Oxford Trauma Conference 2024

Linda Thai (she/her), LMSW, is a trauma therapist, educator and consultant who specializes in cutting edge brain- and body-based modalities and incorporates consideration of issues pertaining to the impact of oppressive systems upon identity, mental health and wellbeing, and the invisibilized wounds of racial trauma and attachment trauma. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who is not only redefining what it means to be Vietnamese, to be Australian, and to be a United States-ian, she is redefining what it means to be wounded, whole, and a healer. Linda is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma at the individual and community levels and deeply believes in the healing power of coming together in community to share stories, to sing, and to grieve.

Frank Anderson, MD, is a world-renowned trauma expert, Harvard-trained psychiatrist, global speaker, and acclaimed best-selling author of Transcending Trauma. Dr Anderson has a long affiliation with Bessel van der Kolk at the Trauma Research Foundation and is a lead trainer at the IFS-Institute under Richard Schwartz. He passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with cutting edge models of therapy.

Dr. Anderson believes that traumatic events can have a lasting effect on the health and well-being of individuals and that addressing these events will help lead people down a path of hope, love, and forgiveness. He is the director and cofounder of the Trauma Institute (traumainstitute.com) and Trauma-Informed Media (trauma-informedmedia.com), organizations that provide educational resources and promote trauma awareness. As a result of his early childhood experiences and personal journey transformation, he is dedicated to bringing more compassion, unity, and trauma healing to the world. He splits his time between Boston and Los Angeles where he lives with his husband and two sons.

Follow him at FrankAndersonMD.com and on Instagram at frank_andersonmd.

Ruth Cohn is a psychotherapist living and practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been specializing in work with survivors of trauma and neglect, their intimate partners and families since 1988. She is a Certified Sex Therapist, certified in Neurofeedback, EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Imago Relationship Therapy.

Ruth is also the author of numerous articles on sexuality, trauma and neglect and three books: Working With the Developmental Trauma of Childhood Neglect: Using Psychotherapy and Attachment Theory Techniques in Clinical Practice, Coming Home to Passion: Restoring Loving Sexuality in Couples With Histories of Childhood Trauma and Neglect, and Out of My Mind: Late Night Contemplations About Trauma and Neglect.

Ruth came of age as a therapist in the early 1980’s when the recent Women’s Liberation Movement had just brought violence against women and children squarely into the public eye. Particularly sexual violence, a long taboo was finally becoming exposed. Obviously, it has gone in and out of the shadows since then, but that was an important “outing” that rapidly determined the direction of her work as a therapist.

Dan Siegel is the execu4ve director of the Mindsight Ins4tute and founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, where he was also Co-Principal Inves4gator of the Center for Culture, Brain and Development and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine.

An award-winning educator, Dan is the author of five New York Times bestsellers and over fiIeen other books which have been translated into over forty languages. As the founding editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology (“IPNB”), Dan has overseen the publica4on of one hundred books in the transdisciplinary IPNB framework which focuses on the mind and mental health.

A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dan completed his postgraduate training at UCLA specializing in pediatrics, and adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry. He was trained in aRachment research and narra4ve analysis through a Na4onal Ins4tute of Mental Health research training fellowship focusing on how rela4onships shape our autobiographical ways of making sense of our lives and influence our development across the lifespan

The author of four books, including the recent New York Times bestseller Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship, Terry knows how to lead people on a step-by-step journey to greater intimacy and personal fulfillment.

His revolutionary approach to couples therapy, Relational Life Therapy, underpins all his books, courses, and teachings. RLT equips people with the powerful relational skills they need to make love work and cultivate authentic connections—to themselves, each other, and the planet as a whole.

A former senior faculty member of the Family Institute of Cambridge in Massachusetts and a retired Clinical Fellow of the Meadows Institute in Arizona, Terry has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and fellow therapists. His extraordinary ability to save couples on the brink of divorce garnered Terry the reputation of “the turnaround guy,” and demand from other therapists to learn his RLT method skyrocketed.

David Nutt is a psychiatrist and the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in Imperial College London and Chief Research Officer of Awaknlifesciences. He is currently Founding Chair of the charity DrugScience.org.uk and has been president of the European Brain Council, the BAP, BNA, and ECNP. David has published 35 books and over 1000 research papers that define his many landmark contributions to psychopharmacology including GABA and noradrenaline receptor function in anxiety disorders, serotonin function in depression, endorphin and dopamine function in addiction and the neuroscience and clinical utility of psychedelics. Some of this has been made into films e.g. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8661404 on Netflix and https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w7bq on the BBC and a play https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43887749-all-you-need-is-lsd . He broadcasts widely to the general public on pharmacology and psychiatric matters, has over 60k followers on twitter and has his own very popular podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-drug-science-podcast/id1474603382 .

David’s publications are on https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.nutt/publications.html

Monnica Williams, Ph.D. is a board-certified, licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapies. She is a full tenured Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities, and Director of the Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities. She is the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Connecticut, and Behavioural Wellness Clinic in Ottawa. She has also founded outpatient clinics in Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, including a mental health clinic for refugees.

Dr Rola Hallam is an award-winning doctor, trauma-informed life coach, campaigner, speaker, social entrepreneur, and humanitarian. Rola is sought after as a transformational speaker who has shared global stages with presidents, celebrities and grassroots activists. Her online talks have been viewed over 11 million times, inspiring thousands to become changemakers.

She has been honored with several awards and is also the first Syrian TED Fellow and founder of CanDo – a humanitarian organization supporting frontline health and aid workers to save children’s lives in their war-devastated communities. She has helped build 7 hospitals in Syria, including the first ever crowdfunded hospital, all together reaching over 4 million people.

An advocate for the protection of healthcare, healthcare workers and civilians in conflict, she has shared global stages with presidents, celebrities and grassroots activists and her work has featured in most media from the New York Times to The Daily Show including two BBC documentaries. Her online talks have been seen over 11 million times, inspiring thousands.

Her latest TEDX talk From Clever to Wise. How healing our traumas heals the world shows what Rola’s mission is about.