Friday Luncheon Address

Perhaps no one in our field has brought so much clinical curiosity, iconoclastic spirit, and sheer chutzpah to the treatment of trauma as Bessel van der Kolk. A classically trained psychodynamic psychiatrist, van der Kolk early on challenged the therapeutic establishment’s standard method of treatment—all talk therapy, all the time. Instead, he began integrating into his practice an eclectic mix of mind-body techniques, including yoga, mindfulness, EMDR, neurofeedback, sensorimotor therapy, martial arts, and theater. His pioneering approach, once considered radical—if not scandalous—has become widely adopted, making van der Kolk one of the world’s most eminent trauma experts. The author of the bestselling The Body Keeps the Score, he’s a past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School.

In his address, van der Kolk will explore the therapeutic importance of revitalizing and energizing clients by borrowing tools from the creative arts and somatic approaches to bring people more fully into the present moment, allowing them to embrace their lives in new ways.

Approved for 1 CE hour if you register for this event.

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, is the medical director of The Trauma Center in Boston, professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, and codirector of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress Complex Trauma Network. His newest book is The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

Learning Objective: You’ll discover how to enhance a purely talk therapy approach to trauma.