http://thecounselingcentertexas.com/

The Counseling Center of Texas, 1400 Preston Road, 4th floor, Plano, TX (2025)

11/20/2025

📊 BY THE NUMBERS: Why EMDR is considered the gold standard for trauma

→ 77% of combat veterans were PTSD-free after 12 sessions (VA study)

→ 84-90% of single-trauma victims no longer met PTSD criteria after 3 sessions (Kaiser Permanente)

→ 100% of single-trauma victims showed improvement after 6 sessions

→ Faster results than CBT, with effects lasting years post-treatment

→ Recognized by WHO, APA, Dept of Defense, Dept of Veterans Affairs

But here's what the research doesn't capture:

The paramedic who returns to work.
The police officer who stops waking up in cold sweats.
The firefighter who can finally be present with their kids.

Evidence-based matters.

But so do real lives transformed.

What treatment modality has given you the most dramatic client transformations?

11/19/2025

3 MYTHS about EMDR that keep clinicians from learning it:

**MYTH #1: "It's just the eye movements"**

Reality: Bilateral stimulation is ONE component. The real magic is in the 8-phase protocol—assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, reevaluation.

**MYTH #2: "It only works for single-incident trauma"**

Reality: EMDR is incredibly effective for complex, cumulative trauma. Ask any clinician working with first responders.

**MYTH #3: "I can learn it from watching YouTube"**

Reality: Proper EMDR training requires supervised practice, understanding contraindications, and knowing how to handle abreactions safely.

Using EMDR without proper training is like doing surgery after watching Grey's Anatomy.

You can hurt someone.

The good news?

When learned correctly, from experienced trainers who specialize in your client population...

EMDR becomes one of the most powerful tools in your clinical arsenal.

Which myth did you believe? (It's okay, I believed #2 for years) ⬇️

11/18/2025

Why EMDR is a game-changer for first responder trauma:

❌ Traditional therapy: "Tell me about your childhood"

✅ EMDR: "Let's target that specific call that's keeping you up"

Here's why it works so well for police, fire, EMS, and military:

1️⃣ **TIME-EFFICIENT**
Sessions are structured. Results in 3-12 sessions vs. months of talk therapy.

2️⃣ **LESS TALKING REQUIRED**
You don't have to verbally process every detail. The bilateral stimulation does the work.

3️⃣ **TARGETS SENSORY MEMORIES**
Gets to the images, sounds, and body sensations that haunt them—not just the story.

4️⃣ **HANDLES CUMULATIVE TRAUMA**
Works for the 8,000+ calls they've run—not just the "worst one."

5️⃣ **EVIDENCE-BASED**
First responders trust what's proven. EMDR has 30+ years of research.

The paramedic doesn't want to sit in your office for a year.

They want relief NOW!. Fast. Effective. Proven.

EMDR delivers that.

Are you prepared to offer it?

11/17/2025

Let's talk about EMDR.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

If you've heard of it but never understood the "why" behind it—this is for you.

EMDR is based on how the brain naturally processes information.

When you sleep, your eyes move rapidly (REM sleep). This is when your brain consolidates memories.

Trauma disrupts this process. The memory gets "stuck" in its disturbing form.

EMDR mimics this natural processing through:
• Bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, audio)
• Targeting specific traumatic memories
• Allowing the brain to reprocess what got stuck

Result? The memory loses its emotional charge.

It becomes "just something that happened" instead of something that's still happening.

This isn't theoretical. It's been validated in 30+ randomized controlled trials.

The World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, and the Department of Defense all recognize EMDR as a first-line treatment for PTSD.

For first responders? The results are even more dramatic.

Have you tried EMDR with clients? What was your experience? ⬇️

11/16/2025

A trauma therapist colleague told me recently:

"My client asked if I thought M**A therapy could help his PTSD from 20 years in law enforcement. I had no idea what to tell him. I never learned this in my clinical training."

She's not alone.

The reality: → FDA approval for M**A therapy is imminent → 67% of therapists report clients asking about psychedelics → Less than 5% received ANY training in graduate school → Demand is exploding → Most clinicians feel completely unprepared

Here's what's urgent:

These medicines catalyze profound psychological AND spiritual experiences.

They can facilitate extraordinary healing.

