About the PTSD Association
Honorary Chair of the PTSD Association
Lieutenant General the Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire, O.C., C.M.M., G.O.Q, M.S.C., C.D., (Retired), Senator
The Honourable Roméo Dallaire had a distinguished career in the Canadian military, achieving the rank of Lieutenant-General and Assistant Deputy Minister of Human Resources. In 1994, General Dallaire commanded the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). His experiences there became the subject of the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, which was awarded the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction in 2004 and was the basis of a full-length feature film released in 2007. Medically released in 2000, due to PTSD, Senator Dallaire has worked as an author, lecturer and humanitarian, conducting research on conflict resolution and child soldiers at the
Lieutenant-général honorable Roméo A. Dallaire, O.C., C.M.M., G.O.Q, C.S.M., C.D., (retraité), sénateur
L’honorable Roméo Dallaire a mené une brillante carrière dans l’armée canadienne, où il a occupé le grade de lieutenant-général et a été nommé sous-ministre adjoint (ressources humaines). En 1994, le général Dallaire a commandé la Mission des Nations Unies pour l’assistance au Rwanda. Son livre J’ai serré la main du diable: la faillite de l’humanité au Rwanda, qui décrit ses expériences au Rwanda, a reçu en 2004 le Prix littéraire de la gouverneure générale pour un ouvrage de non-fiction et forme la trame d’un long métrage qui a été mis à l’affiche en 2007. Libéré en 2000 pour trouble de stress post-traumatique (TSPT), le sénateur Dallaire est auteur, conférencier et travailleur humanitaire; il a effectué des recherches sur la résolution de conflits et sur les enfants soldats à la Kennedy School of Government à l’Université Harvard. Il poursuit ses recherches sur les enfants soldats et s’apprête à publier un second ouvrage sur ce sujet. Il a participé à la réforme du soutien offert à la nouvelle génération de vétérans, en particulier ceux qui sont victimes du TSPT. Le général Dallaire a été nommé au Sénat le 24 mars 2005 et il est le vice-président du Comité sénatorial permanent de la sécurité nationale et de la défense. Avec l’évêque Desmond Tutu, il a été nommé au Comité consultatif du Secrétaire des Nations Unies sur la prévention du génocide au printemps 2006 et est attaché supérieur de recherches à l’Institut montréalais d’études sur le génocide et les droits de la personne, de l’Université Concordia. Il a été reçu officier de l’Ordre du Canada en 2002, a obtenu la Médaille Pearson pour la paix en 2005 et a été reçu grand officier de l’Ordre national du Québec en 2006.
President & Founder of the PTSD Association
Ute Lawrence-Fisher is the CEO and founder of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Association. She is also the founder and director of the Performance Enhancement Center in London, Canada, which offers seminars, workshops and speaking engagements on discovering and reaching one’s potential.
She is uniquely poised to present a new perspective within the field of PTSD, especially important with increased diagnoses of PTSD in patients returning from war, natural disasters, 9/11 or suffering from other extreme life-threatening events.
She has experienced PTSD in her own life. She was one of the survivors of the most horrific car-pile up in Canadian history in 1999. Eighty seven vehicles were involved in this tragedy that killed 8 people. The trauma brought personal distress and the end of her twenty-two years as a magazine publisher.
- Stan Fisher - Co-Founder
- Dr. Sandra Fisman
- Lynn Blumas
- Robin Honey
- Dr. Robin Gallardi
- Barry Johnson
- Keith Trussler
- Jo-Ann Fisher
- Sarah McLennan-Stapleton
Our Clinical advisors
Dr. Ruth Lanius is a Psychiatrist at the London Health Science Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario in London , Ontario . Her area of research expertise is in neuroimaging, in particular fMRI. She is currently investigating the neural circuitry involved in PTSD.
Dr. Frank Putnam is Director of the Mayerson Center for Safe & Healthy Children and Professor of Pediatrics & Child Psychiatry at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati Ohio . He has published widely on topics in the areas of Psychology, Neuroanatomy, Adult Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry including sexual abuse in children. Dr. Putnam is the recipient of the Morton Prince Scientific Achievement Award 1985, Cornelia Wilbur Clinical Service Award 1990, United States Public Health Service Medal of Commendation 1992, Pierre Janet Scientific Writing Award 1993, and was Richter Visiting Professor of Child Psychiatry at Indiana University in 2000.
Dr. Allan Schore is a Neuropsychoanalyst with a private Psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles , California . Dr. Schore has been widely published on topics in the areas of Clinical Child Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology.
