Witnessing Trauma

Darlene Delaney told CTV News on Tuesday, August 11th, 2015: “We threw our life jacket to him and then we threw some rope to him. We got him in the back of our boat. He could barely sit up and threw up all over the back of our boat. Yeah, pretty scary.”

This was the third drowning accident of the Summer 2015 at Harrison Lake. The young man Darlene and her husband pulled out did not die; another young male who ended up in the cold lake waters with him was presumed dead at that point. The search for his body was still on when my husband and I got into our vehicle and started to head home to Vancouver in the afternoon. I was told the woman involved in rescuing this young man was pretty stressed by the event. I wanted to see if she was in a need of support now or later. Tapping on the event using EFT or doing an energetic Matrix Reimprinting on the event does wonders and a load of prevention.

Ambulances, a fire truck, search and rescue vehicles and an air ambulance descended on Harrison Lake Marina early afternoon that day. About an hour after it all started, I felt that whatever was happening was pretty much over and we wouldn’t be in the way. We headed over that way. A CTV cameraman was finishing up interviewing Darlene Delaney for the news coverage. I spoke to a woman with a young girl that seemed to know what happened to get the scoop. She told me the story and pointed to the lady in the middle of this trauma. This lady and her husband brought out one guy in their boat, the other one went under and did not come up. Later I learned that a couple of relatives were visiting from out-of-town and were with them on the boat as well. “The lady is pretty shaken up”, she said to me. I looked around if there was any emotional support available for this lady, but I saw no one. She disappeared from my sight while I was talking to the lady with the child. I couldn’t ask her if she was all right and if there was anything I could do for her.

This was a pretty traumatic event for her and her husband. When events like these happen, something that is sudden, unexpected, dramatic and we have no strategy to cope with, it has a potential to hit us on many levels of our being. We call it in META-Health a UDIN moment. Some events have the ability to start a disease process in the body. Sometimes such events alter our personality. They can make an emotional deposit into an anxiety account. One just never knows how events like these will impact the body’s senses and what will become overloaded. Traumatic memories sometimes cause the track they are on to get deeper or they get stuck. Triggers form that either add to the existing ones, or new tracks or triggers form. Sometimes they wake up something that was buried deep inside.

No I am not a psychologist, I look at the body as a whole as a META-Health coach. There are bio-logical connections in our bodies to memories, event, beliefs, programs, constellation etc. All connections need to be considered. The body is a very good record keeper. Unfortunately we are not yet a society that focuses on prevention. One day this will be understood by society in general, but we are not there yet. The victims of traumatic events are sometimes able to receive some form of support. If not right away, perhaps eventually. I don’t believe that witnesses or rescuers are emotionally supported very well. They are on their own.

My wish is that people do not underestimate the power of being a witness to a traumatic event and seek help taking an energetic charge off that such event may cause. Unless a person is aware, has someone to call for assistance, or has practical knowledge of self-care tools such is an Emotional Freedom Technique, the energy and information trapped during such event stays in the body and in the field. One day this will be common knowledge, but until that time those of us who understand it need to share what we have learned while taking care of our own wounds. Sometimes we cannot do it on our own so we need to know who to go to for help. Until such time more bodies will have to bear the burden. It used to be a challenge to find tools to address the mind, body and soul connections all at once, but not any more.

Before leaving Harrison Lake, I asked my husband to take one more look and see if this lady identified needed any assistance digesting the traumatic event. We turned the corner by the Marina and I saw her being interviewed by an RCMP officer. She was first and then her husband went up to talk to the officer. While he was interviewed she came down the stairs of the Site Office by the Marina. Her eyes were moist. I asked her if she was alright. “Yes, I am fine. My husband and I are looking at it that we saved a life today. We cannot dwell on the one that was lost.” I left her my phone number anyway. ” If something comes up, give me a call please,” long explanations weren’t necessary and I knew she might not be able to make a sound evaluation at that point.

My husband and I started off on the way home back to Vancouver couple of hours away. Around Mission area we drove by two fresh car accidents and a Mission Autobody shop that burned down. The fire fighters were finishing putting that fire out. “Isn’t this a bit unusual?”, I asked my husband who is on the roads of Metro Vancouver more than I am. “It is an unusual number of calamities for a Tuesday afternoon”, he replied.

There were some upset people in the community of Harrison Lake. An article about the second drowning that happened just on Friday was published in The Province that very day. They were not happy with the bad reputation these drownings were causing to the Lake community. A group session with an EFT practitioner would benefit them as well I reckon.