2023 Toronto Regional Conference

Early registration ends August 21, 2023.

Student registrations are reviewed and accepted upon approval. Student registrants must provide proof of current status in a related field and must submit verification by email or fax.

Please note that all fees for this event are in Canadian dollars and participants will need to pay via  the link provided in the payment screen. If you are unable to locate the link, please email ISSTD for assistance. DO NOT select the credit card or check options as these will require payment in US Dollars.

Group rates are available for groups of five or more from the same hospital, facility, or university. Please email ISSTD HQ for assistance with group rates. For groups of 5-9 the discount is 10% off registration fees, for groups of 10 or more the discount is 15% off registration fees.

If you wish to pay via wire transfer, please complete the this registration form and submit it to the Registration Department via email at cfas@isst-d.org. We will process the form and provide information for making payment once this is completed.

Cancellation Policy
Cancellations must be received in writing via email or fax. A processing fee of $45 will be charged for cancellations received on or before September 1, 2023 at 5:00 PM ET. No refunds will be issued for no-shows. Refund requests will not be accepted after September 1, 2023. Not all requests will be granted. Substitutions for attendees are accepted at any time.

Grievance Policy
ISSTD is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformation with the APA and ASWB grievance procedures.

During this conference, conference organizers, presenters and staff will address any concerns that arise. Every effort will be made to address the concerns during the conference when possible. If these individuals are unable to address the participant’s concerns, the complaints and grievances shall be presented in writing to ISSTD Headquarters at cfas@isst-d.org. These will be forwarded on for review by the Virtual and Regional Conference Committee.

Social Workers: Should social workers have a specific grievance, these grievances will be addressed by D. Michael Coy, LICSW. In situations where the social worker would have a conflict of interest, then, Christine Forner, MSW will review the grievance.

ISSTD strives to resolve grievances in a manner that is in the best interest of the participant. All complaints and grievances are reviewed within 5 working days. Formal grievances are required to be written and emailed as directed above and will be responded to within 15 business days.

Disability Policy (ADA)
We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs. Please contact ISSTD Headquarters via email at cfas@isst-d.org or via phone at 844.994.7783 for assistance.

Registration Contact Information
Email: cfas@isst-d.org
Phone: 844.994.7783
Fax: 888.966.0310

Meet our Speakers!

D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW
D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW, is a Seattle-based therapist whose focus in the integrative treatment of persons who have struggled with the effects of pre-verbal and attachment trauma, addictions/compulsions, and complex trauma and dissociative disorders. Michael is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, has intermediate training in clinical hypnosis through ASCH, and is Level I trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. He served on the Standards & Training committee of the EMDR International Association from 2014 to 2017. In 2020, he was appointed to the EMDR Council of Scholars Future of EMDR Therapy Project, Clinical Practice Working Group.

Since 2016, Michael has collaborated with Jennifer Madere and Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation developer Paul F. Dell, PhD, to make the MID more accessible to clinicians, and is co-author of the Interpretive Manual for the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation Analysis, 3rd Edition. Additionally, he manages the MID Analysis, which is the calculation program that generates MID results and is currently in version 5.0, and the MID website.

Michael currently serves as Treasurer, and in 2019 was named a Fellow, of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). Michael co-chaired the EMDR Therapy Training Task Group, which created this training.

Alana Tappin, CPsych
Dr Alana Tappin is a clinical psychologist, and the owner of a psychology clinic that specializes in psychological support for marginalized and racialized people, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dr.  Tappin earned her doctorate degree from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus in 2012 (specialization in family violence). Dr Tappin developed the idea of applying shame resilience theory (by Dr Brene Brown) to racial justice. She and her colleague Robin Schlenger, LCSW, co-developed a training series based on this idea entitled Shame Resilience and Transformational Skills for White People. She has developed a new training series entitled Addressing the Pain of Internalized Anti-Blackness and does anti-oppression and antiracism trainings for mental health professionals. Dr Tappin is a faculty member at The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy at Loyola University in Chicago. She teaches about the intersection of systems of power, oppression and the therapeutic process and leads weekly case consultations for students pursuing a postgraduate training in advanced psychotherapy.

