History of the Annual Trauma & Dissociation Conference

Each year trauma team members invite world class speakers to the Ottawa area to provide up to date expertise for health care professionals in the diagnosis and management of psychological disorders with a focus on posttraumatic stress and dissociative disorders.

The first conference was held in May, 1990 at the Royal Ottawa Hospital in collaboration with the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation (ISSMP&D). Dr. George Fraser was at that time the vice president of ISSMP&D and in that role his task was to arrange that society's annual spring meeting of executive members. He decided to make the group truly international by holding the meeting outside the USA (where it had been since its origin in 1984) and expanded the conference into a 3-day event. The idea was accepted and ISSMP&D (now the International Society for the Study of Dissociation – ISSD www.issd.org) had its first meeting outside of USA. ISSD has subsequently hosted two similar spring meetings in Amsterdam.

Speakers at that 1990 meeting included Philip Coons, Walter Young, and Catherine Fine. The conference was received with such enthusiasm by attendees that a decision was made to continue with annual conferences in Ottawa, Canada, though independent of ISSD. The annual tradition has continued and this year we are hosting the 19th annual conference at The Westin Hotel!

The caliber of speakers at the conferences has remained world class. Past speakers have included Daniel Brown, Richard Kluft, David Spiegel, Colin Ross, Bessel van der Kolk, John Curtis, Donna Curtis, John O'Neil, Su Baker, Marlene Hunter, Sue Johnson, Randal Marshall, Rachel Yehuda, Claire Pain, Alexander MacFarlane, Colin Ross, Major Rakesh Jetly, Diane McIntosh, Anna Salter, Massey Beveridge, Ellert Nijenhuis, Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau, Matthew Friedman, and LGEN Roméo Dallaire as well as team members of the Ottawa Anxiety and Trauma Clinic and the Operational Trauma and Stress Support Centre (Ottawa).

The mission of the trauma conference team is to continue to bring excellent clinical teachers and researchers to the Ottawa area to provide health care professionals with an opportunity to learn from leaders in the field of trauma and dissociation. This year’s conference is in the Spring (May 24th & 25th, 2008) and features Dr. David Spiegel from Stanford University. Dr. Spiegel is a world-renowned leader in the trauma field and a pioneer in trauma-based therapy within psychiatry and in the general field of medicine. We look forward seeing you in Ottawa in May 2008.