An Introduction to Trauma Tapping Technique and Peaceful Heart Network

Trauma Tapping Technique (TTT) is a technique to cope with trauma, anxiety and stress. It’s often called a “first aid” technique and is a great complement to other types of therapies. It’s a simple technique that is easy to use, easy to learn and easy to teach. It’s silent which means that there’s no need to orally share difficult emotions with someone else. If you’re struggling with anxiety, stress, trauma, or if you feel emotionally uncomfortable in any way, TTT can be a great tool on the way. 
​Trauma Tapping Technique is developed by The Peaceful Heart Network, a non-profit organization founded by Gunilla Hamne and Ulf Sandström in 2010​

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When tapping, you can sit or lay down comfortably, have your eyes open or closed, what ever makes you feel more comfortable and safe. Then tap, using two fingers, on specific points on your body; on the hand, face, chest, under the arm and on the fingers. This is done two rounds while you’re thinking ever so lightly on the difficult emotion you’re feeling.

The background of TTT
It was Dr. Roger Callahan who first documented the effect of sensory treatment in the form of tapping, when he was combining his knowledge as a clinical psychologist with acupuncture and kinesiology while trying to find a treatment for phobia. He started a more systematic research and created a system combining tapping acupoints with muscle testing to treat emotional stress, phobias and other symptoms. He called the treatment Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Later, one of Dr Callahans students, Gary Craig, simplified TFT to make it more accessible. Gary Craig’s version is called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and since then more than 30 different versions of tapping have been named. 

When Gunilla Hamne started to work with TFT, she found that the muscle testing was hard to teach and the eye movement procedure that was a part of the technique, were considered weird and uncomfortable for many. This led to the changes to simplify the technique in a way so it would be more approachable and easier to adopt. With this new version called Trauma Tapping Technique, the results came out very positive and the method was practical to use, teach and multiply.

How does it work?
The parts of the body that is tapped on, 14 specific points on the upper body, are the same used in other psycho-sensory treatments such as TFT and EFT, and they correlate with points used in traditional Chinese medicine which dates back over 5 000 years in treatments like acupuncture, acupressure and shiatsu. 

Any touch on the skin creates sensory input and generates electrochemical signals in the body that will be registered by the brain, activating the autonomous nervous system, triggering responses and production of hormones and neurochemicals. Some points of the body are more sensitive and register more information than others.

About Peaceful Heart Network
Trauma Tapping Technique is developed by The Peaceful Heart Network, a non-profit organization founded by Gunilla Hamne and Ulf Sandström in 2010. They are offering practical First Aid tools to resolve psychological trauma that anybody can learn. One of their pillars are that they are guided by the conviction that social and political stability depends on resolving trauma within as many people as possible in an affected community. They developed the TTT, a simplified tapping modality without language or content, and they offer training, mentoring, materials, support to start local projects and certification. It is estimated that TTT has reached more than 250,000 people in over 40 countries. Peaceful Heart Network is involved in humanitarian projects in for example Rwanda, DR Congo, South Sudan and other parts of Africa, as well as in India, Europe the United States and Canada. They received the ACEP Humanitarian Award in 2017 for this work.

Visit their website for more information, links to more article and research, video clips, their free app and to download the book Trauma Tapping Technique - A Tool for PTSD, Stress Relief, and Emotional Trauma Recovery (also available as audiobook and on Spotify). 

One of Peaceful Heart Network’s main principles are:
Learn TTT and find calm - pass it on and share.

How did I learn about it?
My first encounter with Trauma Tapping was almost 15 years ago, I was working at a Center for Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, and Gunilla Hamne was invited to give a talk and a workshop about TTT. I had never heard of any typ tapping or similar sensory treatment before, but as always I was curious. After this first experience with TTT, it has been in the back of my mind of something to explore more. But it wasn’t until last year I decided to take the step to actually dig in to it, read books, articles, participate in the workshop and finally getting a certification so I now also can share it with others.

About the sessions with me
A session is usually done sitting, facing each other like two passing ships. Eyes can be open or closed depending on how you feel. I will then tap, using two fingers, on specific points on your body; on the hand, face, chest, under the arm and on the fingers. This is done two rounds while you’re thinking ever so lightly on the difficult emotion you’re feeling.

Before and after the session I might ask you to rate the level of distress you are feeling, and if any other thoughts or reflections comes up. You will never be asked to share any personal information about specific events or things that has happened. 

If you are interested in learning more, trying TTT on yourself and/or on others, here are some useful links:
Peaceful Heart Network
App - Selfhelp for Trauma
List of related articles about tapping