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Bactro Responds to COVID-19 Precautionary Trends with New Consumer Offerings

Bactro LLC

Bactro LLC has responded to the changing COVID-19 pandemic precautions and developed unique PPE kits available direct to consumers. As the country starts to return to community activities with social distancing interactions, many state and county authorities require masks to participate in daily routines and community activities. Further evidenced by the CDC report on August 3, 2020, that recommends people that have contracted COVID-19 should be isolated for at least 10 days after symptom onset, and also quarantine for an additional 24 hours after their fever subsides. These recommendations have led Bactro to find ways to help people return to their normal daily routines with the protective equipment they need, all in one convenient package. “When the pandemic first hit, we saw consumers struggling to find all of the PPE items they needed. One might find sanitizing wipes, but no masks, or sanitizer. Though now as Americans get back to their lives we have found that consumers are needing supplies that are suited to a one-use purpose, such as traveling, or returning to their place of work,” said Bactro creator Tim Svitak. “It provides people with the protection they need in one convenient kit.” As our economy restarts, with people returning to their place of work, children returning to their classrooms, and stores opening their doors, it is vital that individuals have the protective equipment they need. Buying in bulk serves certain workplace demands, however, PPE in bulk is not typically individually wrapped, which can allow the PPE to be susceptible to germs and bacteria. Also, washing cloth masks daily, especially for parents of school children, is not an easy or convenient task. Bactro is dedicated to providing safer, healthier products through innovations to all. To learn more about Bactro's protective products visit bactro.com. Contact Details Tim Svitak Jr. +1 720-805-3763 timsvitak@bactro.com Company Website https://www.bactro.com

September 03, 2020 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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SullivanCotter Develops Powerful New Clinical Compensation Management Capabilities for its Growing PPMT™ Platform

SullivanCotter

SullivanCotter, the nation’s leading independent consulting firm in the assessment and development of total rewards programs and workforce solutions for the health care industry and not-for-profit sector, announces the addition of highly anticipated new Clinician Pay functionality to its growing Provider Performance Management Technology™ (PPMT) platform. PPMT™ is an industry-first, cloud-based solution that enables provider engagement through transparent performance-based compensation administration and analytical capabilities. Clinician Pay enables administrative stakeholders to easily manage annual compensation draws and payroll adjustments through a centralized, secure and auditable source within PPMT™. The new functionality can be added as part of the platform’s comprehensive Compensation Management Analytics module for an additional licensing fee. This module’s broader capabilities allow organizations to integrate physician compensation earned from all sources, review dollars paid and balances due, facilitate settlement reporting, project year-end results, model improvement scenarios and generate accruals for Finance. “With this automated new functionality, health care organizations can significantly reduce manual intervention and potential for human error when managing important pay adjustments for a large clinical workforce. Not only does this help to free up administrators to work on more critical projects, but it also helps to ensure data quality and instill greater trust in the reporting process by seamlessly communicating important information straight to payroll for payment,” said Shelly Slowiak, PPMT™ Product Director, SullivanCotter. PPMT’s Compensation Management Analytics module plus the new Clinician Pay feature also provides the option to utilize payroll data for settlement processing - allowing for a comprehensive end-to-end solution for processing clinician payments and compensation adjustments. “To help organizations navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain health care environment, we are continuously refining our product roadmap and enhancing PPMT™ based on the evolving needs of our clients. Clinician Pay is an exciting new addition to the platform and demonstrates our commitment to developing one of the industry’s most innovative clinical compensation and performance management solutions,” said David Schwietz, Chief Information Officer, SullivanCotter. Designed to address a spectrum of physician, leadership and other key stakeholder needs, PPMT™ combines years of health care compensation insight and expertise with an intuitive and automated technology platform to help drive provider performance and support the transition from volume- to value-based care. For more information on Clinician Pay or our entire suite of Provider Performance Management Technology™, visit www.sullivancotter.com/PPMT or contact us at 888.739.7039. About SullivanCotter SullivanCotter partners with health care and other not-for-profit organizations to understand what drives performance and improve outcomes through the development and implementation of integrated workforce strategies. Using our time-tested methodologies and industry-leading research and information, we provide data-driven insights and expertise to help organizations align business strategy and performance objectives – enabling our clients to deliver on their mission, vision and values. Contact Details Becky Lorentz +1 314-414-3719 beckylorentz@sullivancotter.com Company Website https://sullivancotter.com/

September 01, 2020 04:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Global Business Ethics Survey: Top managers twice as likely to experience pressure to bend the rules in organizations.

