Dr. Jody Russon has recently returned from a trip to the Child and Youth Protection Centre of Zagreb, Croatia. The Child Protection Centre is a health institution created to support abused and neglected children and their families as well as youth who have experienced traumatic events. As a trainer with the Attachment-Based Family Therapy International Training Program, Dr. Russon conducted a three-day workshop with Dr. Gordana Buljan Flander’s multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and therapists. Included in this training group were therapists and psychologists from neighboring countries, Serbia, Slovenia, and Bosnia.
Attachment-Based Family Therapy is an empirically-supported treatment specifically developed for youth with depression, suicidal ideation, and trauma. The approach aims to decrease family conflict, promote caregiver responsiveness, and support autonomy-building. Dr. Russon plans to integrate ABFT training and supervision into students’ training at Virginia Tech.