Dear ISSTD Community,
Welcome to 2025!
Those words seem fraught to me, frankly, based upon the worries raised in recent months by several of my clients, many of whom are LGBTQ-identifying, some of whom are terrified they will soon lose their right to be married, or even to exist at all. Being a queer-identifying person in my 50s, I share their concern. Right now, both in the US and throughout the world, we are seeing what seems like both the best and the worst of what humanity has to offer, though I think perhaps not in equal measure.
The phrase, ‘Think globally, act locally’ popped into my mind as I reached the close of that first paragraph. Although the origin of the phase is disputed, its meaning seems pretty clear. And as I wrote the preceding sentence, another phase, one I’ve heard (if I recall correctly) attributed to ISSTD Past President Kathy Steele, came to me: “Don’t just do something, sit there.” I learned, just now, looking this phrase up, that it was coined by Sylvia Boorstein, who wrote a 1996 book with this title. (The book offers a framework for creating meditation retreats.) I think that ISSTD as an organization inhabits space somewhere between and among these ways of being.
It is tradition, since the first issue of ISSTD’s Journal of Trauma and Dissociation was published 26 years ago, that the Society’s President contribute an editorial to kick off each year’s volume. I noted in my own editorial that framing trauma and dissociation as “free agents” that act upon the world—rather than it being the case that the world, and the people who populate it, foster the development of trauma and dissociation, “poses challenges for the process of ascribing, and accepting, responsibility; establishing and maintaining a shared sense of safety; and ensuring equitable conditions that allow for power sharing and choice. This is not acceptable and demands that we, as an organization, both closely examine the dynamics at play and take courageous action to address them” (Coy, 2024, p. 1).
It is really tempting to try to ‘fix’ something without spending time to consider what it is, exactly, that needs fixing. Since most positive change seems to begin from a seedling that eventually, with care and persistence, grows into something much larger, I’ve found myself thinking a lot, particularly over the past year, about what localized action means in the context of our Society. 2023 ISSTD President Michael Salter wrote that his theme for that year was “Consolidation.” I’ve decided mine is “Healthy Communication and Connection.” In the early days of 2025, I am feeling my way into some sort of happy medium between thinking and acting, doing and sitting. It’s not always so easy to achieve, but what I’m finding in the in-between spaces is the mindful action required to contribute what I can to foster both the healthy communication and connection that I believe are necessary for ISSTD to continue along its developmental path. While we cannot always avoid the obstacles along that path, I do think that, if we all as Members can find a collective space between thinking and acting, doing and sitting, then within that space we can anticipate those obstacles and work together to either effectively manage or transcend them.
For its part in this ongoing process, ISSTD leadership has been working in earnest since last year to think critically about and strengthen our infrastructure—the mundane things like developing/revising policies and procedures to guide how we function, streamlining committee functioning to improve organizational communication and increase impact for Members, and enhancing our Membership recruitment and leadership development strategies to forge a stronger and more resilient Society. Integral to these efforts is ISSTD’s deepening commitment to the values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, particularly as they inform our service to you, our Members. Current ISSTD Members can both learn more about all of leadership’s recent work and take the initiative, if you choose, to help shape our continuing efforts when we all meet at the Society’s upcoming Annual Business Meeting.
For your part, I want to thank you for your continued commitment to research and social/clinical work in service of creating a more hospitable and equitable world for all of us—not only for the humans, but also, ultimately, for every living thing on this planet. Thank you for your continued Membership, your enthusiastic participation in ISSTD’s educational offerings, and your contributions to strengthen our Regional Online Communities and Special Interest Groups. Thank you for your generous donations to the General Fund, as well as to our grant funds supporting research and access to education, and your commitment to sponsor under-resourced researchers, practitioners, and students for Society Membership.
I hope to see you this March at the upcoming Annual Conference in Boston, MA, USA. In the meantime, I look forward to checking in next month in this same space.