Ethics & Compliance Initiative

Employees are twice as likely to experience pressure if they are top-management than compared to line-level employees, according to the Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s ™ (ECI) latest Global Business Ethics Survey Report ™ (GBES) . The data suggest that the higher up the “totem pole” an employee is, the more likely they are to experience pressure to bend the rules. Overall, about 1 in 5 employees experience pressure to bend the rules. Pressure to bend the rules, as defined by the GBES report , can be caused by meeting performance goals, attempting to save one's own and others' jobs, supervisory pressure, advancing one's career or financial interests, and demands from people who support or invest in the organization. According to the data, of those that experience pressure, 30% are top management employees, 25% are middle management, 22% are first-line supervisors and 17% are individual contributors. The first 2020 report of ECI’s premier, longitudinal study on global workplace behavior, published four times per year, also found that when top management show a strong commitment to ethical leadership and organizational values, their employees are 3X less likely to experience pressure. “The data continue to suggest that high-pressure environments are not only stressful for employees, but they can actually cause a negative ROI when it comes to ethical behavior,” said Patricia Harned, CEO of ECI. “Expanding KPIs and stretching financial goals may result in a short-term gain, but the long-term consequences to the organization is a net negative.” Other Findings and Key Indicators of Pressure The report found that employees experiencing pressure was linked with the prevalence of observing various types of misconduct found in organizations across the globe, all of which were about twice as likely to occur in pressure environments versus non-pressure environments. Employees are twice as likely to observe misconduct in organizations where they feel pressure to compromise ethics standards. “As companies around the globe respond to the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the important research in ECI’s Global Business Ethics Survey (GBES) report presents a timely and accurate overview of pressure in the workplace,” said Michele M. Brown, SVP, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel, Leidos. “These findings provide best practices to balance organizational change while upholding the highest ethical standards. Leidos is proud to support ECI research, which is helping the member community build and maintain strong ethical cultures.” Download the latest GBES report at ethics.org/gbes Methodology The 2019 GBES is the 15th iteration of the GBES (formerly the National Business Ethics Survey). In 2019, the GBES surveyed over 18,000 employees in 18 countries (approximately 1,000 employees per country). ECI established the survey questions and sampling methodology. About the Ethics & Compliance Initiative The Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) is a non-profit organization that empowers organizations to build and sustain high-quality ethics and compliance programs. The organization provides research and a best practice community, as well as certification opportunities for ethics & compliance professionals. Through its membership, ECI represents entities across nearly every industry, located in 37 countries on six continents each dedicated to promoting the highest levels of integrity. Visit www.ethics.org to find out more about our research, membership or funding the GBES. The GBES is made possible with the support of its funders: Google, Boeing, Eli Lilly & Company, Altria, BP, GE, KPMG, Pacific Gas & Electric, L'€™ORÉAL, Leidos, University of Arkansas and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Contact Details Brad Fulton +1 210-278-4809 brad@ethics.org Company Website https://www.ethics.org

August 31, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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National Addiction Memorial created by Shatterproof to Honor the Hundreds of Thousands of Lives Lost to Addiction

