Seminar Series: Dr. Bruce Perry

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Healing Traumatized Children

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, is a world-renowned child psychiatrist and the author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog , one of the foremost books on extreme child abuse. Oprah says he's also the first person she called when she had a crisis at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in 2007.

While extreme cases of child neglect may make headlines, Dr. Perry says these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. "Most people don't realize this, but there are twice as many neglected children in the United States as there are physically and sexually abused combined," he says.*

Dr. Perry offers a groundbreaking new perspective on how stress and violence affect children’s brains--and how they can be helped to heal. What happens when a young brain is traumatized? How does terror, abuse, or disaster affect a child’s mind--and how can that mind recover? Dr. Perry’s research has influenced child policy across the country and around the world.

Dr. Perry has helped children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, murder witnesses, kidnapped teenagers, and victims of family violence. He tells their stories of trauma and transformation through the lens of science, revealing the brain’s astonishing capacity for healing. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what exactly happens to the brain when a child is exposed to extreme stress-and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease a child’s pain and help him grow into a healthy adult. Through the stories of children who recover-physically, mentally, and emotionally-from the most devastating circumstances, Perry shows how simple things like surroundings, affection, language, and touch can deeply impact the developing brain, for better or for worse.

These stories of hope amidst tragedy are not only compelling in and of themselves, but offer important lessons about the importance of social connection, love and community. By showing how empathy develops through connected and caring early parenting and by illustrating how the brain becomes what it does most, Perry offers a new way of seeing the world, which provides a surprising-- and sometimes frightening-- perspective on current child-rearing and educational practices that has implications not just for these extreme cases, but for us all.

Date: May 19, 2010

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. - registration and breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. - Dr. Bruce Perry presents

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch provided by Hilton Garden Inn

12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Family & Children's Center Clinical presentation

Location: Hilton Garden Inn

Gillespie Conference Center

53995 Indiana State Route 933

South Bend, Indiana 46637

Cost: $99 per person - 6 CEUs! 20% off for organizations with 3 or more registered!

Hotel Discounts:

Hilton Garden Inn
53995 Indiana State Route 933
South Bend, Indiana 46637
(574) 232-7700

Inn at St. Mary's
53993 Indiana State Route 933
South Bend,, IN 46637
(574) 232-4000

Presented by:

1411 Lincoln Way West

Mishawaka, IN 46544

(574) 259-5666

Underwritten by:

*some content from www.oprah.com/relationships/The-Effects-of-Child-Neglect/slide_number/2#slide