Overview

The APS Central Coast Branch is pleased to announce a special professional development series focused on the formulation and treatment of complex trauma in clinical settings.

This first-of-its-kind series for the Central Coast Branch which brings together five highly regarded clinicians and researchers for an in-depth exploration of complex trauma and its intersection with personality disorders, dissociation, and psychosis. Across four sessions, participants will engage in a rich, theoretically grounded and clinically practical "deep dive" into trauma — guided by leading experts in the field.

Schedule:

Learning Outcomes

Session 1. A Trauma Informed Understanding of Personality Disorders. (Dr Erika Penney & Dr Mikaela Tracy)

Overview of Professional Development: Many clients who meet criteria for personality disorder diagnoses carry histories of chronic early trauma, attachment disruption, and adverse childhood experiences. This session invites clinicians to look beyond diagnostic labels and consider how personality disorder presentations can be understood as adaptive responses to overwhelming early experience. Drawing on trauma-informed and schema-based frameworks, participants will explore how a complex trauma lens can shift clinical thinking, reduce stigma, and open up new pathways for compassionate and effective treatment. 

 Learning outcomes: 

• Identify how personality disorder presentations can be better understood as adaptive responses to chronic early trauma and attachment disruption
• Recognise how trauma-informed and schema-based frameworks support compassionate and effective intervention
• Apply a complex trauma lens to case conceptualisation for clients with personality disorder diagnoses

Session 2. Recognising, Assessing and Treating Trauma-Related Dissociative Disorders. (Ms. Kate McMaugh )

Overview of Professional Development: This presentation will provide an introduction to dissociation and the dissociative disorders. It will cover recognising dissociative symptoms in therapy, an overview of screening and assessment, and a brief overview of key treatment principles. While this presentation will cover the spectrum of dissociative presentations, there will be a particular emphasis on treatment of identity fragmentation and alteration, as seen in OSDD and DID. Additionally, there will be a focus on working with late adolescents and adult populations. Kate will illustrate the presentation with several clinical examples. There will be time for questions after the presentation and Kate will also provide a list of useful resources and trainings that are available for those who wish to follow up with some additional learning.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the theoretical concepts, history and prevalence of trauma-related dissociation.
• Identify the ways in which dissociative disorders show up in the clinical space and process.
• Describe key screening and diagnostic tools and processes.
• Understand the general principles and approaches to treating dissociative disorders, particularly the disorders of OSDD and DID, of which a key feature is identity confusion and alteration.
• Identify pathways for further learning and professional supports

Session 3.  Working with complex trauma in transdiagnostic voice hearers and psychosis, using both Imagery Rescripting and parts work (Schema Therapy). (Dr Georgie Paulik-White) 

Overview of Professional Development: Distressing voice hearing is often linked to complex trauma, yet many clinicians feel uncertain about how to safely and effectively work with trauma-related material in people with psychosis and voice hearing experiences. This presentation will provide an overview of emerging trauma-informed approaches for transdiagnostic voice hearers, focusing on the use of Imagery Rescripting and Schema Therapy parts work. Clinical formulations, case examples, and practical considerations will be discussed, including how imagery, voices, trauma memories, dissociation and schema modes can interact to maintain distress. The presentation will highlight current evidence, clinical applications, and future directions for integrating these approaches into routine practice.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the relationship between complex trauma, voice hearing, and dissociation from a formulation-driven perspective.
• Describe the rationale and key principles of Imagery Rescripting when working with distressing voices and trauma-related experiences.
• Explain how Schema Therapy parts work and schema modes can be applied to transdiagnostic voice hearers.
• Identify practical clinical considerations, benefits, and challenges when integrating trauma-focused interventions into psychosis treatment.

Session 4. Treating complex developmental trauma in a clinical setting. Formulation and intervention of 2 complex cases. (Ms. Heather Irvine-Rundle​)

Overview of Professional development: This seminar provides clinicians with a case-based professional development opportunity to deepen their understanding of complex developmental PTSD through the formulation and intervention of two detailed clinical cases, integrating polyvagal, attachment, EMDR, and TF-CBT frameworks.

