Lori Gill – Founder and clinical director of (ATTCH) Niagara

Topic:  “An introduction to the neurobiology of trauma and how ATTCH Niagara is meeting the need for the treatment of complex trauma within the Niagara Region”

ATTCH Niagara works to heal trauma from bad experiences

Duncan McLaren introduced Lori Gill, founder and clinical director of the Attachment and Trauma Treatment Centre for Healing (ATTCH) Niagara. She is a registered psychotherapist, Certified Trauma Specialist, Consultant, Supervisor and trainer and a Certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist. ATTCH is a non-profit providing free and low-cost trauma specialized therapy to individuals who could not otherwise afford it. Its mission is healing life’s hurts through awareness, compassion, and self-care.

Lori’s presentation was titled Healing Life’s Hurts. She discussed the brain’s critical development during the first five years of a child’s life. During the first year, the brain grows more rapidly than through the rest of one’s life. It is also susceptible to adverse childhood experiences including intergenerational transmission of trauma through as many as four generations, that’s from one’s great grandparents. The experiences witnessed as a child mirror the adult’s actions and experiences.

Lori said that as many as one in four youth will experience potentially traumatic experiences and she pointed out that emotional abuse can damage the brain more than physical abuse.

She said that regulating the nervous system is very important to ongoing resiliency and optimal development.  To that end, ATTCH Niagara incorporates various holistic wellness practices to increase attention span, regulate the body and mind and to optimize the ability of clients to regulate their emotions and behaviours.

ATTCH Niagara specializes in the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) have on the brain, body and nervous system. ACEs account for many of the traumatic experiences suffered by people throughout their lives. These experiences affect how your brain works. “Flipping your lid” means that feelings get so big that you lose control of your ability to think and act clearly. You may start screaming, acting restless, trying to run away from a situation, feeling numb, unable to move, feeling unable to control your reactions.

In her PowerPoint presentation, she illustrated the hand-brain model coined by Dr. Daniel Siegel showing how the brain and body are connected.

Both brain hemispheres are affected. The left and right brain don’t integrate and work together – there is no cooperation between the two hemispheres. ATTCH diagnoses brain function to help people understand trauma’s impact on their life and give them programs and actions to control and manage their problems.

More information about the work of ATTCH Niagara is available at www.attchniagara.com

Duncan thanked Lori for her informative presentation on a topic not well understood but likely experienced directly or indirectly by most people.