At the recent Australia New Zealand Conference held this month ISSTD was able to recognise the contributions and achievements of local members through the dinner time award presentation. Although the Awards were officially received at the Annual Conference in April 2022 regional members were unable to attend due to COVID restrictions. This ceremony was a way to personally present these awards. It was very special to have President Lisa Danylchuk travel all this way to the conference and she was able to present the awards during the conference dinner on Saturday night.
ISSTD Fellows
Three individuals were made fellows. To be considered for ISSTD Fellow status, a person must have at least five years’ membership in ISSTD and must demonstrate outstanding contributions to the field of dissociation in two or more of the required categories.
The first fellow for 2022 was Dr. Diane Clare. Diane, a registered clinical psychologist, has worked in a range of services in NZ and the UK and provided leadership and Director level roles across a range of clinical services. She is well known for developing the Alternatives to Self-Harm program using the APEX© model which has shown demonstrated effectiveness for decreasing risk and increasing hope for those who engage in Non-Suicidal Self Injury. Now based on the Kãpiti Coast near Wellington, New Zealand, she is a presenter, trainer and clinician with a specialist interest in complex trauma and dissociation, including DID. Diane has served ISSTD through being the Chair of the Organising Committee for the 2019 ISSTD Regional Conference in Otautahi/Christchurch New Zealand, and has since served on the organising committee of both the ISSTD Asia Pacific Virtual Conference in 2021 and Regional Conference in Melbourne Australia in 2022.
Kate McMaugh, a registered psychologist based in Sydney, Australia, has worked a wide variety of clinical, research, program development and management roles in health and disability services. She has clinical practice specialising in complex trauma and dissociative disorders, where she provides assessment, diagnosis and treatment services, as well as case consultation to other therapists. She has recently conducted research investigating therapists’ experiences with clients reporting incestuous abuse continuing into adulthood. Kate has served ISSTD by being on many committees, including, until recently, being Chair of the Communication and Marketing Committee. She is also the editor of the Society’s Newsletter, a role she has maintained for over 5 years. This is a very time-consuming task and also vital for the functioning of the Society in terms of staying connected and communicating effectively with members. Kate has also made a significant contribution to the treatment of dissociation in Australia, especially in Sydney, where she is a recognised leader and advocate of dissociative disorders treatment.
Dr Sylvia Solinski, a psychiatrist in private practice in Malvern, Melbourne has a masters degree in psychological medicine and an honours degree in arts/law in addition to her Psychiatrist training. She has worked with patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and personality disorder, but her area of interest has focused on the clinical sequelae of childhood trauma in adults, and the majority of patients whom she treats have a diagnoses of dissociative identity disorder (DID). She has published numerous papers and presented a pre-conference workshop as part of the Melbourne conference entitled “Memory: Remembering and Forgetting Ordinary and Traumatic Events”. Sylvia was unfortunately unable to be at the Conference Dinner to receive her award.
The Final Fellow award was given to Dr Michael Salter. Michael is a Scientia Fellow and Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales. He is an internationally recognised expert in the study of child sexual exploitation and complex trauma. His published work includes the books Organised Sexual Abuse and Crime, Justice and Social Media, and over fifty papers in international journals and edited collections. His research addresses the policy implications of child sexual exploitation across multiple sectors, including mental health, law enforcement and internet regulation. Michael has served ISSTD in many ways including serving on many committees. He is also the President-Elect of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) and he has served on the Board of Directors since 2018. Dr Salter sits on the editorial boards of the journals Child Abuse Review and the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. In addition Michael is a member of a number of national and international advisory groups. He is also a key advisor to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection where he has undertaken a range of projects on strategic responses to child sexual exploitation.
Media Award
The Media Award is given to an individual or organization for the best-written media (e.g., books, newspapers) and best audiovisual media (e.g. films, television, videos) that deal with dissociation and/or trauma. This year’s recipient of the Media Award – Written is Lowen Clarke for his book ‘Missing Person’s Bureau”. Dr Lowen Clarke is an author, illustrator and an ethicist with the Victorian Government Department of Health. Lowen has transformed his own lived experience of trauma into written solutions. He is being honored for his book ‘Missing Persons Bureau’ which is published in his ‘Empowerment Script’, which complements EMDR. Reading Empowerment Script can assist the reader to manage their anxiety and stress on a daily level.
