Thank you all for participating in the ISSTD 2024 Board of Directors Elections! Below are our newly elected officers and Board Members, and their candidate statements. As we head into 2024 and beyond, we are looking forward to working with each elected officer. Thank you to everyone who put forward their candidacy and participated in the nominations and election process. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the future!
We would also like to extend our thanks to those Board Members who are rolling off the Board: Lisa Danylchuk, Christine Forner, Tally Tripp and Sara Rourke. Your contributions during your term on the Board have helped to shape the future of ISSTD, and we look forward to you all continuing to be involved in other areas of ISSTD in the future.
President Elect (2024) | D. Michael Coy
I began my volunteer work with ISSTD after posing a question at the 2016 business meeting and subsequently being recruited by then-President-elect President Martin Dorahy to serve on the Communications & Marketing Committee. My involvement there led to Martin inviting me, later that year, to consider a candidacy for the Board of Directors. I was subsequently elected to ISSTD’s Board with my stated intent being “to help ensure the continued growth and vibrance of this organization—in terms of finances, increased university and community presence, and membership growth, amongst other things.” I had no idea in what direction this might lead—maybe serve a term, maybe two, then ‘roll off’ the Board, I figured.
Early in my first year on the Board, I brought before it a proposal, with the collaboration and support of then-Treasurer Christine Forner, for an idea that I’d nurtured for some time: a truly dissociation-informed EMDR therapy basic training. With Board approval, a task group coalesced that, over three years, developed, achieved EMDRIA accreditation for, and rolled out an 80-hour EMDR therapy basic training that is, as of this writing, preparing to teach its fourth cohort. I feel deeply honored to have co-chaired both the group that developed this training and its successor, the EMDR Therapy Training Committee. Additionally, I appreciate that, despite the phenomenally complicated relationship between the dissociative disorders field and EMDR, ISSTD took a chance on this venture, which seems, by dint of its existence as an ISSTD program, to have positively influenced other EMDR basic trainings to pay closer attention to dissociation.
I have also been involved in the overhaul of ISSTD’s website (as webmaster) and introduction of ISSTDWorld as a place for members to connect and learn; the creation and subsequent updates of the Society’s Code of Conduct; the development of Regional Online Communities (ROCs); development of multiple strategic plans; and participation in a number of other Board projects during this time. I have also grown into a more emotionally mature person. With all this amassed experience over the past seven years, I have chosen to submit my candidacy for ISSTD President. During the 3-year presidential term, I propose to overhaul the Society’s Leadership Roundtable; help steer the inclusion, diversity, equity, and access and CFAS certification initiatives that are core features of the 2024-2026 Strategic Plan; solidify the policy and procedure that guides leadership succession planning; and, work to further establish ISSTD’s presence and visibility worldwide through strategic partnerships and connections with both professional and lived experience organizations; and, revitalize the Assembly of Past Presidents.Just as I stated in my original, 2016 Board candidacy statement, I see the opportunity to serve ISSTD’s membership—in this case, in the role of your President—as another dimension of my commitment to social justice and long-term health and resilience, not only for the clients we serve, but also for this professional organization that nurtures us in our vital healing work and supports us in conducting research to validate the varied approaches to that work.
I can think of no better way of continuing to foster ISSTD’s bright future, in my enduring commitment to and belief in the Society’s important work, than to serve in the capacity of President-elect, President, and Immediate Past President. I hope you’ll agree.
Director (2024-2026) | Jill Hosey
I have had the privilege of serving on the ISSTD’s Board of Directors for the last 3-years as a Director Member, during which time I have had the opportunity to engage with members to better learn the needs of membership, participated alongside board members in the implementation of the 2021-2023 ISSTD Strategic Plan goals, as well as participated in working groups developing the upcoming 2024-2026 ISSTD Strategic Plan. It would be an honor to serve another 3-year term as a Director Member, where I can support the implementation of the upcoming strategic plan and continue giving back to this wonderful organization that has provided me with a community, connection, and a clinical home.
Director (2024-2026) | Elizabeth Chalenburg
I found ISSTD early in my professional career at a time when I was working in community mental health and quickly realizing that every single one of my clients (women with substance use disorders) had complex PTSD. Participation in the professional training program, attendance at the annual conference as a conference ambassador, and eventual committee membership did not simply provide me with the knowledge and tools that I needed to better understand and help my clients; these experiences began a journey of learning to show up in my work with deep curiosity and humility. ISSTD has been a profoundly important part of my professional development, but it is a unique and amazing thing to find a professional organization that contributes so much to both one’s professional and personal growth.
Over the last two years, I have had the incredible opportunity to serve as a Director Member of the ISSTD Board of Directors. My hope in joining the board in 2022 was to find a way to contribute further to the quiet administrative aspects of keeping this society running smoothly so that we can continue to offer the quality education, training, and publications that clinicians and researchers in the field need. Serving in this role has given me so many opportunities to contribute behind the scenes, but it has also given me the chance to work alongside some incredible people to stretch my leadership skills and to learn about the complexity of decision making and strategic planning that goes into keeping a society like this not just running, but growing and moving forward to broaden our reach. Each step of my time with ISSTD has impressed upon me the deep belief that professionals in our field need to have better (and more) access to the education and knowledge that ISSTD provides, and it is an honor for me to play any role in helping that continue to happen and grow.