They can also: → Trigger spiritual emergencies → Retraumatize if handled poorly → Create boundary violations without proper framework → Harm if practitioners don't understand non-ordinary states
You can't learn this from a weekend workshop!!!

You need: ✓ Understanding of altered state phenomenology ✓ Knowledge of both neuroscience AND traditional contexts ✓ Ethical frameworks for sacred work ✓ Skills for preparation and integration ✓ Cultural competency for first responder populations

Why Dr. Tafur's course is different:

→ 8 hours of intensive teaching (not surface-level overview) → Both science and ceremony - equal weight to research and traditional wisdom

→ FRBHI partnership - expertise in first responder trauma → Practical application - real case studies and clinical protocols → 8 CEU hours for license renewal → $249 - accessible professional development

Your clients need you to have this training.

Especially those carrying: → Treatment-resistant PTSD → Moral injury from impossible decisions → Occupational trauma from repeated exposure → Soul wounds that talk therapy can't touch

CTA: If you're a clinician who wants to be prepared (not left behind), this course is for you.

Registration opens SOON. Only 40 spaces available.

Hashtags:

11/16/2025

Sunday reflection:

"The healers who do the deepest work are the ones willing to continuously sharpen their tools."

You became a therapist to help people heal.

But here's the hard truth:

Good intentions without effective methodology = frustrated clients + burned out clinicians.

The most successful trauma therapists I know share one thing:

They never stop learning.

They don't rest on their graduate degree from 15 years ago.

They actively seek out evidence-based modalities that get results.

Your clients deserve your best.

Not your most comfortable. Your BEST.

What's one way you're investing in your clinical skills this quarter?

11/15/2025

MEDICINE SONG: The Curriculum

8 hours. 4 Wednesday evenings. January 2026.
This isn't a course about psychedelics.
It's a course about transformation.

SESSION 1: THE PSYCHEDELIC RENAISSANCE
→ History: the first wave, the suppression, the resurgence
→ Breakthrough research from Johns Hopkins, Imperial College, MAPS
→ Neuroscience: neuroplasticity, Default Mode Network, consciousness
→ What the studies reveal (and what they miss)

SESSION 2: INDIGENOUS WISDOM & AMAZONIAN MEDICINE
→ Traditional Amazonian plant medicine and curanderismo
→ The role of ceremony, icaros (healing songs), and sacred container
→ Understanding reciprocity with plant teachers
→ Cultural humility and ethical engagement with indigenous knowledge

SESSION 3: THE HEALING JOURNEY
→ Preparation, intention-setting, and creating psychological safety
→ Navigation of non-ordinary states of consciousness
→ What happens during medicine sessions and why
→ Integration as the real work of transformation
→ Spiritual emergency vs. psychiatric crisis

SESSION 4: CLINICAL APPLICATIONS & THE PATH FORWARD
→ Treatment protocols for PTSD, moral injury, addiction, existential distress
→ Screening, safety, contraindications
→ The therapeutic relationship in psychedelic work
→ Legal and ethical considerations
→ Serving first responder populations with cultural competency
→ Building your practice with integrity

This is rigorous education grounded in both evidence and wisdom.
Dr. Tafur will draw from:
→ Peer-reviewed research and clinical trials
→ His years of medical practice
→ Hundreds of ceremonies guiding healing
→ Case studies from Amazonian medicine work
→ FRBHI's expertise in first responder trauma

You'll leave with:
✓ Deep understanding of psychedelic therapy mechanisms
✓ Knowledge of traditional healing contexts
✓ Ethical frameworks for this sacred work
✓ Clinical skills for preparation and integration
✓ Cultural competency for serving trauma-exposed populations
✓ 8 CEU hours

Whether you're a therapist, physician, social worker, chaplain, or healer—this course will transform how you understand trauma and healing. Registration opens Soon.

11/15/2025

🧠 NEUROSCIENCE SATURDAY:

Why traditional "talk therapy" often fails with trauma clients.

