Peter Arnold, MSW, LCSW, an environmental activist, is trained as a family therapist, has worked in schools, hospital psychiatric units, and hospice and as a private psychotherapist prior to taking on the Earth as his client. Peter now concentrates his energies on ways to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. He serves on multiple boards and governmental committees focused on renewable energy and he currently works as the Sustainability Coordinator for the Chewonki Foundation, a not-for-profit organization in Wiscasset, Maine. His passion is the emerging field of ocean energy and he serves as Project Manager for a new Tidal Energy Power project. He is also a certified wilderness first responder and is deeply interested in reducing and preventing PTSD in first responders and soldiers. Peter is a senior assistant and facilitates Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Louisiana, Texas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, California and Hawaii and is a member of our military training team.

“I use Trauma First Aide™ everyday with my grandchildren! I'm also prepared to use Trauma First Aide in any emergency situation whether it happens during hiking in the mountains, sailing in the ocean, or skiing in the Rockies.” — Peter Arnold

Susan Asher, MSW, LISW, SEP is a clinical social worker in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has been working in non-profit agencies in Northern New Mexico serving culturally diverse children and families for the past twenty years. Susan brings a variety of experience as a clinical social worker, case manager, home visitor and early interventionist for children with special needs. Her current focus is on infant mental health, attachment, and early trauma. She is a certified Somatic Experiencing practitioner. Susan and her colleague, Pam Burnham, developed the Trauma First Aide™ for Providers Working with Youth (TFA-PWY) module and Susan is on the faculty track to teach TFA-PWY. Susan assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in New Mexico and is a member of our youth training program.

“I use Trauma First Aide™ every week on home visits or at the office to help parents ground and settle in therapy sessions or during crisis situations. Trauma First Aide™ has given me an accessible language to help parents understand that the health of their nervous system has a direct impact on their young child’s ability to self-regulate. I’m pleased that several of my co-workers have taken the Trauma First Aide™ trainings and are also incorporating this approach into their work.” —Susan Asher

Evelyn “Franki” Bennett, LICSW, SEP, is a clinical social worker in Leominster, Massachusetts as a private practitioner. Her client population includes war veterans, car accident and childhood abuse survivors. She has integrated the Trauma First Aide™ model, Somatic Experiencing, and Systems Theory into her psychotherapy practice. As her clients learn to settle their own nervous systems, their psychotherapy sessions become more effective. Franki assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Massachusetts and Maine and is a member of our military training team.

“My use of Trauma First Aide™ skills is energizing and helps to prevent therapist burnout. As my colleague who is in Trauma First Aide™ training said: ‘this work is elegant and respectful!” —Evelyn Bennett

Holly G. Burnes, RN, MS, is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Mental Health and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Holly, a seasoned psychotherapist in private practice, has been using mind/body approaches to help people with trauma-based physical and emotional issues for thirty years. Her training as a nurse allows her to be comfortable in dealing with physical disease, disfigurement and being with people fearing death, recovering from loss, and reeling from life threatening news. She helps those with physical illness to grow personally as they recuperate physically. From the late '80s until 2001, Holly led mind/body therapeutic groups at a large outpatient medical practice. She created specialized groups for irritable bowel syndrome, infertility, heart disease, and fibromyalgia and has trained other clinicians to lead these groups. Holly was a member of the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina where she provided sessions, collected data, and helped with Trauma First Aide™ research. She is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts and Louisiana and is a member of our military training team.

“Trauma First Aide™ is the first action I take with clients, friends, or anyone I encounter in acute distress. As a psychotherapist, there are endless opportunities for me to help my clients with TFA as they face current and past horrible moments in their lives. It helps them regain a sense of grounding, and puts the memories more peacefully in the past. Just yesterday I used it on the phone with a friend who was in a roll-over car accident. TFA applications are endless!” —Holly Burnes

Theresa L. Cangelosi, MA, LMFT, SEP is a Somatic Psychotherapist with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology. She has been in private practice for seventeen years in San Francisco, California working with individuals, families, and couples. Following a psycho-dynamic and body-based approach, her work has expanded to include Attachment Theory, Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples, Bodywork, Somatic Experiencing, and Trauma First Aide™. Theresa specializes in early developmental shock and trauma therapy utilizing a neuro-biological foundation. Transformation and spirituality are respectfully held in her practice. Theresa has a strong passion to prevent and treat trauma by educating her local community whenever the need arises. Theresa is currently active in the Coming Home Project, which provides psychotherapy for veterans and their families, and she teaches Physical and Occupational therapists at San Francisco General Hospital how somatic psychotherapy can heal and prevent PTSD. Theresa served as a member of the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina and is a member of the teaching staff in Louisiana, New Mexico and California.

