OVERVIEW

Volunteer Ministers (VMs) in the disaster areas have now trained 4,503 people to give assists. News of the effectiveness of these simple techniques has spread broadly, with people coming from miles around to receive them.

Indonesia

Relatives of those in an Indonesian hospital attend a workshop on Dianetics procedures

A Dianetics seminar is given to professionals in Indonesia who will be using these techniques to assist the traumatized

After the disaster took place, the VMs came from different corners of the globe to help in Banda Aceh. Many have jobs at home and families that they need to return to. The VMs have therefore been putting emphasis on training others in the basic techniques of assists as well as in Dianetics procedures , so that after they leave people will be able to continue providing one another with this effective help.

On Sunday, they delivered a training workshop in Dianetics to a group of volunteer helpers and two doctors. The workshops are based on L. Ron Hubbard’s book, Dianetics.

As with all Dianetics workshops, the students were required to put what they learned to immediate use. One man had initially been reluctant to do the workshop but then decided to take part, “I saw the results of the assists on my brother’s friend and I realized it really worked.”

He wrote afterwards, “I am of a mixed race and my friends and family suffer a lot from the conflicts between the different races and cultures and many of them suffer without being able to do anything about it.... With this Dianetics I really know now that I can help them freely and that anyone can do it for anyone else to reduce their pain and sorrow.”

Thailand

As with the VMs working in Indonesia, the VMs in Thailand have also been training others while continuing to provide hands-on help as needed. In one of the refugee shelters, a woman came to a VM seeking help. Her face was contorted in pain and she was limping. She said that when the tsunami hit, a tree had fallen on her left leg and the pain had made it very hard for her to sleep. The VM gave her an assist and once it was done she looked up and smiled. When the VM asked what had happened, she motioned that she wanted to get up and try to walk. She then walked successfully—no more pain and no more limping.

A man had been thrown two kilometers inland by the tsunami yet managed to survive. However, his foot was injured and he was suffering pain throughout his body. A VM gave him an assist and the pain went away completely.

The head teacher of a college was so impressed with the assist he received that he asked for his 50 students to be trained in how to give them.

Assists have wide application to everyday life, not merely in disaster situations. At one of the shelters, a 4-year-old boy was badly injured when he was run over by a bicycle. A VM gave him an assist and after 15 minutes he was smiling again and the pain was gone.

If you can help with donations or wish to volunteer time, call (323) 960-1949 or 1-800-435-7498 or e-mail vm@volunteerministers.org

For more information: Scientology Volunteer Ministers News

1. Assists are techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard. They operate on the principle that one tends to withdraw mentally or spiritually from an injured area. Only by restoring communication with this area can one bring the spiritual element into healing, thereby greatly speeding the healing process. Assists are used to alleviate stress and physical aches and pains, or to orient a confused or distraught individual to his present environment.

2. Dianetics The word Dianetics comes from the Greek words dia, meaning "through", and nous, meaning "soul," and is defined as what the soul is doing to the body. Dianetics addresses and handles the effects of the spirit on the body. Dianetics thus helps provide relief from unwanted sensations and emotions, accidents and psychosomatic illnesses (ailments caused or aggravated by mental stress).