2010 APA Convention in San Diego
Submissions for the 2010 APA Convention program are now closed. Information about the convention is available on the Convention Website. Questions can be directed to our Program Chairs, Dawn Hughes and Kate Richmond.
2010 Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships in Dallas
February 24-26. Call for Proposals. The summit will be organized around thematic threads. Submissions can focus on one or more of the following topics: Intimate partner violence, Child maltreatment, Youth violence, Community violence, Sexual assault, Children exposed to violence, Substance abuse, Diversity/cross cutting issues, or Elder abuse and neglect. Proposal deadline: December 1, 2009.
2009 APA Convention in Toronto
Discussion Panel: Trauma Treatment in Independent Practice: Principles and Resources
This program offered a spontaneous interactive interchange between experienced trauma psychologists in independent practice, focusing on challenges and solutions for effectively working with this client population.
- Dawn M. Hughes, Chair
- Christine Courtois
- Melba Vasquez
- Lenore Walker
-
Panel discussion
Listen to audio | View the slides
Symposium: Trauma Courses: The Time Has Come
This program offered a series of perspectives on teaching trauma in graduate settings, and explored how APA and its various systems for recognizing proficiences and programs might begin to intersect with training in trauma.
-
Chair
Sandra Mattar
Listen to audio -
Teaching Trauma to the Traumatized
Judith Alpert
Listen to audio | Read the paper -
Educating Traumatologists: Moving Toward Change
Sylvia Marrotta
Listen to audio | View the slides -
Teaching Trauma Psychology: Cultural Challenges
Sandra Mattar
Listen to audio | View the slides -
Discussant
Priscilla Dass-Brailsford
Listen to audio
Symposium: Special Issues in the Clinical and Forensic Evaluation of PTSD
This program focused on specific strategies for the assessment of PTSD. The choice of assesment instruments, with particular attention to which ones would best elicit reliable and valid information from a range of populations, and the challenge of assessing both malingering and minimization were discussed.
-
Chair
Constance Dalenberg -
Evaluation of PTSD with Dissociative or Recovered Memory Clients and Plaintiffs
Constance Dalenberg
Listen to audio | View the slides -
Evaluation of PTSD in Elderly and Cognitively Impaired Populations
Sage Schuitevoerder
Listen to audio | View the slides -
Q & A
Listen to audio
2008 APA Convention in Boston
Symposium: Ending Long-Term Trauma Psychotherapies - Clinical and Ethical Considerations
This symposium offered wisdom from three experts in the field of doing long-term psychotherapy with survivors of complex trauma.
- Chair
Karen Saakvitne
Listen to audio - Therapist-Initiated Terminations of Long-Term Trauma Therapies
Laurie Anne Pearlman
Listen to audio | View the slides - Risk Management and Ethics Issues in Termination of Long-Term Psychotherapy
Christine Courtois
Listen to audio | View the slides - Providing a Container for the Container: Consultation to Trauma Therapists
Karen Saakvitne
Listen to audio | View the slides - Q & A
Listen to audio
2008 APA Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships
Photos and materials from the first Division 56-sponsored APA Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships are now available for download.
2007 APA Convention in San Francisco
Symposium: Prostitution, Trafficking, Sexual Compulsivity and Trauma
This symposium considered the multi-faceted relationship between prostitution, trafficking and psychological trauma. Contributions of cultural norms about gender and violence, and issues of public policy, were explored.
- Chair
Steven N. Gold - Interlocking Traumatic Harm of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking
Melissa Farley
Listen to audio | View the slides - Role of Psychologists in Combating Trafficking Through the United Nations
Thema Bryant-Davis
Listen to audio | View the slides - Normative Male Sexual Socialization: Harmless Fun or Sexual Trauma?
Gary R. Brooks
Listen to audio | View the slides | Read the paper - Normative Gay Normative Male Sexual Socialization: Harmless Fun or Sexual Trauma?
William Elder
Listen to audio | Read the paper - Discussant
Laura S. Brown
Listen to audio - Q & A
Listen to audio
Symposium: Innovations in Psychological Care for Returning War Veterans
This symposium examined the considerable and unique challenges posed for psychologists by military veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq for the involved healthcare delivery systems of the military and Veterans Administration.
- Chair
Terence M. Keane
Listen to audio - Rapid Mental Health Intervention for Physically Injured Combat Trauma Victims
Harold Wain
Listen to audio - Pain Among Returning Military Service Members From OEF/OIF
Robert D. Kerns
Listen to audio | View the slides - Meeting the Needs of Returning Veterans: Dissemination of Evidence-Based PTSD Treatment
Josef I. Ruzek
Listen to audio | View the slides - Traumatic Brain Injury in Returning Veterans: Implications for Comprehensive Treatment
Rodney Vanderploeg
Listen to audio | View the slides - Examination of PTSD and Its Relationship to Veterans' Health Functioning
Matthew Jakupcak
Listen to audio | View the slides - Discussant
David Riggs
Listen to audio - Chair
Terence M. Keane
Listen to audio
Film Presentation and Panel Discussion: Deliver Us from Evil
After the showing of the film Deliver Us From Evil, a panel of experts on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church discussed their work with survivors, the church, and the legal system.
- Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, Chair
- Christine Courtois
- Gerald J. McGlone
- John C. Manly
- Patrick Wall
- Panel discussion
Listen to audio - Q & A
Listen to audio
2006 APA Convention in New Orleans
Treating Traumatized Children and Families
This symposium, the Division's first substantive APA Convention program, was designed not only to cover a broad spectrum of topics in the field of trauma, but also to reflect the Division leadership's commitment to addressing the needs and interests of both researchers and practitioners.
- Introduction
Judith Alpert
Listen to audio. - Treating Survivors of Clergy Abuse and Their Families: Trauma and Spiritual Bereavement
Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
Listen to audio | Read the paper. - Treating Battered Mothers and Their Traumatized Children
Lenore Walker
Listen to audio | View the slides. - Innovations in Treatment of Returning OIF/OEF Combat Veterans and Their Families
Terrence Keane
Listen to audio | View the slides. - Why Cross-Cultural Competence Must Inform Trauma Treatment of Children and Families
Melba J. T. Vasquez
Listen to audio | Read the paper. - Using Research to Inform Trauma Treatment: Insight from Betrayal Trauma Studies
Jennifer Freyd
Listen to audio | View the slides. - Discussant
Robert Geffner
Listen to audio.

It was during my Peace Corps service that I became devoted to both the psychological study of trauma and the pursuit of treating its effects through clinical work. My work with APA's Division 56 Student Affairs Committee is the culmination of my studies and experiences thus far and the inspiration for continued commitment to the exploration and alleviation of trauma in youth.