"I use Trauma First Aide™ regularly in my personal and professional interactions as well as at the scene of accidents with strangers. When Trauma First Aide™ is utilized to stabilize the system, individuals and communities become more resilient after traumatic events.." —Theresa L. Cangelosi

Xiomara Isabell Correa, CNMT, SEP lives in San Antonio, Texas and has had a private clinical practice since 1987. As a Neuromuscular Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner specializing in chronic stress, acute and chronic pain, and trauma, she draws from her diverse experience in the allopathic and complementary medicine field and seeks to provide an integrative perspective which supports the body's inherent capacity for healing, while honoring the spiritual dimension of the process. Isabell is the Trauma First Aide™ organizer in San Antonio and assists trainings in Louisiana and Texas.

"As a body-worker, I have found that Trauma First Aide™ has been an invaluable tool in addressing shock trauma and its impact on pain." —Xiomara Isabell Correa

Barbara E. Davis, M.S.S.W is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Austin, Texas. Barbara is president of the Austin Society of Bioenergetic Analysis, past president of the Austin Group Psychotherapy Society, founder and past board president for Project Transitions, Inc., Austin’s residential AIDS hospice, cofounder of People's Community Clinic and Austin Family Mediation Association. She was the 1996 recipient of the alumnus of the year award for the University of Texas, School of Social Work.
She is a member of a critical incident response team for disasters and crises in the work place. She has special interest in people with serious physical illness and in couples’ work.

"As a Social Worker and Somatic Therapist, Trauma First Aide™ is extremely helpful when a client walks into my office in crisis, shock, or overwhelm, or if they experience any or all of these states during a session." —Barbara E. Davis

Jeanne Du Rivage, MA, OTR/L, SEP, is a pediatric occupational therapist who has worked extensively with young children and their families, as well as in the public schools. She specializes in developmental disabilities, trauma, and self regulation. Jeanne believes that understanding the brain, the nervous system, and the impact of traumatic events on the nervous system is not only critical for personal self awareness and healing, but is also vital for assisting others in this healing process as well. Jeanne served on the Trauma Outreach team and assisted in the post-Katrina Trauma First Aide™ trainings. She also worked in India with tsunami survivors. Jeanne has assisted trainings since 2007 in Louisiana, Maine and New Mexico and works with Dr. Burnham in the TFA for Youth & Families.

"Trauma First Aide™ is extremely effective and easy to learn and is an essential tool for anyone to add to their tool box. " —Jeanne Du Rivage

Sylvie Eyral, LISW, SEP, is a somatic psychotherapist in private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a clinical social worker and art therapist certified in EMDR and Somatic Experiencing. Sylvie specializes in teaching self-regulation while working with developmental and shock trauma, PTSD, attachment issues, grief, acute and chronic health issues. Sylvie is an assistant for Somatic Experiencing trainings in the US and in France. Sylvie is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in New Mexico.

“Trauma First Aide™ is an integral part of my personal and professional life. I use TFA in every session to help clients settle, to ground and become present to their experience. The same skills are equally effective to help me and loved ones through challenging times.” —Sylvie Eyral

Maureen Harrington, CMT, SEP is a certified massage therapist and Somatic Experience (SE) Practitioner. She is in private practice specializing in SE gentle touch work to facilitate resolving the physiological symptoms of trauma including anxiety, depression, shock and stress-related illness and injury. She enjoys working in collaboration with psychotherapists and other alternative health practitioners to form a support team for clients. Her work incorporates her background in Biodynamic Cranial Sacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Ortho-Bionomy and influences of Castellino Birth Trauma Resolution. She assists all levels of SE® trainings. Maureen served on the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina/Rita and has assisted Trauma First Aide™ trainings since 2006 in Louisiana and California.