Shatterproof

Sha tterproof , a national nonprofit dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States, launched today on National Overdose Awareness Day an online National Addiction Memorial to honor the lives lost to addiction. The free online memorial is a space where families can share photos and stories of their loved ones to create a lasting legacy and be a powerful reminder of the impact of addiction on families and those we love. With more than 100,000 lives lost annually to addiction related deaths and overdoses mortality spiking in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Addiction Memorial is meant to share with the nation the devastation addiction is having on our nation. “It is so important that the country better understand addiction as a disease and not see the lives lost as statistics but as real humans who were not bad people but loved ones overcome by a bad disease,” said Gary Mendell Found and CEO of Shatterproof. “When I lost my son Brian nearly nine years ago to this disease, it nearly shattered me and my family. At Shatterproof, we are here to support and empower our communities and honor those we have lost, and the National Addiction Memorial is one way we can help.” There are nearly 2,000 loved ones currently commemorated in the National Addiction Memorial with an expectation that it will grow by many thousands more. According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control report, in 2018, 67,367 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States. Opioids—mainly synthetic opioids (other than methadone)—are currently the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 46,802 overdose deaths in 2018 (69.5% of all drug overdose deaths) with two out of three (67.0%) opioid-involved overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids. Since this report, news sources and local communities have been reporting an increase in overdoses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. All are welcome to create a memorial at www.NationalAddictionMemorial.org at no cost and to share that memorial through social media or with friends and family. About Shatterproof: Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the course of the addiction crisis in America. Shatterproof is focused on ensuring that American substance use disorder treatment is based upon proven research and ending the stigma of addiction. The organization advocates for changes to federal and state policy, payer reform, treatment quality assessment, and provides public education through online programs. For more information, visit www.Shatterproof.org . Contact Details Holly Jespersen +1 646-334-1024 hjespersen@shatterproof.org Company Website https://www.shatterproof.org/

August 31, 2020 09:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Uyghurs for Sale

21Wilberforce

Seventy-five years after the Holocaust concentration and labor camps are still in existence. Today the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is interning more than one million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps – striping them of their fundamental rights to peacefully practice their faith. Now new information has surfaced showing that not only is the Communist Party oppressing Uyghur Muslims, they are profiting from them – and worse – Americans are at risk of being duped into paying for it . Groups working on international religious freedom issues have now added their voice to a coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions calling for fair labor practices. Spearheaded by 21Wilberforce and other organizations working through the International Religious Freedom Roundtable , religious freedom advocates are asking Congress to quickly pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R.6210 / S.3471). This legislation would make it more difficult for products produced by people enslaved by the CCP because of their faith to enter Western markets . “We commend Congressman McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Rubio (R-FL) for their bipartisan efforts to confront this horrific exploitation of people because of their religion,” said Randel Everett, President of 21Wilberforce. “One hundred fifty (150) organizations and experts of different beliefs and ideologies have come together to ask Congress to pass this important legislation.” 21Wilberforce encourages Americans to reach out to their representatives in Congress and ask them to enlist more co-sponsors, give speeches, and make statements in support of stopping the Chinese Communist Party from exploiting and profiting from religious discrimination and slavery. Citizens can make a difference by using and sharing a free online tool that directly connects Americans with their elected representatives. Dr. Everett noted that “Our namesake, William Wilberforce, was a man of faith who stood up to free people who were enslaved based on their race. Today we stand up to free those enslaved for their faith.” 21Wilberforce is a Christian human rights organization dedicated to defending the universal rights of religion, belief, and conscience for all people. Our vision is to empower people to collaboratively support persecuted communities, challenge repression, and expand freedom of religion and belief globally. Contact Details Lou Ann Sabatier +1 703-216-2941 Lsabatier@21Wilberforce.org Company Website https://21Wilberforce.org

August 26, 2020 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Companies spending £674m a month to welcome staff back but workers are wary

