'I see every human being as a walking history book. Everyone is carrying experiences and memories inside them.'

Wednesday January 8, Joanne Bradford (UK); author, certified healing practitioner and life-consultant, visited Yes We Can Youth Clinics. She works with YWCYS fellows as a life coach in the UK. We had the honor to ask her some questions and got to know how we can learn from her experience.

1. Hi Joanne, thank you for visiting Yes We Can Youth Clinics. What is the main reason for your visit?

Thank you for being here! The main reason for my visit, is because I want to help Yes We Can alumni with a smooth transition back to daily life when the 10 weeks treatment has been completed. I am going to help them getting some structure and give them all the support they need.

2. That sounds great! Your expertise is EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). What is the meaning of the therapy and how does it help people?

I use EFT as part of my work as a life coach counsellor, a really powerful technique to release emotions. I see every human being as a walking history book. Everyone is carrying experiences and memories inside them. EFT lifts, we are using those experiences and consequential emotions from the past, to give them access, allow them to be there and release what is not necessary to carry anymore. It is also seen as a trauma release technique. EFT is practiced by combining ancient acupressure techniques with modern psychology, best done one-on-one as this is a real personal experience.

3. What is your impression of the treatment at Yes We Can Youth Clinics?

It is just amazing. The thing that I am most impressed about is how structured, but at the same time varied each day is. The days are fully planned, but it is the variety of the program that surprised me. Also the people are all so friendly and warm and the staff/client ratio is so high, I have not seen this anywhere else. Everyone is very caring, which makes it a really personal experience.

4. What did you learn visiting Yes We Can Youth Clinics?

The visit has proven to be very valuable. For me it is really important to know, as a life coach, what fellows have been through and what kind of treatment they had. Now I have met the people, seen the facilities and been exposed to parts of the treatment, I truly understand how young people experience Yes We Can Youth Clinics on a holistic level.

5. You are 5 years sober now yourself from drugs and alcohol. What is the biggest life lesson you learned, which you want to pass on to the youngsters who are now struggling?

The biggest thing for me is ‘honesty’. Allowing myself to actually feel and get real with myself. And admit that I am actually feeling by acknowledging what it is I’m actually feeling. I had a huge lack of honesty when I was escaping from my feelings. So with honesty I don’t only mean being honest with other people, but also being honest to ourselves by allowing our feelings and acknowledge that they are there.