Cassandra Harmsen
Cassandra Harmsen is a PhD student in the Clinical-Developmental Psychology program at York University, in Toronto, Canada. She obtained her BSc in psychology from McMaster University in 2014, and her MA in Clinical-Developmental Psychology from York University in 2021. As a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Robert T Muller, Cassandra’s primary research focus is understanding effective interventions for trauma survivors. Her work has been presented at various conferences, including the 40th annual ISSTD conference and she currently has two publications in review on this topic. Cassandra has other published work in the areas of Emotion Focused Family Therapy, barriers to trauma treatment for LGBTQ+ individuals, and complicated grief during COVID-19.

Cassandra has several years of experience working with children and young families in several clinical settings. She has practiced in hospitals, including the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH), and most recently at Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre (Hamilton Health Science) as an intervention practicum student. She has also worked in private practices focusing on assessing and treating youth with various presenting concerns. She uses evidence-based practices, including CBT, ACT, Family Based Therapy for eating disorders, and EFFT most prominently.

Kristina Cordeiro
Kristina is a senior PhD student in the Clinical-Developmental Psychology program at York University, in Toronto, Canada. Supervised by Dr. Robert T. Muller, her research has focused on intrafamilial trauma and attachment-based treatments for children and their families. Most recently, she’s been collaborating on a large clinical trial of the effectiveness of Emotion Focused Family Therapy for caregivers supporting children living with mental illness, and she has been studying the clinical benefits of using the Adult Attachment Interview as an add-on to therapy. Her research has been recognized by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, and she has received numerous grants in support of her research and clinical training.

Kristina has over 15 years of experience working with children and young families in educational and clinical settings and is a trained behaviour therapist. Currently a Doctoral Associate at the Family Psychology Centre, Kristina works with youth, adults and families presenting with a variety of mental health concerns, providing both assessment and treatment services. She is passionate about increasing access to effective and timely mental health services and considers the caregiver-child relationship to be a critical entry point for preventative interventions. Her hope is to affect systemic change in how we involve parents in the treatment of their children.

Rebecca Tzalazidis
Ms Tzalazidis is a doctoral candidate who is completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology through Lakehead University.  She is currently a clinical psychology resident at Bear Psychology under supervised practice with Anna Baranowsky, PhD, CPsych and Anna Kozina, MA, CPsych. Ms Tzalazidis obtained her Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from Lakehead University in 2016. She has also received an Honours BSc in Psychology (specialist) from the University of Toronto. She has completed clinical training at several locations in both Thunder Bay and Durham Region. Rebecca has experience working with individuals (adolescents and adults), couples, as well as groups.

Rebecca has received training and has experience working in the following areas:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
• Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Psychodynamic Therapy
• Trauma-focused therapy
• Mindfulness: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) & Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
• Gottman’s Couple Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

Rebecca has experience in conducting psychological testing and other types of assessments. She also has experience in writing various types of reports.

George Radosavljevic
George graduated from York University with a specialized BA, Honours in Psychology in 2019 and is an incoming Master’s student at the Clinical-Developmental Psychology program at York University, in Toronto, Canada, under the mentorship of Dr Robert Muller. George’s latest work has focused on emotional and interpersonal dialects in high-arousal personality and trauma disorders. He is particularly interested in the comorbidity between Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, as they pertain to early childhood attachment and intimate social ties. He wishes to focus his future work and studies on the effects that perceived feelings of social and intimate safety/ danger have on the arousal of preconceived attachment modalities and their effects on current and future social representations, as well as levels of emotional reactivity vs. integration in C-PTSD populations. 

In the past year, George worked with Dr Mirisse Foroughe at the Family Psychology Centre in downtown Toronto, examining adaptations of Emotion Focused Therapies using parent-infant dyad interventions to both treat current trauma symptoms, as well as prevent future intergenerational carryover of traumatic effects in youth. His career goal is to work in the community as a clinician and researcher, with a focus on Emotion Focused Family Therapies and a whole-family approach to youth treatment.

