Next year we celebrate 30 years of ESTSS, a European union within the traumatic stress field.
ESTSS was formally launched in 1993, at the Third European Conference on Traumatic Stress held in Bergen (Norway). A founding Board of Directors met and elected Wolter de Loos (Netherlands) as the first president of the ESTSS. In memory of his commitment to the European traumatic stress field, ESTSS hands out the Wolter de Loos Award for outstanding contribution to the traumatic stress field biennially.
2019 Wolter de Loos Award goes to Prof. Miranda Olff
Over the past 30 years, the society has undergone several changes and developments. After her first 10 years, ESTSS grew into an umbrella organization for regional or language-specific societies. Local members automatically became ESTSS members and so the benefits of membership, access to expertise and international networks, became much more widespread. As of this year, ESTSS unites thirteen regional societies and over twenty affiliate societies in traumatic stress.
At the heart of ESTSS are the biennial conferences, which have been hosted by local societies all over the European continent. Besides their outstanding academic and clinical content and accessible and collegiate atmosphere, the conferences celebrate the couleur locale and the cultural differences and uniqueness within our union.
Reception by the Rotterdammayor (June 2019)
Foremost, ESTSS strives to set the standard for professional practice within the traumatic stress field and to enable members and societies to qualify for those standards. In 2007 the General Certificate in Psychotraumatology was issued and from 2016 ESTSS offers quality certification for local certification programs at a European standard of care in the aftermath of severely disruptive events.
ESTSS is tremendously proud of our academic journal, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, that celebrated her 10year anniversary 2 years ago. The journal is the leading 100% open access peer-reviewed journal in the traumatic stress field with a current impact factor of 5.783. At ESTSS we are also very proud to be able to offer our members a 50% discount on article publication fees, a major advancement in accessibility for underrepresented scholars to publish their work.
Annually, ESTSS organizes a range of events and activities, smaller and larger, with increasing use of remote technology, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Webinars and online lectures are available to members and the general public, and thanks to recordings can be used as learning materials. As a society we embrace the ease of access and networking possibilities through technology. At the same time, we are very happy to be able to meet in person again, and look forward to the long-awaited conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14-17 June 2023!
Belfast 2023 promotional video
In 2023 we will reflect on our rich 30 year history with the people who contributed to the society and who helped build her and made her grow. Keep your eye on our newsletters and social media to stay informed!
