{"id":24754,"date":"2015-07-02T14:09:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T18:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=24754"},"modified":"2016-07-19T11:13:49","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:13:49","slug":"transdisciplinary-seminar-on-adverse-childhood-experiences-teaches-future-health-professionals-unique-diagnostic-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/transdisciplinary-seminar-on-adverse-childhood-experiences-teaches-future-health-professionals-unique-diagnostic-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Transdisciplinary seminar on adverse childhood experiences teaches future health professionals unique diagnostic tools"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if a traumatic childhood event could be contributing to health problems? Wouldn\u2019t listening and learning from a patient about that experience be as valuable for diagnostic purposes to a health care professional as evaluating a high temperature, sore glands or a skin condition?<\/p>\n

A two-day transdisciplinary seminar melding theater and narrative arts and the health sciences in April at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) drew students into interactions that explored these questions, using strategies of responsive listening and collaborative teaching. The event was part of the \u201cSilent Violence\u201d research project<\/a>, led by professor Carolyn Stauffer<\/a> and supported by a Just Pax Fund<\/a> grant, which focuses on abuse and strategies of resilience.<\/p>\n

\"SV-7\"<\/a>
Matt Carlson, Bridget Mullins (middle) and Heidi Winters Vogel lead other members of Inside Out, EMU’s playback theater troupe, in the room for their first storytelling event of the seminar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The community of approximately 60 learners included graduate students in the MA in biomedicine program<\/a>, undergraduate students in various health science courses, trained facilitators from the Pennsylvania-based non-profit GuideSpring<\/a>, and a group of actors from Inside Out<\/a>, EMU\u2019s playback theater group.<\/p>\n

The focus of the workshop, said Stauffer, was the mind-body connection from a health sciences perspective. \u201cAll life experiences are filtered through our neurological and biological systems. If we are not intentional about addressing unresolved issues, they play out in very negative ways on our health. Our goal in this seminar was to help students make that connection. When we surface and share our stories, we can build community and work towards resolution and resilience in ways that then offload the negative impacts from our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transdisciplinary emphasis brought together Stauffer, who teaches in the MA in biomedicine program, and playback theater troupe co-founders Roger Foster<\/a> and Heidi Winters Vogel<\/a>, also a professor of theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collaboration between people who would identify as scientists and people who identify as artists is very exciting,\u201d Foster said, pointing out that the workshop created a space where both are valued equally.<\/p>\n

Listening as a \u2018diagnostic tool\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After the event, students talked about connecting with their fellow students in ways they\u2019d never experienced, and how sharing their own stories helped them move toward healing in their own lives.<\/p>\n

The ability to listen and show empathy is a unique diagnostic tool with a different sensitivity than a blood pressure cuff or an EKG machine, said one student.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy listening to stories of others, I have been able to see the impact of ACEs on the individuals they are today,\u201d said Wally Al-Kakhan, MA \u201915 (biomedicine), adding that the experience helped him understand both himself and his fellow classmates better.<\/p>\n

The workshop helped biology major Grayson Mast understand the benefits of a holistic approach to healthcare , as well as contributing to a foundational understanding of psychosocial trauma. \u201cWe all have moments in our past that have torn us down and made life more difficult. Learning how to affirm someone\u2019s ability to discuss a traumatic event in their life is really important,\u201d said Mast, who hopes to go to medical school.<\/p>\n

When contacted for an interview several weeks after the seminar, Mast said that the workshop was \u201cone of the most important educational events of my first year at EMU.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing \u2018deep\u2019 stories<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"SV-7q\"<\/a>
Students learned to apply what they’d learned in the classroom about adverse childhood experiences to the experience of sharing and learning from fellow seminar participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The seminar began with a playback storytelling event that surfaced stories of adverse childhood experiences (known as ACE\u2019s). Playback theater is a kind of collaborative art in which members of the audience volunteer to tell a story and then watch as the actors \u201cplay back\u201d an interpretation of the event. But before that happened, the group led a series of informal interactions that helped to build community, and to voice and normalize natural tensions and unease about the topic and the format.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard everything from \u2018I don\u2019t understand\u2019 to \u2018It\u2019s really difficult to talk about this\u2019 to \u2018This makes me nervous\u2019 and even \u2018I\u2019m irritated that I have to give up my weekend for this,\u2019\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

Although specific stories cannot be shared because of confidentiality, Foster says one general story about a father spending time with his children provides an example of what the audience heard. \u201cThis seemingly positive story of a really good day was actually very painful, because that parent had been very neglectful, and that one wonderful day was a marker of what this person had been without,\u201d Foster said. \u201cThe story really opened the audience to the possibilities and the idea that all stories have meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day was dedicated to work in small groups \u2014 telling, listening, and responding to stories. Mike Yoder, co-founder of Guidespring and a facilitator of similar events for 14 years, says he was moved by the depth of responses from the students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo watch them share with their friends and embrace them with really powerful responses was a very moving experience,\u201d Yoder said. \u201cI heard them say things like \u2018I didn\u2019t know that happened\u2019 or \u2018That breaks my heart\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m amazed that you lived through that but it hasn\u2019t defined you.\u2019 Watching them make those connections, to show sadness for what they\u2019d experienced but then also identifying with their strength\u2014they were truly thrilled by the experience of building those relationships of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/a>
Professor Carolyn Stauffer, co-leader of the seminar, is currently involved in a JustPax-funded interdisciplinary research project about strategies of resilience among populations of abused women.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of the seminar, the group participated in a second theater event that focused on audience members\u2019 stories of change and resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted them to think about strategies to move forward, and the networks of people they rely on to help them move forward,\u201d Stauffer said, linking the students\u2019 experiences to what she\u2019s learned from her research of resilience strategies among domestic violence survivors in communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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