Frank Putnam Award
This award is given in honor of Frank W. Putnam, a gentle and seminal giant in our field, clinician, research scientist, mentor and prolific writer. This award is given for an outstanding book that significantly contributes to our knowledge and understanding in the field of trauma and dissociation. Our winner in this category is Martin Dorahy. Martin is being recognized for his editorship of the second edition of the Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders book. Both within and outside of ISSTD the first edition of the book is widely acknowledged to be the single best comprehensive resource on dissociation. There is no question that the second edition will be viewed similarly. Editing this work was a massive undertaking. It contains 46 chapters written by over 70 authors. Although John O’Neil and Steve Gold received co-editing credit for D&DD, it is indisputable (per feedback from his co-editors) that Martin carried out the vast majority of the editorial duties. It is therefore overwhelmingly due to Martin’s efforts that there will be a second edition of D&DD. Not only was it a huge task, but it was one that Martin carried out both skilfully and with tremendous patience, generosity and grace.
Morton Prince Award
The Morton Prince Award for Scientific Achievement is given to an individual who has made outstanding cumulative contributions to research in the area of dissociative disorders. Our winner in this category is Dr Mary-Anne Kate. Mary-Anne is a social scientist with a professional background in the development of national and EU policies and practices to improve quality of life outcomes for vulnerable client groups. Her previous roles have included a diplomatic posting to Cairo to manage Australia’s north African refugee and migration programme; a policy advisor to improve the education and training of Allied Health Professionals in Scotland; and developing high-level policies for Europe’s most influential think-tank on immigration and equality, and for the Australian government, to improve the socio-economic situation and mental health of migrants and refugees. Over the past decade, Mary-Anne has focused on trauma, dissociation, attachment and parent-child dynamics. In 2018 she was awarded a PhD in psychology from the University of New England, Australia, winning both the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal and the ISSTD’s David Caul Award. Mary-Anne has written articles and book chapters about dissociation and other post-traumatic disorders and is the lead author of the chapter on Dissociative disorders and somatic symptom-related disorders in Wiley’s Australasian edition of Abnormal Psychology. Her exciting research work presents evidence that refutes the false memory claims, gives credence to the trauma model’s explanation of the root causes of dissociation and sheds light upon the significant roles that attachment dynamics, and specific trauma experiences play in the prevalence of dissociative disorders.
Distinguished Achievement Award
This award is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves in the ISSTD. The winner in this category is Naomi Halpern. Naomi trained as a social worker in the UK. Early in her career she worked with children in short stay emergency care, homeless youth, and convicted offenders in government and non-government organisations, providing advocacy, psychosocial education, recreational opportunities, skills training, supervision and counselling. Since 1987, Naomi has been in private practice, specializing in therapy for adult sequelae of childhood trauma and abuse. She provides clinical consultation and training for complex post-traumatic stress, dissociative disorders and related impacts of childhood trauma, for mental health professionals working with adult victim / survivors of intergenerational trauma, gender-based violence, and other trauma. Naomi is a trauma consultant to law firms and the United Nations developing and delivering a broad range of trauma informed programs to personnel in missions and duty stations globally. She is co-author with Dr Colin A. Ross, (2009) Trauma Model Therapy: A Treatment Approach for Trauma, Dissociation and Complex Comorbidity, Manitou Inc. and co-author of two important studies on Maladaptive Daydreaming. In addition, she is also an invited reviewer for several journals. Naomi is also a Fellow of the ISSTD. She has graciously Chaired both the Committee for the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in 2021 and is the current Chair for the Australia and New Zealand Regional Conference.
Mid-Career Achievement Award
This award is given to an outstanding individual who, though young in years, has nevertheless made consistently salient contributions to the study of trauma and/or dissociation in their career. The Mid-Career Achievement award goes to Martin Dorahy. This was actually the inaugural award for this category and awarded in 2021, but we wanted this occasion to present it to Martin personally. Martin is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. He has a clinical, research and theoretical interest in complex trauma, dissociative disorders and self-conscious emotions (e.g., shame). He has published 130 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and co-edited four books in the area of psychotraumatology. He is a member of the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists, New Zealand Psychological Society, and the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists. Martin is a Fellow and Past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). He maintains a clinical practice, focused primarily on the adult sequelae of childhood relational trauma.