Learning Outcomes:

• Describe the diagnostic criteria and clinical presentation of complex developmental PTSD (cPTSD)
• Apply trauma-informed theoretical frameworks, including polyvagal theory, attachment theory, TF-CBT, and EMDR,  to case formulation
• Formulate two complex trauma presentations considering developmental context, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and symptom clusters
• Identify evidence-based intervention pathways and sequence treatment phases across both cases
• Recognise the clinical impact of early-onset OCD, chronic sexual abuse, and sibling abuse on developmental trajectories. Reflect on ethical considerations and self-care in working with complex trauma clients

Presenter(s)

About the presenter(s)

Dr. Erika Penney is the Principal of Schema Therapy & Supervision Australia and an ISST accredited Advanced Schema Therapist, with expertise in Trauma-Informed clinical supervision and education. She currently serves as the President of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association and recently served as a Senior Academic with UTS Clinical Psychology and continues as a UTS Honorary Academic working on AI and digital tool projects in mental health. Erika is an invited consultant for the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Digital Mental Health Tools Group. She is a nationally recognised educator with two UTS Vice Chancellor Teaching Awards and an AAUT national teaching award citation for outstanding contributions to student learning.

Dr. Mikaela Tracy is a Research Fellow with Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders at the University of Wollongong and a Clinical Psychologist working in private practice. She is an Honorary Research Fellow with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and an Adjunct Clinical Lecturer within the University of Notre Dame Australia's School of Medicine.  Prior to completing her postdoctoral training at the Institute for Innovative Solutions for Wellbeing (INSIGHT) at UTS, she coordinated the research program at Uspace, St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney.  Mikaela’s research expertise lies in the assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders and related challenges. Her clinical and research interests focus on improving evidence-based assessment methods and interventions for people living with personality disorder and their support systems.

Ms. Kate McMaugh is a clinical psychologist whose main clinical is providing assessment and treatment to people with complex trauma, dissociative disorders, vicarious trauma and birth trauma. She also provides training, case consultation and clinical supervision to other health professionals working with complex trauma and dissociative disorders. Kate has published articles on the history of the false memory movement, trauma and disability, DID, incestuous abuse, and childbirth trauma. She has recently completed research into therapists’ experiences of working with clients who have experienced incestuous abuse which has continued into adulthood. She is currently expanding on this research for her doctorate program at the University of NSW. She regularly presents on topics related to complex trauma, DID and organised abuse to Australian and International audiences. In addition to her clinical work, Kate has held several leadership positions within the International Society for Trauma and Dissociation, has been a long-term editor of their membership newsletter, and is the recipient of several Society awards. In addition to her psychology training Kate also has a background in public health, health promotion and program evaluation. She continues to be involved in several public health and health promotion projects through research, evaluation and report writing.

A/Prof Georgie Paulik-White is a Clinical Psychologist, Director of Perth Voices Clinic, and Adjunct Associate Professor at Murdoch University. She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications and textbook in psychosis, and has dedicated her career to improving psychological interventions for people who hear voices. Her recent work has focused on the role of mental imagery in voice hearing, the development of Imagery-Enhanced CBT for voices, imagery-focused interventions for hallucinations, and the application of Imagery Rescripting and Schema Therapy approaches in complex clinical presentations.

Ms. Heather Irvine-Rundle is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience and co-owner and Director of The READ Clinic, the largest private psychology practice on the Central Coast. She has worked in the UK in some of the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas of Liverpool and London, and led a service providing advice and consultation on mental health issues to schools across the South London area. Her clinical focus includes work with families and adults, particularly women with trauma histories, and she draws on over 20 years of experience integrating highly researched, evidence-based techniques with best-practice models. In 2018 she released her book for mothers, Hello Baby, to much acclaim in the postnatal profession, and in 2019 was appointed as Adjunct Professor of Practice in the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle and an Adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University for her work developing the next generation of psychologists through student, intern and registrar training.

Notes

Registration includes access to all 4 parts of the series

Target Audience

We warmly invite APS members, psychologists, provisional psychologists, students, and allied health professionals across the Central Coast and beyond who are interested in expanding their skills in trauma-informed practice.

Please note:

• This is a Member Groups event. All communication will be sent to the registrants’ registered email address. This includes event reminders with details (such as the Zoom link) and any pre-event or post-event resources, if provided by the facilitators.
• A post-event email will be sent within two weeks of the event’s completion to each registrant’s registered email address. This email will include the CPD certificate, event-recording, and any additional resources shared during the session.

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.