Congrats to Jennifer Gómez, Jenn Lewis, Laura Noll, Alec Smidt, and Pam Birrell for winning the 2016 Richard P. Kluft Award for the Best Article in the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation! The paper is entitled “Shifting the focus: Nonpathologizing approaches to healing from betrayal trauma through an emphasis on relational care” and is available for free through this year.

Gómez, J. M., Lewis, J. K., Noll, L. K., Smidt, A. M., & Birrell, P. J. (2016). Shifting the focus: Nonpathologizing approaches to healing from betrayal trauma through an emphasis on relational care. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 17(2), 165-185.

From the award commendation:

This article provides an excellent framework for understanding the complexities of working with survivors of trauma. It successfully describes the danger in pathologizing reactions to extreme stress and discusses an adaptive treatment model, relational cultural therapy, that emphasizes the importance of the relationship when working with survivors. The article incorporates both empirically supported treatment options as well as influences from all spheres of the socioecological model, including the importance of empowerment, in treating individuals who have experienced complex trauma. 

Congrats, team!