APN CLINICAL FOCUS SEMINAR

“Teaching Children to be Trauma Memory Detectives: Rescripting Trauma Narratives Associated with PTSD in Children and Teenagers”

Dr Anna McKinnon
Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice

About the 2019 seminars: The Anxiety Practitioners Network is pleased to bring you the 2019 series of Clinical Focus Seminars aimed at providing clinicians and clinical students with up to date information relating to different fields of anxiety treatment. These seminars will be run by clinicians and clinical researchers who are experts in their respective fields. All presenters will include an overview of their area, issues in assessment and measurement, current approaches to treatment, future directions in research and treatment, and some illustrative case studies.

About this seminar: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is thought to affect 5% to 25% of children and teenagers exposed to one-off traumatic events (e.g., car accident, physical assault, sexual assault). Children with PTSD re-experience pervasive, involuntary memories of their trauma. Cognitive-behavioural treatments (CBT) for PTSD have become the indicated treatment for this vulnerable population, and a critical component of treatment involves using narrative techniques to help children come to a new understanding of their trauma within the safe environment of the therapy room. Many clinicians in the community lack confidence in assessing dysfunctional aspects of trauma memory in PTSD, and then assisting the child to change their thinking about their memory. In this hands-on seminar, Dr McKinnon will explain how to use cognitive therapy to treat PTSD, with a particular focus on the use of narrative rescripting techniques for aiding the “processing” of trauma memories in children. The approach she will teach is derived from the Ehlers & Clark (2000) Cognitive Model of PTSD and was initially developed by Dr Patrick Smith (Smith et al., 2000; Meiser-Stedman et al, 2016) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. She will also briefly summarize a simple clinical formulation to use when working with children and teenagers with PTSD, explain the evidence base concerning the treatment of PTSD in this age group, and expand upon relevant clinical issues when working with this vulnerable group.

About the presenter: Dr Anna McKinnon is a Registered Clinical Psychologist based in Double Bay (www.annamckinnon.com.au) and at the Centre for Emotional Health Clinic, Macquarie University. She has extensive experience and knowledge of the treatment of PTSD in children and teenagers. Prior to coming to Sydney, she worked as a clinical psychologist at a leading trauma treatment in the UK under the supervision of leading PTSD researchers, Dr Patrick Smith (Kings College, Institute of Psychiatry), Professor Tim Dalgleish (University of Cambridge) and Dr Richard Meiser-Stedman (University of East Anglia). She also completed her PhD under the supervision of Australian trauma-expert Professor Reg Nixon (Flinders University). She has authored many articles on childhood PTSD and spoken on the topic at several local and international conferences.

Event Details

When: Friday 14th June, 2019

Time: 10am to 1pm

Where:
CRUfAD Lecture Theatre, St Vincents Hospital
Level 4, O’Brien Building, cnr Victoria St & Burton St, Darlinghurst

Cost: $55 ($33 for full-time students) plus $0.30 booking fee, includes morning tea

Registration: http://www.trybooking.com/BCNSS

Registration closes: Tuesday 11th June

Cancellation policy: No refunds, but attendee substitutions are allowed.

Further Info:
Brian O’Grady
Tel: 0412 220 145
Email: brian.ogrady@mq.edu.au