When someone experiences trauma, the memory gets stored differently:

→ The prefrontal cortex (logical brain) goes offline
→ The amygdala (threat center) takes over
→ The memory is encoded as sensory fragments, not narrative

This means:

❌ Talking about it in linear narrative = not how it's stored
❌ Cognitive reframing = can't access during triggered state
❌ Exposure alone = risks re-traumatization without processing

What DOES work:

✅ Bilateral stimulation to engage both brain hemispheres
✅ Targeting sensory components of memory
✅ Reprocessing at the neurological level
✅ Protocols designed for how trauma is actually stored

Your clients aren't resistant.

Their brains are protecting them.

Are you working WITH neuroscience—or against it?

Save this post for later. ↗️

11/14/2025

MYTH: "First responders don't want therapy."

TRUTH: First responders don't want SLOW therapy.

Here's what I've learned from 25+ years working with police, fire, and EMS:

They'll do the work—IF:

1️⃣ You respect their time (they work rotating shifts)
2️⃣ You understand their culture (talking about feelings isn't their language)
3️⃣ You offer proven results (they need to see measurable improvement)
4️⃣ You don't pathologize normal reactions to abnormal events

The issue was never their willingness to heal.

The issue was whether WE as clinicians had the right approach.

When you use trauma protocols designed FOR first responders...

Everything changes.

Are you adapting your approach to your client's needs—or expecting them to adapt to yours?

Weekend reflection question. 👆

11/13/2025

Most doctors choose one path.

Dr. Joe Tafur chose to bridge two worlds that rarely meet.

The Western Path:
→ Colombian-American family physician
→ UCLA Family Medicine residency
→ UCSD Department of Psychiatry research fellowship
→ Mind-body medicine expertise

The Traditional Path:
→ Six years in the Peruvian Amazon
→ Training at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual
→ Traditional apprenticeship as ayahuasquero
→ Hundreds of healing ceremonies led

Dr. Tafur trained in Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual, where he completed traditional apprenticeship in ayahuasca shamanism and assisted hundreds of individuals from all over the world as they went through traditional healing with Amazonian plant medicines.

His Books:

The Fellowship of the River - His journey into Amazonian medicine, with foreword by Dr. Gabor Maté. Recommended by MAPS and psychedelic therapy training programs.

Medicine Song - The follow-up that chronicles the Psychedelic Renaissance alongside traditional healing wisdom, showing how sacred plants offered responsibly can catalyze profound emotional healing through spiritual awakening.

Why This Matters for First Responders:
As FRBHI faculty, Dr. Tafur understands:
→ The unique trauma profile of repeated exposure
→ Why traditional therapy fails those trained to suppress emotion
→ How moral injury differs from PTSD
→ The cultural barriers to seeking help
→ Why healing must address body, mind, AND spirit

His question:
"What does healing look like when we honor scientific rigor AND spiritual depth?"

Medicine Song is his answer.

This isn't your typical CEU course. This is an invitation to learn from someone who's dedicated his life to bridging worlds. Details on enrollment coming next week.

11/13/2025

Remember Sarah, the paramedic ready to quit EMS?

After 3 sessions using a specific trauma-focused protocol, here's what she reported:

✓ Intrusive images reduced by 70%
✓ Sleeping through the night
✓ Returned to full duty without avoidance
✓ PTSD symptoms went from severe to minimal

8 weeks later, she's still symptom-free.

This wasn't magic. It was methodology.

A specific, evidence-based approach designed for single-incident AND cumulative trauma.

The kind of trauma first responders face every shift.

If you're treating first responders with traditional modalities and seeing slow progress (or worse, dropout)...

It might not be your skill. It might be your toolkit.

More on this next week.

What's your biggest challenge treating first responder clients? ⬇️

11/12/2025

"I can't turn it off."

Sarah, a paramedic with 8 years of experience, sat in my office describing her symptoms:

✗ Intrusive images from a pediatric drowning call
✗ Hypervigilance that was destroying her marriage
✗ Avoiding the ambulance bay where they'd arrived that day
✗ Considering leaving EMS entirely

This is complex occupational trauma.

It's not one incident. It's cumulative.

It's not just the event. It's the sensory details—the smells, the sounds, the radio chatter.

Traditional cognitive processing? Takes 12-16 weeks minimum.

Sarah didn't have 12 weeks. She was ready to quit.

We needed something faster. More targeted. Evidence-based.

Tomorrow I'll share what happened next.

Have you had a client like Sarah? Comment below. ⬇️

The Counseling Center of Texas

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