Marlee Salisbury
Marlee holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Manitoba and is currently a PhD student in the Clinical-Developmental Psychology program at York University. Her research has focused on understanding the impact of early experiences, including the parent-child relationship, on children’s emotional development and neurobiological markers of stress regulation. More recently, she has been involved in co-developing and evaluating the effectiveness of maternal mental health programs aimed at promoting positive parenting and disrupting the intergenerational transmission of chronic stress. Currently supervised by Dr Robert T. Muller in the Trauma and Attachment Lab, Marlee’s work has shifted to evaluating attachment-based therapeutic interventions for families with trauma histories, with the goal of promoting effective mental health services particularly through the caregiver-child relationship. Her research has been supported through numerous grants and fellowships, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and is published in various high impact journals including Prevention Science and Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Marlee is trained in various clinical modalities and has worked with children, families, and adults in both intervention and assessment contexts. Her recent clinical work involves facilitating community-based, trauma-focused group programs for promoting stress reduction methods and building emotional strength among adults with PTSD. Marlee is passionate about improving the efficacy and accessibility of early preventative interventions for children and families experiencing chronic stress or trauma, and she strives to involve parents actively in the treatment process. Her goal is to create lasting systemic change by strengthening the parent-child bond and improving parent mental health and support.

Additional information about each of the presentations can be found here on the conference registration page. An overview of the conference schedule can be found below.

Day One Schedule  – Thursday, September 21, 2023

Day Two Schedule – Friday, September 22, 2023

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and a world leader in such areas as business, finance, technology, entertainment and culture. Its large population of immigrants from all over the globe has also made Toronto one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

Your Guide to Local Attractions from Destination Toronto!
Attractions
Getting Around Toronto
Food and Drink

Conference Venue

Central YMCA of Toronto
20 Grovesnor Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 2V5

Travel

For information about traveling to Toronto, visit this page.

CE credit information can be found on each presentation in the conference registration site. CE credits are available for purchase for an additional fee.

American Psychological Association (APA)

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), #1744, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers.  State and provincial regulatory boards the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. ISSTD maintains responsibility for this course.  ACE provider approval period: 08/20/2021 – 08/20/2024.  

Awarding of Certificate of Credit
Continuing education credits are available for an additional fee for this event. To obtain continuing education credits, participants who have purchased credits must attend be in attendance for each session in full, sign in and out of every session and complete a session evaluation for each session attended and complete an overall evaluation. Participant attendance will be marked within two weeks of completion of the conference and participants will have until November 30, 2023 to claim their CE credits. Certificates of Credit are awarded immediately upon completion of the all requirements. An individual certificate will be generated for each individual session attended.

Financial Disclosures
All presenters, planners, editors, or staff report no relevant relationships to disclose: “I do not have at present, or within the last 12 months, nor anticipate having financial interest, arrangement or affiliation with any organizations that could be perceived as a real or apparent conflict 

Discover New Connections in Toronto!

Our conference attendees represent the leading professionals in the world of trauma and dissociation. Our conferences allow for organizations to network with and promote your organization to attendees who have traveled from around the globe to be present. As a supporter or exhibitor, you will have the unique opportunity to tap into this esteemed network of professionals. Don’t miss out on this limited opportunity to connect one on one with psychologists, social workers, counselors and other mental health professionals who use and promote the products and services you have to offer!

ISSTD Organizational Membership Available Now!
ISSTD has launched a new Organizational Membership. This membership is open to treatment facilities, hospitals, multi-clinician practices, government organizations/agencies, and colleges/universities who specialize in the treatment of complex trauma and/or dissociation. Bronze, Silver and Gold memberships include exhibit and supporter opportunities in addition to membership. For more information on benefits and prices of the Organizational Membership with ISSTD, click here!