Julian Ford, Ph.D., is a board certified clinical psychologist and tenured professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and School of Law where he is the Principal Investigator and Director of two Treatment and Services Adaptation Centers in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network: the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice and the Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders. Dr. Ford is the President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association He serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation and European Journal of Psychotraumatology. Dr. Ford has published more than 250 articles and book chapters and is the author or editor of 10 books, including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, 2nd Edition, Treating Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach and Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Scientific Foundations and Therapeutic Models. Dr. Ford is the Principal Investigator for the national Developmental Trauma Disorder Field trial research study, and developed and has conducted randomized clinical trial and effectiveness studies with the Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy (TARGET©) model for youths and adults with developmental trauma histories and complex PTSD.

Christine Courtois, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified counseling psychologist, recently retired from her clinical practice and now a consultant/trainer on trauma psychology and treatment. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Maryland Psychological Association, and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). She is a charter member and past president of APA Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) and has served two terms on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). She was the founding Associate Editor of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, & Policy and chaired the recently released APA Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of PTSD in Adults. She has received the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Professional Practice, the ISTSS Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence, and most recently the American Board of Professional Psychology Distinguished Service Award to the Profession of Psychology and the APA Division 56 Lifetime Achievement Award. She has written or co-edited ten books and numerous articles on topics of trauma and its treatment.

Kenneth Hardy, PhD, is a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and director of the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships in New York, New York. He is a frequent workshop presenter, trainer, and consultant on the topics of cultural and racial diversity, trauma and oppression.

Dr. Hardy has published prolifically and is the author of numerous articles and book chapters. He has co-authored the following books: Minorities and Family Therapy; Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions for Breaking the Cycle of Violence; and Re-Visioning Family Therapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice. His latest book is Promoting Culturally Sensitive Supervision and Training: Diverse Perspectives and Practical Applications.

Dr. Hardy is also featured in several therapy videotapes as well as a documentary devoted to slavery. His videotape, The Psychological Residuals of Slavery, has been well received by both the professional and lay communities for serving as a catalyst to promote conversations about race relationships.

Sandra Bloom, M.D., is a Board-Certified psychiatrist, graduate of Temple University School of Medicine and currently Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy at the Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University. She is also past president of the International Society for Traumatic Studies. From 1980 to 2001, Bloom was medical director of the Sanctuary programs. Her first book, Creating Sanctuary: Toward the Evolution of Sane Societies, describes the experience of Bloom and her colleagues as they learned what it means to become “trauma-informed.”

In 2005, Bloom partnered with Andrus Children’s Center to establish the Sanctuary Institute to train a wide variety of human service delivery programs in the Sanctuary model, a trauma-informed approach to organizational change. She currently serves as distinguished fellow of Andrus Children’s Center and has developed over 100 programs nationally and internationally in adopting the Sanctuary model. These programs include residential settings for children, group homes, schools, substance abuse programs, shelters, outpatient facilities, child welfare agencies and juvenile justice programs. Bloom is a past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. A new book, co-authored with Brian Farragher, chief operating officer at Andrus Children’s Center, is Destroying Sanctuary: The Crisis in Human Service Delivery, published by Oxford University Press in 2010. The third volume of the series, Restoring Sanctuary: A New Operating System for Organizations, will be published this year.

Dr. Bloom’s most recent addition to her body of work is an online organizational training and certification program, Creating Presence, aimed at developing alignment among leaders, clinicians, direct service workers, and indirect service workers who together create trauma-informed and trauma-responsive organizations and systems. She is currently working on a book that will supplement the training program. Information about Creating Presence is available at info@creatingpresence.net or 215-583-3619.