MK forum

Boz' latest blog entry on RNS introduces us to David Pittman and Together We Heal.

http://boz.religionnews.com/2014/07/11/ ... sion-help/

If you are looking for a therapist or counselor, this website might be a good place to start.

http://togetherweheal.wordpress.com/

For those who are not able to afford counseling, it looks like there might be help available through this organization.

Keep in mind that NTM has also offered to help MKs with counseling costs.

Or you could just be really smart and marry one

The brilliant and highly gifted Mrs Bemused is a Human Factors Specialist Engineer, i.e. she figures out why things go wrong and what involvement human behaviour has as a contributing factor. For this she has, amongst others, a psychology degree and so I get a free deprogramming and therapy session when necessary. Well when I say free, it is of course a marriage and it takes two to tango, or me to make the breakfast in bed, light the fire, clean the house, do the dishes . . . .

Of course for those less fortunate enough not to have a Mrs Bemused, often talking (or writing) to someone who has been there done that can really help. Like another MK.

. . . . make the bed, walk the dog, collet the mail, cook the meals, do the garden . . .

And when you are called out to a fire
The weeds grow?

When I get called out to a fire, everyone knows. The method of notification is a very loud siren. Canine Bemused has realised that when this goes off, Bemused starts running around like a lunatic and exits the door fast. Mrs Bemused (if she is home) hands Bemused the things he has forgotten, grabs Canine Bemused (who thinks it is a game that he is going to come along to) and I run as fast as my zimmerframe will go down to the station.
If I'm first there I open the door, unhook the truck from the power supply, find out where and what we are going to and slide my legs through my firetrousers into my fireboots (hoping that I've got them on the right way round, as once I didn't). Then when the rest of the team are ready, away we go.
Meanwhile the weeds grow a fraction

So what has this post got to do with finding a Helpful Counselor/Therapist?
Ummmm, sometimes life happens and the weeds grow, but the weeds will be there to be dealt with when one gets back from dealing with lifes little emergencies.

ANOTHER possibility is lynn@careportcounseling.org.

She has been on the field and is a counselor. She only counsels MKs that are survivors and that suffer from their time overseas. It is done on line.. She wants to help us.

Here is the web site for the counselor that I wrote about

http://www.careportcounseling.org/

Kathryn Joyce has written another long, well-researched article.

If you have any experience with, concerns about, or support for what is known in conservative Christian circles as "Biblical Counseling", you should take the time to read this article.

This is an especially important issue to us here on Fanda Eagles, because of the support that NTM openly expresses for Biblical or church-based counselors as opposed to what they would call secular counselors or therapists.

Here is an excerpt from NTM USA's Child Protection Handbook:

"FINDING A COUNSELOR

NTM USA encourages victims and/or their guardians to find and select a counselor of their choice. When possible the counselee’s home church will be considered the preferred facilitating resource for NTM members. NTM USA also has available a list of counselors who use Biblical principles and specialize in issues related to abuse, physical trauma, and emotional needs. This list may be obtained by contacting the Child Safety Team."

As you consider what type of counselor or therapist you might need, it is important to understand the pros and cons, and the concerns that some of us have about the qualifications of some who might feel they are capable of helping you to process the complicated issues that many MKs grapple with.

Here is the link to Kathryn Joyce's article:

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health- ... ign=buffer

Hmmmmmmmmmm, not sure I would want to have the services of a counsellor off NTM's list of "Biblical Based" Counsellors.

I think I'd rather hear, "Oh dear what a mess Bemused, lets see if we can help by . . . . " rather than "You know Bemused, if you just let go and let God and forgave and weren't bitter and went to church and hugged your father and respected your elders and believed that the new guidelines are working and prayed and read your bible, then you would be fine, next please"

Maybe I'm a bit cynical, but in my little world "Biblical Based" hasn't worked, common sense and raw reality has.

But then I am truly blessed with Mrs Bemused, who sorts out the fog of this MKs mind


P.s. my experience of churches who send Tribers out, is that they don't want to know about what happened to the kids of Tribers or anything about child sex abuse.