Gerald Kiesman has accomplished a great deal in the eight years since he moved away from Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert Daily News June 9, 2008 Gerald Kiesman has accomplished a great deal in the eight years since he moved away from Prince Rupert. A resident of the city for 35 years, he left in 2000 and headed to Victoria seeking to find the resources he needed to deal with a history of trauma and abuse. From the moment he took his first counselling class and gained employment in the field, he has gone on to research how trauma impacts the mind and body, and recently created a Trauma Resource Kit for Aboriginal Communities. “In ’98 I started my healing and realized there was a lack of materials and books that were available in layman’s terms, because a lot of books about trauma are written by psychologists,” said Kiesman. “So, for the average person trying to heal, I found a lack of resources. There’s also a lack of services to help people confronting childhood and other types of trauma.” One of Kiesman’s major focuses has been on helping residential school survivors and inter-generations deal with their trauma, and the kit he has created includes healing guides for former residential school students, as well as Aboriginal children, youths and people with disabilities. The kit also includes a training manual for frontline workers, as well as the theory behind trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since working through his own healing, Kiesman worked with several trauma projects, attended nearly 150 alternative dispute hearings, trained in therapeutic re-enactment at the University of British Columbia and in trauma counselling at the University of Victoria. He says that after all he has learned, it became obvious that one of the key problems in Canada is the availability of resources for trauma victims, which is why he began working with the B.C. Aboriginal Network on Disability Society in October on the B.C. Aboriginal Restorative Health Project. “It was a pilot-project to provide training on trauma and PTSD to frontline workers, as well as healing workshops in different communities,” said Kiesman. “One of the target areas I’ve been working in is the North Coast, including Terrace, Kitimat, and Morricetown, and I’ve done two healing workshops in Prince Rupert for the Nisga’a Society. The response has really been excellent.” The launch of Kiesman’s trauma resource kit coincides with Canada’s official apology to residential school survivors, which the Prime Minister will deliver on Wednesday. Kiesman said he wanted the kit to be available to Aboriginal communities before the apology, as he believes it will include healing but will also cause many communities to re-live the trauma of the past. Copies of the kit, other support materials and more information on Kiesman can be found by contacting Gerald at kiesmangerald@hotmail.com To find out how to subscribe to the Daily News (we can mail the paper anywhere), please give us a call at (250) 624-6785 or call toll free 1-800-343-0022. © (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
