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!