ISSTD is heading back to Boston! The 44th Annual Conference takes place March 4 to 7, 2027, at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza, a historic downtown hotel a short walk from Boston Common and the Public Garden. This year’s theme, “Beacons of Hope: Lighting the Way to Connection and Courage,” invites us to gather around the ideas, collaborations, and innovations that keep moving forward our understanding and treatment of complex trauma and dissociation.
Thursday, March 4: Pre-Conference Day
Thursday offers both full-day and half-day workshops. Anyone curious about what the latest neuroscience is teaching us about dissociation can spend the whole day in The Biology of Dissociation: Discoveries that Inform Clinical Care, presented by Lauren Lebois, Julia C. Beker, Sherain Harricharan, Mollie Marr, Juliann Purcell, Laura Ward, Sarah K. Danböck, and Ruth Lanius.
The morning half-day options include Assessment and Treatment in a Psychodynamic and Relational Context, which I will be presenting; Presence: Psychotherapy with Chronic Absence in Attachment Trauma with DID and non-DID with Ken Benau and Rick Hohfeler; Systemic Suppression of Dissociative Identity Disorder with Colin Ross and Jennifer Gómez; and Using TraumaPlay™ with Dissociative Child Clients: Making Sense of the Shrapnel through Play with Paris Goodyear-Brown.
In the afternoon, Rick Hohfeler, Charis Cladouhos, Richard Chefetz, Sheldon Itzkowitz, and Julia Pinsky present Recognizing Dissociative Processes in PTSD, CPTSD, and Dissociative Disorders. Jillian Hosey offers From Assessment to Treatment: Integrating the SCID-D Interview into Practice, Lynette Danylchuk presents I’m Leaving: Managing Temporary and Permanent Absences and Endings in Therapy, and Joyanna Silberg presents Theory and Practice in the Treatment of Dissociative Children and Adolescents.
Friday, March 5: Opening Day
Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, gives the opening plenary. Dr. Lanius is a Professor of Psychiatry and Harris-Woodman Chair at Western University, Canada, where she is the director of the Clinical Research Program for PTSD, and she brings more than 25 years of clinical and research experience with trauma-related disorders . Later that morning, Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD, Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College, presents a plenary Dissolutionment and Hope: Intergenerational Racial and Cultural Trauma Among Immigrants. Her research and scholarship focus on immigration, trauma, and culturally informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy .
Friday afternoon opens the concurrent sessions. Milissa Kaufman and Maggie Jones present Getting the Story on DID Right: How a Journalist and a Psychiatrist Each Found Their Way. Juliann Purcell and Nicholas Pierorazio offer Introduction to Research for Clinicians, and Wendy Lemke presents Making Hope Reachable: Overcoming Internal Barriers through Ego State Therapy and Hypnosis. Other sessions in that block include Erica Smith on chronic illness, somatoform dissociation, and the trauma of not being believed; Heather Hall on predictive processing and prenatal trauma loading; Jenny Hughes and Tawanna Marie Woolfolk on vicarious resilience for clinicians; and Bethany Akudike and Michaela Robinson on the intersection of spirituality and dissociation.
Later in the afternoon, Jennifer Madere and Gabriel Vangura explore voice-hearing, trauma, and dissociation in youth and young adults. Annie Goldsmith and Rachel Lewis Marlow present Dissociation, Trauma, and Eating Disorders: Bridging the Treatment Gap, Eunae Han and Yoon Suh Moh speak to emerging clinicians on conceptualizing complex trauma through EMDR and DBR, and the first paper session takes place.
Saturday, March 6: A Full Day of Learning
Saturday morning brings a wide range of clinical conversations. Barry Litt presents Enhancing Connection with the I-Gaze Interweave in EMDR Therapy. Elizabeth Davis and Peggy Kolodny bring expressive arts into the playroom, Eunae Han and Jung Hyun present Beyond the Korean Wave: Understanding Collective Betrayal Trauma and Resilience, and Athena Phillips takes us inside the internal dynamics of dissociative identity disorders. Peter Maves and Edward Groenendal present Smooth Pavement and Potholes: Phase III Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and a symposium with Annie-Lori Joseph Denk, Emily Mellen, Carrington Merritt, Michaela Swee, and Xi Pan shares findings on compassion as an antidote to shame across trauma-focused care.
Later that morning, Yi Fang Chiu presents on political trauma, shame, and dissociative adaptations in Taiwanese immigrants, Robert Muller offers Pacing Trauma Therapy with the Client Who Overshares, and the second paper session convenes.
The afternoon continues with D. Michael Coy on dissociative attunement with clients; Sara Rice on social media, DID and OSDD representation, and the clinician’s role; Kayti Protos on medical trauma for LGBTQ+ clients with chronic health concerns; Shaum Bries on EMDR affirming care for 2SLGBTQIA+ clients; and Kim Dennis, Timothy Brewerton, and Dean Bilenker on trauma, dissociation, and disorders of consumption. The late afternoon block includes Johanna Dobrich on maternal incest and the dissociation of self, Annie Monaco and Ann Beckley-Forest on play therapy with children, and Juliann Purcell and Susan Purcell with an overview of the criminal justice system for clinicians supporting trauma survivors.
Sunday, March 7: Closing Day
The morning sessions include a panel with Jennifer Gómez, Kalimah Johnson, and Jeff Todahl on relational and structural healing; Kevin Connors on Healing the Emergent Self: Issues in the Treatment of Complex Trauma; a forum with Zoe Bair and Erich Roush on process groups for dissociative patients; Saira Khan and Mou Sultana on domestic violence and coercive control; Faige Flakser on coercive control and belonging in high-demand groups; and the third paper session.
John Read, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, presents the final plenary Childhood Adversity and Psychosis: Heresy to Orthodoxy. Dr. Read has published more than 200 research papers, much of that work focused on the relationship between adverse life events and psychosis.
Learning continues into Sunday afternoon. My colleagues Kim Herring, Jesse Guecha and I will present Decolonizing Therapy: Survivor Leadership Intersecting Identity, Dissociation, and Care. In the same block, Alison Leslie offers The Nest Metaphor: A Somatic Pathway from Survival to Flourishing, Michaela Swee and Mollie Marr lead an experiential workshop on tending to the inner critic, Madhuri Govindu speaks on rebuilding identity after complex trauma, Patti van Eys looks at imaginary friends as a window into dissociation, and Miranda Boblett, Tatiana Delgado-Delgado, Kari-Anne Spaulding, and Jodie Maccarrone present a symposium on AI interaction patterns and complex trauma dynamics. The final sessions include Sheldon Itzkowitz with Introduction to The Clinical Use of Dreams, Abby Hurley on religious trauma in Christian contexts, and a forum with Nathan Daly on integration across trauma and legal systems.
Plan Your Trip
Registration opened in September 2026, and early bird pricing runs from September 21 through December 15, 2026. Hotel, travel, and local information is available on the conference website at annualconference.isst-d.org. Questions can be sent to cfas@isst-d.org.
Boston in March may still be cold, but the company will be warm!
I hope you will join us as we light the way toward connection and courage together.