Two River Times, May 10, 2002
by Gail Sheehy

Life Post 9/11: Running The Marathon Of Emotional Healing By Kerri Danskin

“PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF,” was the overall message to mental health professionals, religious leaders and others who have been helping the many victims of September 11 who gathered at a day long seminar called “Trauma As a Wake-Up Call: A Day of Reflection and Renewal for Professionals.”

“We’re writing the book as we go along,” said Tony Trachta, director of Meridian Behavioral Health, noting that those in the health care industry in the United States have never dealt with a catastrophe of similar magnitude to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“We’re very driven people in health care,” he said, “and a lot of us are beginning to be very fatigued.” Author Gail Sheehy addresses guests at the Meridian
Behavioral Health conference.

Photo: Scott Longfield
Trachta said that the seminar gave participants an opportunity to “get away from work and do a little networking,” as well as “re-ignite the passion.”

The seminar discussed ways for the participants to help the people they are treating, but there was a definite focus on helping the participants, many who have been working tirelessly since September without time off, Trachta said, to handle their own stress. They are victims of secondary trauma, said Trachta, and have to be sure they take care of themselves as well as they do their patients.

Dr. Lori Christensen, clinical director of the Regional Trauma Center at Jersey Shore Medical Center and medical director of Integrated Health and Wellness Center in Neptune, was one of the featured speakers at the event who most strongly emphasized the importance of self-care for people who spend their careers helping others.

“What you suppress emotionally, you will express physically,” she warned caregivers. She advised the participants to seek support and reassurance from their families and co-workers. She also emphasized the importance of debriefing among caregivers. Talking to others about difficult cases can decrease the effect of secondary trauma on the caregiver, she said.

Christensen’s work at Integrated Health and Wellness Center focuses on the mind/body connection. She uses alternative methods like acupuncture to help her patients recover from illnesses and injuries, while being mindful of how their attitudes affect their healing. She encouraged the same mindfulness in the seminar participants on Friday.

Christensen is also known for her recent appearance on The Discovery Channel’s program “Trauma: Life in the ER.”

“What you suppress emotionally, you will express physically.”
— Dr. Lori Christensen
medical director,
Integrated Health and
Wellness Center, Neptune

Mary Ann Cernak, a member of the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team, used the Oklahoma City bombing as a frame of reference for dealing with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. “People in Oklahoma City are still experiencing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),” she said.

The current situation is even harder to deal with, she said, because it is impossible to determine exactly who has been traumatized and whether those people are experiencing primary or secondary trauma. The trauma is also very far-reaching, she said, because there were so many people involved and because the events led the country to begin a war.

“You don’t know what’s coming up,” said Cernak. “It’s a much more difficult thing to get your hands around.”

She said that America is a “quick fix society,” but, “this isn’t going to be over in the next few months.”

“We are running a marathon,” said Cernak. She noted that the suicide rate among rescue workers and others who helped victims during and after the bombing in Oklahoma was very high. She warned the participants to watch for those tendencies in their patients, co-workers and themselves.

“Massive waves will be coming down the road for all of us,” she said.

Author Gail Sheehy, who is compiling a book about the experiences of Middletown families who lost loved ones on September 11, was also a featured speaker at the program.

“We were suddenly thrust into a great national passage,” she said. “The pain of each death is unique.”

She also said that the trauma of the attacks is unusual because, “we outside the buildings heard no screams; we saw no evident death.”

For the families of Middletown victims, she said, the usual support methods do not work. Self-help books do not address losing loved ones in such a dramatic manner, she said, and support groups are not covering everything they should be covering, such as basic skills like handling finances and even opening a wine bottle.

Rabbi Harry Levin of Congregation B’nai Israel in Rumson, whom Sheehy described as “a piece of work with countercultural leanings,” also spoke to the participants. He encouraged them to work together to help their patients and themselves. “We do need each other,” he said. In the past few decades in America, “we’ve been swept up in hyper-individualism,” he said.

“Don’t go home tonight and watch TV,” he said, “knock on the door of your neighbor.”

Levin led the participants in a Hebrew chant that, translated, means, “God, please heal our world.”

Published May 10, 2002