‘Critical Perspectives and Creative Responses to Experiences of Trauma and Distress’

A conference organised by the School Of Applied Social Studies AND The Catherine McAuley School Of Nursing and Midwifery, in association with the Critical Voices Network Ireland. 

14 And 15 November 2012, Brookfield Health Sciencves Complex, University College Cork, Ireland.

 Around 400 people, some having travelled from as far as Poland, Denmark and Holland, attended this year’s conference, which focused on Critical Perspectives and Creative Responses to Experiences of Trauma and Distress’. With 6 key note presentations and a choice of 36 workshops, there was a great variety for the delegates to choose from over the two days. The delegates listened with great interest to Jacqui Dillon and Eleanor Longden talking about the meaning of their voice hearing experiences, to Richard Patterson about forced psychiatry, to Mike Watts about recovery, to Phil Thomas about inequalities and to Dirk Corstens about implementing new ideas about voice hearing into Irish society. 

 The workshops covered many diverse aspects of understanding and responding to trauma and distress beyond the traditional biomedical understandings and responses. There were for example workshops on the therapeutic effects of drumming, arts and drama, working with experiences of childhood trauma, self-experiences and narratives of recovery, working with survivors of torture, open dialogue approaches, body movement awareness and somatic experiencing practices, yoga, homeopathy and ancient healing practices as responses to trauma and distress.  

 The conference ended with a very productive plenary session in which the on-going work of the Critical Voices Network Ireland (a network of people interested in considering and developing responses to human distress, which are creative, enabling, respectful and firmly grounded in human rights) was discussed and debated, with many constructive comments and suggestions.

 Feedback during and after the conference has been overwhelmingly positive, with delegates commenting that the conference has been inspiring, awesome, illuminating, exciting, insightful and helpful in encouraging to work creatively with experiences of trauma and distress.   

All in all, a very rewarding and heart-warming conference, which provided plenty of evidence of critical perspectives and creative responses to experiences of trauma and distress.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS. 

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