The Communications and Marketing Committee aims to promote ISSTD activities and services, both internally and externally. It also has a role in promoting issues relating to complex trauma and dissociation in the wider community, targeting health professionals, other relevant professionals, and the general public. This includes improving the awareness of complex trauma and dissociation in the general community.
Over the last year the Committee has been busy on a few projects
A New Membership Brochure
A small project team of myself, Mary-Anne Kate and Na’ama Yehuda worked with HQ staff to develop a new membership brochure. This brochure was distributed widely at the ISSTD conference in Otautahi/Christchurch in November 2019 and at a workshop in Sydney in February 2020. COVID-19 has shut down a lot of face to face events since then, but if you are running a face to face event and would like to promote ISSTD this brochure contains all the facts, while looking vibrant and fun. This sleek, modern-looking brochure is great for conference tote bags, hand outs on information stalls, or to share with interested colleagues. Copies of the brochure will be available when staff returns to regular office hours.
Facts Sheets for the Public
We have also developed a series of Fact Sheets for the general public. These present factual information in a user-friendly manner, without getting into too much professional jargon or labelling. The written communication is geared at a moderate level of education (e.g. have completed most of high school). Consideration will be given to low-literacy material at some stage, if that becomes an expressed need. At this stage we have five fact sheets available:
- Trauma and Complex Trauma: An Overview
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders
- Trauma Related Dissociation: An Introduction
- What are the Dissociative Disorders?
- Getting Treatment for Complex Trauma and Dissociation
One of the priorities for the Committee is to work with the Child and Adolescent Committee to develop a Fact Sheet specifically discussing child and adolescent trauma and dissociation. However, we are open to ideas for other fact sheets. Please email me on katemcmaughpsychology@gmail.com if you have an idea for a Fact Sheet that would be useful for the general public.
Dissociative Identities Awareness Day
http://www.copingincrazyville.com
As part of promoting general awareness of dissociation, the Committee has a role each year in planning activities for Dissociative Identities Awareness Day in March. This is a slight challenge for us as an organisation as it is so close to our annual conference, but we aim to keep working on this important day, to make sure we have a voice in community education. This year we launched our Fact Sheets on Dissociative Identities Awareness Day and they were actively promoted on social media. Next year we hope to do more to promote community awareness of trauma related dissociation on this important day.
Looking for New Members or Interested Volunteers
Our Committee is actively seeking new members, or if you don’t wish to join a committee, we are also interested in people to help us out with our up-coming projects. Specifically, we are seeking:
Volunteers to Edit ISSTD Wikipedia Page
We urgently need a small group of members to update the content of our Wikipedia page, which is, unfortunately often out of date or incorrect. If you have an interest in Wikipedia, or a desire to communicate information to the general public about complex trauma and dissociation, then this is a great project to get involved with.
Development of Video Marketing Content
Two of our Committee Members, Mary-Anne Kate and Shae Sackman are driving a project to edit and use video footage of past ISSTD conference plenary speakers for marketing. This footage is just waiting to be edited into smaller, marketable pieces which will be used on social media to both promote ISSTD and raise awareness about complex trauma and dissociative disorders. If you have an interest in video editing contact me.
Dissociative Identity Awareness Day 2021
We hope to get a small project team together to think creatively about how we mark this day. We could offer a community webinar, launch some educational materials, or we could collaborate on a joint campaign with organisations that support people with lived experience. If you have ideas to share, we’d love to hear. Work on this project needs to begin fairly soon, even though March seems a long way away.
The Communication and Marketing Committee always has activities planned so if you are interested in any form of marketing, promotion and communications, we are interested in you! Please contact me on katemcmaughpsychology@gmail.com