I recently was contacted by Emily Bernard who was seeking help in healing the trauma and anxiety left over from an old wound. She was seriously injured along with 7 other people in a stabbing at a coffee shop 14 years ago.

She was in critical condition and truthfully could have died but she survived. However from that experience she was understandably haunted by the possibility of at any moment being attacked again. So she experienced a hypervigilence and unease every time she went out in public.

She also experienced a physical problem at the site of the stabbing in her body at 7 year intervals. There was no logical medical explanation for the physical problems occurring at 7 year intervals and at the same time of year. (note from Emily: “The problem was adhesions, my intestines getting tangled up in my scar tissue.  There is no procedure to solve the problem of adhesions (which are very common), no cure.”)

I appreciated that Emily was open to the possibility that the physical recurrence of the adhesions was linked to unresolved emotional material.

Another challenge was that as an exquisitely talented writer Emily was experiencing some challenges with writer’s block.

One of the greatest challenges I have as a practitioner is determining who I will work with. Every one expresses the desire to change but not everyone is willing to “get to cause” and accept “response-ability” for their change. I don’t “cure” people. I teach them how to “master their own minds for a change”. I help them to clear blocks and release old beliefs and patterns. Some people want me to just wave a magic wand and make them all better. Sometimes it seems like that’s what I do. Change can be rapid. But ultimately it’s the client making the change not me.

Emily seemed like she understood that and was willing to roll up her sleeves and do what Byron Katie calls “The Work”.

Another aspect of how I practice NLP and Hypnotherapy is to assign a task that contains in it elements of the transformation the client is seeking.

We agreed to work together and use the blog as an extension of our work. Since Emily is a writer I asked her if she would be willing to share her story through this blog.  I felt it would serve her greater purpose of writing about her experiences in such a way as to facilitate her own healing as well as to serve as a kind of beacon or resource for other people dealing with traumatic events or challenges in their lives.

Ultimately my intention is to support Emily’s healing, and transformation as well as to make the work I do more accessible and understandable so that I can help more people who like myself and Emily struggle, or have struggled, with blocks that keep them from allowing their talents and abilities to shine out.

I know that my clients and the readers who find this site are incredible people who have much to share with the world. I also know that the talented, sensitive, imaginative, creative types who have so much to give to the world often find themselves blocked. It is my belief that this blocking and subsequent healing journey is not unlike the classic “hero’s journey” that fills ancient and contemporary literature.

Stay tuned to the next several posts as Emily and I share the story of working together and clearing old patterns of thought and behavior as well as reinforcing and repatterning the new ways of thinking and being. Be a part of the process as we dig in and check our progress along the way.

In the next post Emily will introduce herself and give her account of her personal breakthrough sessions with me.

• PTSD NLP Case Study Part 1
• PTSD NLP Case Study Part 2