Yarra Valley kinesiologist LARA GOODGER writes about how kinesiology has found a place helping the survivors of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires overcome post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) …
It continues to be an honour and a privilege for me to work with the Victorian bushfire-affected communities of Marysville, Healesville, Yarra Glen, Kinglake and the surrounding districts supporting them in their recovery as they rebuild their lives since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
This has been made possible due to my involvement with the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project (YVPP). I’ve been part of YVPP since 2011 as one of their kinesiologists and I can say without a doubt it has been one of the most rewarding times in my professional life. YVPP was launched in March 2009 as a local community initiative by a fellow kinesiologist in the Yarra Valley. From there, a volunteer group of health professionals formed to work with bushfire-affected people of the 2009 Victorian bushfires. And so the project was born out of the inspiration and principle of locals helping locals.
YVPP offers clinical services in a range of natural health care therapies. It’s also worked in the local primary schools engaging children in support programs to help them in their recovery. Before YVPP, providing complementary and allied health care with an integrative approach had not really been considered in the world of disaster response and trauma recovery. At the project I work alongside fellow kinesiologists, massage therapists, yoga teachers, reflexologists, hypnotherapists, case workers, grief and trauma counsellors and psychologists who specialise in the field of crisis and disaster management. We’re a close bunch and collectively we’re proud of the work we do together.
The Victorian bushfire-affected communities have faced incredible challenges during the past three years. Some people have completed repairs and rebuilding and some are only just starting. For many, financial recovery is a long way off and a lot of people just simply have not recreated a routine, settled lifestyle. Naturally, people are still under stress and some are moving into another phase of deep exhaustion. As you can imagine, all sorts of health problems can follow extended periods of stress; emotional fatigue, and physical symptoms.
The Yarra Valley Practitioners Project has helped over 1700 individuals and the community feedback about our support has been very positive. A lot of people are experiencing great benefits from YVPP’s integrative approach to the trauma recovery process.
A Testimonial
Every week at the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project clinics I continue to see people achieve remarkable health results. Here’s a testimonial from one of our attendees who wanted to share a little of her story of recovery:
“Without the YVPP and its dedicated professionals I have no doubt that I would not be here, today, writing this testimony. I am resolute in my belief that I’m so close to “hog tying” this thing called PTSD. Financially it’s difficult to afford my appointments and I yearn for a culture that embraces a wellness model of health versus illness focused, where value is placed on complementary medicine and a population being well and productive versus more invasive and often more expensive modalities.
“My first experience with kinesiology was from a guest lecturer in the early 1980’s during nursing training. I was fortunate to train in a 5 year bachelorette program that centered around a global village/wellness model of health. It wasn’t until the aftermath of the firestorms that engulfed parts of regional Victoria in 2009 that I had a personal experience with kinesiology via the Yarra Valley Practitioner Project.
“Using the metaphor, “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” was my body’s response to the incident and ensuing three months my, then five year old, twin sons and I were displaced. With over 20 years of nursing experience in three countries – specialising in unique and high stress areas, I am trained and seasoned in regards to dealing with stress. Stressful matters in my personal life, trauma of the fires, paperwork that followed, displacement, nominal sleep for months, changes in finances, making sure my sons were supported appropriately etc took its toll. I was alone with no family to rely on and vulnerable. It was difficult to accept that I could now add “Post Traumatic Stress” to my list of talents and abilities. The straw had broke the camel’s back and I cracked.
“Recovery is possible with PTSD and the wonderful team at the YVPP have supported me in that process. The key was finding the right practitioner who could work within my belief system. It was a team approach. With each appointment, Lara’s safe, even and compassionate demeanour allowed me to drop my guard and open myself to focus on the task at hand- getting well.
Becoming balanced within my body system and learning its communication and messages enabled me to put in the difficult work within myself and accomplish other tasks between appointments which I could not have done otherwise. This did more for me than any pill. I’m now five months without medication. Without kinesiology, it wouldn’t have been possible.”
– a Yarra Valley Practitioners Project Client & Healesville Resident.
About Kinesiology
In my view, the best way to find out about kinesiology is to discover it for yourself and book in for a few sessions. I find kinesiology to be one of the fastest growing, truly holistic natural health care therapies around today. For those that haven’t used kinesiology yet to improve their health, let me spend a moment with you and explain how it works.
Muscle testing is the essential tool upon which kinesiology relies. A handy piece of human wiring that uses the body’s own bio-feedback system to identify imbalances and their underlying causes which block the body’s natural innate healing processes. In turn, the muscle testing techniques are used to also determine what the body requires in order to do what it is designed to do naturally – heal and self-regulate itself for optimum health and well being.
Kinesiology has a big advantage in helping people due to its ability to access the subconscious mind of the client and therefore it provides both the practitioner and the client accurate and precise information about the location of any physical and emotional stress. I feel kinesiology provides a level of body and emotional self-awareness for the client quite unlike any other therapy and I think that’s some of the reasons why it’s helped so many people from the bushfire affected communities.
And so work continues into 2012 here at the project. For many people in the bushfire affected communities, recovery continues to be a work in progress. It certainly takes time and working through what has happened. Demand for wholistic health care services at YVPP continues and for as long as the community experiences the benefits from our support, I know myself and many other practitioners will be there for them.
About Lara Goodger
Lara Goodger is a kinesiologist based in Victoria. In addition to running her successful private practice in Warburton in the Yarra Valley, Lara works with kinesiologists and many other natural therapists, helping them with business advice and how to better manage the financial administration side of their practices.
Lara’s commitment to the expansion of kinesiology in the community often takes her throughout Melbourne and to regional townships of Victoria where she attends expos and events running workshops about self-care using kinesiology. She engages in mentorship programs supporting kinesiology students and continues to expand her qualifications regularly and attends seminars and further training in kinesiology and other natural streams of health to further enrich her practice.
Got any feedback for Lara to do with any of the topics discussed here in this article? Want to find out more about kinesiology? Do you think kinesiology may be able to help you with some health concerns you have?
Contact Lara via the following.
Mob: 0437 188 050
laragoodger@bigpond.com
http://www.kinesiology.com.au/Warburton.htm http://www.facebook.com/lara.goodger
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