UK Trauma Council Insight Series - Complex Trauma: Contextuality and Systemic Factors

Professor Claudia Bernard

Claudia Bernard is a Professor of social work at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a qualified social worker and has worked in the practice, policy, and academic fields for several years. Claudia’s research generally falls in the area of child abuse and neglect, with a particular focus on racially minoritised children. An interest in trauma-informed approaches and in particular racial trauma as a safeguarding issue is at the heart of her work. Claudia has written widely on these topics and has edited the book Safeguarding Black Children: Good Practice in Child Protection (2016).

Professor Bernard has a deep commitment to enabling children and young people’s participation in research – for example, including projects such as Ethical Issues in Researching Black Teenage Mothers with Harmful Childhood Histories: Marginal Voices (2013); How Black Girls navigate the Physical and Emotional Landscape of the Neighbourhood: Normalized Violence and Strategic Agency (2021); and more recently, a study that examined Racially Minoritized Youth Perspectives on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Well-Being and Resilience of Black and Asian Children (2023). Her most recent book, Intersectionality for Social Workers: Theory and Practice (2022) addresses how multiple and intersecting inequalities affect the psychological safety and physical well-being of marginalised groups.

Claudia also has a strong commitment to linking research and practice and in particular, in getting research messages to policy-makers and practitioners. In terms of knowledge exchange, she has worked in partnership with several public sector organisations, most recently, delivering a programme of research on safeguarding children in affluent families in the City of London Corporation.

Dr. Marc Boaz

Marc Boaz is an existential psychotherapist, a visiting Professor of Mental Health and Psychotherapy at the University of Northampton, UK, and teaches Critical Psychopathology at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), UK. He is an author of works on interpersonal trauma, childhood adversity and neurodivergence.

The online platform Zoom will be used to deliver this training. Prior to booking on, please ensure you meet the system requirements so you're able to join this training. 

Before the training, please test your equipment is working by going to Zoom.us/test and follow the instructions.

Upon booking, you will be asked to confirm that you have read and accept our terms and conditions and our privacy notice. Please read these documents before booking:

• Terms and conditions

• Privacy notice