Excerpted from the March 2006 NESTTD Newsletter
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was upon me as I began this first president’s letter. I reflected on the mission I was to undertake as incoming president of NESTTD and found myself thinking about the mission Martin Luther King took on to end racial discrimination and secure equal rights and privileges for all African-Americans.
Segregation had brought shame and silence to the African-American community. Those who sought equality were seen as troublemakers for expressing their discontent and silenced by acts of violence and degradation. Martin Luther King Jr. brought people out of silence. He developed a forum for people to voice their anger a society that practiced segregation and limited their civil rights.
Through Gandhi’s concept of non-violence King led people in protest. He opened the opportunity speak out against segregation and inequality as he marched with 250,000 others across Washington, D.C in 1963. The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is a reminder of how he stood unwavering and always held hope that more accomplishments would be achieved for civil rights. It is a reminder for us in our own way to carry forth his mission.
Working in the field of trauma and dissociation we encounter clients who have had their rights disregarded. Clients who were silenced by their traumatic experience and denied any attempt at expression. Clients who were considered troublemakers for wanting to tell someone what was happening. They were left to doubt themselves and the legitimacy of their experience.
It was not long ago when victims of traumatic events were considered to be speaking of fictitious experiences. Trauma existed and therefore didn’t need to be talked about or the symptoms treated. Dissociative clients were psychotic with no hope of change. But professionals did start to talk and wondered why they were seeing the same symptoms and hearing of similar stories resulting from traumatic events. As Judith Herman writes: “Throughout the history of the field, dispute has raged over whether patients with post-traumatic conditions are entitled to care and respect or deserving of contempt….”
Care and respect have been behind the mission of NESTTD : “to promote education, training and regional professional development; to encourage writing and research and to provide a forum for networking and a collegial community among clinicians, researchers and other professionals interested in the identification, treatment and prevention of trauma related conditions and dissociative disorders.”
The spirit of the founders of NESTTD endures today. Meetings have become an opportunity to learn about trauma and dissociation with an assurance that it gives the highest regard to the clients we work with. Meetings have become a forum in which professionals can share their experience in treating trauma and dissociation. In this light, I look forward to sharing the presidency with Rhonda Sabo until July 1 as we transition to new Board of Director terms. It is with great honor and pride that we work together to carry forth the mission of the organization.
Yours truly,
