The Tavistock Trauma Service, in collaboration with the South African Psychoanalytic Clinics Johannesburg (JHB), is hosting this inaugural conference to bring together global practitioners involved in applying psychoanalytic ideas to their work with adults affected by severe and complex trauma.

This unique, online event will take place over two days and feature presentations from across the world to highlight different psychoanalytic approaches to working with traumatised individuals. The core focus of the event is collaboration and there will be various opportunities for attendees to develop new international connections, including through small group work. Our hope is that this conference will sustain and build a new psychoanalytic trauma community.

Who is this conference for?

This conference is suitable if you have an interest in trauma, for example as a professional working within the mental health field or as an expert by experience. You may be a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, mental health nurse, support worker, counsellor or therapist.

What will I learn?

The conference will focus on the value of psychoanalytic ideas in work with patients who have experienced trauma, with a particular emphasis on clinical practice and learning from survivors and people with lived experience. It will bring together global experts to share diverse perspectives on complex trauma.

Programme

Please note that this conference will not be recorded.

This conference takes place over two days:

Day 1: Friday 14 November, 12 to 6pm (GMT)

Welcome and introduction by Jo Stubley and Sue Levy

12noon

Keynote presentation by Gail Lewis

12.10 to 1.10pm

Parallel presentations

1.10 to 1.55pm

• Between iMbokodo and the couch: intersectionality, intergenerational trauma, and the therapeutic task for black women psychotherapists in South Africa by Charity Mokone (South Africa)
• Working intra-somatically to enhance psychoanalytic treatment for complex trauma: contributions from the somatic trauma therapies by David Levit (US)
• Containment in the time of acute collective threat: an object relations perspective from wartime Iran by Bentolhoda Mousavi and Mahdieh Moin (Iran)
• Echoes in the image: a reflection on response art, complex trauma and synchronicity by Nina Dogmetchi (UK)
• Bringing a human rights perspective to trauma informed approaches by Khadj Rouf (and colleagues) (UK)

Break followed by a small group discussion

1.55 to 2.55pm

Parallel presentations

3 to 3.45pm

• Beyond 1001 Days: The Lasting Impact of Ububele’s Home Visiting Programme by Esther Chunga (South Africa)
• Trauma and collective resilience: psychoanalytic reflections on working with palestinians in contexts of prolonged conflict by Theodoros Tsirigotis (Greece)
• A psychodynamic and trauma informed approach to working with trauma and addiction concurrently: principles for clinical practice by Emily Mercer (UK)
• Eating disorders presentations and psychotherapeutic treatments in a specialist service for women survivors of child sexual abuse by Julia Scott (UK)

Break followed by a small group discussion

3.45 to 4.45pm

Parallel presentations

4.50 to 5.35pm

• Talk by Vossie Goosen (South Africa)
• The long reach of early relational trauma: a case of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy by Evrinomy Avdi (Greece)
• To whom does suicide happen? by Oded Lonai (UK)
• Talk by Louise Allnutt (UK)
• Unspoken, unhomed: clinical encounters at the borderlands of exile by Zeynep Yasar (Turkey)

Closing remarks

5:35 to 6pm

Day 2: Saturday 15 November, 12 to 4pm (GMT)

Welcome and introduction by Jo Stubley and Sue Levy

12noon

Keynote presentation by Alessandra Lemma

12:10 to 1:10pm

Parallel presentations

1.10 to 1.55pm

• The Imbeleko: Finding a new frame for South African community-based psychoanalytically informed infant, child and family interventions by Nicki Dawson and Esther Chunga (South Africa)
• However long it takes: why the discrepancy in provision of care for physical and psychic complex trauma? by Victoria Barker and Adam Burley (UK)
• Towards a theoretical-clinical approach to traumatic grief from the perspective of relational psychoanalysis and multiple self theory by Eduardo Perez (Chile)
• Working with perpetrators of sexual abuse: traumatic loss, paedophilia and paedophilic breakdown by Eleanor Fellowes, Neetu Rastogi and Gabrielle Brown (UK)

Break followed by a small group discussion

1.55 to 2.55pm

Parallel presentations

2.55 to 3.40pm

• From fragmentation to connection: an interdisciplinary intervention framework for perinatal complex trauma by Panos Vythoulkas and Kristiana Heapy (UK)
• CuidarNos: psychoanalytic intervention in the community for families with traumatic experiences in Peru. A path towards hope by Milagros Cubas (Peru)
• The impact of disappearances on Mexican families: a psychoanalytic approach by Bianca Perez Renteria (UK)
• Developmental trauma: adult psychotherapy through a developmental context by Zack Eleftheriadou (UK)

Closing remarks

3.40 to 4pm

How can I watch the event?

This conference will be delivered remotely using Zoom. You will need a device with a suitably fast internet connection. Although mobile devices and tablets can be used, we recommend the use of laptop or desktop PC for the best experience. Some devices provided by employers may have restrictions in place. Please use the Zoom test link to check your set up before booking.

You will be sent the necessary login link about a week before the conference start date. Should you have any concerns about the accessibility of remote delivery please contact us to discuss how we can best help you

Fees and booking

The conference fee is £150 and you can sign up using the link below.