will meet at the same time as the teen Choices group, and some of the
participants will be parents of the teens in Choices. After both groups end,
the parents will meet with their kids for a half-hour session.
"Our goal is to try to
help the family, helping everybody learn how they can maximize the
opportunity of being in their own home," Kyle said. "We want to stabilize
the family situation."
Niemeier hopes the new
program will prevent teens from leaving their families - whether it be by
running away or removal to a foster home, group home or criminal detainment.
Though the sessions
will be limited to 10 participants, Niemeier said he doesn't foresee a
problem filling it.
People who are
court-referred to the program will not be charged for the service. Those
interested in participating on their own will pay a $25 fee per session. The
fee will cover up to two parents or guardians.
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