KINGSTON — Victoria Clark wants to help you move. And you’ll like the destination.
Clark, an author and mental health nurse, leads a class titled, “Moving from the State of Anxiety,” in which she teaches participants creative ways to learn self-calming to increase their ability to handle stress.
The visuals she uses look like maps of states, complete with geographic landmarks. There’s the State of Anxiety (no California jokes, please) bordered on the west by the Frantic Ocean, with Hysterical Hills, Depression Desert, Panic Peak, Frustration Falls, Depths of Despair, Point Phobia, and Wit’s End — feelings not unknown to most people.
And there’s the State of Calm, with Harmony Hills, Spiritual Heights, Mindfulness Meadow, Flowing Falls, Solid Rock Ridge, and bordered by the states of Peace, Love, and Security — a desirable destination we all seek.
Clark can show you the way there.
“Challenges are a part of everyday life,” Clark wrote on her website (victoriastools.com), where she blogs. “They may come at us from a wide variety of sources. Sometimes, it’s the physical that affect us negatively, and sometimes it’s the emotional. No matter where your challenges come from, it is much easier to face and overcome them when you have the necessary tools.”
Clark knows of which she speaks.
She is a survivor of childhood abuse. As a mental health nurse, she witnessed anxiety’s crippling effects on relationships, earning capacities, and mental and physical health. And as a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Nurse, she was assigned to serve at a hospital near Ground Zero and to be on a support team which made phone calls and home-visits to high-risk survivors of victims after the attacks on 9/11. “We had great concern for those who had difficulty eating and sleeping for long periods of time — concern for their emotional and physical survival,” she recalled.
Through those experiences and her own, she learned about the capacity of human beings to heal. In her free introductory class (6:30-8 p.m. April 15) and her four-week series (1-2:30 p.m. or 6-7:30 p.m. April 19-May 10), she teaches self-calming and stress resiliency techniques to help participants move from the State of Anxiety to the State of Calm.
Classes in her four-week series: April 19, “Stress Resiliency and Hero Therapy”; April 26, “Anxiety-Relief Techniques”; May 3, “Responding to Attacks (anxiety and panic); and May 10, “When Disaster Hits — Emotional First Aid.”
“I will offer specific techniques with emphasis on how to render emotional first aid to others and ourselves in crises,” she said. “The invitation to all attendees: to more frequently enter the State of Calm.”
Classes will take place at Village Green Community Center. To register, go to www.myvillagegreen.org.
Clark is also scheduled to teach the following free classes: May 13, “Using Your Brain for a Change!”; and on June 10, “Finding Myself Following Loss.”
More information about Clark:
She is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. She trained at the University of Utah and worked as a nurse in hospitals in Utah and Washington; successfully used music in therapy (along with traditional school nursing) at Jefferson School and worked as a mental health nurse at Chestnut Lodge, both in Maryland. She did service work in Armenia after an earthquake there; and in Warsaw, Poland, assisting shut-ins affected by war and its aftermath.
She has been a Washingtonian since 2001.
She is the author of three books (as Victoria Lynn): “Dear Sister, Once Abused | A Story of Hope and Freedom from the Bondage of Childhood Sexual Abuse” (2003); “Hilda is Here | An Imaginative Approach to Effective Housecleaning” (2003); and “Empty Nest | Looking into the Nest and Beyond” (2014).
“I’m still an RN — retired from hospital nursing, though,” she said. “Teaching is my passion. I’m a provider in the sense I provide folks with tools to assist them in their journey, to make that journey more meaningful, satisfying and gratifying.”
Victoria Clark, in state of calm. “Teaching is my passion,” she said. “I’m a provider in the sense I provide folks with tools to assist them in their journey, to make that journey more meaningful, satisfying and gratifying.” (Contributed photo)