Nancy Conlee Hart, MPH, PhD (ABD),, served as a hospital CEO and health care executive in the Midwest for twenty years, and now consults in Complementary and Alternative Health Care with a small private practice as a health coach in Austin, Texas. She specializes in clients with fibromyalgia as a result of PTSD, assisting them to access healing modalities beyond the conventional pharmaceutical/biomedical system. Nancy incorporates a wide range of healing and therapeutic modalities including Somatic Experiencing, Holotropic Breathwork, Psy-K, Therapeutic Touch, Intuitive Energy Healing, Archetypal Astrology and Gender Reconciliation. She is also working on her dissertation, "Trauma in a Participatory Universe", exploring the relationship between trauma and physiology. Nancy assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Texas and Minnesota.

"Trauma First Aide™ is invaluable to me in my coaching practice. My clients are often highly activated and unable to focus. I use Trauma First Aide™, first to allow them to settle into their bodies and begin to reclaim themselves; and second as a framework to explain that their PTSD symptoms are normal physiological reactions to the highly abnormal conditions they have experienced." —Nancy Conlee Hart

Brad Kammer, MA, MFTI, SEP holds a Master’s Degree emphasizing Somatic Psychology and is a California Marriage and Family Therapist Intern. He is also a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and assistant trainer for the Foundation for Human Enrichment. Brad served on a Trauma Outreach Program team to New Orleans, post-Katrina, and is currently working with a Northern California trauma outreach group. Brad has traveled, lived and worked around the world, and spent one year working with Burmese refugees in Asia. Brad and his family live in Ukiah, California where he practices and teaches Somatic Experiencing and Trauma First Aide™, and works with at-risk children and their families through Redwood Children Services. He is also an adjunct psychology instructor at Mendocino College. Brad is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff in Louisiana, California and New Mexico.

“I use TFA effectively in many different situations – from stopping at an accident scene on the side of the road to a child getting hurt at a baseball game. In my work as a therapist, I use TFA skills in teaching clients how to use their bodies as allies in moving through difficult life experiences. I am grateful to have TFA as a skill set to offer people who wish to strengthen their resources and build resiliency.” —Brad Kammer

Kristi Kennen, LISW has conducted a private practice for over twenty-five years specializing in working with clients, including adults and children, suffering from traumatic events, PTSD, and DID. In the 90's, Kristi studied the effects of trauma in China, India, and Thailand, and most recently, Kristi was a member of a trauma team led by Bessel Van der Kolk studying the impact of Apartheid in South Africa. She currently acts as a team member and consultant for an inter-disciplinary treatment team of physicians, doctors of Oriental Medicine, body workers, herbalists, and psychotherapists who treat people with auto-immune disorders, and trauma-related syndromes. She incorporates Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Eriksonian Hypnosis, Ego-State Therapy, Play Therapy, and Equine Therapy in her clinical practice offering individual and group therapy. Kristi has presented at major conferences studying PTSD and DID disorders. She was a member of the Trauma Outreach team in Louisiana post-Katrina/Rita where she provided sessions, collected data, and helped with TFA research and is a member of the Trauma First Aide™ teaching staff.

“As a psychotherapist who is a certified trauma specialist, I specialize in working with children, adolescents and adults who have been diagnosed with PTSD. I find the user-friendly skills of TFA invaluable in my sessions and also to use as recovery skills for my clients to use in their everyday life to help stabilize and calm and help restore the nervous system due to the traumatic events they have experienced.” —Kristi Kennen

Betty C. Landreneau, MSN, RN worked as a nurse for 46 years and recently retired after 23 years teaching nursing. She is certified in Integrated Touch Therapy and Reiki at a Masters Level. She lives in Lafayette, Louisiana and worked with post-Katrina/Rita survivors. Betty has assisted Trauma First Aide™ trainings since 2007 in Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico.

“I use Trauma First Aide™, with great effectiveness, in my work with homeless persons who access a free health clinic, and military in the National Guard. Using Trauma First Aide™, even as a one-time brief encounter, allows the person’s body to re-regulate, enabling the person to access their strengths for recovery and enjoy improved functioning.” — Betty C. Landreneau

Jill Laroussini, MSN, RN is an advanced practice registered nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist of 29 years with a background in ER, ambulatory care and college health. She is currently a community health instructor at the College of Nursing & Allied Health Professions at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where her clinical population is the homeless. She is a co-creator of Ready 4 the Return, a volunteer initiative that provides a body-based approach to healing after combat trauma and attends drill weekends to bring services to the soldiers. Jill has assisted Trauma First Aide™ trainings since 2007 in Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico.