Huma

Getting businesses back up and running is critical to the UK economic recovery, however, there is a significant disconnect between employers and employees on how this is working out. UK digital health and therapeutics company Huma (formerly known as Medopad) asked 5,000 UK workers and 2,000 UK employers about their views[1] on returning to work. Employers viewpoint Businesses are planning to return to work. Almost half (45%) of workplaces will be ready to accommodate staff back in the office before the end of August. However, a fifth (19%) will only be ready in the first half of 2021. Of the business that are already up and running, almost two-fifths (38%) of their employees are going to a physical workplace, with the majority working at least 4 days from there. Employers reported spending £674m every month to ensure a safe workplace for their employees (£58.55 on average per employee per month). They have rushed to put in place various plans and procedures to ensure a safe workplace, ranking new hygiene protocols, socially distant layouts and staggered work shifts among their top changes. Worryingly, only one in five businesses feel suitably informed on the exact policies / procedures they need to have in place to ensure a safe working environment for their employees. Most employers believe that it is the responsibility of employees to self-report health concerns citing resource constraints. However, the overwhelming majority (70%) are willing to pay for COVID-19 tests should an employee request one. Importantly, employers fear the biggest disruption to restarting their business operations will be the willingness of more staff to return to the workplace owing to safety concerns. Workers viewpoint Over half of workers (54%) are reluctant to return to work fearing they will unknowingly contract COVID-19 and mistakenly pass it to friends and family at home. Bosses have offered a host of incentives to encourage employees back to work. The top ranked bung made has been extra holidays, free lunches at work and paying for commuting costs. Of the employees who have returned to work, over half (57%) are not confident with the measures in place to ensure their safety and well being. The same applies to people who have not returned to work yet. This is possibly why almost a third (29%) felt their health and safety would be compromised in the workplace. Employees ranked interactions with commuters (29%), co-workers (24%) and being in meetings (23%) as the top risk factors to catching COVID-19. The workplace ranked as lowest risk (8%). Missing links The research identified two insights, if acted on quickly could enable businesses to get up and running faster and accelerate the economic recovery. Firstly, addressing the ‘people interaction’ concern of workers. Both employees and bosses are willing to track their health for COVID-19 symptoms providing them with a peace of mind over their well-being. Overwhelmingly, two-thirds (67%) of employees would be willing to do a daily symptom check-in with their employers and the majority (71%) would be comfortable with employers tracking their symptoms. Moreover, nine in ten businesses (88%) are comfortable with monitoring and tracking their employees' symptoms to ensure a safe workplace environment for everyone. However, they don’t have the means to do it themselves and will encourage employees to self-report on symptoms. Secondly, employers are not talking to their staff. Only a quarter (24%) of employees felt fully informed about the new safety protocols and procedures at their workplace. Similarly, only a quarter (24%) of businesses prioritised communicating these changes to their employees. Dan Vahdat, founder and CEO of Huma, commented : “There seems to be a breakdown of communication between employers and employees and this is leading to some unrest and possibly delaying the economic recovery. Trust building is now more critical than ever. “Meanwhile, bosses are spending millions and feel they are doing a lot to ensure their workplace is a safe environment for staff but they are more concerned about people interaction than the actual workplace. The common ground on monitoring and tracking the health and well being of people in the workplace seems to be the solution. Employees are comfortable with this and employers are up for it but lack of resources means they are relying on workers to self-report on symptoms.” “We are driving the adoption of digital remote monitoring solutions to help users be better informed and engaged in their health concerns. In the workplace, Huma Health Shield is a revolutionary app that gives employees greater knowledge and control over their health at work . The solution encourages employees to confidentially track vital signs, and their exposure risk, so they can better manage their health. This hasn’t started with COVID-19 and won’t end once a vaccine is found, I believe the work being done now will set in motion behaviours that will transform how people manage their health and wellbeing.” Huma’s digital solution incorporates wearable devices and other sensors to provide doctors with a stream of data on patients’ health. The data enables healthcare teams to monitor patients’ evolving symptoms, to advise on what care is required and to alert them to when a visit from a clinician or a hospital admission is needed. Ends Notes the editor [1] Research findings based on a survey of 5,000 UK employees and 2,000 UK companies in July/August 2020 by LMRMC (Market Research Society approved partner and ESOMAR corporate member). About Huma Huma partners with scientists, technologists and healthcare professionals to understand, treat and ultimately prevent ill health. Giving knowledge and power to those with medical conditions, while saving clinicians time, energy and valuable resources. Because, by collectively benefiting from the data we individually generate, we can all live our longest, fullest lives. www.huma.com Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 bilal.mahmood@huma.com Company Website https://huma.com

