Closing session at #ISTSS2020 is a super interesting panel on evidence-based practice to address PTSD tx among diverse communities. A powerhouse panel with some insightful perspectives on making cultural adaptations. A couple of personal take-aways:

We need to understand the culture well and hear the voice of the patients before starting a cultural adaptation. Training para-professionals and collaborating with their lived-experience can also be helpful.

Therapist training needs may also need to change. Therapist need to get comfortable having conversations with people who are different from them, but it is also not the job of the client to educate us constantly. Let’s be "comfortable being uncomfortable".

There is a lot of internal work that therapists need to grapple with. Clients are brave when confronting their trauma, but therapists need to be brave to confront prejudice and uncomfortable implications of historical trauma. #ISTSS2020

We can not judge non-western treatments for PTSD tx. What we have works, but we should err on the side of believing there can be multiple approaches for healing potential. Let’s test them all. #ISTSS2020

Mixed perspectives on the use of interpreters in tx. If we train them to be in the therapy room, then let's train them to be therapists! Must also be sensitive to interpreters (who often come from the same community as the client and may struggle with similar issues). #ISTSS2020

Tremendous thank you to Drs. @drdebkaysen , @annie_belcourt, #MonicaWilliams, @DrLuanaMarques, and @A_Nickerson36 for a really engaging discussion that included a lot of diverse perspectives!! #ISTSS2020