Invitation from ISTSS Complex Trauma Special Interest Group

[Kizzie]

Hi Everyone:

I received an open invitation from the Complex Trauma Special Interest Group at ISTSS to a Zoom presentation by and conversation with Dr. Christine Courtois entitled "Lifetime Advocacy for Complex Trauma Understanding, Adoption, Professional Standards, and Treatment Guidelines." As the email below indicates, this is open to anyone who wishes to attend.

It's a unique opportunity for survivors to hear from a trauma specialist/clinician/author about the work to raise awareness about CT/CPTSD so I hope you will consider attending. Please know that you can keep your camera/audio off if that makes you more comfortable.

Kizzie


Dear colleagues and friends,

We're honored to host a public conversation with Dr. Christine Courtois on 6/5/2024, 12pm EST, open across the complex-trauma community and beyond. No membership required, and we encourage you to forward this widely.

________________________________________
Complex Trauma SIG Presentation Series

Please join the Complex Trauma SIG on Friday 6/5/2026 from 12-1:30pm EST for a conversation with Christine Courtois PhD and her presentation, "Lifetime Advocacy for Complex Trauma Understanding, Adoption, Professional Standards, and Treatment Guidelines"

Zoom Link:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82958894441?pwd=nc4HaQibw8rVv6aLpdbzB4xiIYnZje.1

Rather than walking through the newly released APA/ISSTD Guidelines for Working with Adults with Complex Trauma Histories (which she chaired after roughly a decade of effort), Dr. Courtois will speak from what she calls her "soapboxes" — the unfinished arguments and hard-won lessons that have animated her career. This is not a guidelines walkthrough; it's the conversation underneath them.

Topics we expect to traverse:

The neglect of adult survivors. How her dissertation work first sparked a career-long push to bring adult survivors into clinical focus.

Embracing Herman. Trauma and Recovery — a touchstone many of us in the field share — and the decades of work to integrate complex trauma with the more established literature on combat PTSD.

Retaining the field. The 1990s memory controversies, including her time on the APA task force where the six members — three clinicians, three cognitive scientists — ended up writing two separate reports because they couldn't agree.

Toward specialization. The ongoing case for treating trauma work as a formal psychological specialization, with rigorous curricula and recognized subspecialties.

Pearls of wisdom — including the shocking ones. Reflections on professional betrayal and other violations encountered along the way.

What's next. Big data, aggregated case material, AI, and the possibility of evidence-informed treatment algorithms.

If time permits, she'll fold in reflections on the new Guidelines themselves.

When: June 5th, 2026, at 12pm EST

Where: (via zoom) https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82958894441?pwd=nc4HaQibw8rVv6aLpdbzB4xiIYnZje.1

We hope to see you there.

Hosted by The Complex Trauma SIG Presentation Series Committee

Malachi Gillihan, Philip Katner, & Carine Leslie

[Alexandra]

Hello Kizzie; Do you sign up in advance ,or just use the link on the day, thanks

[Blueberry]

Kizzie, thanks for your continuing advocacy and for informing us!

[NarcKiddo]

Great! And it is at a convenient time for me. 

[TheBigBlue]

No sign-up required, just use the zoom link to join (note the time zone).

Thank you, Kizzie
 

[Chart]

This looks great. For better or worse I've been dreaming of a soapbox since finding what I was suffering from. Even started building one a year or so back... then thought better, "Maybe I should try and heal enough to get out of bed before programming any public speeches..."
 
Thanks Kizzie!

[sanmagic7]

thank you, kizzie!  very appreciated. 

[Kizzie]

Just a reminder about the Zoom presentation by Dr. Christine Courtois this Friday June 5th at 12 EST (remember to convert to your time zone). It's free, you don't have to register and if you prefer you can leave your camera and microphone off. (Dr. Courtois specifically asked me to invite OOTS members so you will be welcome.)

Here's the link once again: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82958894441?pwd=nc4HaQibw8rVv6aLpdbzB4xiIYnZje.1

Kizzie

[zen_racer]

Just "joined" the meeting.  Waiting for it to start.

[NarcKiddo]

I thought that was very illuminating. Will we be able to have a link for the replay when it appears?

[zen_racer]

That was an interesting meeting to attend.  I'm certain that I don't understand the significance of everything discussed or presented.  The amount of push back that has been received in the course of recognizing cptsd, from a survivor perspective, makes it seem like the very recognition of cptsd is it's own version of surviving cptsd with the gaslighting and blame shifting.  There seemed to be definite parallels between trauma survivors and professional/legal recognition of this condition.

I know I've expressed it once, but I want to express gratitude once again to Kizzie.  This forum has felt like a life saver already in helping me understand what's going on and dealing the sense of chaos that seems impossible to avoid in the beginning of understanding.  At least for me, I think it will end up being a life saver for me in the very real sense that I may get a chance to get my life back, and stop merely surviving.  Thank you not only for creating this space, but also for showing up in the way that you're writing books and articles, by engaging in the professional sphere in pushing legitimate recognition of this condition and all the ways it impacts us survivors.

[TheBigBlue]

 , Kizzie
    

[Kizzie]

Very kind of you Zen Racer and TBB, thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation. I knew about most of the push back to a CPTSD diagnosis but not all so I was a bit surprized truth be told. I am impressed that people like Dr. Courtois courageously kept going even in the face of all the criticism and naysayers thankfully.

I will forever be grateful to professionals like her, and especially to Dr. Judith Herman for first recognizing it in the 1990's. She knew what it was, she saw us when others didn't and that takes a special kind of openness and acceptance. I know I certainly was able to make headway in recovery once I had a name for what was going on. Otherwise I think I'd still be dealing with much worse symptoms on a daily basis.

Now if we can only get it in the APA DSM   

[Kizzie]

NarcKiddo - I will check if there will be a recording.  I think so and that it will be uploaded to the CT SIG. I'll add a link if/when I locate it. 

[Blueberry]

NarcKiddo - I will check if there will be a recording.  I think so and that it will be uploaded to the CT SIG. I'll add a link if/when I locate it. 

That would be great, Kizzie. I missed the whole Zoom presentation by mistake.