ESTSS4UKRAINE in collaboration with SISST – Trauma-spectrum disorders in acute and post-acute phases free webinars – April 20 & April 25, 2022

ESTSS has launched a series of webinars to bring together the professional community and present various perspectives on addressing the psychosocial and mental health needs that emerged as a result of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

ESTSS4UKRAINE

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ITALIAN SOCIETY FOR TRAUMATIC STRESS STUDIES (SISST)

TRAUMA-SPECTRUM DISORDERS IN ACUTE AND POST-ACUTE PHASES

April 20 - 17:00 CET

Webinar I - Introduction to Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)

Webinar II - Narrative Integrated Stabilization (NASTI)

Prof. Dr. Maggie Schauer, University of Konstanz (Germany) / Italian Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (SISST)/ NET The Institute / vivo international

Prof. Dr. Vittoria Ardino, University of Urbino (Italy) and Italian Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (SISST)

Webinars duration - 60 minutes.

Registrations: Webinar I here, Webinar II here

Webinar flyer here.

More information about content and speakers:

Webinar content:

Adversities and multiple exposure to traumatic stressors are the ‘building blocks’ of psychopathology for the individual, the family and the society across generations. The current flare up of war violence and conflict may cause trauma-related enduring effects; for this reason, evidence-based psychological support is a key component for sustaining the affected population in overcoming, healing and fostering resilience during and after the conflict.

This two-hour webinar offers an overview of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) - as a model of treatment - and of  Narrative Integrated Stabilization (NASTI) – as a NET-derived model of early intervention - to address the effects of war trauma both in the acute and the post-acute phases.

In the first webinar, you will be provided with the fundamentals of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET).  You will gain an overview of how the therapy is delivered, including the 3 ’steps’ of NET (assessment, lifeline, narrative exposure). Narrative exposure therapy (NET) for children, adolescents and adults is an efficient, trauma-focused, short-term psychotherapeutic treatment for survivors of multiple trauma. Within a life-span approach, it enables the integration of traumatic memories into the biographical context, activates the person's resources and allows meaning-making and corrective relationship experiences. The cross-cultural approach is straightforward and can be deployed by academic professionals as well as trained local counsellors in resource poor contexts and emergency settings within ‘screen and treat’- and cascade models of stepped care.  In NET, survivors individually and collectively, are supported to give words to injustice, to testify to human rights violations and thereby regain dignity, and satisfy the need for acknowledgement.

In the second webinar, NASTI will be presented. Integrated Narrative Stabilization is an early intervention that was developed for acute phases and ongoing traumatic situations, including violence-based adversities. NASTI is a stepped-care protocol based on NET aetiological model. During the intervention individuals learn strategies to regulate somatically and to explore the forming traumatic networks and the potential connections amongst network elements without going through imaginative exposure. In so doing, NASTI contrasts the fracture between hot and cold memory. A shorter lifeline and the narrative are also collected and transcribed.

Webinar speakers:

PD Dr. Maggie SCHAUER, Psychotraumatologist, University of Konstanz, vivo international & NET Institute. Her research and professional field is multiple and complex traumatization as well as transgenerational consequences of violence and neglect. Dr. Schauer works with children and adult survivors of physical and sexual violence, disasters and wars. 

Together with Thomas Elbert and Frank Neuner she has developed Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) for the treatment of trauma-spectrum disorders. Schauer has coordinated therapy and aid projects in war and crisis regions, in refugee camps after humanitarian and natural disasters and in demobilization projects for child soldiers. She worked with survivors of torture and human rights violations in their countries of origin and in their exile countries with refugees and asylum seekers. She is a founding member of vivo international (www.vivo.org), an NGO for the prevention and treatment of traumatic stress, which serves as a bridge between science and field research. Schauer is also a founding member and on the advisory board of the Babyforum, a network of specialists for the care of pregnant women, preventive care for children and early childhood care. Since 2022 she has been appointed to the board of directors of the Italian Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (SISST). In 2015 Schauer received the August Forel Prize, Ellikon, Switzerland, as well as the Jaap-Chrisstoffels guest professorship of the University of Amsterdam. In 2016, Maggie Schauer together with Thomas Elbert was awarded the Carl-Friedrich-von-Weizsäcker Prize of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina.  

Prof. Dr. Vittoria Ardino, Psychotraumatologist, University of Urbino and Catholic University of Milan, President of the Italian Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (SISST), ESTSS Board Member. She has been working in the field of trauma for many years with a major focus on the intersection between clinical research and policy strategies. She lectured for many years in the UK; currently, she is an adjunct faculty member of both the University of Urbino and the Catholic University, where she teaches psychotraumatology and emergency psychology. In recent years her research focused on the effects of trauma-informed-care implementation on the health and social care system. She developed the Integrated Narrative Exposure Stabilization (NASTI), an early intervention protocol based on NET, which is now implemented in many social services in Italy. She consults for many local health authorities and regions to implement TIC in the Italian territory and to implement interventions for refugees and migrants. She also contributed to the dissemination of NET in Italy offering training nationally. She published many scientific papers and two books about childhood trauma.