Victor Carrion is a Stanford researcher who's shown via brain imaging how trauma affects the brains of children. This is the cutting edge of psychiatry; the work of Carrion and others shows that the roots of criminal or antisocial behavior may be in damage to the normal development of the brain.

For more on this, see Gray and White Matters.

Dr. Carrion will give a two-day seminar at Chico State University, in Chico, California in early January. This is an annual conference on children in trauma, designed to educate those who work in the social and legal systems. I attended the conference last year, when Allan Schore presented, and it was a valuable opportunity to learn about advanced brain science presented in an understandable way.

Here are details about the 2008 Children in Trauma conference:

California State University, Chico Continuing Education, in partnership with Butte County Family Court Services, Superior Court of California, presents Children in Trauma 2008: Helping Children Survive Trauma: Early Life Stress, Brain Development and Effective Interventions. The two-day professional development conference will be held January 11-12, 2008 at the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium on the CSU, Chico campus.

The 6th annual Children in Trauma Conference will provide an intensive two day practicum focusing on how traumatic stress can alter early child development and how professionals working in the field can recognize this problem and learn how to apply the emerging intervention and treatment protocols.

The conference will feature internationally recognized researcher and educator, Victor G. Carrion, MD, Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Stanford Early Life Stress Research Program.

Victor Carrion’s research looks at the interplay between brain development and stress vulnerability via a unique multi-method approach that includes psychophysiology, neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology and phenomenology. Dr. Carrion is a noted practitioner, known for his development of successful individual and community-based interventions for stress related conditions in children and adolescents that experience traumatic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Marriage and family therapists, social workers, psychologists, educators, school and family counselors, attorneys, law enforcement professionals, mediators, child custody evaluators, behavioral health professionals, nurses, physicians, psychoanalysts, emergency responders, children’s advocates and concerned individuals are encouraged to take advantage of this continuing education opportunity. In addition to learning from a recognized scholar and practitioner, participants will walk away from this conference with an array of professional contacts and practical treatment tools.

Participants may earn 12 hours of BBSE (Provider PCE 799), BRN (Provider 00656), MCEP (Provider CAL123), MCLE and CME continuing education credit.

In addition to the featured speaker, exhibitors from public service agencies and other resource providers will be on hand to share a wide array of information and discuss their services. Exhibitor space is available.

Early registration fee (received before Jan. 4, 2008) for the two-day conference is $279 per person (includes continental breakfast, lunch and materials). Group rate discounts are also available.

To enroll or for more information, please call CSU, Chico Continuing Education, 530-898-6105, email rce@csuchico.edu, or visit the conference website.