Treating Complex Trauma: Beyond Competency

MEET YOUR EXPERTS

Linda Curran, BCPC, LPC, CACD, CCDPD, is president of Integrative Trauma Treatment, LLC, in Havertown, PA. She provides clients with an integrative approach to trauma and treats PTSD in adolescent and adult populations, including clients with eating disorders, sexual trauma, and self-injury. An international speaker on the treatment of trauma, Linda has developed, produced, and presents multi-media workshops on all aspects of psychological trauma.

Linda is the author of the best-selling Trauma Competency: A Clinician’s Guide (PESI, 2010) and 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions: Activities, Exercises and Assignments to Move the Client and Therapy Forward (PESI, 2013). She is the producer of the best-selling Interview Trauma DVD series in which she collaborated with the world’s leaders in trauma: Bessel van der Kolk, MD; Peter Levine, PhD; Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW; Stephen Porges, PhD; Janina Fisher, PhD; and many more.

Click here for information about Linda Curran

Frank Anderson, MD, completed his residency and was a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is both a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist.

He specializes in the treatment of trauma and dissociation and is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with the IFS model of therapy.

Dr. Anderson is the vice chair and director of the Foundation for Self Leadership. He is a trainer at the Center for Self Leadership with Richard Schwartz, PhD, and maintains a long affiliation with, and trains for, Bessel van der Kolk’s Trauma Center at Justice Resource Center in Boston, MA.

Dr. Anderson has lectured extensively on the Neurobiology of PTSD and Dissociation and wrote the chapter “Who’s Taking What? Connecting Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Internal Family Systems" for Trauma in Internal Family Systems Therapy-New Dimensions. He co-authored a chapter on “What IFS Brings to Trauma Treatment" in Innovations and Elaborations in Internal Family Systems Therapy and recently coauthored the Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual.

Dr. Anderson maintains a private practice in Concord, MA, and serves as an Advisor to the International Association of Trauma Professionals (IATP).

Click here for information about Frank Anderson

Edna Foa, PhD, is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the developer of Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE).

She was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people for her work with PTSD in returning war veterans. She will explain how to use specific strategies in PE including imaginal exposure and vivo exposure to help clients confront their trauma and resolve their symptoms.

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David Henrich, LCSW, BCD, is in private practice with GKSW/Crystal Group Associates in Wyndmoor, PA where he works with individuals, couples, families, and groups. He also trains and consults in human services for a wide variety of institutions.

David received his Master of Social Service from the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College, and is a graduate of the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training of New York. He has studied Gestalt Therapy for more than 30 years, including study with Sonia Nevis for more than 10 years. David is a faculty member of the Family Institute of Philadelphia and has taught at the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy-New York City. His current areas of interest include responding to major illness, grief and loss, conflict resolution, the use of humour in therapy, and addictions.

Donald Meichenbaum, PhD, is one of the founders of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and was voted one of the top ten most influential therapists of the 20th century.

Dr. Meichenbaum will discuss how CBT is evolving and how it can be used to conquer post traumatic growth and to heal from their traumatic event.

Click here for information about Donald Meichenbaum

Laurel Parnell, Ph.D., is one of the most recognizable experts in the field of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

The author of four books on the subject, this expert trainer and clinician will show you how to integrate EMDR into a client-centred approach to therapy. She takes EMDR out of the theoretical into the practical, client-focused realm. Dr. Parnell will explain how to make adjustments to EMDR that are imperative to helping clients deal with their trauma.]

Click here for information about Laurel Parnell

Elana Rosenbaum, MS, LICSW, has been integrating mindfulness with psychotherapy for over 30 years. She is a leader in the clinical application of mindfulness meditation to cancer care and is a pioneering teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the Center for Mindfulness, the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

She is the author of The Heart of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: A MBSR Guide for Clinicians and Clients (PESI, 2017), Here for Now: Living Well with Cancer through Mindfulness (Satya House Publications, 2007) and Being Well (even when you're sick): Mindfulness Practices for People Living With Cancer and Other Serious Illness (Shambhala, 2012).

Elana has a private practice in psychotherapy in Worcester, Massachusetts and is a sought-after mindfulness coach, teacher, speaker, workshop leader, and research consultant. She has been featured in "Chronicle" on CBS and mentioned in many magazine articles including Yoga Journal, Health, Coping, and the PBS audio series, Walking through the Storm. She is currently working on another book, a workbook of mindfulness exercises for optimal living.

Click here for information about Elana Rosenbaum

Richard Schwartz, PhD, earned his PhD in marriage and family therapy from Purdue University, after which he began a long association with the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and more recently at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, attaining the status of associate professor at both institutions. He is co-author, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States.

Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems in response to clients’ descriptions of experiencing various parts – many extreme – within themselves. He noticed that when these parts felt safe and had their concerns addressed, they were less disruptive and would accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the “Self.” In developing IFS, he recognized that, as in systemic family theory, parts take on characteristic roles that help define the inner world of the clients. The coordinating Self, which embodies qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion, acts as a centre around which the various parts constellate. Because IFS locates the source of healing within the client, the therapist is freed to focus on guiding the client’s access to his or her true Self and supporting the client in harnessing its wisdom. This approach makes IFS a non-pathologizing, hopeful framework within which to practice psychotherapy. It provides an alternative understanding of psychic functioning and healing that allows for innovative techniques in relieving clients symptoms and suffering.

In 2000, Richard Schwartz founded The Center for Self Leadership in Oak Park, Illinois. Dr. Schwartz is a featured speaker for many national psychotherapy organizations and a fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and he serves on the editorial boards of four professional journals. He has published four books and over 50 articles about IFS. His books include Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual (with Frank Anderson, MD and Martha Sweezy, PhD) (PESI, 2017), Internal Family Systems Therapy (Guilford Press, 1997), Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model (Tarcher, 2001), and The Mosaic Mind (with Regina Goulding) (Trailheads, 2003), as well as Metaframeworks (with Doug Breunlin and Betty Karrer) (Jossey-Bass, 1997). Dr. Schwartz lives and practices in Brookline, MA and is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard School of Medicine.

Click here for information about Richard C. Schwartz

Amy Weintraub, MFA, ERYT-500, founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute, the author of Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books, 2004) and Yoga Skills for Therapists: Effective Practices for Mood Management (W.W. Norton, 2012), has been a pioneer in the field of yoga and mental health for over twenty years.

She offers the LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training for Mood Management to health and yoga professionals and offers workshops for everyday practitioners. The LifeForce Yoga protocol is being used in residential treatment centres, hospitals and by health care providers around the world and is featured on the LifeForce Yoga® CD Series and the first DVD home yoga practice series for mood management, the award-winning LifeForce Yoga® to Beat the Blues, Level 1 & Level 2. She is an invited speaker at conferences internationally and is involved in ongoing research on the effects of yoga on mood. She co-edits a bi-monthly newsletter that includes current research, news and media reviews on yoga and mental health.

Amy leads workshops and professional trainings at academic and psychology conferences internationally at such venues as the Boston University Graduate School of Psychology, the University of Arizona Medical School, the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, the Integrative Mental Health Conference, the Cape Cod Institute, Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, Sivananda Ashram, Yogaville, Esalen, Patanjali University in Haridwar, India and yoga studios throughout the United States. Amy is also a regular contributor on the Goddesses in America blog.

Click here for information about Amy Weintraub

Christine A. Courtois, PhD, ABPP, is a graduate of the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Maryland and a licensed psychologist in DC and MD. Dr. Courtois has received international recognition for her work on the effects of incest, child sexual abuse, complex traumatic stress disorders, and other types of trauma and has received awards from numerous professional organizations.

She is a psychotherapist (with broad experience in outpatient and inpatient treatment), workshop leader, and consultant specializing in post-traumatic and dissociative conditions and disorders. Recently appointed chair of the American Psychological Association PTSD Guidelines Development Panel, Dr. Courtois has co-authored, along with Dr. Julian Ford, Treating Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-based Approach (2013, Guilford Press), and has a new book, Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents, Scientific Foundations and Therapeutic Models. She has brought out the second edition of Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (W. W. Norton), co-edited (with Dr. Julian Ford) the book Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders: An Evidence-based Guide (2009, Guilford Press) and authored Recollections of Sexual Abuse: Treatment Principles and Guidelines (1999, W. W. Norton), Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse: A Workshop Model (1993, Families International), and Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (1988, W. W. Norton). She has also co-edited a special section on complex trauma with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk in the Journal of Traumatic Stress (2005).

Dr. Courtois is past Associate Editor of the new journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, & Policy. Dr. Courtois is also Co-Founder and former Clinical and Training Director and Consultant to The CENTER: Posttraumatic Disorders Program, an in-patient and day hospital specialty program in Washington, DC, where she worked for 17 years. She is active in a number of professional organizations having to do with psychological practice and trauma including the American Psychological Association (where she is past-president of Division 56, Psychological Trauma), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (where she co-chairs the Complex Trauma Task Force), The International Society for Trauma and Dissociation, the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, and the Maryland Psychological Association (where she organized and co-directed the Post-Doctoral Institute on Psychological Trauma).

