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At a time when fewer mental health services are available to the poor and uninsured (and particularly to those who are homeless),
Utah's homeless health care and support service provider Fourth Street Clinic has added a Trauma Clinic to its list of mental
health services. Many of fourth Street's patients have survived intensely traumatic experiences such as witnessing extreme
violence, enduring sexual and physical abuse or living with someone who is mentally ill or abusing drugs. These experiences
often leave the person with an overwhelming psychological pain that puts them into survival mode and impairs their reasoning
and decision making skills.
"Our patients who have been victims of domestic violence seem to be having the most success," says Fourth Street
Clinic Medical Director Christina Gallop, MD. "They are surprised at how quickly their psychological pain is reduced
without drugs and how they are better able to focus and make decisions." Since patients are able to think and reason
more clearly, Gallop is finding that they are able to better follow through with their medical treatments and participate
in more social service programs.
The four-day-a-week clinic staffed with five licensed therapists is largely due to local psychologist Larry Beall, PhD
who independently raised the $90,000 in start-up funds. "(1)there is a direct correlation between trauma exposure and
disease," explains Dr. Beall. "the more traumas, the greater chance of disease and early death. My goal is to weaken
this link by removing the psychological pain and healing the brain." Dr. Beall began his work in rapid psychological
pain removal more than twenty years ago. the retelling of emotional traumas only led patients to be re-traumatized, so he
started working with the mid-levels of the brain where the pain is stored and removing it through homeopathy, deep relaxation,
and hypnotherapies. "Once the pain is removed, the brain reoorganizes back into a healthy functioning organ that can
think more clearly and reason better."
"Traumas are very common in people who become homeless," says fourth Street Clinic Executive Director Allan
Ainsworth, PhD. "If we can reduce their pain and improve their quality of life, we can hopefully reduce the amount of
time spent homeless." Ultimately, Drs. Beall and Ainsworth aim to create a model for the Trauma clinic at Fourth Street
Clinic that can be replicated and funed throughout all homeless health care organizations nationwide.
(1) The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.
American Journal of Preventative Medicine 1998;
14:245-258
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