Sonoma Community Resilience Training

What is Mind-Body Medicine?

Mind-body medicine is based on the scientific understanding of the inextricable connection among our thoughts, sensations and feelings, and our mind, body, and spirit – between ourselves and the social and natural world in which we live. It focuses on the interactions between mind and body; and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social and spiritual factors can directly relieve stress and improve health. It is used with individuals, groups, and entire populations.

Mind-body skills are scientifically validated to reduce stress and restore physical and psychological health. The mind-body approach heals individual trauma and builds community-wide resilience.

The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) approach to wellness is grounded in practical, evidence-based skills for self-care, self-awareness, and group support. It emphasizes an approach that respects and enhances each person’s capacity for self-knowledge and self-care.

What’s the science behind it?

Mind-body approaches use the conscious mind to directly affect the workings of the brain and the rest of the body. The techniques exert their effect on the hypothalamus, the switching station in the brain, which exercises control over the autonomic nervous system (which controls heart rate, blood pressure etc.), the endocrine (glandular) system and the immune system.

The scientific literature on these approaches is now rich and robust. Studies dating from the late 1960’s have shown the power of mind-body techniques to balance the over-activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (“the fight or flight” and “stress” responses) which is implicated in many physical and emotional diseases and conditions, with parasympathetic nervous system stimulation that promotes relaxation.

More recently, these techniques have been demonstrated to create beneficial changes in many of the body’s physiological responses (including blood pressure, stress hormone levels, pain response and immune functioning) and to make a significant clinical difference in conditions as diverse as hypertension, HIV, cancer, chronic pain, and insomnia as well as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Who is the Center for Mind-Body Medicine?

The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) was founded in 1991 by James S. Gordon, MD, a former researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, a clinical professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School, and former chair of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Over the last 25 years, CMBM’s 160 global faculty members and 5,000 trained clinicians, educators, and community leaders have successfully brought programs of self-care and group support to schools and universities, hospitals and clinics, social welfare agencies, and community-based organizations around the world. Programs have been implemented in areas touched by conflict, terrorism and natural disasters abroad in Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Israel, Gaza, Haiti, as well as in post-Katrina southern Louisiana and with US Military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The CMBM’s work has easily been integrated into and is compatible with different cultures and their belief systems.

Who is the The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative?

The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative, which has been endorsed and adopted as a part of Health Action, is a three-year, community-wide initiative that will implement an evidence-based resilience program utilizing CMBM’s curriculum and deep expertise. The vision for the Collaborative is to develop our local capacity for healing, empower lay people with comprehensive tools, build the social connections that are the number one predictor of community resilience, and prevent the progression of stress and trauma into more serious social, mental, physical, and social impacts. The train-the-trainer model will reach over 8,000 residents and ripple out to tens of thousands more as we integrate this shared language into our work and personal lives.

The Collaborative is led by a steering group, which is also expanding its membership to ensure diverse engagement with all our target communities. Santa Rosa Community Health is providing leadership and administrative backbone for the Collaborative. Current members include:

• The Council on Aging
• Daily Acts
• The Hanna Institute
• Medtronic Foundation
• Northern California Public Media
• Petaluma Health Care District
• Redwood Community Health Coalition
• Restorative Resources
• Santa Rosa Community Health
• Sonoma County Department of Health Services
• Wanda Tapia
• West County Health Centers

The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative has been endorsed and adapted as a part of Sonoma County Health Action.

The program is generously supported with funding from the Sonoma Community Foundation Resilience Fund, Tipping Point Community Emergency Relief Fund, and Redwood Credit Union North Bay Fire Relief Fund.

What is the commitment I’m making?

This is a professional training program and full attendance is required. Participants commit to 100% attendance at the 4-day Initial Training Program (June 19-22, 2019), as well as the 4-day Advanced Training Program (July 31-August 3, 2019). Please expect that the training days will last from about 8 AM – 5:30 PM.

Participants also commit to running at least one workshop and one mind-body skills group during the year under the supervision of Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) faculty. Supervision involves approximately one-hour weekly calls for ten weeks with your small group and CMBM faculty lead. This ongoing support and small group connection is cited as one of the most valuable aspects of the training by past participants.

Organizations sending people to the training are asked to support trainee attendance through paid time off, professional development time, and other accommodations as possible.

25 stipends of up to $100/per day are available to support those who cannot take paid time off or to help with additional childcare or travel expenses. Apply here.

Am I right for this program?

Since space will be limited in this program, we have developed the following guidelines to identify applicants who will be best positioned to work with local communities, institutions, organizations or underserved populations in Sonoma County. Together, the Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative and Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) will make the selections based on the following criteria.

• You live and/or work in Sonoma County.
• You are in a position to reach a significant number of people in our community, however they were affected by the October 2017 Sonoma County wildfires.
• You are committed to integrating the CMBM approach learned at this training with groups and individuals at work and/or in your personal communities.
• You will personally make the time and/or have the support of your company to deliver community workshops and training groups.
• You are eager to participate in the training – engaged, excited, willing to put in some energy.
• You are able and interested in learning new skills.
• You have the capacity to be self-reflective and are open to new ideas.

What are the Mind-Body Skills Groups?

During the course of the training, attendees will work in small groups. Each group has ten participants and one faculty member, and the group stays together throughout the program, learning together and often becoming friends for years to come. A majority of participants list the small group in program evaluations as their favorite part of the program! And understandably– this is the part that supports healing and self-care, and eventually that of family, friends, and patients.

Attendees will participate in eight Mind-Body Skills Group sessions with their group. In each session, they will learn one or two mind-body techniques such as meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback, working with drawings, breathing, movement, etc. The group sessions combine the lectured learning, experiential learning, practice, and group support.

This is not a therapy group! However, we find that sharing and connecting with others creates a wonderful learning environment, helping each individual become more self-aware and more engaged in their own self-care.

Participants will never be forced to share beyond your comfort level; however, in order to share the techniques with patients and clients, participants need to experience them first hand and “walk the talk.”