Good to see you guys. Just know that this is just another episode. Just want to show what it is, how we do the RAP technique, the rhythm and processing strategies, and yeah, welcome to the show.
So I’m just going to get straight to it. So give me one second. I’m going to open up some Excel spreadsheet. Okay. So some people have been asking, okay, what exactly, how do you integrate the RAP technique into this type of thing? So I just wanted to make a real quick video to just explain. This is what we do.
Step Minus One: The Initial Consultation
So first, before I even meet anybody, I have step minus one. Okay. So step minus one is the initial phone call. So I want to have a phone call with my client. So then I can explain what this is all about. Cause the thing is that you’re going to get some clients that maybe they call EMDR therapy, they call it EDM or EDMR, or they call it something else. Maybe when you call it the RAP technique, they think that you’re going to be beatboxing or something in the session. It’s a little different. So we want to have a 20 to 30 minute conversation where I can understand who they are. I can explain what the thing is so they can make the decision as to whether this is the best approach for them.
Step Zero: Intake Forms and Assessing Complex PTSD Treatment Needs
So step zero is before I even meet with the person, they’re completing the intake forms and the questionnaires. Why? Because we don’t need to really use up our session time for this. Of course, in the session, you seek clarification for some of these questions, but it’s a good idea for me to get a basic read on what their stresses are relating to anxiety. This is relating to depression. This is relating to PTSD. This is relating to structural dissociation. So just generally speaking, I just want to check to see where they’re at before I even meet with them.
Early Sessions: Resourcing and the Spectrum of Dissociation
Then I meet with them and when I meet with them, what am I going to do? We’re going to have our understanding of the intake. And then if possible, I want to teach two things. We’re going to do guided earth meditation, and we’re going to do mindful color breathing. This is so that the person walks away with something from that first session. So they understand that it’s not going to be just about talking about things. It’s going to be about us doing something about the problem.
This can be the second session, but what’s helpful for me is just to go over the results specifically of the MID-60 because oftentimes, I just had a client just before, he was man, I put zero on everything. If there is a question about me hearing a baby’s voice or something, I ain’t crazy, what are you talking about? And so then this gives us an opportunity to then explain that this is the spectrum of dissociation. And so while you may not have that as one of your stresses, instead, he had some debilitating flashbacks. And again, some other people might be flashbacks, you know, I ain’t crazy. So this is why we help people to just know that there’s a spectrum of issues that are there and that they are in the therapy that helps to reduce all of these numbers in terms of how much this disturbs them and how much this is impacting their life.
So MID-60, and also if possible, we’re going to do some pros cons. Why are we going to do pros cons? It’s a good idea. Cause you just want to find out from the client’s perspective, not from the intake, not from anybody else, from the client’s perspective, why are they here? What is it that they want to accomplish? What does success look like for them, for their therapy or in their therapy?
Introducing the RAP Technique for Complex PTSD Treatment
Next, after I do all of that, it’s only at that point that you’re going to hear me talking anything about introducing the RAP technique. It’s only at that point that we are going to then find out whether we can talk about the RAP technique and resource integration. Because the thing is, and just so that you know, RAP technique is a responsive resource for dealing with the past. Resource integration is a proactive resource for dealing with the future. So both of these are things that I’m going to teach my client only after I get to know them and only after they’ve been able to practice the other things. Oh, one thing I did not include here, whoopsie, is that there is the five grateful things.
So by then, by the time we’re at phase three, they will have learned a technique to deal with the past. They will have learned a technique to deal with the future. They have writing experiences with the five grateful things. If you’re wondering what the five grateful things are, it’s a journaling exercise, but it’s based on the somatic representation of gratitude and locating that and cultivating that. Guided earth meditation is about using the breath to calm the mind. Mindful color breathing is about using the mind to calm the body. So now they are good by this session.
Even if they stopped meeting with me, they have a way of being able to deal with stresses better than 50% of the population, if not more, but we take it a step further so that we are able to get a good representation and an understanding of who they are. We want to have a genogram where we can then say, how does the client’s family, what does it look like? The architecture of their family and also to identify what are the legacies they’ve inherited, whether they’ve been adaptive or maladaptive from both sides of the family. So we have a balanced perspective about what it means to be them.
Addressing Racial Trauma in Complex PTSD Treatment
Then after this, you’re going to get the, again, I’ve called it racial, but it’s a trauma target history. I put the word racial because again, it’s really to say, I’m speaking about race, but we’re talking about the social construction of identity. So race is socially constructed. This means that a lot of people from Africa only become black when they immigrate to Canada. Before that they’re not black. There’s some people that their gender, they only become a real man when you get one of them pickup trucks that you see driving around the streets. And in some cultures, being a man doesn’t mean that, it means something else. So we want to know how a person’s socially constructed identity has impacted them, but specifically, what are the traumatic events they’ve survived because of their social identities? We start from age zero to the present age, but many times we’ll even go even before age zero. And that’s where the racial trauma really resides as we are trying to not only heal the suffering the client has, but we’re trying to help to heal the suffering they’ve inherited from their ancestors.
Leveling Up and Starting Trauma Processing
After that, after we get that list, it’s only then that we start trauma processing. It’s only then that we go to phase five and we take those events and then we use the techniques that are listed here to manage them. So again, in the first session, you don’t need to jump into the RAP technique, but it’s just for us to know that we are structuring the therapy in a way where the client is kind of leveling up as they continue to go on. Leveling up in their understanding of themselves, leveling up in terms of the understanding of how to heal from the difficulties they’ve been with. And then it culminates into the point where we have a list, an Excel spreadsheet where we could deal with these events one by one.
And that’s it. These are the rhythm and processing strategies. This is the agenda of the meetings. And I’ll usually show this to a client. And then when they ask, well, what are we going to do next? Then we can refer to those. When they ask, well, when are we going to get to the trauma processing? I can actually point to this and be like, nah, nah, bro, we’re doing this first. Okay. Let’s not jump the gun. Let’s not jump the gun. Take your time. And this helps to structure the therapy and helps to also let people know how they’re doing. All right. So this is what we’re doing with rhythm and processing strategies. This is what’s up. If you have any questions, post them, comment, join the Facebook group, let me know what’s going on. Let me know about your progress and hoping to help you to recognize your awesomeness and help other people to heal. You got this. All right. Peace.
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