Click here for information about Christine A. Courtois

Janina Fisher, PhD, is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research centre founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a therapist and consultant, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, the EMDR International Association Annual Conference, University of Wisconsin, University of Westminster in London, the Psychotraumatology Institute of Europe, and the Esalen Institute. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce these newer trauma treatment paradigms in traditional therapeutic approaches.

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Louis John "Lou" Cozolino, PhD, has diverse clinical and research interests and holds degrees in philosophy and theology, in addition to his doctoral in clinical psychology. He has conducted empirical research in schizophrenia, child abuse, and the long-term impact of stress.

Recently, his interests have turned to a synthesis of the biobehavioural sciences and psychotherapy. He is the author of The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, as well as numerous articles and chapters on various topics. He maintains a clinical and consulting practice in Los Angeles. A renowned neuroscientist and clinician, Dr. Cozolino has published many articles, as well as seven books, including his most recent contribution to the field, Why Therapy Works: Using Your Mind to Change Your Brain.

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Lance Dodes, MD, is a Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus with the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and was an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (retired).

He has been the Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Harvard’s McLean Hospital, Director of the Alcoholism Treatment Unit at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (now part of Massachusetts General Hospital) and Director of the Boston Center for Problem Gambling. He is the author or co-author of several journal articles and book chapters about addiction. His books, The Heart of Addiction Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction and The Sober Truth, have been described as revolutionary advances in understanding how addictions work. Dr. Dodes has been honoured by the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School for "Distinguished Contribution" to the study and treatment of addictive behaviour, and has been elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

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Vincent Felitti, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California and a Fellow of The American College of Physicians.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School, Dr. Felitti is an internist who founded—then served as Chief of—the Department of Preventive Medicine for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, CA. A renowned physician and researcher, Dr. Felitti is one of the world’s foremost experts on childhood trauma. Co-principal investigator (along with Dr. Robert Anda) of the internationally recognized Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a long-term, in-depth, analysis of over 17,000 adults that revealed a powerful relationship between our emotional experiences as children and our physical and mental health as adults.

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Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA, is a clinical social worker and psychotherapist who has been in private practice for 30 years, specializing in adolescent and adult survivors of trauma, abuse and neglect.

As founder of The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc., Lisa is the guiding force behind a team of seasoned clinicians and educators whose mission is to provide social workers and other mental health professionals with state-of-the-art continuing education encompassing a wide variety of clinical issues, client populations, and practice settings. Through her years of professional experience, Lisa has paved the way for the development of an effective approach to learning that is fostered by a professional, nurturing, supportive and fun teaching environment.

Along with managing The Institute and running a very active clinical practice, Lisa is a locally and nationally known author, speaker, and consultant. She has written numerous articles for journals and publications including New York University’s Child Study Center and the Psychotherapy Networker journal. Most notably, Lisa participated in a documentary entitled The Multiple Personality Puzzle, which was produced for the Learning Channel, and took part in a series of educational videos focusing on eating disorders, available through Cavalcade Videos. Lisa is also the author of Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors: A Clinician’s Guide, now in its second edition. In 2009, Lisa was voted “Social Worker of the Year” by the Maryland Society for Clinical Social Work. Lisa's newest publication, Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors: A Workbook of Hope and Healing, offers inspiring, hopeful, creative resources for those hoping to free themselves of their self-destructive behaviours while also offering a framework for clinicians who treat them. The workbook offers adolescents and adults creative ways to address each stage of the self-harm cycle as it unfolds.

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David Grand, PhD, is a psychotherapist, writer, lecturer, performance coach, and humanitarian famous for the discovery and development of the internationally acclaimed Brainspotting method, which brings about life-changing breakthroughs at "Warp Speed."

Dr. Grand is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a PhD from International University and is renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries and advancements in the arenas of healing trauma and enhancing performance and creativity. His Brainspotting method and BioLateral Sound are now used by thousands of therapists on every continent seeking to break through the limitations of talk therapy.

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Peter A. Levine, PhD, received his first PhD in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a doctorate in psychology from International University. He has worked in the field of stress and trauma for over 40 years and is the developer of “Somatic Experiencing.” He teaches trainings in this work throughout the world.

Peter is the author of the best-selling book Waking the Tiger - Healing Trauma, as well as four audio learning series for Sounds True including the book CD, Healing Trauma, a Pioneering Program in Restoring the Wisdom of Our Bodies; and Sexual Healing, Transforming the Sacred Wound. He is the co-author of Trauma through a Child’s Eyes, Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing and Trauma-Proofing Your Kids, A Parent’s Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience.

