Overview

Join us for a sensitive group discussion about approaches used to work with trauma that transcends individuals. This forum was first presented at the APS Festival of Psychology in 2025. While there has been an increased interest in working with collective and transpersonal forms of trauma (e.g., intergenerational trauma, cultural trauma) in recent years, it is unclear how psychologists should approach this type of trauma, whether we are addressing the same concepts or whether specific types of collective trauma should be treated differently. Many psychologists are trained to treat individual trauma but not trauma that affects groups of people or communities.

Peter will encourage participants to learn from each other about how they, other psychologists and allies work with intergenerational, transgenerational, collective, cultural and historical trauma and grapple with some of the dilemmas and conundrums that present, such as:

• What models are used to address different types of collective and transpersonal trauma (e.g., work focused on colonisation, oppression, intergenerational trauma, event-specific trauma, refugee and asylum seeker-based trauma)?
• What assumptions underpin the work?
• How does concept creep show up in this work?
• Can this be treated individually, or must it be conducted in groups?
• How are variations in individual responses catered for?
• How do we assess the quality of the work?
• Who should pay for the work?
• How does identity shape the work?
• Can psychology become part of the problem?
• What role do allies play?
• What does healing look like?
• What can psychologists learn from others about this topic?

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this event, participants should be able to:

• Distinguish between different types of transpersonal trauma
• Understand a range of different approaches that address transpersonal trauma
• Have deeper insight into some of the controversies and dilemmas related to transpersonal trauma
• Learn methods of approaching this topic with more confidence

Presenter(s)

Dr. Peter Streker

About the presenter(s)

Dr Peter Streker is a community psychologist who has more than 25 years expereince working on topics such as family violence, prevention of violence against women, anti-racism, homelessness, drugs and alcohol, street sex work and community building. Peter currently manages a workload that combines therapeutic work with training, supervision and projects that work on large scale social change. He is also working with others to explore how new technologies, such as Virtual Reality can be used to reduce violence. Peter completed his PhD on psychological and emotional abuse and has trained thousands of professionals working with complex trauma through the Blue Knot Foundation. Peter is a member of the APS National College of Community Psychology, a Senior Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and Adjunct Fellow, College of Sport, Health and Engineering at Victoria University.

Notes

Target Audience

This event is aimed at psychologists with an interest in exploring community psychology principles in working with children and their families.

Duration of Access

This event will be recorded. The recording will be emailed to all registered within 2 weeks post event and available for viewing up to 90 days.

CPD

It is up to attendees to assess and determine how learning from this event aligns with the requirements of their learning plan. The providers accordingly do not make any representation that the event counts towards attendees’ CPD learning requirements. If an attendee determines themselves that the learning they complete aligns to their learning plan, then they can decide to count those hours towards their CPD requirements for the registration cycle.

The information in this presentation has been prepared in good faith and for educational purposes only. Therefore, the information is general in nature and should not be relied upon in the treatment of any condition and you should seek your own independent professional and/or legal advice concerning any specific issue. The APS accepts no responsibility for any errors, omissions or decisions relating to the information. The content should not be reproduced without permission or unless permitted by law.

If you are experiencing registration difficulties please contact APS Events Support.