Developing Trauma Informed Services for Psychosis: A Multidisciplinary Journey Towards Healing

A multidisciplinary group of clinicians explore the connections between traumatic experiences and psychosis, charting the development of a series of interventions designed for both inpatients and outpatients over the course of two decades.

Developing Trauma Informed Services for Psychosis details how clinicians developed a trauma committee in a public mental health facility and implemented trauma informed policies and practices, including assessments and multimodal treatment options. Chapters outline trauma informed approaches that include individual, group, and family modalities. Emphasis is on core aspects of programming such as building safety, establishing trusting relationships, and empowerment. One survivor’s descriptive account as well as service users’ and therapists’ experiences are brought to life through personal narratives and fictionalised vignettes. This volume advocates for a multidisciplinary approach that fosters the development of unique treatment paradigms and leads to a dynamic interplay between verbal and creative arts therapies.

This book will be of interest to clinicians, administrators, students, caregivers, and anyone interested in the intersection between therapy and the arts.

Kristina Muenzenmaier is associate clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA. Her clinical and research interests focus on public psychiatry and childhood trauma in people with serious mental illness and psychosis.

Mara Conan was asistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA (2003-2014). She has worked for over 30 years as a psychologist in public psychiatry with individuals who were diagnosed with psychotic disorders.

Gillian Stephens Langdon is an adjunct professor and internship supervisor in the Music Therapy Department at New York University, USA. A pioneer of music therapy, she has worked for over 40 years with people experiencing psychosis and trauma.

Toshiko Kobayashi is an onsite supervisor and guest speaker at New York University. She worked for many years as an art therapist both in the United States and internationally. She developed Expressive Origami Therapy® and is president of the Origami Therapy Association. Currently, her focuses are intergenerational trauma and self-care.

Andres R. Schneeberger is an associate clinical professor at the University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, USA. His main clinical and research interest focus is on mental health care delivery, measurement-based care, aggression, coercion and complex traumatisation in minority populations and people with serious mental illness.