Focusing & Psychological First Aid with BANU IBAOGLU VAUGHN, Help For Helpers July 20, 2026

Being-With When the Ground Shifts: Focusing & Psychological First Aid (PFA) Life sometimes brings experiences that overwhelm our ordinary ways of carrying forward. Whether after an accident, disaster, violence, receiving devastating news, or another unexpected disruption, we may temporarily lose our sense of footing. Psychological First Aid and Focusing both begin from the same place: trusting that, given the right kind of presence, life knows how to move again. In these moments of uncertainty, we witness something quietly remarkable—the way people’s own wisdom, resilience and capacity for connection can begin to emerge. Banu will share about the meeting between Focusing process and Psychological First Aid. We'll look at what PFA is (and isn't) and explore how it can be understood through the lens of Focusing as creating the conditions in which people naturally find their next step after experiences that overwhelm their usual ways of coping. Together, we'll practice offering a calm, respectful, non-leading presence with something real from our own lives, discovering how the same qualities that support one person's unfolding can also help families and communities find their footing in times of disruption. Whether you work with clients, teach, volunteer, support loved ones, or simply want to meet life's difficult moments with greater steadiness, this session offers a way of being with others that trusts the wisdom already moving within them. No emergency experience is needed—just your experience of Focusing and a willingness to discover how life knows how to move again. BIO: Banu Ibaoglu Vaughn, PhD is a psychologist, Focusing teacher, Imago Relationship Therapist and trainer. (Beginning in August 2026, she is joining the Department of Psychology at the University of West Georgia as a Lecturer.). She has nearly twenty-five years of experience accompanying individuals, couples and communities through change, loss and renewal. Her work brings together Eugene Gendlin's philosophy of the implicit, Focusing, existential and humanistic psychology, Psychological First Aid and dialogical approaches to carrying forward. For several years, Banu has collaborated with Pat Omidian and Focusing Initiatives International to develop and teach listening-centered approaches to Psychological First Aid and psychosocial support. Following the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye, she spent more than two years in Hatay developing community-based dialogical psychosocial support initiatives, supporting workers and volunteers, and bringing a Focusing perspective to Psychological First Aid in disaster response and recovery. Banu serves on the faculty of the Imago International Training Institute and teaches in the areas of Focusing, relationship, dialogue, and Psychological First Aid. She is eager to help people discover and remember that, even in the midst of overwhelming experiences, an informed, grounded, respectful presence can create the conditions in which life can begin to move again. PREVIOUS VIDEO: Magic happens...so what? Banu İbaoğlu Vaughn, Help for Helpers June 1, 2026,    • Magic happens...so what? Banu İbaoğlu Vaug...