Director (2024-2026) | Jennifer Gomez
I am an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, faculty affiliate with the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health, and research affiliate with the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. Additionally, I am a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine (NASEM) Advisory Committee of the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education (2023).
I believe I have multiple qualities that would make me a good candidate for the ISSTD Board of Directors. First: my board experience. I am a board member of Jennifer Freyd’s Center for Institutional Courage non-profit organization (2020-present), as well as a previous board member in the Metro Detroit Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists (2020-21). Second: my collaborative team and leadership experience. As a member and co-leader of the American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Task Force on Culturally Informed Grief & Trauma (2023), I led a community of diverse scholars in writing two-page documents for marginalized members of the general public on a range of topics, including trauma, grief, and the role of spirituality in healing. This role required working with academics to translate their expertise into writing that was legible to lay audiences. As a member of the Campus Climate & Culture Initiative External Advisory Board at Dartmouth College, I oversaw Dartmouth’s efforts to create an equitable and inclusive path for addressing and ultimately preventing campus sexual violence. Third: my strong commitment to ISSTD (2011-present), which includes editorial experience with JTD as guest co-editor (Ford & Gómez, 2015; Gómez, Gobin, & Barnes, 2021), editorial board member (2018-present), and ad hoc peer reviewer (2011-17). I have also contributed to ISSTD annual conferences, including giving a plenary address in 2021 on cultural betrayal trauma theory and reviewing abstract submissions for the 2024 ISSTD annual conference as a member of the Scientific Committee.Throughout all these experiences, I have successfully navigated complex institutional and societal power dynamics as a junior Black woman scholar. Finally, as a board member with no known conflicts of interest, I would endeavor to contribute to ISSTD’s wellbeing and growth through hard work and a collegial spirit, bringing my expertise in trauma, dissociation, systems-level change, and diversity, equity, & inclusion. Thank you for your consideration.
Director (2024-2026) | Patti Van Eys
I have become increasingly involved over the past 3 years in the ISSTD child/adolescent community. It is hard to imagine that, given my interests, I was not involved earlier in my career. My niche area has always been serving clients who have been significantly affected by the effects of early maltreatment trauma. I’ve been a servant- leader in my state (Tennessee) regarding initiatives to bring light on developmental trauma, with an emphasis on disorganized attachment and dissociation. Like others in this niche field, I have sometimes been experienced as a renegade, however, that has not stopped my passion for teaching and serving within academic and community systems such as universities, child welfare, juvenile justice, educational, and adult criminal justice systems. I see my involvement on the ISSTD board as continuing this advocacy and advancing the field of dissociative disorders and developmental trauma. I hope to contribute to the ISSTD community, especially with an eye toward the needs of children, teens, and families. I also hope to learn from others on the board, growing both my skills in leadership as well as increasing my academic knowledge. With personal growth comes better service to the world.
Director (2024-2026) | Elizabeth Davis
ISSTD membership over the years has profoundly changed my life personally and professionally. I am called to give back to organizations that offer such benefits in my life. I therefore would like to offer some of the skills I have been afforded through my volunteer and professional experience if such skills can be of use to the mission of ISSTD at this time. Below I describe some of my previous experiences to inform the Board’s decision. At Trauma Institute and Child Trauma Institute (TICTI) I serve as one of five leadership team members that have been tasked with the development of policies and procedures to establish solvency of our non-profit. Our accomplishments include restructuring the non-profit and and surviving the crisis of Covid, addressing the changing landscape of intensive trauma therapy, implementing social justice policies and ethical and clinical procedures throughout the organizational structure (which includes research, training, and treatment), addressing an ethical and equitable work environment. My personal contributions have been the development of an outline of organizational structure, development of policies and procedures for the safe implementation of intensive trauma therapy, structuring an intake team implementing clinically sound procedures aligned with the knowledge of complex trauma and dissociation, leading and collaborating with coworkers to build the complex trauma educational arm of our training program, and building two TICTI satellites. As a member of Western New York EMDR (WNYEMDR) I served on the reorganizing planning team that transformed the regional Emdria chapter into a non-profit composed of a volunteer based steering committee and serving as the first Regional Coordinator. My accomplishments focused on team building, conference planning, and marketing.
As a member of the New York State Play Therapy Association, I served on the board as Secretary. My duties included conference planning and working with team members to offer educational opportunities in play therapy. Previous to the non-profit experience I co-founded Art Therapy Buffalo, a regional group of art therapists focused on professional development and supporting the community. Other experiences include the recent collaboration with three co-editors to create a book on Art Therapy and EMDR. This collaborative effort developed my skills in writing and editing for publication. I deeply believe in the power of collective and socially minded efforts as an essential part of addressing trauma and dissociation globally. As a Board member I would be humbled and grateful to serve ISSTD’s mission.