Linda A. Curran, BCPC, LPC, CAC-D, CCDPD, EMDR-C, sought after national trainer, best-selling author and film producer, has trained thousands of mental health clinicians across the country on trauma treatment. She is President of Integrative Trauma Treatment, LLC, in Havertown, PA. With advanced degrees in both clinical psychology and public health, Linda is a Board Certified, Licensed Professional Counselor; Certified Addiction Counselor Diplomate; Certified Co-Occurring Professional Diplomate; Certified Gestalt Therapist; Certified Neurofeedback Practitioner; Certified Hypnotherapist; and Level II EMDR Practitioner.

International speaker on the treatment of trauma, author of both Trauma Competency: A Clinicians Guide and 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions, Linda has developed, produced, and presents multi-media workshops on all aspects of psychological trauma. Her latest projects include the completion of www.trauma101.com (an extensive trauma resource for clinicians and clients alike), along with nine completed video projects for The Master Clinician Series. Linda continues to advocate for accessible, coherent, integrative trauma treatment for all those affected by trauma.

Dr. Sue Johnson, is an author, clinical psychologist, researcher, professor, popular presenter and speaker and a leading innovator in the field of couple therapy and adult attachment. Sue is the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy (EFT), which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 30 years of peer-reviewed clinical research.

Sue Johnson is founding Director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) and Distinguished Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California, and Professor, Clinical Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Canada, as well as Professor Emeritus, Clinical Psychology, at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Dr. Johnson is the author of numerous books and articles including Attachment Theory in Practice: EFT with Individuals, Couples and Families (2019), The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection (3rd edition, 2019), and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002).

Sue trains behavioral health providers in EFT worldwide and consults to the over 75 international institutes and affiliated centers who practice EFT. She also consults to Veterans Affairs and the U.S. and Canadian militaries.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Sue Johnson has employment relationships with University of British Columbia, Campbell & Fairweather Psychology Group, Alliant International, University Ottawa, Couple and Family Institute, and the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Johnson receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Sue Johnson serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Family Therapy (AJFT) and the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research & Practice.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Peter Levine is the founder and president of the Ergos Institute of Somatic Education, the president and editorial director of Ergos Institute Press, and receives a consulting fee from the Meadows Addiction Center. He receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Levine receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Peter Levine is a senior clinical fellow and advisor to the Meadows Addiction Treatment Center. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Humanistic Psychological Association, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Terry Real, LICSW, is an Internationally Recognized Family Therapist, Speaker and Author. Terry founded the Relational Life Institute (RLI), offering workshops for couples, individuals and parents around the country along with a professional training program for clinicians wanting to learn his RLT (Relational Life Therapy) methodology.

A family therapist and teacher for more than 25 years, Terry is the best-selling author of I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression (Scribner), the straight-talking How Can I Get Through to You? Reconnecting Men and Women (Scribner), and most recently The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Make Love Work (Random House). Terry knows how to lead couples on a step-by-step journey to greater intimacy — and greater personal fulfillment.

A senior faculty member of the Family Institute of Cambridge in Massachusetts and a retired Clinical Fellow of the Meadows Institute in Arizona, Terry has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and fellow therapists. Through his books, the Institute, and workshops around the country, Terry helps women and men, parents and non-parents, to help them create the connection they desire in their relationships.

Terry’s work, with its rigorous commonsense approach, speaks to both men and women. His ideas on men’s issues and on couple’s therapy have been celebrated in venues from the “Good Morning America”, “The Today Show” and “20/20”, to “Oprah” and The New York Times.

A proponent of “full-throttle marriage,” as described in The New Rules of Marriage, Terry has been called “the most innovative voice in thinking about and treating men and their relationships in the world today.”

The New York Times Book Review described Terry’s work as: “A critical contribution to feminist psychology (that) brings the Men’s movement a significant step forward.” Robert Bly hailed it as “moving onto new ground in both story and song. Exhilarating in its honesty.”

Terry’s Relational Life Institute grew out of his extensive and empathic experience. He teaches people how to make their relationships work by providing products and services designed to teach the principles of Relational Life™, so that everyone can enjoy full respect living and craft a healthy life legacy.

Diane Poole Heller, PhD, is an internationally-recognized speaker, author, and expert in the field of attachment theory and trauma resolution. She developed a signature series on adult attachment called DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience), that facilitates more fulfilling adult relationships.

