Trauma counselor used power to heal

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Sunday, March 10, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Rick Miller of Olympia has perhaps felt the effects of Sept. 11 a little more deeply than the average man.

Miller, an ordained minister and former engineer at Puget Sound Energy, left for New York City after the attacks to work as a paid trauma counselor for the national Crisis Care Network.

Miller was so inspired by his weeks of helping survivors and victims and so impressed by the American Red Cross workers he saw in New York that he and his wife, LouAnn, have trained to be volunteers for the Red Cross.

On Jan. 20, the Millers were sent to New York to help distribute funds to victimized families.

The Millers joined the 29 other Red Cross volunteers who have traveled across the nation since Sept. 11 on behalf of the Thurston Mason County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

"Our first call out was to go to New York," Miller said. "That was quite a huge wallop."

Though many people in South Sound have moved past the grief of Sept. 11, it's not as easy in New York, Miller said.

"That's because we're here on the West Coast," Miller said. "I know that the trauma still exists out there."

Many residents still can't return to their apartments, and workers are still finding human remains in the World Trade Center rubble.

Vendors still sell Sept. 11 goods on the street.

"It's still very real to them. It's just like when we had Vietnam," Miller said. "That was 'over there.' Out here, life is back to normal. Out in New York, they have over 100 bomb threats a day."

On top of what Miller has seen and heard in New York -- some of it gruesome -- life has changed for him in Olympia, too.

Miller lost his job this month as part of layoffs at Puget Sound Energy. He had worked for the utility for more than 20 years.

That development prompted Miller to expand what had been a part-time private counseling practice to a full-time venture called Cross Counseling and Crisis Consulting.

Helping out in New York showed Miller the power he had as a healer.

"I really feel a lot stronger in my faith, and one of the reasons why is because I've seen the Lord use me to help people in ways that I never dreamed that I would be able to do," he said.

"I always thought it was just out there for somebody else to do. It became a lot more personal. Now I feel a lot stronger in what I can do to help people throughout the Northwest."

Son's view

Miller's son, Michael, said his passion for patriotism changed because of Sept. 11, too.

When his parents were called to help in New York, Michael learned they would have to miss his 16th birthday.

But that was OK with Michael.

"I've figured out what it really means to be a true American," Michael said. "Before, it was just something my parents did, so that was me, too. But ever since that horrible attack, my patriotism is so personal that people at my school know me for defending any remarks made about the U.S."

Rick Miller believes his family changed with the world when terrorists attacked America, but he knows people affected by grief and trauma must begin to heal and use the experience constructively.

"We'll never forget it," Miller said, "but the sting of it should diminish over time. We should use trauma to better ourselves and not let it hinder us from letting us be what we ought to be. It helps us put life into perspective, and it should do that."

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