August 26, 2020 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Mykolas Rambus joins Quaero as President

Quaero

Quaero , a leading Customer Data Platform (CDP) company that powers customer experiences (CX) for large, sophisticated enterprises, today announced that Mykolas Rambus has joined the company as President. He will report directly to Quaero’s founder and CEO, Naras Eechambadi, and join the Board of Directors. “I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Mykolas to Quaero,” said Naras Eechambadi. “He is the rare entrepreneurial leader who has been both a CEO and CIO, and regardless of role or industry has devoted tremendous attention to uncovering new ways to manage and monetize customer data. Given his experience, I’m certain Mykolas is going to bring many exciting new ideas to our clients—and our entire team—as we continue on our mission. I’m excited that he has joined Quaero, just as I’m incredibly grateful for the tremendous commitment our entire team demonstrates in support of our clients every day.” Mykolas joins Quaero after serving as General Manager, Data-Driven Marketing at Equifax (NYSE: EFX), where he played a key role in shaping how Equifax analyzes data on over 800 million consumers in 24 countries. Earlier in his career, Mykolas was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of two successful business-to-business firms—Lobby7 (acquired by Nuance Communications, NASDAQ: NUAN) and Wealth-X (acquired by Euromoney Institutional Investor, LON: ERM). A veteran technology and data expert, he has served as Chief Information Officer for W.P. Carey (NYSE: WPC) and subsequently in the same role for Forbes Media. Mykolas is an MIT alum who majored in Information Technology and Operations Research. Mykolas added “Today’s most sophisticated enterprises knit together customer profiles from thousands of distinct sources to power their customer experience. In every case that task is made more effective and efficient with a scalable and adaptive CDP platform. While most corporations are still in the early innings of learning about CDPs, Quaero has already built a compelling next generation enterprise solution. Everyone I’ve spoken to has told me how much they love the entire experience of working with Quaero, and I am incredibly excited to be joining the team.” Michael Harrison, Managing Partner at the Winterberry Group, a specialized management consultancy with deep experience in advertising, marketing, data, technology and commerce, said “I have worked with Mykolas and have been impressed with his leadership, and his ability to define corporate strategy while translating it into actionable plans for the organization. Mykolas is unique in the ability to turn complex technical issues into digestible topics for his team. In particular, Quaero will benefit significantly from his knowledge of financial services and the data ecosystem.” Mark Leiter, former global Chief Strategy Officer at Nielsen and Quaero Board member representing Pereg Ventures—a New York City based venture capital firm—remarked, “I’ve had the great privilege and pleasure of knowing Mykolas for twenty years, and have watched him take on every leadership role with tremendous passion. I know he will have a huge impact in his new role as Quaero’s President and look forward to working with him.” About Quaero Quaero’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) helps large, sophisticated enterprises deliver outstanding personalized customer experiences (CX) by making it much easier to manage and analyze massive quantities of customer information. Quaero currently operates the world’s largest CDP implementation that serves more than a billion consumers globally. Quaero’s distinctive platform, delivered either in the cloud or on-premise, provides clients with key connective tissue that bridges multiple organizations —marketing, sales, service, support, operations, technology— as they seek to constantly improve the total customer experience. Quaero is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. To learn more about the company and how it creates value for customers, please visit Quaero . About Pereg Ventures Headquartered in New York City, Pereg Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage B2B information services firms. Our portfolio companies typically leverage big data and apply advanced analytics, algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence to extract proprietary insights from huge amounts of consumer information. We provide Seed, Series A and Series B financing to our venture portfolio, and our LP group includes two strategic limited partners: Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) and Tata Group (NYSE: TTM). Contact Details Zachary Van Doren +1 415-412-0450 press@quaero.com Company Website https://www.quaero.com/

August 25, 2020 03:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Webinar Discussing How Lyme Disease Affects Children to Be Held Aug. 27 and Hosted by Quidel Corporation