Dr. Eric Vermetten is a Psychiatrist/Senior Researcher at University Medical Center/Central Military Hospital, Utrecht , The Netherlands. His areas of specialization include Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Psychiatry, and Psychiatry/Clinical Neuroscience. He has been widely published on a variety of topics include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Dr. Sandra Fisman is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She is currently Professor and Chair of the University of Western Ontario (UWO), Department of Psychiatry in London , Ontario , and cross appointed in the academic university Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at UWO. Her clinical interests include difficult to treat children and adolescents with developmental and behavioural disorders. Dr. Fisman has been published widely on the effects of handicapped children on other family members. She is currently engaged in a three-year prevention and early intervention study in the school system for adolescent females with mood and related disorders funded by Women's Health Council of Ontario.
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, and Clinical Director of the Trauma Center in Boston, MA.
Dr. Nick Coupland is Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His clinical and research interests are in PTSD, depression and anxiety disorders, particularly using neuroimaging to investigate alterations in brain structure, chemistry and function.
Dr. Richard J. Loewenstein M.D. is a Senior Psychiatrist and the founder and Medical Director of The Trauma Disorders Program at Sheppard Pratt Health Systems, Baltimore, MD, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as among America’s 10 top psychiatric facilities. He is also Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Yale University School of Medicine where he did his residency. After a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD, he spent 5 years at UCLA and the West LA VA Medical Center. He is the author of over 50 papers and book chapters on sleep disorders, consultation-liaison psychiatry, dissociation, dissociative disorders, and trauma disorders. He has written chapters on Treatment of Dissociative Amnesia and Fugue for the American Psychiatric Association’s book, Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders and is co-author with Richard Kluft, MD of a chapter on Treatment of Dissociative Disorders and Depersonalization in the 2007 edition of Gabbard's Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders. He is co-author, with Frank W. Putnam, M.D., of the section on Dissociative Disorders in Sadock & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, Eighth Edition. He lectures frequently on these dissociation and trauma to regional, national, and international groups. He is the founder and director of the Trauma Disorders Program at Sheppard Pratt Hospital including a 20-bed inpatient unit, a day hospital program, an outpatient program, a postdoctoral fellowship program, and research, consultation and teaching components. Dr. Loewenstein is co-chair of the American Psychiatric Association President’s Task Force on the Biopsychosocial Consequences of Childhood Trauma. In 2008, he was awarded the Cornelia Wilbur award for his contributions to clinical studies of trauma and dissociation by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. He also presented the Pierre Janet annual award lecture to the same organization at their annual meeting in 2008.
Dr. Clare Pain is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry, Director of the Psychological Trauma Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, Co-project director of the Toronto Addis Ababa Psychiatry Project (TAAPP) www.utoronto.ca/ethiopia, and Coordinator of the University of Toronto-Addis Ababa Collaboration Program. Her focus is on the assessment and treatment of patients with psychological trauma and trans-cultural aspects of psychological trauma. Together with Pat Ogden and Kekuni Minton she published "Trauma and the Body: a Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy" Norton 2006.
Lieutenant-Colonel (LCol) Rakesh Jetly, OMM CD MD FRCPC is a psychiatrist and Mental Health Advisor in the new Mental Health Directorate recently established within the Canadian Forces Health Services Group. He began his military career 20 years ago as a General Duty Medical Officer and Flight Surgeon at Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ontario. In 1993 he deployed as the Senior Medical Officer to the United Nations Disengagement Force mission in the Golan Heights. In 1994 he deployed to Rwanda as part of Canada's contribution to the United Nations humanitarian mission. Between 1996 and 2000 he returned to the University of Toronto to complete postgraduate training in psychiatry. From 2000 to 2008 he was posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he held various positions including Regional Director of the Operational Trauma and Stress Support Centre and Clinical Director of the Mental Health Services section at the military hospital. In the fall of 2004 he deployed to Faslane, Scotland, to lead the mental health response to the tragic fire onboard HMCS CHICOUTIMI. He has also deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan twice, in 2006 and then again in 2007. LCol Jetly is also an associate professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University. He has presented nationally and internationally on topics such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and operational psychiatry.
- Dr. Dan Baker
- Dr. Constance Dalenberg
- Dr. David Wright, Psychiatrist, Homewood PTSD Clinic
Advisory Committee
- Suzanne Harrill
- Susan M Hunter
- Lynn Osmond
- Bev Robinson
- Allison Graham
- Samira El Hndi
- Caroline Bonham