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Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, LICDC-CS, REAT, is a Licensed Supervising Professional Clinical Counselor specializing in addiction treatment (chemical & behavioural), PTSD, issues related to abuse and trauma, dissociative disorders, and grief.

A contributing faculty member with several online universities in counselling and psychology, Jamie is a Certified EMDR Therapist and Approved Consultant through the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). Her research efforts were awarded by EMDRIA in 2008. Dr. Marich has several articles published in peer-reviewed and online journals about the clinical applications of EMDR, and in 2011, her first book EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Every Client was published.

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Belleruth Naparstek, LISW, BCD, is a psychotherapist, author, guided imagery innovator, and creator of the popular Time Warner Health Journeys guided imagery audio series.

Her first book, Staying Well with Guided Imagery, is a widely used wellness primer. Her second, Your Sixth Sense, has been translated into 8 languages and called one of the most thoughtful and sophisticated looks at intuition in print. Her latest book on imagery and post-traumatic stress, Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal, was released in late 2004, won the Spirituality & Health Top 50 Books Award and was out in paperback January of 2006.

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Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Brain-Body Center in the Department of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago.

He is former President of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. He is a neuroscientist with interests in social behaviour. Dr. Porges was President (1999-2002) of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences. He has served on the Editorial Boards of Infant Behavior and Development (1977-1992); Child Development Developmental Psychobiology; and Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. His book The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation was published in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology in 2011.

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Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW, has been a practising psychotherapist and body-psychotherapist since 1976 and a California Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1978. She is a member of the International and European Societies for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Association of Traumatic Stress.

Babette has trained extensively in Transactional Analysis, Gestalt Therapy, Psychodrama, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Somatic Experiencing, and is a certified Bodynamic Analyst and certified Radix Teacher. She has written extensively on trauma. Her works include 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery; HELP for the HELPER: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma (with Marjorie Rand); THE BODY REMEMBERS: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment; THE BODY REMEMBERS CASEBOOK: Unifying Methods and Models in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD; and Trauma Essentials: The Go-to Guide.

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Robert Scaer, MD, received his MD degree at the University of Rochester. He is Board Certified in Neurology, and has been in practice for 39 years, 20 of those as Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Mapleton Center in Boulder, CO.

His primary areas of interest and expertise have been in the fields of brain injury and chronic pain, and more recently in the study of traumatic stress and its role in all mental illness, as well as in physical symptoms and many chronic diseases. He has lectured extensively on these topics and has published several articles on the whiplash syndrome and other somatic syndromes of traumatic stress. His first book, The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease, presents a new theory of dissociation and its role in many diseases. A second book, The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Healing, released in July 2005, explores the insidious spectrum of culturally based trauma that shapes our lives, and how transformation and healing may still take place. He is currently retired from clinical medical practice and continues to pursue a career in writing and lecturing.

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Robin Shapiro, LISW, is an author, psychotherapist, and an EMDRIA-approved consultant, offering consultation to psychotherapists on the gamut of psychotherapy issues including trauma, attachment, endogenous disorders, and countertransference issues.

He is the author of three books, EMDR Solutions I, EMDR Solutions II and The Trauma Treatment Handbook. He's also a leader of EMDR-related workshops including the Two-Hand Interweave, EMDR with Cultural and Generational Issues, Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders, Medical Issues, Anxiety Disorders, Couples, Complex Trauma and Dissociation. He has presented these workshops at regional and international EMDR International Association conferences and, for many years, in the Part Two of an EMDR Weekly Class.

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Jim Hopper, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, an independent consultant, and a part-time instructor at Harvard Medical School. As a researcher and therapist, Dr. Hopper has studied and provided therapy to adults suffering from the long-term effects of child abuse and sexual assault.

He has expertise in several related areas, including the unique experiences and needs of men, the brain bases of emotion regulation problems, and how mindfulness and meditation can benefit therapists and their clients. Dr. Hopper was a founding board member and long-time advisor for 1in6, a nonprofit for men who’ve had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences as boys, and wrote most of the pages on 1in6.org. He co-edited Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions for Trauma and teaches on topics including neuroscience and contemplative practices for mental health professionals working with trauma. Along with his many publications, most recently, Dr. Hopper coedited Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions for Trauma: Integrating Contemplative Practices.

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Sue Johnson, EdD, is an author, clinical psychologist, researcher, professor, and popular presenter and speaker. She is also a leading innovator in the field of couple therapy and adult attachment. Sue is the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy, EFT, which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 30 years of peer-reviewed clinical research.

Dr. Johnson is founding director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy and distinguished research professor at Alliant University in San Diego, as well as Professor Emeritus, Clinical Psychology, at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Johnson has received a variety of awards acknowledging her development of EFT and her significant contribution to the field of couple and family therapy and adult attachment.

