Over the last 20 years, neurobiological research has critically advanced our understanding of the impact of childhood trauma on brain development. Despite the substantial progress, a gap remains in how this important research translates into diverse clinical frontline work for children, youth, and families. Such translational information may be vital for identifying mechanisms of change in effective treatment approaches and for developing novel clinical interventions.

The current talk aims to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice by extracting key guiding principles from the last two decades of neurobiological research on trauma to critically evaluate their role in established evidence-based trauma interventions (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder), in complex trauma-related presentations (high-risk behaviours: e.g., non-suicidal self-injury) and in promoting resilience across the life span (e.g., social connectedness).

In addition to other seminal research, Dr. Pechtel will draw on her own multimodal research program using primarily functional magnetic resonance imaging and EEG as well as provide examples of how such findings have guided the development of novel therapeutic approaches for youth who experienced childhood trauma.