My message this month is a simple one – to urge you to come to Miami!

ISTSS members’ passionate commitment to address trauma and its impact, through cutting edge research and excellence in clinical practice, is never more evident than at the Annual Meeting. I hope that you have already registered and made your travel plans for Miami in the first week of November. We need your voice and your presence. Come and be part of a vibrant and welcoming ISTSS community.

Some highlights of this year’s meeting:

  • Keynote presentations and cutting edge work on the impact of childhood trauma from neurobiology to society
  • Invited panels featuring pioneers in child trauma, and leading trauma treatment developers
  • Master Clinician and Master Methodologist sessions
  • Symposia, panels, workshops, and posters - with presenters from more than 30 countries
  • Spanish track with simultaneous translation between Spanish and English

The ISTSS Strategic Plan (Goal #4) states that “ISTSS engages its members in advancing traumatic stress science and uses research to improve prevention and clinical care, promote resilience, and inform public education and public policy.”

For nearly 30 years, the Annual Meeting, the Journal of Traumatic Stress, our newsletter Traumatic StressPoints, and our website have been the centerpieces of ISTSS’ work to achieve this goal. Several more recent initiatives complement these long-time core activities. The Global Meetings initiative is bringing an ISTSS presence to professional conferences around the world.

And ISTSS has an active and varied program of webinars and online expert trainings, with a strong focus on clinical practice. The Distance Education Committee has worked hard this year to identify compelling topics and presenters for webinars and expert trainings. I encourage you to join the many ISTSS members and others who are taking advantage of these online offerings.