Healing

06/06/2019
Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist, is the Senior Fellow (and Founder) of the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas, USA.
Author: David Clark on 06/06/2019
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Aboriginal healing practices for loss and trauma: Bruce Perry

Examination of the known beliefs, rituals, and healing practices for loss and trauma that remain from Aboriginal cultures reveal some remarkable principles. Healing rituals from a wide range of geographically separate, culturally disconnected groups converge into a set of core elements related to adaption and healing following trauma. […]
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30/05/2019
Bell Gorge in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Photographer: David Clark, August 2018.
Author: David Clark on 30/05/2019
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Describing Healing: Helen Milroy

I came across a beautiful description of healing by Helen Milroy in the Forward of the fascinating book Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkari. I quote this description here, although I have made the paragraphs shorter for online reading. ‘Healing is part of life and continues through death and […]
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23/05/2019
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D, author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: David Clark on 23/05/2019
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Healing Trauma: Overlooking Fundamental Truths

Over the past fifty years, psychiatric medications have become a mainstay in our culture, with dubious consequences.  The theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs has become accepted by psychiatrists, doctors, the media and the […]
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13/05/2019
Don Coyhis, Founder of the Wellbriety Movement and White Bison.
Author: David Clark on 13/05/2019
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The Healing Forest

Here are some wise words from someone I hold in very high regard, Don Coyhis. Don, who grew up on a Mohican reservation in Wisconsin in the US, spent over 25 years developing The Wellbriety Movement and White Bison, spreading a healing message amongst Native Indian communities, based on cultural principles, laws […]
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09/05/2019
Author: David Clark on 09/05/2019
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Community Building

Here’s an article on asset-based community development (ABCD) which I wrote some time ago for the Kinship Connections WA website. This approach can facilitate healing in a community. “Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: it is […]
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01/05/2019
Dr Lewis Mehl- Madrona with Barbara Mainguy of the Coyote Institute for Studies of Change and Transformation.
Author: David Clark on 01/05/2019
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The Healing Power of Story: Lewis Mehl-Madrona

Lewis Mehl-Madrona is a man I greatly admire and his book Healing the Mind Through the Power of Story is well worth a read. Here is an interesting section from the book: ‘The narrative movement in psychiatry is concerned with understanding the stories of pain and suffering told […]
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24/04/2019
The Creek by Simpson Kelly, c1948, pastel on paper, 18.5 x 24 cm. Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology.
Author: David Clark on 24/04/2019
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Intergenerational Healing: Joe Solanto

Putting the finishing touches to this blog in a hotel in Reading, UK, before returning to Australia tomorrow. It’s been a wonderful month seeing my children, grandchild, brother and family, cousin and his wife, and close friends. It’s back to working on the Carrolup project next week, after […]
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16/04/2019
Johann Hari, author of Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions.
Author: David Clark on 16/04/2019
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‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari

Some of you will know that I was a neuroscientist for nigh on 25 years, working in the field of the brain neurotransmitter dopamine. I was fortunate enough to work with one of the world leaders in neuroscience, the late Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson, and to run my […]
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03/04/2019
Johann Hari and his book Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions. Image from crikey.com.au.
Author: David Clark on 03/04/2019
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Can a Cambodian Cow Facilitate Healing?

I’ve just finished reading an excellent book, Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari. I can strongly recommend the book, which focuses on a ‘radical’ – and very sensible way – of viewing depression and overcoming the problem. Depression is […]
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26/03/2019
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D, author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: David Clark on 26/03/2019
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The importance of safety and reciprocity in mental health

In my last Healing Blog, I recommended highly a book by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz entitled The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories From a Child Psychiatrists Notebook. Another seminal book about the healing of trauma is The Body Keep the Score: Brain, Mind, and […]
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13/03/2019
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz.
Author: David Clark on 13/03/2019
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Relationships, Connection and Healing from Trauma

For anyone interested in the healing of childhood trauma, I strongly recommend you read, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories From a Child Psychiatrists Notebook by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz. Here is a description of the book from the back cover: ‘What happens when […]
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05/03/2019
Author: David Clark on 05/03/2019
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The Impact of Colonialism on a Young Aboriginal Australian

Here is an excellent description of how colonialism impacted upon a young Aboriginal Australian as summarised by Richard Broome in his seminal book Aboriginal Australians: A history since 1788. ‘In Dareton, new South Wales, In 1965, eleven-year-old Malcolm Smith and his brother ‘borrowed’ pushbikes leaning against a bus shelter and went […]
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21/02/2019
One of my favourite places, Rhossili Beach, Gower Peninsula (my home for 14 years), South Wales, UK. Click on photo for wider panorama.
Author: David Clark on 21/02/2019
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Factors That Facilitate Recovery From Addiction

Here’s an article I wrote for my Recovery Stories website almost six years ago. The factors facilitating recovery from addiction described here are also important for helping people recover (heal) from mental health problems and traumatic experiences. I hope you found the article of value: ‘There are a […]
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19/02/2019
Smudging is incorporated into some Aboriginal cultures’ healing practices as a method for cleansing and purifying. Northern Journal, Canada.
Author: David Clark on 19/02/2019
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The Meaning of Healing

In 2008, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation of Canada published an important report, Aboriginal Healing in Canada: Studies in Therapeutic Meaning and Practice, based on research in five healing programs across Canada. One of the aims of this research was to gain an ‘understanding of the meanings and processes […]
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05/02/2019
Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c.1949. Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology. [WU7568]
Author: David Clark on 05/02/2019
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Pathways to Aboriginal Healing

The first step in re-establishing healthy communities is to acknowledge and understand the impact of the colonial legacy on the lives of Aboriginal people today and the various pathways necessary for healing from historical trauma, using both cultural and contemporary understandings and processes.’ Helen Milroy, Pat Dudgeon and Roz […]
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26/01/2019
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 26/01/2019
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Judy Atkinson: Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Huge congratulations to Judy Atkinson, who today becomes a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the Indigenous community, to education and to mental health. This is such wonderful news, truly well-deserved.  As I have said a number times, Judy’s book Trauma Trails: Recreational Song Lines […]
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21/01/2019
The Cockburn Range near the Pentecost River. On the right, you can see our transport and campsite.
Author: David Clark on 21/01/2019
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The Healing Power of Country

The present blog is based very closely on one I wrote in September 2018 for my website Sharing Culture. Sharing Culture is an educational resource I developed in 2014 to help facilitate the healing of intergenerational, or historical, trauma. It was inspired by my reading of Judy Atkinson’s […]
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18/01/2019
Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-founder of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study.
Author: David Clark on 18/01/2019
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How Childhood Trauma Can Make You A Sick Adult

As I described in my last Healing blog, one theme which is at the heart of the Carrolup Story involves the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents. Today, we know that adverse experiences in childhood can impact powerfully on a person’s physical and psychological wellbeing many years […]
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