As a mid-career trauma scholar, I came to my first ISSTD conference seeking a greater sense of community for the challenging work of studying relational trauma and hoping to connect with likeminded professionals who are committed to ethically grappling with the complex and worsening challenges humanity is facing today. Hearteningly, I experienced both but also something more: I left feeling as though I had found a new relational home where my work as a trauma scholar can be held, deepened, and supported by persons committed to the science and practice of discovered new horizons for individual and collective healing. And, perhaps most importantly, in the ISSTD community, I discovered a place where it feels possible to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellows and envision a world of pluralistic flourishing.
Like many new attendees, I was a bit nervous not knowing what to expect. I can’t recall a time where I’ve been in a place with so much expertise regarding the etiology and treatment of psychological fragmentation, which was a little overwhelming at first but ultimately deeply humanizing. My apprehension was put at ease during the new attendee breakfast where Immediate Past President D. Michael Coy and other board members welcomed attendees at all career stages with a tone of warmth and belonging. This welcome was echoed throughout the conference, as the ISSTD conference committee and staff made themselves available to answer questions, connect, and help me think through ways my students and I might get involved.
My experience of engaging with poster presenters, attending workshops, and participating in interest group meetings – all focused on recent research and clinical advancements relevant to the treatment of trauma and dissociation – was anchored by three deeply moving plenary talks: the first by Dr. Milissa Kaufman about the intersection of professional identity, personal authenticity, and scientific rigor in work with DID from the perspective of a physician-scientist; the second a heartening and forward-looking panel presentation covering several major contributions to the field’s history by Dr. Lynette Danylchuk, Dr. Bethany Brand, Lisa Danylchuk, and Dr. Jennifer Gómez; and the third a culturally- and historically-grounded presentation by Dr. Robyn Gobin about the intersection between trauma, cultural context, and healing practices in the therapeutic support of Black women survivors of sexual trauma. The insights and invitations to action of these talks catalyzed rich discussion and what Dr. Gómez (2023) describes as Dreamstorming, a transformative practice that goes beyond a focus on harm to envision a new world where the interlocking systems of oppression and violence are eradicated. Together, this helped me place the clinical and research expertise of each presenter in a broader disciplinary context that takes seriously our collective need for structural change and liberation.
Trauma is contextual, constituted in intersubjective spaces where severe emotional pain cannot find a relational home in which it can be held (Stolorow, 2007, p. 10). As such, we often talk about how trauma therapists hold the unbearable and how community is necessarily to hold the integrity of clinical work. However, we don’t talk as much about how the work of holding and witnessing extends to empirical and theoretical trauma scholarship or about what kinds of community are needed to sustain it. It’s one thing to know, as Judith Herman argues in Truth and Repair (2023), that when working with trauma we should “…never to work alone. If you are going to witness the worst of what human beings are capable of, you will need to surround yourself with people who exemplify the best” (p. 236). It’s another to know where, institutionally speaking, to find people who share a commitment to re-imaging a better and more just world, particularly for persons like me who work in rural-serving areas away from the rich density of trauma work in large cities.
Yet, at ISSTD I found exactly that, a community of dedicated professionals who, together, exemplify the best of our field: individual and institutional courage, accountability, a deep ethical attunement to the responsibilities that come with studying and treating complex trauma and dissociation, humility, and a commitment to working side by side to co-create a new world in which all living beings are treated with compassion and dignity. My gratitude for that gift is deep, as it is only together that we can sustain the hard work of witnessing and discover new horizons for healing.
I look forward to connecting more and to continuing to learn about all that ISSTD is doing to Dreamstorm our way to a better future.
References
Gómez, J. M. (2023). The cultural betrayal of Black women and girls: A Black feminist approach to healing from sexual abuse. American Psychological Association.
Herman, J. (2023). Truth and repair: How trauma survivors envision justice. Hachette Book Group, New York, NY.
Stolorow, R. D. (2011). Trauma and human existence: Autobiographical, psychoanalytic, and philosophical reflections. Routledge, New York, NY.