Quidel Corporation

Summer is Lyme disease season; and while no age group is immune from potential infection, the disproportionate incidents in children is a stark reality that needs addressing. In response to this troubling fact, an important webinar focused on how Lyme disease affects the pediatric patient population will be held on Thursday, Aug. 27. The free webinar is part of an ongoing series hosted by Quidel, the California-based diagnostic health care manufacturer known for successfully developing rapid diagnostic health solutions. Conducting the webinar will be Robert A. Dracker, M.D., medical director at Summerwood Pediatrics and Infusacare Medical Services in Liverpool, New York. Dr. Dracker currently serves as chair of the heart, lung and cancer committee for the Medical Society of New York State and is a board member of the Office of Professional Conduct for the New York State Department of Health. Since 2014 he has been a member of the Pediatric Advisory Committee of the FDA and served as chairman of the committee from 2018-2019. The Aug. 27 webinar will discuss how Lyme disease presents in children (often flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, malaise and headache), how it progresses and tick-exposure management. Also discussed will be how to test for Lyme disease, including the innovative Sofia 2 Lyme FIA test. This in-office test provides a patient as well as physicians with indicative results within minutes as opposed to days, which has historically been the norm. “Disease presentation in children is extremely variable and may present with confounding symptoms, suggestive of various other infectious or rheumatologic illnesses,” said Dr. Dracker. “Confounding the challenge is that most patients and their parents never remember or notice a tick bite, since most are nymph related. But the reality is that, for the most part, children are more engaged on a regular basis than are adults in outside activities that could expose them to tick bites, which is why being on guard and testing for Lyme disease is so important.” Among those expected to attend the webinar are pediatricians, representatives of physician office laboratories, urgent care centers and any other allied health professionals or health care researchers interested in hearing the latest regarding the prevalence of Lyme disease in children. The free, Aug. 27 webinar will take place from noon-1 p.m. (EDT). To register, visit quidel.com/webinars . About Quidel Corporation Quidel Corporation serves to enhance the health and well-being of people around the globe through the development of diagnostic solutions that can lead to improved patient outcomes and provide economic benefits to the health care system. Quidel’s products aid in the detection and diagnosis of many critical diseases and conditions including not only Lyme disease but, among others, COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, strep A, herpes, pregnancy, thyroid disease, fecal occult blood, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation, pulmonary edema, deep vein thrombosis and drug abuse. Quidel’s research and development engine is also developing a continuum of diagnostic solutions from advanced immunoassay to molecular diagnostic tests to further improve the quality of health care in physicians’ offices and hospital and reference laboratories. For more information about Quidel, visit quidel.com . Contact Details Jim Yeager +1 424-644-0225 jim@breakwhitelight.com Company Website http://Quidel.com

August 25, 2020 08:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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How EMDR positively changed my focus

