ISSTD held its first ever three-day Virtual Congress May 15-17. Over three days, more than 200 attendees from 13 different countries logged on to hear presentations, network, and learn more about ISSTD.
The conference kicked off on Friday with all-day pre-conference workshops on Transitional Age Youth by Katie Keech, Trauma and Addictions by Melissa Engle, Systematic Cultural Oppression by Heather Hall, Rick Hohfeler, and Susan Gutwill, and Dissociation 101 by Christine Forner and Mary-Anne Kate. During the lunch break, attendees were offered the opportunity to enjoy time for mindful movement with yoga by Colleen Millen.
The conference continued on Saturday with an opening plenary presentation from Karlen Lyons-Ruth entitled “Parsing the Contributions of Attachment and Trauma in Pathways to Dissociation, Suicidality, and Borderline Personality Disorder.” The day continued with a number of 90-Minute and 3 Hour workshops from notable ISSTD members including Colin Ross, Kathy Steele, Richard Loewenstein, Lynette Danylchuk, and many more! ISSTD Members had an opportunity during the lunch break to learn more about open volunteer opportunities from Lisa Danylchuk and Jill Hosey from the Member Engagement Committee along with Chairs from a number of committees. The day concluded with a plenary presentation by Pat Ogden entitled “Befriending the Body: A Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Perspective on Treating Complex Trauma”.
The conference concluded on Sunday and featured additional 90-Minute and 3 Hour workshops on an array of topics including EMDR, attachment, self-care, vicarious trauma, and borderline personality disorder. Those not already members of ISSTD were given the chance to learn more about the benefits of membership from Membership co-chair, Abigail Percifield. The conference concluded its plenaries with a presentation from A.A.T. Simone Reinders entitled “The Neurobiology and Aetiology of Dissociative Identity Disorder and Beyond.”
As part of the conference, ISSTD hosted its first virtual poster contest and we are thrilled to announce the winning poster: “Mommy and daddy did it: Betrayal trauma and dissociaton in a population of young children” by Belen Rogowski and Alagia Cirolia. Thank you to all of our poster presenters for their informative and thought-provoking submissions.
Thank you to all of volunteers who made this conference possible including the Annual Conference Committee, Board of Directors, session chat moderators, and poster judges. We look forward to adding more virtual conference offerings in the future, including the upcoming Virtual Fairbanks Regional Conference scheduled for June 17-20!