In 1989, she began working with Dr. Peter Levine, teaching for 25 years for SEI.

She's authored 3 books: Crash Course, on auto accident trauma; Healing Your Attachment Wounds: How to Create Deep and Lasting Relationships; and The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships. Her film, "Surviving Columbine," supported community healing after the Columbine High School shootings.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Diane Poole Heller has an employment relationship with Trauma Solutions. She is a published author and receives royalties. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Diane Poole has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, is a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of post-traumatic stress. His work integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.

Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development, memory, and the psychobiology of trauma. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles on such diverse topics as neuroimaging, self-injury, memory, neurofeedback, Developmental Trauma, yoga, theater, and EMDR. 

He is founder of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts and President of the Trauma Research Foundation, which promotes clinical, scientific, and educational projects. 

His 2014 #1 New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma, transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring – specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, somatically based therapies, EMDR, psychodrama, play, yoga, and other therapies.

Dr. van der Kolk is the past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School. He regularly teaches at conferences, universities, and hospitals around the world.

Louis Cozolino, PhD, is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and maintains a clinical and consulting practice in West Los Angeles. He is the author of Attachment-Based Teaching: Creating a Tribal Classroom, The Social Neurosience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom, The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, The Making of a Therapist, The Neuroscience of Human Relationships, and The Healthy Aging Brain, all from W.W. Norton. 

Dr. Cozolino holds degrees in Philosophy (State University of New York, Stony Brook), Theology (Harvard University), and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. He speaks internationally on neuroscience and education.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Louis Cozolino is faculty at Pepperdine University and maintains a private practice. Mr. Cozolino has books published by W. W. Norton. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Louis Cozolino is a member of the American Neuropsychiatric Association (ANPA), International Society for the Study of Dissociative Identity Disorder and Dissociation (ISSDID), Society for Research in Psychopathology (SRP), International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), and Los Angeles County Psychological Association (LACPA).

Lance Dodes, M.D., is a Training and Supervising Analyst with the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is Chair of the annual discussion group The Patient with Addiction in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at the winter meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Dodes has been honored by the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School for "Distinguished Contribution" to the study and treatment of addictive behavior.

Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA, is a recognized expert in the strengths-based, de-pathologized treatment of trauma and has been in private practice for over 35 years. She presents workshops and keynote addresses nationally and internationally, and is a clinical consultant to practitioners and mental health agencies in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Ireland.

She has been an adjunct faculty member at several universities, and is the founder of “The Ferentz Institute,” now in its 12th year of providing continuing education to mental health professionals and graduating over 1,600 clinicians from her two certificate programs in Advanced Trauma Treatment.

In 2009, she was voted the “Social Worker of Year” by the Maryland Society for Clinical Social Work. Lisa is the author of Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors: A Clinician’s Guide, 2nd Edition (Routledge, 2014), Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors: A Workbook of Hope and Healing (Routledge, 2014), and Finding Your Ruby Slippers: Transformative Life Lessons From the Therapist’s Couch (PESI, 2017). Lisa also hosted a weekly radio talk show, writes blogs and articles for websites on self-harm and self-care, and teaches on many webinars.

Gabor Maté, MD, is a renowned speaker and bestselling author. Dr. Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress and childhood development.

His Compassionate Inquiry approach draws from his professional work as a physician as well as his personal experience, having suffered trauma as an infant in Nazi-occupied Hungary, and his adult struggles with behavioral addictions, depression, and an ADHD diagnosis.

As an author, Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books published in more than 20 languages on five continents, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: Exploring The Stress/Disease Connection; and his newest book, The Myth of Normal.

Among other honors, Dr. Maté has received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University, and the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction.

"Trauma is not what happens to us. It’s what happens inside of us as a result of what happens to us.”

Mary Lou is a clinical psychologist, working with individuals and couples and supervising therapists in her Bala Cynwyd, PA, practice. She received her PhD in Psychology from Temple University and has been training therapists in experiential methods for more than 30 years. She herself trained in Gestalt Therapy with James Simkin, Isadore From, Laura Perls, and Erving and Miriam Polster. She is, with the late Joyce Lewis, one of the founders of GTIP. Mary Lou's current areas of theoretical interest include mutuality and connection in relationships, the experience of time, scapegoating phenomena, body/mind functioning, forgiveness, and the healing of early psychological wounds.