Virtual EMDR

Way, way back in the ancient times of 2017, fewer than half of Americans reporting a mental health issue were receiving treatment, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. With COVID-19, its devastating economic fallout, and a corrosive election season filling up 2020, that gap is only getting worse. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in May found that nearly half of Americans responded they were having mental health issues in the wake of COVID-19, and 19% said it was having a major impact on their life. That means tens of millions more Americans are failing to access mental health treatments that could improve their lives. Unfortunately, even before this virus came along, many of us had our COVID-19 equivalent moments lingering inside our brains, years after a trauma. I can tell you one of mine. It may not be the worst memory I’ve had to deal with, but it was so vivid that it was literally in flames. I could not stop remembering how my father made me sit down in front of the fireplace and watch him as he methodically burned my favorite toys, one by one. Imagine the kind of household where this was not the most surprising development. Growing up, I was subjected to physical and sexual violence, from narcissistic, alcoholic (not alcoholic, say “addicted”) parents who seemed to think their main job was scrambling my brain for life. For decades, I let them succeed, channeling bewilderment and fear and rage into binge eating and substance abuse. When my past trauma was triggered by current events or thoughts, I’d be driving down the road pounding my steering wheel and screaming at the top of my lungs. Or fantasizing about pounding a brick wall with my fists until I had nothing left but bloody stumps where my hands used to be -- anything to replace the greater pain inside my head. Believe me, as I grew older and remained haunted by this crushing past, I tried the most obvious mental health remedies. I tried talk therapy. It didn’t work for me. I know it brings relief and insight to a great many people -- for me, I was simply spending my self-reflective time sharpening images of my childhood I really needed to blur or erase if I wanted to move on. I knew perfectly well what was bad in my former life. What I really needed to do was find a way to move beyond it. I had another more immediate problem: A family member I was still close to had a life-threatening illness, and an absolutely crippling fear of flying would keep me away unless I tried something new. A friend going through serious troubles of his own asked me if I’d ever heard about “EMDR,” shorthand for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. I didn’t know anything about it, but was willing to try. I went to an in-person session with a therapist trained in EMDR, and the results were both immediate and long-lasting. The premise of EMDR is that you allow yourself to focus momentarily on the trauma or the memories bothering you, then use guided eye-movement or hand-movement techniques to stimulate other parts of the brain that help process the memories in less traumatic ways. While researchers still debate the actual brain mechanisms that achieve the result, study after meta-study has shown EMDR to be at least as effective for many patients as prescriptions, older exposure therapies and other treatments. What makes online EMDR infinitely more valuable than those other treatments, especially in our times of forced isolation and lockdown, is that it can be done by you, and just you, at home, without expensive or difficult-to-arrange help. It’s almost as if EMDR was designed knowing our enforced-virtual lifestyle was coming. Therapist-led, in-person EMDR is still the right option for some clients. With EMDR and other exposure therapies, no one should tell you what works best for you -- you can decide that. But there are more people than ever, millions in fact, who either physically can’t leave home or work to drive to a $150-an-hour therapy session, or can’t afford it. And personal trauma is too important to be left untreated to that kind of societal failure. It was my personal need that led to an online solution. We designed, with the help of trained therapists, academicians and software experts, a Virtual EMDR program you sign into from the comfort and security of your home or favorite place. You control when, how fast or slow, how often and how long or short sessions should be that work best for you. It’s inexpensive, it’s convenient, and it works. Ninety-five percent of our subscribers say they feel better and are recommending the service to others. That’s a lot of healing, and we’re very proud of that, and humbled by the challenge of bringing it to more people. The Veterans Affairs Department is now using MDR, and we’ve given away access to more than 1,500 veterans and law enforcement personnel. It’s easy to try. Read up on EMDR all you can, there’s plenty of good, credible information and backing research available online. Then try it out. It’s the most risk-free jump toward better mental health that you can find anywhere. No searching for a “good” therapist. No worries about cost. No three-hour round trip to drive, get therapy, get home. No paying for six months of getting to know your therapist and figuring out if they will help. If Virtual EMDR doesn’t help, dropping it is as easy as a mouse click. Since COVID-19 hit, the American Psychological Association estimates 91% of therapists nationwide are now doing sessions via telehealth, with the great majority of those not meeting clients in-person. It’s a very short step from there to Virtual EMDR, where the software and careful research by experts leads you through the session without a therapist. If there is any benefit to this pandemic, it seems to me that far more people are willing to open up about their anxiety, trauma and depression, and to seek help. We encourage you to do that in any way that feels comfortable and effective. My own life has turned around -- I wish the same for everyone who has ever tried to put their past in the right perspective. Jeff Tejcek is founder and co-creator of VirtualEMDR.com, an eye movement therapy system offering treatment for anxiety, depression, PTSD, addictions and more. Virtual EMDR provides online behavioral health resources for individuals struggling with depression, trauma, anxiety, fear, PTSD and addiction through a unique, self-guided platform designed by therapists and mental health experts using the EMDR, eye movement desensitization reprocessing, technique. Contact Details Jane Dvorak +1 303-919-9275 jane@goteamtbg.com

August 21, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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