In September 2024, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Online Community (ROC) celebrated its third anniversary. When launched, the ROC was comprised of 30 ISSTD members. Today, our online community has over 70 participants who either practice or reside in the Mid-Atlantic geographical region. Presently, this geographical region spans New York to South Carolina and includes West Virginia.
The Mid-Atlantic ROC was formed with the intention of creating a clinically supportive community paired with organized educational events. This year, we have held two formal online programming opportunities. Our first educational program concentrated on the deconstruction of the survivor-perpetrator binary and subsequent countertransferential treatment dynamics, and our second event spotlighted the use of art therapy and creative processes when working with survivors of trauma and persons with dissociative processes.
In July, the ROC hosted a peer discussion reading group to kick off the ISSTD’s October 2024 Washington, D.C., regional conference titled Subjugation, Mind Control, and Cultural Betrayal: Attachment Healing through Relational Connection. This approaching conference is a long-awaited occasion to meet each other in-person. We hope all ISSTD members and persons who have interest in learning more about the conference’s topics of subjugation, mind control, and cultural betrayal trauma will be able to attend this two-day learning opportunity.
At the end of 2024, our current executive team will transition out of our volunteer leadership roles allowing new volunteers to continue cultivating our online community and clinical learning environment. This transition is an exciting time for the ROC as our new executive team will offer our ROC participants the continuity it needs so that we can continue to develop our learning community.
If you have interest in participating in the ROC and practice or reside in the Mid-Atlantic region, then please do not hesitate to contact our ROC’s secretary, Alexis Hansen, LCSW at alexishansen@outlook.com We hope to continue to grow this community and strengthen our connection with other ISSTD members.
Kind regards,
Cynthia Closs, DSW, LCSW
Mid-Atlantic ROC, Chair
Alexis Hansen, LCSW
Mid-Atlantic ROC, Secretary
Julia Gottlieb, LCSW
Mid-Atlantic ROC, Moderator