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Oct 2007 Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec 2006 Nov29/06/2007: SACCS 2007 International Conference - a moving experience for practitioners
On 13/14 June SACCS held its first International Conference in London for fifteen years. In a coup for the organisation, two of the world's leading authorities on neuroscience and the impact of childhood trauma, Dr Bessel van der Kolk, Clinical Director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Dr Bruce Perry, Senior Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas, were the keynote speakers.
The conference was held at the Barbican Centre, to celebrate SACCS’ 20th anniversary as a provider of therapeutic services for traumatised children. The timely subject was ‘Working with Child Trauma and Recovery’, and delegates were welcomed to the event by Mary Walsh, Chief Executive of SACCS. The conference was then opened by Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham and a leading campaigner for early intervention in the lives of deprived children.
The main conference focus was the fascinating work being done to discover how the brain develops in infancy and childhood, including pre-birth; how trauma and neglect impact on that development, and the interventions that can provide healing for the traumatised child.
Delegate evaluations were full of words like ‘Brilliant, exceptional, mind-stretching, beautifully highlighted, presented with great sincerity and humour’. The lasting impression was that this had been an extraordinary and illuminating experience, which inspired all who attended.
We are delighted that the messages from Dr Perry and Dr van der Kolk chime directly with the Parliamentary White Paper on Looked After Children, issued in the week following the conference. The White Paper takes on board the significance of transforming lives and opportunities for children in care, and given the national focus which will now been generated by Government, we at SACCS believe this is an idea whose time has come. Early intervention and support simply make sense.
The conference was a key event in the celebration of Mary Walsh’s therapeutic work with traumatised children over 20 years. It was also a platform to launch the Mary Walsh Institute, dedicated to externalising her organisation’s practice through a programme of higher education, vocational training, publication, research and consultancy, to improve outcomes for traumatised children everywhere.
