Center for Trauma & Embodiment's leadership team welcomes you to our fifth annual International Conference on Trauma & Embodiment.

In 2015, Tiaki was searching for the key to achieving transformative change for Māori. He was guided by elders to uncover the ancient practice of rites of passage, a cornerstone of Māori culture that was almost entirely abandoned over 100 years earlier due to colonial suppression. Tiaki shares the incredible success story of Poutama Rites of Passage Trust and powerful indigenous wisdom that enables the healing of intergenerational trauma and transformation of identity.

Explore how to incorporate Ngardi Guwanda, an Australian First Nations Healing practice of deep listening, into supporting Plural Communities (people with lived experience of dissociative identity disorder) and other survivors of complex developmental trauma. We'll also discuss how to utilise this experiential practice for yourself and the people you support.

Explore the intersection of neurodiversity and trauma, and what best-practice care looks like in this space.  Learning goals include: developing a foundational understanding of why neurodivergent people are more likely to experience trauma; understanding what neurodiversity-affirming care involves; and strategies that integrate neurodiversity-affirming care and trauma-informed care to create a safe healing environment.

This presentation explores the effectiveness of process- and mindfulness-based third wave psychotherapies, including mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and trauma-sensitive yoga (TSY). Evidence from systematic review, meta-analysis and empirical studies has supported the effectiveness of these third-wave psychotherapies.

Join CFTE co-founder and co-director, Dave Emerson, for a short, seated session that will offer some opportunities to engage and connect with your body at the start of the program. Effort will be made to make the forms available and accessible to all.

In this talk, audience members are invited to imagine what it would feel like to approach trauma and equity-related work in sustainable ways. Drawing upon empirical research in management and diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Johnson will outline the persisting problem of over-work, suggesting that it is historically and inherently related to inequitable and unjust systems. As a solution, Dr. Johnson (a) offers a healing framework centered on principles of rest, equity, and social justice and (b) guides participants to outline ways to shift their work cultures by being and modeling the restful change they wish to see.

Dr. Owen-Smith will share initial  findings from a multi-year research project with male-identified youth in locked correctional facilities in the United States as well as some lessons learned about offering therapeutic yoga in this setting.

This session is valid for 1 Yoga Alliance CE and 4 CEs from International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

We the Mindful launched a TCTSY pilot program centered on self-determination, community-based power, and agency over the healing process with on-the-ground experts from Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. Our program delivers TCTSY to women and children in the Near East despite the current state of affairs in these regions. Together, we will address the challenges of supporting trauma healing while trauma is ongoing. Please note for the protection of all our participants, this session will not be recorded.

This session is valid for 4 CEs from International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

Research is showing people who have experienced trauma of various types are most likely to have at least 1 chronic illness, further exacerbated by healthcare inequity. Dr. Hazly shares her work addressing the trauma-chronic disease connection in underserved communities with culturally inclusive, trauma-informed, integrative health education and services and through creating community-based collaborations that focus on healing the body, mind, and spirit of people who have experienced ongoing trauma and are coping with the challenges of compromised mental and physical health.

This session will explore integrating art therapy techniques with TCTSY. Participants will learn the benefit of art therapy in trauma treatment and how integrating TCTSY with artmaking might offer visual evidence for interoception and choice-making. A case presentation will offer an example of this integration.

The long-term negative health consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) pose a significant public health concern, and there is a limitation of effective interventions that address them holistically. Promising evidence points to the effects of yoga and mindfulness on the mind and body. We will explore the phenomenological experiences of twelve adults who participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the key mechanisms of change that the participants drew from yoga and applied to their healing process.

This session is valid for 1 Yoga Alliance CE and 4 CEs from International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

ReScripted is a trauma-informed intervention developed for youth who have experienced one or more traumatic events. ReScripted is anchored in embodiment practices that utilize the power of play, improvisation, and movement to promote the development of a whole healthy self. For those of you who choose this breakout session, we will be engaging in interactive and experiential activities. There will be a variety of levels of participation offered.

Bomba is an Afro-Caribbean music and dance developed in Puerto Rico almost 4 centuries ago. This social genre was used, and is still used, as a way of healing oppression, colonization, racism and slavery. Together, drum vibration and body movement become a powerful tool of reconnecting with yourself to heal and liberate! Through this workshop, we will learn the historical context of Bomba, analyze the way of connecting through vibration and harmonizing our bodies reclaiming the power of our Ancestry.

Researchers Sevcan and Yelina have adapted TCTSY to Turkish culture in a study at Istanbul Bilgi University Trauma and Disaster Mental Health Program in Türkiye. Titled "The effectiveness of 10-week online Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) sessions on interoceptive awareness and depression, anxiety, stress scores" it aims to increase the interoceptive awareness of the individuals and accordingly to decrease the depression, anxiety and stress scores significantly.

This session is valid for 1 Yoga Alliance CE and 4 CEs from International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

During this breakout, we will discuss current empirical available data on complex trauma specifically in the context of chronic pain. Maria will share her experience with implementing TCTSY in this setting drawing both from available scientific data and case studies.

The world feels relentlessly heavy at times and it can feel seemingly impossible to transform our pain, rage, confusion and heartbreak. The reality is, we lift heavy things all the time, but the opportunity may be for us to collectively experience how lifting heavy things with intention (weight lifting) may just be a liberatory practice. Join us as we explore, experiment and embody how approaching the world/life/barbell/dumbell/insert-heavy-thing in a trauma informed way better prepares us for healing and the resistance.