Unique International Trauma Conference Melbourne August 2014 Australian Childhood Foundation

Unique International Trauma Conference

Melbourne August 2014

Australian Childhood Foundation

We live in an exciting time when it comes to treating trauma. For those if us that have been working with development trauma as a Primary Symptom to the Secondary Symptoms of then it is magnificent.

This was certainly how I was feeling heading towards Melbourne in August, and I was not the only one. Peers had been sharing their excitement online and in discussions at SPP leading up to it. The title of the conference says it all, Unique and International, and that it was. The array of speakers that were gathering was inspirational.

 Dr Dan Siegel, Interpersonal Neurobiologist, Mindsight founder. Inspiration to the modern Psychotherapist. Dan explanation of the Brain, Mind and Relational Triangle of the Human experience, his passion to map the working of the mind, and his ability to explain its intricacies to all and sundry in ways that make sense, is exhilarating, and that is not the misuse of an adjective.

There was Daniel Hughes, a Clinical Psychologist that developed an attachment-focused treatment based on the theories and research of attachment and intersubjectivity to guide his model of treatment and parenting. His gentle but amazingly effective process is poetry in motion.

Dr Allan Schore :The American Psychoanalytic Association has described Dr. Schore as "a monumental figure in psychoanalytic and neuropsychoanalytic studies." It’s worth re-reading the last sentence, just to let it sink in. Allan’s Masterclass was a slow, methodical building of theory and practice that by the end of it leaves you wondering and wandering, simply wanting to be part of the Art that is Psychotherapy.

Dr Stephen W Porges presented his Polyvagal Theory that is based on the phylogeny of the vertebrate autonomic nervous system. The theory led to discovery of three phylogenetically ordered neural circuits regulating autonomic nervous system. The newest circuit reflects unique face-heart connections which forms a functional “social engagement system” involving an integrated regulation in the brainstem of the striated muscles of the face and head with a mammalian myelinated vagas. The theory also proposes that the older vagal circuit is involved in death feigning and the shutdown behaviors often observed in response to life-threat.

The depth of biological information here takes working with the Body to a whole new level. As a Psychotherapist working within the SPP model, we have had clients come for treatment were the physical symptoms, this information sheds a light into the realm of the body, and how best to integrate at a whole new level.

Then there was Pat Ogden, crowd favorite, and a seasoned campaigner, for the move from the talk therapies to “going to the Body”, and Peter A Levine points out, Pat’s work is described as

"Pat Ogden's outstanding work in sensorimotor psychotherapy focuses not just on the devastating effects of trauma-induced alterations on mind, but also on body and brain. Asserting that the body has been left out of the "talking cure," she offers a scholarly review of very recent advances in the trauma, neurobiology, developmental, and psychodynamic literatures that strongly suggests that bodily-based behaviors, affects, and cognitions must be brought to the forefront of the    clinical encounter.”

In Ed Tronick’s Masterclass he spoke about his book, Neurobehavioral and Social Emotional Development of Infants and Children. In his biography, about his work is written:

 “In one of the most sobering findings, the report highlighted that in brain research now show that child abuse and neglect damages not only in the way a developing child’s brain functions, but changes the actual structure of the brain itself, in such a way that makes clear thinking, controlling emotions and impulses and forming healthy social relationships more difficult.”

When you watch the Still face experiment videos and you have been working with Disassociation as a practitioner, it’s like a light goes on, especially when the brain science is explained.

Then there was Cindy Blackstock.  In a conference where the Right Brain was the focus, and being in the body, being mindful, as we then meet to challenge of our work, then her presence was captivating. Cindy Blackstock is a Canadian-born Gitxsan activist for child welfare and Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. The message she had about the effects of Childhood trauma on indigenous cultures was very close to home for Australians, and this theme was picked up on in a wonderful address on the Thursday by a heartwarming and inspiring plenary session by the wonderful Australian Muriel Bamblett AM.

It was more how Cindy spoke that conveyed the power of her message, her conviction and the light that she brings to a dark subject.

There was some stand out Australian papers presented, but Sydney local and Brazil born Trauma specialist Salene Souza’s presentation of the MATES program, a regulation technique for parents and children, making very practical the skills necessary to regulate our internal worlds, was a delight, and with Dan Siegel himself giving this program the thumbs up, we will here many more good things about this in the near future.

The winner though was the Australian Childhood Foundation. With daily leadership by CEO Dr Joe Tucci, the conference buzzed along flawlessly, in fact I have not been to a conference that was as well run. In an era were Technology can be distracting in conference and lecture settings, (always being told to turn phones etc. off) and yet they are part of how folks make sense of themselves and their connection to the world, and can certainly be used as a tool for learning, then this was used to the advantage of all the patrons through the development of one of the best” APPS” I have ever seen.

From registration it was encouraged that you signed up online to the conference app, and then as you attended any session, you could log in, tweet any “AHA” moments, download the PowerPoint presentations, as well as stay in touch with all the tweets from other workshops. Now as a 50 year old bloke, I consider myself fairly tech adept, yet miles behind my younger more tech savvy colleagues, but even I flourished in this environment. I was excited to read what people were posting, and then in the evening I was delighted and inspired to read peoples reflections of the day. I even felt some grief when the 5 days were over knowing I would not be part of those ongoing cyber community conversations. When all was said and done I had contributed over 1500 post into the conversation, and was grateful for all who shared their insights and reflections.

When I first started this work, I was a young therapist, looking to the wiser minds hungry for knowledge, to heal myself first, and then my Clients. I have felt for a long time I have learned what I needed to know the most. I have been grateful for all those Supervisors that put the hours into me, as I struggled through. Now I find myself in a delightful and wonderful role, a role that I went to when I needed help. Now it’s my turn. I think of all the folks that taught me to work at the coal face of Trauma, Mental Health and Addiction issues. To understand and embraced recovery at depth has led me into a life better than I have ever known, and I am a long way from finished yet. My goal is to serve others, and to keep learning.

At the conference I was like a sponge, I still had the enthusiasm of that young man that knew he had a lot to learn. It’s a clique, but now 25 years later, I am amazed that it is still the case. As the new research comes through and guides us, it’s a challenge to surrender old ways for the new and research driven best practice ways of the future. Yet, I as I finish this piece, and currently am facilitating a group based on the work of Pia Melody, I am humbled to be standing on her shoulders, the shoulders of a giant in the recovery field.

You see , she saw this right from the beginning, the underlying Primary Symptoms, and how they lead to Secondary symptoms, creating unmanageability, Crisis and Intimacy issues, and that to deal with the latter with any real success , we have to deal with the trauma, in a gentle re-parenting body focused fashion. This re-parenting started a long time ago now for me, 28 and half years to be exact, and I am still growing, still learning, and the conference was an amazing page in that book, that I sat and read in the company of some wonderfully trained amazing folks.

I suppose like in real life, the inner children, might be living at “HOME” longer than I thought.