"I integrate Trauma First Aide™ and Integrative Touch with my nursing students, the homeless, veterans, and soldiers in a multitude of settings to assist them with re-regulating their nervous systems, building resilience, and restoring function. The soldiers are especially grateful to have this understanding of what is happening to them, plus it puts their symptoms in a domain they are familiar with - training the body." —Jill Laroussini

Diane Long, BS, CMT, HTP, SEP is the founder of Kaleidoscope Healing Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an integrative practitioner, she combines therapeutic massage, martial arts, yoga, bioenergetics, energy healing and somatic therapies. A part-time French interpreter in a torture treatment center and a self-defense instructor, Diane incorporates Trauma First Aide™ skills to help people recover from trauma and chronic pain. Diane serves as the Trauma First Aide™ organizer in Minneapolis, has assisted in Maine, Minneapolis, and is on the faculty track to teach Trauma First Aide™.

Tom Mahoney (Bio being updated.)

Susan R. Miller, LCPC, CTS, SEP SEP is the Psychological Services Coordinator at an independent living center for people with disabilities in Lawrence, Kansas. She counsels people who have survived car accidents, crimes, abuse, and military combat. Susan served on the Trauma Outreach team post-Katrina/Rita, provided sessions and collected data, and has helped with the Trauma First Aide™ research that has been published and has assisted Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Louisiana, New Mexico and Kansas since 2006.

“I incorporate Trauma First Aide™ with my clients every day in my practice to help them settle and to make counseling more productive.” —Susan R. Miller

Mary Pivarunis, LMFT, Somatic Psychotherapist specializes in Trauma and the Body, PTSD, and Grief and Loss with a private practice in Oakland, California. She is a Clinical Care Coordinator at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, CA, where she runs an Adult Day Hospitalization Program for Chronically Mentally Ill Adults. Mary also serves as a trauma consultant for her department. She has completed the Somatic Experiencing Training and is currently working on her client hours. Mary assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in California and Maine.

“I use Trauma First Aide™ daily with clients in my private practice as a way to help clients ground and center when activated and/or flooded, to help increase their body awareness when dissociated, and to increase their self confidence and feeling of empowerment when they become educated about their nervous system and its inner workings. At work, I stress one of Trauma First Aide™'s main premises that we, as providers, must put on our own oxygen mask FIRST!” —Mary Pivarunis

Clara Porter, MSW is the founder and program director of Prevention. Action. Change. in Portland Maine. Clara has extensive training in violence prevention programming for children, youth, and adults and 15 years of teaching experience in the field. She is a certified self-defense instructor with the Center for Anti-Violence Education and the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation. Clara is the local Trauma First Aide™ organizer for the Portland trainings.

“I use Trauma First Aide™ extensively with workshop participants for acute flashback events, self-calming and emotional regulation.” —Clara Porter

Danielle M. Rose, MD, NMD, SEP has worked as a pediatrician for 14 years and is trained in Somatic Experiencing. She began working with Trauma First Aide™ in 2008. She currently works with children and adults who have had traumatic histories in Huntersville, North Carolina and also works as the medical director of Charlotte Metro Hyperbaric Center. She teaches part time at the local community college. Danielle assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in North Carolina and Maine.

“I plan to bring Trauma First Aide™ essentials into our local first responder and law enforcement communities.”- —Danielle M. Rose

Margarita Salas-Morrel, LMSW, MAHS holds a Master's Degree in Social Work and a Master of Arts Degree in Human Services. She is a graduate of the Trauma First Aide™ and Somatic Experiencing training programs and has assisted in both trainings. Margarita uses Trauma First Aide™ for crisis and trauma stabilization and Somatic Experiencing for the long-term clinical services that she provides. Margarita integrates her Trauma First Aide™ and Somatic Experiencing skills in her social work practice with individuals, groups, and families. She has also successfully incorporated both models in the life skills trainings that she offers to children in the classroom setting. In addition to Trauma First Aide™ and Somatic Experiencing, Margarita has had over seven years of training in Ericksonian therapy. Margarita has over 23 years of experience working with underserved populations and for fifteen of those years she has been providing school-based support to underprivileged children and families. Margarita is originally from South America and has extensive experience providing services to bilingual communities. She would like to help promote TFA in Latin America and assists TFA classes in Texas and New Mexico.

