Flash Technique
Reducing PTSD & trauma symptoms experienced by marginalized folks:
the homeless, the drug addicts, the incarcerated, and refugees
Helping People Heal
I still remember this homeless person in my trauma group, who would stare at the wall the whole time with an expressionless face. Imagine the surprise when, after a few sessions, he could look me in the eye and could join in with the rest of the group. Another unforgettable face belonged to a grieving mother, who for seven years, grieved the death of her son. She had the saddest face I have ever seen. I still remember the surprise and joy when, after a few sessions, she came to my trauma group with a smile on her face and the whole group were so excited to see her smiling for the first time.
You’re invited to join this valuable work
The focus of our work in 2026 has been to develop a protocol to provide a trauma protocol to help as many people as possible, in regions where counseling resources are scarce, such as Ethiopia. Our solution is a protocol to allow clients to collaborate with their therapists to self-administer the Flash Technique (SAFT) using audio recordings. We tried out our protocol in 3 refugee camps in Ethiopia and got very good results. We saw a 50% reduction in PTSD scores, dropping from above the PTSD threshold pre-SAFT to below the threshold post-SAFT, after 6 hours of training and 4 additional 30-minute SAFT sessions. In addition, SAFT was used in the Latino population in the US for distress relief and had good results as well.
Our plan in 2027 is to expand SAFT in Ethiopia and to other marginalized populations, including victims of human trafficking in Asia.
We aim to raise US$ 30k to support our expanded efforts in 2027.
Please support this work financially & click on a DONATE button below.
Sik-Lam Wong
“There are too many people in the world who need mental health support. I and my colleagues are trying to help out as much as we can. I invite you to be part of our team so that more of the disadvantaged folks can get some help.”
Learn More
-
Flash Technique
In 2017, a new trauma protocol called the Flash Technique was developed by Phil Manfield in Berkeley, California. Being at the right place and the right time, I have become a leading researcher in the new field of the Flash Technique in the US. This has opened doors for me to lecture at a number of universities: Cal State East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area; Wayne State University in Detroit; University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UT-RGV); and Hunan Normal University (湖南师范大学) in Changsha, China. I have been training counseling and social work students to work with folks with PTSD symptoms in the community, helping them to reduce their trauma symptoms.
As a researcher, I have been trying to make the Flash Technique as simple to use as possible. Students can now help clients reduce their PTSD symptoms by reading from a script. Students with UT-RGV and Counselors without Borders Texas (CWBTx) have been using a Spanish version of one of my scripts to work with refugees coming through the Texas-Mexico border. I am also supporting victims of the civil war in Ethiopia, as part of a network of Ethiopian and international trauma therapists. -
My interest is not in financial gain, but in helping those who are disadvantaged, those who are impacted by mental health issues. In my private practice, 40% of my clients, those who cannot afford psychotherapy, are seeing me for free. In addition, I have been volunteering at homeless shelters in the Bay Area. In the coming year, I will have an expanded role at a homeless shelter in downtown Oakland, teaching classes to train both residents and the management team to deal with their trauma and anxiety.
I am way past retirement age and I am passing on my knowledge to the next generation of clinicians by training counseling and social work students at a number of universities. I also support a group working with refugees coming through the US southern border and another group working with those traumatized by the civil war in Ethiopia.
My journey as a psychotherapist has been an interesting and exciting one. -
Sik-Lam is a California licensed marriage and family therapist, #92414 (licensed since April 2016), specializing in EMDR and Flash Technique-based trauma therapy.
I grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from St. Joseph’s College in the late 1960s. I had an opportunity to study electrical engineering at Cornell University in upstate New York and later did my PhD in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UC Berkeley, majoring in plasma physics. I did research for the US government as a contractor for more than 30 years. I made my mark in the community before retiring from the field in 2012.
I like physics. I like to figure out how things work in the physical world. More so, I like psychology. I like to understand how it works in people’s psyche. I ended up getting a counseling degree before my retirement and have practiced since 2016 as a licensed marriage and family therapist in California.
In my second career as a psychotherapist, I am interested in working with marginalized folks, and I invite you to join my journey in ministering to those under-served.