Media’s Critical Role in Healing Fear, Terror, and Violence
Explained in Free Educational Book for Journalists and Writers
Coverage of Trauma, Emotional First Aid Tips Focus of Guidelines Booklet
(Los Angeles, Calif., July 19, 2006) — With much of the news
coverage focused on traumatic events, journalists and writers seeking a
deeper understanding of the effects their
coverage has on conflicts and violence and the impact of second-hand trauma
on their personal work can find answers in a
book and accompanying guideline offered free to the working press by the
International Trauma-Healing Institute (www.traumainstitute.org).
"Beyond the Trauma Vortex: The Media’s Role in Healing Fear,
Terror, and Violence," and its companion guideline booklet, authored
by Gina Ross, MFCC,
founder and president of The International Trauma-Healing Institute, defines
first and second-hand trauma, the toll they
take on people’s lives, and offers tips on emotional first aid. The trauma
vortex vs. the healing vortex metaphors and their application are
discussed. Ross, a frequent international speaker and trainer in understanding
the effects of media coverage of traumatic political events,
natural disasters, and human catastrophes directs her efforts to
individuals, communities, and nations.
"The media is extraordinarily positioned to help the public cope
with trauma," explains Ms. Ross. "What is really energizing about
trauma, paradoxically, is that its healing is transformative for the
individual as well as for society at large. Knowing how unresolved trauma
engenders pessimism,
cynicism, despair, and paralysis of the will, or desperate and uncontrolled
acting out, can help us understand how healing opens the
door to hope, optimism, and the desire for creative and constructive
action."
To obtain the free resource materials, journalists can email their
name, organization, mailing address, and phone number to info@traumainstitute.org;
fax request to (323) 935- 8417, or call (323) 954-1400 to order multiple copies
for organizations.
Chapter topics include: Trauma Basics, The Stream of Life, Secondhand
Trauma, The Effects of the "Trauma Vortex," The "Healing
Vortex," Emotional
First Aid, The Media’s Role: Help is on the Way, Guidelines Toward the Healing
Vortex, Covering the Political Trauma Vortex, and
Healing Secondhand Trauma in Media Professionals.
To accomplish its mission of increasing awareness of trauma as a root
cause of suffering, conflict and violence and of developing resources
for trauma's resolution and healing, The International Trauma-Healing Institute
creates and distributes educational materials, conducts
training programs and engages in cooperative activities to promote global
awareness of the nature of trauma, its costs and impact, and
its link to violence. As a resource center, the Institute facilitates the new
models, programs, and delivery systems for healing trauma at the
community, national, and international levels.
