THE TRAUMATISED CHILD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Symptoms, consequences and treatment
Location: The Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark

Traumatised children are likely to become troubled citizens recent research on the neural impact of trauma in children suggests neural changes that have a negative effect on learning and concentration abilities. The human response to psychological trauma is not only one of the most important public health problems in the world; it is also increasingly a significant societal issue in Western societies.

A global conference focusing explicitly on this problem will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 8 th and 9 th of February 2007, chaired by the most prominent expert in the field, Professor Bessel van der Kolk / Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts USA: "Severe and prolonged childhood trauma has particularly dire consequences: Compared with normals, people with histories of severe child maltreatment showed a 4 to 12 times greater risk of developing alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide attempts." – Bessel van der
Kolk.

Van der Kolk will be accompanied by other recognised leaders in specialised fields, including Jorge Barudy (Spain/Chile/ Belgium), Peter Berliner Denmark), Anne Bovbjerg (Denmark), Steven Gross (USA), Arlene Healy United Kingdom), Ernesto Anasarias (The Philippines), Natan P.F. Kellermann (Israel), Robert Macy ( Boston USA), Jesper Mogensen (Denmark), Stephen Regel (UK), Joseph Spinazzola (USA).

These speakers will focus on how to make efficient community strategies as well as methods of treatment and research in the field. As the severe consequences of traumatisation in early childhood is more and more recognised in society the need of efficient treatment and accurate diagnosing is more and more evident. The conference is organized by the Danish Red Cross's Centre for Psychotrauma and is supported by the Egmont Foundation as well as Copenhagen University, Faculty of Social Sciences (Department of Psychology).

Registration for the conference can be made on www.childrentrauma.dk

If you'd like more detailed information about this conference, or to schedule an interview with one of the speakers, please call Christian Toft on +45 21 76 09 72 or email him at Tchild@redcross.dk