"As a social worker that works in a school setting, Trauma First Aide™ helps me provide essential support for children and families in crisis, TFA helps me share with them tools to promote stabilization and resilience. Students and parents that respond to TFA are able to calm, access their own resources, focus, and be ready to learn. It is an honor to see the empowerment and transformation that they are able to experience." —Margarita Salas-Morrel

Dee Dee Sewell, NREMT-P, SEP has been a Paramedic in EMS for 25 years. She is the Critical Support Intervention Coordinator for Acadian Ambulance Service and cares for approximately 3,000 employees. Dee Dee is certified through the ICISF/CISM and holds many certifications, including a Certificate of Specialized Training in the Field of Emergency Services, Somatic Experiencing, and Trauma First Aide™. In addition to her certification areas, Dee Dee also uses Integrative Touch Therapy, Guided Imagery, and Aromatherapy, as well as Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and Response to Suicide training for Emergency Responders (LINK) in her work with the medics and support staff at Acadian. She has been involved in Trauma First Aide™ since 2007, and she has assisted in Louisiana and Texas trainings. Dee Dee lives in Lafayette, Louisiana and works with post-Katrina/Rita survivors in her company. Acadian medics were heavily involved with pre- and post-hurricane events from the coastal regions of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and were severely impacted on a personal level due to their own losses of homes and family members.

“As a paramedic, Trauma First Aide™ helps me assist those individuals who sometimes literally cannot focus immediately following a significant incident. They can’t stop crying, can’t stop trembling. Trauma First Aide™ helps me give them back their calm so they can think rationally and focus once again.” —Dee Dee Sewell

Lynne Silver, MA, LPC is the co-founder of the Resources Unlimited Human Development Foundation. She works with an integrative approach facilitating individuals, couples, and groups in personal and spiritual growth and development. Lynne is certified in Transpersonal Psychology and teaches meditation classes. She also facilitates training in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Experiential Learning. Lynne assists the Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Texas.

"As a psychotherapist, I use Trauma First Aide™ with clients as a way to settle during sessions. Trauma First Aide™ becomes a resource for their daily lives." —Lynne Silver

Douglas Smith, LCPC, SEP is a psychotherapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Portland, Maine. For the past seven years he has studied and integrated knowledge of the nervous system's response to trauma into his practice, increasingly using the therapeutic modality of Somatic Experiencing to access and treat trauma symptoms in the body. Most recently he has completed post-advanced certification training with Kathy Kain, in Berkeley California, to explore the use of touch in the treatment of trauma. He occasionally offers workshops on somatic therapy. For more information on his workshops, visit mindmeetsbody.com. Douglas is also interested in the application of somatic therapy principles for treating acute trauma. He has attended both basic and advanced Trauma First Aide™ trainings, and he has also assisted with Trauma First Aide™ trainings. He continues to support the development of Trauma First Aide™ in Maine and New England.

Laura Lee Thompson is a Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP) and holds honors’ degrees in Liberal Arts and Behavioral Science Psychology. She has over six years of training in somatic therapies, including the completion of a three-year training program in Somatic Experiencing®. Laura has worked with various types of trauma ranging from birth injury to torture and incorporates Trauma First Aide™, touch therapy and energy medicine into her work. In addition, she combines SE and TFA into classes designed for healing past traumas of both men and women. Laura Lee is the Trauma First Aide™ organizer in San Diego and assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings New Mexico and California.

“I use TFA with my clients who are in crisis. I assist in stabilizing their nervous system by helping them become aware of their bodies and aware of their immediate environment. With TFA I can bring my clients into the present moment so they can fully enjoy an empowered life”. —Laura Lee Thompson

Leslie Tuchmann, MSN, CNS, AHN-BC, ACHPN is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Albuquerque, New Mexico who holds advanced practice nursing certifications in both Holistic Nursing and Palliative Care. As a former Army Nurse Corps Officer, her career focus was in medical-surgical nursing and oncology. She is currently in private practice as a Holistic Nurse and also works part-time with a hospital-based Palliative Care Consultant Service. She is an integrative practitioner who utilizes numerous energetic and healing modalities in her work and is deeply influenced by indigenous wisdom. Leslie is on the Trauma First Aide™ Advisory Board and assists Trauma First Aide™ trainings in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, and is a member of our military training team.

“I use Trauma First Aide™ in my private practice with palliative care clients, and I am especially passionate about sharing Trauma First Aide™ with military and veteran populations.” —Leslie Tuchmann