James S. Gordon (top left) and Jamil Abdel Atti, to his right, Gaza, Oct. ’14
The coverage includes footage of CMBM Director, psychiatrist James S. Gordon, MD, using CMBM’s innovative model of self-care and group support with children who have lost parents in Gaza, and those affected by the conflict in southern Israel. The words and drawings of the children demonstrate the devastation they have experienced, and the power of the CMBM model to heal trauma and restore hope. Included as well are brief interviews with some of these children, and with Dr. Gordon, and CMBM Gaza program director Jamil Abdel Atti.
James Gordon was the founding Dean of Saybrook University’s School of Mind-Body Medicine, and Jamil Abdel Atti is now a doctoral student in the Saybrook University doctoral program in Mind-Body Medicine.
Since 2005, CMBM has worked with more than 200,000 psychologically traumatized children and adults in Gaza and Israel. CMBM is the only program offering large-scale psychological healing to populations on both sides.
CMBM, which Dr. Gordon founded in 1991, has trained more than 5,000 clinicians, educators, and community leaders in mind-body medicine (meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback, yoga, etc.); self-expression in words, drawings, and movement; and small group support. It currently has an international faculty of 160 who have worked with population-wide psychological trauma in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Haiti, with New York City firefighters after 9/11, in Southern Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and with U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in Israel and Gaza.
Published research on the CMBM model, which is used in hospitals, clinics, schools, and community-based and religious organizations, has demonstrated reductions in posttraumatic stress disorder of 80-90% and significant improvements in depression and hopelessness. It is currently being used with considerable success in 15 U.S. medical schools.
You can watch this episode live at 7pm ET / 7pm PT Sunday May 3rd, on CBS 60 Minutes.