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ISSTD is thrilled to offer our second annual webinar for the public! Join experts from a number of organizations focused on providing resources and support to individuals with dissociative disorders for a conversation specifically about how to support a loved one who experiences a dissociative disorder. 

This webinar is jointly presented by ISSTD, An Infinite Mind, Beauty After Bruises, and Blue Knot Foundation.

All proceeds from the webinar will be divided as donations among the presenting organizations. If you would like to make an additional donation to a specific organization, you can do so in the registration process.

This webinar is specifically designed for members of the general public and non-clinicians. The webinar will be recorded and the recording will be made available to all registered attendees. 

Read on for information about our speakers.

Presenters

Cathy Kezelman | Blue Knot Foundation
Dr. Cathy Kezelman AM is a medical practitioner, mental health consumer advocate, President of Blue Knot Foundation Australia’s Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma.

Cathy worked in medical practice for 20 years, mostly as a GP. Under her stewardship Blue Knot Foundation has grown from a peer support organisation to a national centre of excellence combining a prominent consumer voice with that of researchers, academics and clinicians advocating for socio-political trauma-informed change and informed responsiveness to complex trauma. She is a prominent voice in the media and at conferences, as well as author of a memoir chronicling her journey of recovery from child sexual abuse: Innocence Revisited- a tale in parts. She is co-author of multiple seminal Blue Knot Foundation documents, and a range of other articles and publications.

On Australia Day 2015 Cathy was awarded an AM "for significant service to community health as a supporter and advocate for survivors of child abuse". In 2020 Cathy and Pam Stavropoulos PhD (Head of Research) were awarded the Pierre Janet Award by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. In 2021 Blue Knot Foundation along with Australian Childhood Foundation and The Healing Foundation were selected to establish the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse.

Lexi | Beauty After Bruises
Lexi is a trauma educator, survivor outreach provider, and co-founder of Beauty After Bruises. As a survivor of highly complex trauma herself, she uses her lived experience of Dissociative Identity Disorder, as well as navigating all levels of treatment, to inform her outreach and advise clinicians, survivors and everyone with BAB. Due to the nature of her trauma story, much of her personal credentials and life identifiers maintain a level of anonymity, which has become a unique opportunity to demonstrate healthy boundaries and show one potential path concerned survivors can take in their passions.

Lexi's main focus currently is in creating clear, well-synthesized, heartfelt psychoeducation; writing articles, symptom management tools and resource guides; designing social media and web materials; and most of all bridging the gaps between all extremes necessary for trauma care. Matching well-researched data with deep heart and connection, healthy realism with flourishing hope, and compassionate awareness with real, tangible and effective change.

Anne Knisely | Beauty After Bruises
Anne Knisley is the Co-founder and Survivor Outreach Liaison for the nonprofit organization Beauty After Bruises. Beauty After Bruises directly helps survivors with Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders access the therapeutic and inpatient care they need.  BAB provides financial grants as well as bridging the many gaps in trauma care by locating specialized clinicians, educating the public on trauma and dissociation, and giving survivors themselves the tools and self-compassion needed to fight another day

Anne received her BA from York College of Pennsylvania and built her career and businesses ownership in the health and human services industry. Her life was redirected by a loved one's close and intimate battle with complex trauma, and her focus transitioned into becoming an effective support person in their life. This required a robust crash course in trauma and dissociative disorders, the bureaucracy and financial demands of the healthcare industry, and society's mistreatment of survivors. This early introduction and life milestone birthed a passion to ensure the same services reach the countless survivors that did NOT have anyone in their corner to guide them through this maze. Thus, the Beauty After Bruises initiative was born.

Today Anne mainly works one-on-one with our survivors, their therapists, and doing public education. In every role, she offers the information, skills, and self-confidence needed to proceed with strength, self-agency and the knowledge that someone has their back.

Jaime Pollack | An Infinite Mind
Jaime Pollack is the Founder and Director of An Infinite Mind, a national non-profit dedicated to
helping those living with dissociation and dissociative identities.  She volunteers on several client
focused advisory panels and gives frequent presentations at conferences and universities. She lives in Central Florida where she teaches pre-school children with special needs and works part time as an in-home early interventionist for special needs children aged birth to three.

Emma Sunshaw | System Speak Podcast
"Emma Sunshaw" (psuedonymn used for the System Speak podcast) earned her BS in Human Development, her MS in Professional Counseling, her MDiv in Pastoral Counseling, and her PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. She works as licensed clinical counselor and as a community and hospital chaplain, as well as in the role of the ISSTD Professional Training Program Administrator.  She also serves ISSTD on the Annual Conference Committee, the Communications & Marketing Committee, the Membership Committee, DID Awareness Day WorkGroup, and the United Nations WorkGroup.  She has served as secretary for the Inpatient and the Vicarious Trauma Special Interest Groups.

As a licensed clinical counselor, she has been in private practice since 2004, with additional experience in ER triage, inpatient psychiatric, residential treatment, school-based, and outpatient settings.

She is currently the international clinical coordinator for humanitarian aid organizations offering counseling and trauma resiliency training to government leaders, humanitarian aid workers, and first responders in war zones, refugee camps, and natural disaster sites.

She lectures internationally about trauma and resiliency, and she is the voice behind "System Speak: A Podcast About Dissociative Identity Disorder", which airs in 86 countries around the world thus far.

Besides numerous syndicated articles online about mental health issues, she is the author of “Me, Not-Me, and We: A Lived Experience Workbook for Phased Recovery from Complex and Relational Trauma with Dissociative Identity Response”, as well as the memoir “If Tear Were Prayers: A Life With Dissociative Identity Disorder”, both of which are available on Amazon.