LSFDD will draw from our networks to include recognised academics, speakers, and public figures in DDD16 across Europe, Mediterranean countries and Italy in key areas of relevance to the topic.
We will aim to include plenaries who can speak to specifically Mediterranean area contexts and connect these issues to broader international interest via the conference themes of social changes, social equity, justice, peace, humanization of care and palliative care, memorialization, and resilience promotion.
There will be plenary sessions and keynote speakers in the conference programme. Theconference will be opened by representative speakers of ASDS and AIP, further excellent speakers of EFPA and other scientific organization will be invited. In selecting the keynote speakers, the organising committee will be conscious of elevating diverse voices and representation in regard to cultural diversities and gender.
The committee will endeavour to secure keynote speakers who can address the following themes:
- Suffering, trauma, and resilience: In both individual and social life, the news of death is always traumatic and the bearer of suffering. It is possible, however, to face these moments with resilience when the community knows how to make sense of the grief and seeks to remedy it by strengthening relationships and the symbolic/cultural dimension.
- Management of the Terror of Death: Sudden changes that destroy established balances along with hope for the future at both the individual and collective levels cause deep distress because they rekindle the terror of death. It is possible to manage critical experiences with socially and culturally appropriate interventions.
- The Future of and in End-of-Life care: End of Life care and palliative care have now matured into an important model of intervention that humanises relationships within the caring community. Among the nodes that promote this development emerges in importance the strengthening of the spiritual dimension that enables thinking beyond death. This model can also become important in the field of trauma and loss support.
- Others ….
At this stage in the planning process, we have identified the following persons as potential keynote and plenary speakers:
Elizabeth Brondolo
She is a professor of psychology at St. John’s University in New York, as well as a practicing psychologist. She is a internationally recognized researcher in stress and health and is specialized in the treatment of bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She is also chair of the American Psychological Association’s Working Group on Stress and Health Disparities.
More info
Diego De Leo
Until August 2015, he was the director of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Research and Training in Suicide Prevention at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He is also the editor-in-chief of Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention. He is director of the De Leo Fund Onlus .
More info
In addition to the plenary and keynote speakers, and the papers, the programme contains a professional development stream of workshops that draw on the Arts Therapies. Arts therapy experts from London and Haifa will conduct workshops on gaining skills in dealing with trauma, loss, and grief.