About Us

Mission Statement

Our mission is to educate and train individuals, groups and communities in Trauma First Aide in order to reduce and prevent the long term effects of acute traumatic stress reactions.

Our motto is: Prevent more, Treat less.

Vision
Our vision is to reduce and prevent trauma in the world.

Who We Are

Trauma First Aide Associates, LLC is an organization of social workers, trauma therapists, nurses, and mind/body practitioners experienced in working with trauma survivors and teaching Trauma First Aide©. We are dedicated to reducing the effects of trauma through trauma education to diverse populations including health care providers, business and community leaders and the public. Our focus is on trauma education, early intervention and the prevention of secondary traumatization.

Our Values
As a trauma educational organization we are committed to the following values:

• The human mind/body system has the inherent capacity to heal itself
• Trauma education in early intervention must include diverse populations:
• Community Leaders
• Health professionals
• Mental health professionals
• First responders
• EMTs
• Firefighters
• Law Enforcement
• Military & Veterans
• Disaster Personnel
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Parents & Teachers
• Ministry

Stress and trauma are facts of life. The difference between the two is that trauma occurs when people perceive that their lives or those of others are being threatened. If an event is merely stressful, the symptoms will diminish or disappear soon after the cause of stress is reduced. If the symptoms persist long after the event is over, then it is trauma. When people are traumatized, no matter how much time has passed, they may continue to experience feelings that are often as intense as those they felt during the original event.

In our society, trauma has generally been viewed as a 'mental health' problem. Decades of research has clearly demonstrated that acute traumatic stress symptoms when left untreated can develop into Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD can disrupt individual lives, families, communities and even nations. After years of working with PTSD, research shows that clients are only partially helped by traditional mental health therapies.

Current research shows that trauma contributes to more than mental health problems including an array of physical syndromes involving altered pain processing and increased disease in cardio vascular, nervous, and gastrointestinal systems. Many recently developed trauma therapies work directly or indirectly with the nervous system to help people reestablish the mind-body connection that was lost as a result of the trauma. Trauma is in the nervous system – NOT the event! The part of the brain that controls speech shuts down during highly charged situations –hence the term “scared speechless”. This makes it very difficult for some people to talk about what happened, and can actually lead to an increase in their symptoms. Repeating the story over and over does not help the nervous system stabilize and may make things worse. This understanding explains why traditional therapies that rely on merely on talking about an incident have not solved the problem of PTSD.

About the Director

Geneie Everett, PhD, RN,SEP, , is the Founder and Director of Trauma First Aide Associates, LLC. Dr. Everett served as the Director of the Foundation for Human Enrichment’s Trauma Outreach Program (TOP) and in January 2005 led a team to Thailand to assist tsunami survivors. She also deployed multiple outreach teams to Louisiana in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Dr. Everett has 35 years experience as an Integrative Practitioner incorporating multiple Body/Mind techniques from western medicine and native cultures. In addition to her integrative healing practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she served as a member of the Subcommittee on Integrative Practice to the N.M. Board of Nursing, worked in a full integrative medical practice and sponsored the “Hundred Medicines©: Honoring Many Paths" conferences on integrative practice. Her hospital nursing experience included critical care, renal transplant, and emergency medicine. She provides classes in Trauma First Aide™ across the United States and soon in the United Kingdom and Canada. Trauma First Aide™ (TFA) is a short term stabilization model developed by Dr. Everett and colleagues to treat symptoms of acute traumatic stress in urgent situations. The focus of TFA is on trauma education, early intervention, and prevention of trauma. When working with trauma, Dr. Everett’s commitment is to reduce the long term consequences of trauma and to “prevent more and treat less”. Dr. Everett's coauthored book, Trauma First Aide©, will be published in 2008.

Contact Dr. Geneie Everett: GEverett@TraumaFirstAide.com