Listening to other listeners

A Darfur refugee. An earthquake victim in China. A therapist who listens to one tale of suffering after another and feels powerless to help.

According to Barbara English, they may all need the same treatment.

The Newport Beach psychotherapist, who has run a private practice since 1997, founded the nonprofit Living Ubuntu three years ago to help people suffering from trauma. While the nonprofit serves anyone who comes to the door, many of English’s clients are people like herself — therapists, doctors and nonprofit workers — who need relief from trying to solve others’ problems.

“I just began to think about how often that is the case, how often people are around to do good things, to be helpful, but it’s not spoken about what’s going on in their own life,” said English, the nonprofit’s executive director. “I thought, that’s not how people are ever going to be at their best.”

Living Ubuntu, whose name comes from a South African word that roughly translates to “togetherness,” offers workshops and biannual retreats as well as a free support group once a month in English’s office. The director leads participants in a series of exercises, based on the techniques of world-renowned trauma expert David Berceli, which are designed to relax the parts of the body that tense during moments of fear and anxiety.

Specifically, the parts of the body English targets in her workshops are the psoas muscles, which connect the tops of the leg sockets to the back of the waist area. The muscles often tighten as a natural response to trauma, and English leads participants through a series of exercises — bending and unbending the spine, shifting weight from one foot to another, lying on the floor and bringing the legs together an inch at a time — designed to release tension in the psoas.

English, whose group has campaigned for awareness of the Darfur crisis and held a vigil this year on the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, believes trauma is a more universal problem than many realize. Often, she said, people experience it due to a violent attack or a near-death experience, but the feeling can also come secondhand — due to anxiety after a national tragedy like 9/11, or even persistent exposure to media stories about conflict around the world.

“I think many people who have compassion fatigue don’t realize they have it until they hear the words,” English said.

Laurie Miller, a hypnotherapist who works in Newport Beach, has participated in English’s workshops for several years. Her job, she said, sometimes leaves her drained emotionally, and the exercises help her regain her balance.

“I use relaxation as my technique,” Miller said. “But most definitely, you get to the point where you need to debrief, where you need to get nurtured.”

LIVING UBUNTU

DIRECTOR: Barbara English

SPECIALTY: Trauma-releasing exercises

ADDRESS: 1151 Dove St., Suite 210, Newport Beach

INFORMATION: Call (714) 979-2544 or visit www.livingubuntu.org

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.