ENTER Conference 2024

ENTER Mental Health held its annual conference 2024 in association with the Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im. Marii Grzegorzewskiej w Warszawie.  The keynote speakers were His Excellency Dr Bojan Sošic, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Sweden, Prof Katarzyna Prot-Klinger, from Poland, Helle Cleo Borrowman, a trauma survivor from Denmark, and Prof Paweł Holas of Warsaw University, Poland.  In addition to the keynote sessions, the programme featured parallel sessions, poster presentations and interactive workshops.  The published conference programme is available here.  A Polish version of the programme is also available here

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The conference theme

People are constantly subjected to traumatic experiences. Even living in peace does not protect one from events that have a traumatic potential. The society in Poland and many other European countries of the ENTER Mental Health Network have recently found this out by receiving refugees from war-torn Ukraine and coming into contact with their trauma. But they are not the only traumatised refugees. We also have refugees in Poland who have managed to cross the Polish-Belarusian border, in Italy and Greece refugees from Syria and many others who are traumatised by extremely difficult experiences. The traumatic experience of recent years for many has also been the lockdown, illness or death of loved ones during the covid - 19 pandemic. Traumatic experiences in the form of violence are also encountered in families, where the most vulnerable - women, children - are traumatised. Sometimes assault, rape affects people in their place of residence or work.  In some of our countries, trauma has been linked to the institutions of society.  The problems of many of those who present to mental health services may also have links to trauma in early life and later experiences. 

 

It is not enough for mental health professionals to treat trauma. There are not enough of them, the health service is not able, in any country, to cover all traumatised people with their care. The only possible answer is to build a society that is knowledgeable about trauma and its consequences, so that people at work, in kindergarten, school and in many other places know how to see traumatised people and how to help them (IASC, 2021; WHO, 2022). It seems important to build a society that is willing and able to counteract the consequences of trauma. A society whose members take care of each other and have the ability to shape and strengthen their own resources.

 

In a Trauma Informed Society, people realize the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for healing, people recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, staff, and others involved in the system, and respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma in policies and everyday interactions.

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The conference is not just directed towards mental health professionals, but also to educators, teachers and foundations dealing with traumatised people. We want to reflect together on how we can pass on our knowledge and experience in this field. 

 

Parallel Session Themes

The parallel session themes for 2024 were:

1. Trauma and Families

2. Trauma in work and educational settings ​

3. Trauma and the experience of the individual

4. Trauma and society

 

The Book of Abstracts

The book of abstract is available in English and Polish.

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Workshops

The conference featured two workshops:

• From trauma to wellness: Voice, movement and meditation, delivered by Monika Szeliga.

• From trauma to wellness: Relaxation with dance and movement and sound bath, delivered by Mateusz Wiszniewski.