AVA San Diego Preconference Registration
Chadwick AVA Preconference – Sunday January 25th, 2026
Updates: Addressing and Preventing Violence and Abuse
8:30 – 8:45 am Welcome and Intro - David L. Corwin, MD, Preconference Chair
8:45 – 9:30 am Legal Updates: Ensuring We Get Cases Right: Identifying Mistakes That Lead to Child Abuse Being Ruled Out - Paul Griffin, JD
- A review of the science and case histories related to child abuse/child-sexual abuse, including children’s disclosures of such abuse and the importance of a proper forensic interview, with a view toward preventing an incorrect “rule out” of abuse.
9:30 – 10:15 am Re-unification Therapies in Child Welfare and Family Courts – Models and Scientific Evidence - Sarah Trane, PhD
- There seems to be an ever-growing number of "psychotherapeutic treatment" options out there, yet how can anyone determine if these are worthwhile? If something new helps a few families, does that mean it works for everyone? Dr. Trane will discuss the importance of bringing an evidence-based practice perspective to our interventions and why we should care about this.
10:15 – 10:30 am BREAK
10:30 – 11:00 am Resilience Across Cultures and Disciplines – Machelle Madsen Thompson, MSW, PhD
- Dr. Machelle Madsen Thompson will review the importance of simulated case studies to help us recognize and address and to demonstrate how we can promote resilience in patients and clients with complex cases. Participants will learn how to use a multidisciplinary lens to build our resilience as practitioners and for those we serve.
11:00 – 11:30 am Child Maltreatment must be included in all Research on Medical and Psychiatric Illness and Social Problems – Jeoffry Gordon, MD
- CAN trauma is an important, even crucial, pathogenic, contributing, comorbid, or confounding factor in evaluating many physical diseases, mental illnesses and social disorders. While there has been some attention to the effects of this common experience,
public policy, research funding, clinical medical and behavioral health practice, prevention efforts and social policy have not been commensurate with the magnitude of the problem. This detrimentally affects research and clinical care of many physical and, especially, mental diseases.
11:30 – 12:00 pm Strategies for Including Children’s Voices in Family Court – Suzanne
Chester, JD
- In child custody cases involving domestic violence and child maltreatment, the appointment of a child’s attorney enables the court to gain crucial insights into the child’s experience and perspective. Suzanne Chester, a seasoned family law attorney and recent director of The Child’s Advocate, will discuss how safety is improved when the child’s voice is heard through direct legal advocacy.
Noon – 1 pm LUNCH
1:00 – 1:30 pm Integrating Trauma Awareness into Your Practice – F. David Schneider, MD
- This presentation will focus on what a trauma-informed practice looks like, and how one prepares the whole practice to be trauma informed/trauma sensitive.
1:30 – 2:00 Worldwide Efforts to End Corporal Punishment of Children – Joan Durrant, PhD
- Corporal punishment, once considered a ‘parenting technique,’ is now defined as violence in an ever-growing number of countries. Today, 70 countries have legally prohibited all corporal punishment of children. What lies behind this change and what are its implications for violence prevention?
2:00 – 2:45 pm Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) Update – Robert Sege, MD, PhD
- Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) promote lifelong health and well-being, and can mitigate the harm caused by maltreatment. This presentation will: 1) Describe the evidence of the long-term effects of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and their interaction with
ACEs; 2) Present the HOPE framework that links the evidence about PCEs to care transformation; 3) Propose ways that HOPE implementation can help achieve the goals of child welfare agencies.
2:45 -3:15 pm Sexual Violence Against Women: Clinical, Community and Longitudinal Research in Australia – Laura Tarzia, PhD
- This presentation will provide an overview of Australian research on sexual violence and reproductive coercion. Drawing on clinical, community, and longitudinal data, the presentation will highlight the harms of sexual and reproductive violence and how clinicians
can more effectively identify and respond to survivors.
3:15 – 3:30 pm BREAK
3:30 – 4:30 pm TIC in Pediatric Primary Care: 100 Little Conversations to Promote Relational Health – R.J. Gillespie, MD, MHPE
- The AAP has declared that trauma-informed care in pediatrics is, at its core, relational health care; and building relational health between caregivers and their children is an important strategy for both trauma prevention and trauma treatment. By maintaining a focus
on early relational health, primary care pediatrics can become 100 little conversations to promote relational health, giving the PCP a practical strategy for implementing TIC in the daily care of patients.
4:30 – 4:45 pm Questions, Discussion, and Feedback – David L. Corwin, MD
