Name:Patricia A. Furze, MSW, RSW
Location:250 Harding Blvd. West
P.O. Box 32064
Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 9S3
Canada
Email:namaste@furzeandassociates.com
  • VV: How long have you been a TIR trainer?
    I am a relatively new trainer having received my trainer certification in October 2003.

  • VV: What inspired you to become a TIR trainer?
    Adding Traumatic Incident Reduction and many of the other Metapschology procedures to my practice with children, teens, young adults and their families in 1997 completely transformed their experiences from: limited relief and longstanding coping, to one of relief and resolution. As my client’s lives were transformed by the resolution of difficulties, I became inspired to train others to offer this effective set of procedures. I hope to create a community practitioners offering this effective set of tools for people. Sharing these incredible procedures and assisting others in integrating them into existing practices that work for them, has been rewarding.

  • VV: What do you find rewarding about it?
    For the years prior to my introduction to TIR in 1996 I found working in the field of trauma tiring and difficult given the limited effectiveness of the tools that were available to me at the time. Since 1981 I have worked with hard to serve populations in the area of Corrections, Children’s Mental Health, Residential Care, Child Protection and In Home Family Preservation programs. With the addition of Traumatic Incident Reduction; Eye Movement Desesitization and Reprocessing, Thought Field Therapy and Brain Gym to my practice, my clients found relief, resolved the impact of various traumas on their lives and transcended earlier levels of functioning.

    As well, when facilitating TIR, I did not experience any secondary traumatization. In fact my own interest and enthusiasm has increased despite spending 90% of my therapeutic time with people having trauma backgrounds. I am completely dedicated to strengthening families, where possible, and to developing people’s ability to relate meaningfully to one another so it has been exciting to introduce TIR to the traditional treatment communities and have its effectiveness speak for itself.

  • VV: Are you willing to travel to deliver training, if so under what conditions.
    Yes I am willing to travel and can be contacted to work out what is possible.

  • VV: Do you have a private practice?
    Yes, Furze and Associates offers therapy to resolve the effects of trauma in children, adolescents and adults, consultation to organizations in the area of traumatic stress and complicated bereavement and at risk youth. As well the training division offers workshops and lectures in the same areas. I believe in creating a community of complementary approaches and as a result work closely with practitioners offering Osteopathy; Acupuncture; Reikki, Massage, Addictions Counsellors as well as traditional individual, marital, group and family therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists.

  • VV: Besides TIR, what other things are you interested in?
    Balance is important to me so when I am not working hard, I enjoy time spent with my family and friends in nature. I adore canoe tripping, sailing, traveling, music, reading widely and am beginning to write. I really enjoy people and can be found watching sunsets, laughing and having long talks with others about spirituality.

  • VV: Describe your professional background?
    I received my BA (Sociology)/BSW from McMaster University in 1983 and completed my MSW from the University of Toronto in 1996. A year long extern program in Family therapy was completed in 1990. I believe in life long learning and am a curious person so I’ve explored lots of approaches over the years and have been fortunate to have been involved in creating and participating in cutting edge programs and services. In the 1980’s I created a model for working with street kids that was practiced in Toronto and have created a model for integrating TIR within a Child Mental Health Clinic in a community hospital Markham Stouffville Hospital, which I assisted in launching and developing from 1996 to 2004. A collaboration with a multidisciplinary group resulted in a school based mental health service being piloted. It was hugely successful and consideration is being made to replicate it in 50 schools. Currently I am focusing on developing the training, teaching and writing aspects of my work.

  • VV: What other courses are you currently teaching?
    I offer a range of courses including: Traumatic Incident Reduction, Level One; Emotional Freedom Technique, Basic and Advanced Level, and workshops on various topics such as: Bullying, the Preventable Aggression; Techniques to Transform Arousal; Complicated Bereavement; and others related to Traumatic Stress. Recently I have been looking at the prevention of Secondary Traumatization and have spoken with graduate Social Work Students at University of Toronto toward this goal. I enjoy creating interactive workshops that allow integration of theory and practice to support immediate practice.
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