ABOUT US
More Than Normal represents the pinnacle and culmination of over 35yrs of scientific field work and research for Dr Ken O'Brien, its Founder, CEO and Principal Practitioner, demonstrating that events and situations in our environment can turn on (or off) specific sections of our DNA that are fundamentally involved in regulating and moderating our (and our children's and grandchildren's) responses and reactions to stress. Recent research identifies a range of neurodivergent conditions as being genetically linked to trauma (including ADHD, Autism, ASD, Bipolar, Conduct Disorder, Schizophrenia, Mania, Anxiety and Depression).
Supporting evidence comes from fields such as:
neurology
genetics
immunology
sociology
psychology
and impacts significantly on areas such as:
Mental & General Health
Welfare
Child Safety
Corrective Services
Education
Employment
Children raised in families impacted by traumatic stress often experience unique struggles with culture, identity, worth and recognition that differs dramatically to other children. These children grow to have families of their own and pass these impacts on. Extensive research is demonstrating that the benefits of current mainstream therapeutic strategies can be significantly amplified with the inclusion of genetic perspectives. This is indicated to substantially reduce the burden on our health, welfare, correctional and educational systems. It has also been demonstrated to contribute to reducing the incidence of suicide, self-harm, drug and risk taking and domestic and family violence among this cohort (O’Brien, 2012).
More Than Normal presents a significant part of the solution.
It answers a cry for help from medically and socially neglected communities that serve to preserve us.
More Than Normal is a collective of lived-experience that is shared by a vast number of PTS-impacted families. It is a community-informed service that re-enables families to ensure culturally-relevant, appropriate and meaningful support services are developed and provided.
WHY CHOOSE MTN?
Talking with a mental health professional is a great idea after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event as it could change the immediate outcome for the wellbeing of yourself and your loved ones.
Extensive surveys indicate that, while mainstream mental health services do a great job, and are often all that is required, the presence of true understanding from a practitioner who has a shared cultural understanding of your experiences is a critical factor in optimal healing. We are really good at understanding and supporting your recovery journey and what that means to your family.
So More Than Normal (MTN) is offering this vital COMPLIMENTARY (rather than competitive) service to the mental health practitioner community.
One of the most concerning findings from research is that PTSD families report difficulties in being understood by the vast majority of service providers. This has highly detrimental impacts on identity, esteme, worth, mental health and wellbeing, productivity, and much more.
1. Genuine Understanding based on common experiences
Therefore, to address this concern, More Than Normal is a collective of practitioners with lived-experience of defence, security, national and community service and/or emergency services family life. Thus they practice what they preach and have a true understanding of your situation.
Each Practitioner has passed our stringent demands regarding formal qualification, cultural lived-experience and specific training to help you receive the right service at the right time in the right way.
2. Community contribution
More Than Normal enables and facilitates a forum of key representatives from all its client groups to provide critical direction and content of programs, supports and engagements. This forum empowers the collective PTSD community to develop and deliver services, supports and strategies that are relevant, appropriate and meaningful to the culture of trauma and service in Australia.
How did we get our name?
It is the service community itself that derived our name.
Research in this community demonstrates that, as people progress and mature through life, they go through specific stages in their response to the impact of stress.
The first stage is where they compare their family with others. This process of comparison is to establish their sense of normality, which stabilizes the roots of their identity development. Research further demonstrates that, among people from multigenerational service families, this is a life-long stage, not just reserved primarily for adolescence.
The second stage is of a sense of emergence of people's fundamental differences from most other families. It is a realisation that they are different and their parents dealt with stress, routine, and mundane daily activities differently to their friends' parents. This occurs mostly during adolescence. This awareness grows further with each life stage.
The third stage is where there is a questioning of one's sense of normality. "Maybe I'm not normal" becomes almost daily rhetoric. The definition of "normal" for people raised in families affected by traumatic stress can differ vastly from the definition of "normal" for other families. Their understanding can contain experiences, perceptions and processes that mainstream families would most certainly consider not normal.
The fourth, and desired stage is where the person decides to "suck it up", accept they have fundamental differences in they way they see the world and accept they may not be ok ... but that's ok. This is the beginning of their development of their sense of their "new normal".
The final stage is often the elusive one for most people who experience PTS or its intergenerational impacts. Believing they are "more than normal" requires the person to mature through all the other stages and to reach the realisation that they are indeed 'not normal', and that they have unappreciated and unvalued qualities that differentiate them from others, and that, with a little creativity, put them in a class above those without those qualities - that they have evolved from their experiences - that they are "More Than Normal". Thus we are named by our people.
Dr Ken O'Brien
Executive Director & Principal Practitioner
Dr Ken O'Brien has over 35yrs work and research experience over six University degrees and four further qualifications in the specific area of PTS and its intergenerational impacts.
He has been diagnosed with neurodivergence and has successfully optimises his own PTSD qualities.
His father is a Vietnam veteran with PTSD. Several generations of Ken's ancestry have served in defence of their country and people.
He has a child with spina bifida and another with anxiety.
Ken served in the Australian Medical Corps and the rural fire brigade. He is still serving in the State Emergency Service after three decades and has volunteered his expertise to various Federal, State and local government projects and national peak bodies. Ken has worked in a variety of statutory roles and organisations that provided the practical foundations for his work and research. He has also been a vital contributor to numerous international studies on this issue and presented at many international conferences and seminars.
The range of services, models, approaches and training provided by More Than Normal are built from the findings and conclusions of the work and research of Dr Ken O'Brien over his career. They are developed in cooperation with the communities he represents and supports.