Trauma Relief Unlimited

Acknowledgements

As Director of the Trauma Relief Unlimited, (T.R.U.) Research Study, I am pleased to acknowledge the many people who made this study possible. First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my wife Joan P. McLaughlin, Director of Training and Development for the T.R.U. Program, for her unwavering support, valuable suggestions and constant faith in me and in the T.R.U. method. That is no less true today than it was a year ago when a similar report was written for the T.R.U. Pilot Project.

I am grateful, once again, to Dr. Ronald V. Gallo, President of the Rhode Island Foundation, and his staff, for continued funding and support for T.R.U. research. Moreover, I am grateful for his offer of continued funding and support of a third T.R.U. study in 2002. Dr. Gallo’s early recognition of the power and effectiveness of T.R.U., his vision and his commitment to T.R.U. research has been appreciated beyond words.

 Many, many thanks to Dr. Robert Valentini, Adjunct Professor at Brown University, and President of Cellular Based Delivery, for his coordination of the partnership between Brown University and the T.R.U. program. Without that partnership, T.R.U. research might have ended with the Pilot Project.

 I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. J. Michael Walker, Professor and Chairman of Psychology and Professor of Neurosciences, Brown University, for his welcome, personal and professional, to the Brown University Department of Psychology. As a Visiting Research Associate at Brown I have been able to secure the institutional support necessary, including an IRB and the use of financial offices.

 Also, at Brown University, I am grateful for the support of Dr. William Heindel, for providing IRB coordination. No mention of the Brown involvement would be complete without acknowledging the many helpful contributions of Ms. Patricia Devine, Executive Director of the Department of Psychology. I have worked with many administrators in my nearly 25 year career, none better than Patricia.

Many thanks to Dr. Lynn Andreosi Fontaine, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Community College of Rhode Island, for her ongoing, seemingly endless and tireless, work to collect, tabulate, and report the findings of this extensive 40 person, control group study. Not to mention her valuable scientific and methodological insights.

A word of thanks to Ms. Paula Smith, LICSW who agreed to be T.R.U. trained, on somewhat short notice, to participate as the “other” treatment provider in the study.  The official results are not yet completely tabulated but Paula’s raw scores look great.

 I am grateful for the contributions of Ms.Barbara Allen, LICSW, Dr. Vicki Moss, Ph.D., Ms.Christine P. Stinson, MA., LCMHC,CDP, Mr. Gunter A. Vukic, Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, Brown University Chaplan, Ms. Pamela Stanton, M.A. and many other community helping professionals who referred people to this study.  Again, I don’t have the official numbers at this writing, however, a large percentage of those participating, best estimate 35% or more, were referred, as opposed to those who came from newspaper announcements. Our “N” scores would have been much lower without this valuable assist from the professional community.

Finally, I am deeply indebted to, and grateful for, the actual participants in this study. Without their willingness and courage to try a new way this study would not have been possible. My sincere hope is their reward is a better life free of traumatic interference.

- Robert M. Cicione, LICSW