Sue has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada, which is the country’s highest civilian honour recognizing outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to Canada. In 2016, she was named Psychologist of the Year by the APA and has been honoured by the AAMFT for her outstanding contribution to the field of couple and family therapy. As author of the best-selling book, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love, Sue Johnson has created for the general public a self-help version of her groundbreaking research about relationships – how to enhance them, how to repair them and how to keep them. This best seller has been adapted and developed into relationship education and enhancement programs.

Her most recent book, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships, outlines the new logical understanding of why and how we love – all based on new scientific evidence and cutting-edge research. Explaining that romantic love is based on an attachment bond, Dr. Johnson shows how to develop our “love sense” – that is our ability to develop long-lasting relationships. Dr. Johnson’s best-known professional books include The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection (2004) and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002). Sue trains counsellors in EFT worldwide and consults to the 50 international institutes and affiliated centres who practice EFT.

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Diane Poole Heller, PhD, is an established expert in the field of adult attachment theory and models, trauma resolution, and integrative healing techniques. She is a trainer, presenter, and speaker offering workshops, teleseminars, and educational materials on trauma, attachment models, and their dynamics in childhood and adult relationships, as well as many other topics.

She's lectured and taught around the world as both the Somatic Experiencing Trainer and Special Topics Presenter, most recently with her very popular Dynamic Attachment Repatterning Experience, or DARe, a series on adult attachment.

Click here for information about Diane Poole Heller

Gabor Maté, MD, is a renowned speaker and bestselling author. He’s highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress, and childhood development.

As an author, Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder, and co-authored Hold on to Your Kids. Dr. Maté is the co-founder of Compassion for Addiction, a new nonprofit that focuses on addiction. He is also an advisor of Drugs over Dinner. An adjunct professor in the Faculty of Simon Fraser University, Dr. Maté has received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction; an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University; and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Mothers Against Teen Violence.

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Dr. Lane Pederson, PsyD, LP, DBTC, has provided DBT training and consultation to over 8,000 professionals in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Mexico through his training and consultation company, Lane Pederson and Associates, LLC. Notable organizations he has trained for include Walter Reed National Military Hospital, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Ontario Psychological Association, and Psychotherapy Networker.

He has provided DBT training for community mental health agencies, chemical dependency treatment centres, hospital and residential care settings, and to therapists in forensic settings. Dr. Pederson’s DBT publications include The Expanded Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Manual (PESI, 2012); Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Contemporary Guide for Practitioners (Wiley, 2015); and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training in Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment Settings (PESI, 2013).

A real-world practitioner, Dr. Pederson co-owns Mental Health Systems, PC (MHS), one of the largest DBT-specialized practices in the United States with four clinic locations in Minnesota. He has served as clinical and training directors, has directed practice-based clinical outcome studies, and has overseen the care of thousands of clients in need of intensive outpatient services.

Dr. Pederson also founded Dialectical Behavior Therapy National Certification and Accreditation Association (DBTNCAA), the first active organization to certify DBT providers and accredits DBT programs, and serves on the advisory board for the doctoral counselling program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and is a peer reviewer for Forensic Scholars Today.

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Mary Lou Schack, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, working with individuals and couples and supervising therapists in her Bala Cynwyd, PA practice. She received her PhD in Psychology from Temple University and has been training therapists in experiential methods for more than 30 years.

She trained in Gestalt Therapy with James Simkin, Isadore From, Laura Perls, and Erving and Miriam Polster. She is, with the late Joyce Lewis, one of the founders of GTIP. Mary Lou's current areas of theoretical interest include mutuality and connection in relationships, the experience of time, scapegoating phenomena, body/mind functioning, forgiveness, and the healing of early psychological wounds.

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Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, has been active as a clinician, researcher, and teacher in the area of post-traumatic stress and related phenomena since the 1970s. His work integrates developmental, biological, psychodynamic, and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment. His book Psychological Trauma was the first integrative text on the subject, painting the far-ranging impact of trauma on the entire person and the range of therapeutic issues which need to be addressed for recovery.

Dr. van der Kolk is past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, and Medical Director of the Trauma Center at JRI in Brookline, Massachusetts. He has taught at universities and hospitals across the United States and around the world, including Europe, Africa, Russia, Australia, Israel, and China. His book, Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society, co-edited with Alexander McFarlane and Lars Weisaeth, explores what we have learned in the past twenty years of the re-discovery of the role of trauma in psychiatric illness. In Dr. van der Kolk's most recent book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives.

Click here for information about Bessel A. van der Kolk