Bessel van der Kolk MD 

is a pioneer clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress. His work uniquely integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic, somatic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.

His #1 New York Times Science best seller, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including body work, psychodrama, mindfulness techniques, parts work, yoga, and neurofeedback, Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development, memory, and the psychobiology of trauma. He has published over 150 peer reviewed scientific articles on such diverse topics as neuroimaging, self-injury, memory, neurofeedback, Developmental Trauma, yoga, theater and EMDR.

He is founder of the Trauma Center (now the Trauma Research Foundation) in Boston, MA; past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School. He regularly teaches at universities and hospitals around the world. www.besselvanderkolk.com


Dafna Lender MSW, LCSW

is a child and family therapist with over 20 years of experience. She is a certified trainer, supervisor, and consultant in Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, and coauthor of Theraplay: The Practitioner’s Guide. Dafna has successfully treated children and their parents with a variety of backgrounds, including children raised in orphanages, with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, exposed to domestic violence and community violence and children of parents with chronic mental illness and attachment wounds. Dafna provides trainings to and has consulted with psychologists and psychotherapists around the world in English, Spanish, French, and Hebrew. www.dafnalender.com 


Angelika Y. Sadar, MA, BCN, BCB-HRV

is a licensed psychologist who is board certified in neurofeedback and heart rate variability and is a BCIA approved mentor in neurofeedback. She has been in private practice in the greater Philadelphia area since 1985. Her work over the years has involved all age groups and clinical presentations. She is a treatment coordinator at Sadar Psychological and is a nationally recognized speaker providing education and offering training to other professionals in neurofeedback, biofeedback, and hypnosis. In 2018 she was invited to be part of BrainARC Switzerland and began developing evaluations protocols based on the research of HBImed, Switzerland. Presently, her clinical focus is on patients with complex/comorbid presentations and consulting with other psychologists, medical practitioners and other clinicians regarding EEG, neurofeedback and practice development. She is the executive director of the Northeast Region Biofeedback Society and a board member at large of The Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. www.sadarpsych.com 



Linda Thai MSW, ERYT-200, CLYL

is an adjunct faculty member in the Social Work Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and specializes in trauma-informed care and compassion fatigue resilience skills; Mental health clinician at ND Systems, specializing in somatic therapies and trauma therapy. She assists internationally renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, with his private small group psychotherapy workshops aimed at healing attachment trauma. In her work at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, she is responsible for training clinicians in all departments, including psychology, nursing and medicine. She has a Master of Social Work with an emphasis on the neurobiology of attachment and trauma. Linda has studied Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Brainspotting, Havening, Internal Family Systems, and structural dissociation of the personality. Linda has worked in Fairbanks, AK with those recovering from addiction, trauma, and mental illness. She is passionate about yoga, meditation, and mindfulness and bringing those gifts to her community. www.linda-thai.com