Dr Karen Treisman, MBE, is an award winning Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist, organizational consultant, trainer, author, and trauma specialist who has worked in the National Health System and children’s social services for several years. Karen has also worked cross-culturally in both Africa and Asia with groups ranging from former child soldiers, asylum-seeking young people, to those living with HIIV/AIDS, and to survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. She also is the bestselling Author of several books/ workbooks, including, “The therapeutic treasure box for Developmental Trauma”, “The Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-informed Organizations”, “Trauma informed health care”, 6 children’s workbooks, and of 5 sets of therapeutic card decks (trauma/ strengths/ feelings and sentence completion/ parenting patchwork/ regulating, grounding and soothing/ trauma and stress). (Check out Karen’s amazon page sharing all of her resources- https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/BD57A40E-2602-44B5-A3A8-F72EA04950C4
Karen has extensive experience in the areas of trauma, adversity, loss, child protection, fostering, adoption, refugee and asylum seeking contexts, trafficking, and attachment. She works clinically using a range of therapeutic approaches with families, systems, and children in or on the edge of care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, and adopted children. As well as being a supervisor, reflective practice facilitator, and trainer.
Karen also specialises and spends more of her time now supporting teams, organisations, and systems to move towards becoming, and to sustain adversity, culturally and, trauma-informed, infused, and responsive practice (at a language, policy, culture, and practice level); and is an organisational consultant to numerous organizations around the world including numerous social services, health services, schools, nursery schools, the police, prisons, charities, residential homes, nursing homes, churches, and many many more. This work focuses on creating meaningful and multi-layered cultural and paradigm shift across whole systems. This was the focus of Dr Treisman’s Winston Churchill Fellowship Award where Karen visited several places in the USA to further study whole system and organisational approaches to trauma-informed and trauma-responsive care ( https://www.wcmt.org.uk/sites/default/files/report-documents/Treisman%20K%202018%20Final.pdf ) and this topic is the focus of Dr Treisman’s bestselling books (2 volumes) entitled “A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organizations: A Ready-to-Use Resource For Trauma, Adversity, and Culturally Informed, Infused and Responsive Systems”
In addition to holding a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Karen has undergone a range of specialist training courses including in EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy, Court work, Trauma-focused CBT, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Video Interaction Guidance, Sensory Approaches, Theraplay, Testimonial Psychotherapy, amongst others.
Karen previously worked in both Milton Keynes’s and Kensington and Chelsea’s Children in care and fostering services, and within the National Implementation Service for evidence-based interventions for “Looked after children, children on the edge of care, and children in custody” at the Michael Rutter Centre in the Maudsley Hospital; and as Clinical Lead for a court assessment and intensive intervention team for children on the edge of care and in proceedings in Islington.
Karen is an external consultant, trainer, speaker, and assessor to a variety of UK and International Local Authorities/child welfare, health care teams, schools, prisons, nurseries, charities, and organisations including presently and/or previously to TACT, Pause, Barnardos, AdoptionPlus, BAAT, Action Trauma, Candle Trust, Grandparents Plus, and the Fostering Network. Karen is also an expert witness and regularly undergoes a variety of assessments for court.
Additionally, Karen is also an associate editor for the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma and a reviewer for the Journal of Adoption and Fostering; and for several book publishers including Routledge and Jessica Kingsley.
Karen was also awarded the 2018 Psychology Professional of the Year Award for Excellence in Attachment and Trauma; and Youth Psychology Professional of the Year 2020. Karen was awarded an MBE for outstanding services for children and is on the Queens 2020 Honours list.
Karen regularly attends and presents at local, national, and international trauma, parenting, and attachment conferences (See the events tab on this website). Karen is also a TEDx speaker on the power of relationships and viewing behaviour as communication (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTsPdMqVwBg).
Karen is the author of multiple award winning bestselling books and cards including:
“Working with children and adolescents who have experienced relational and developmental trauma” (Routledge, 2016) http://amzn.to/2txQefC
“A Therapeutic Treasure Box for Working with Children and Adolescents with Developmental Trauma: Creative techniques and activities” http://amzn.to/2nOIPlZ).
The “A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organizations: A Ready-to-Use Resource For Trauma, Adversity, and Culturally Informed, Infused and Responsive Systems”. Brochure of the book found here- LOW RES – A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organizations – Brochure Available to order- https://rb.gy/unc5dz
“Trauma-informed healthcare”
Neon the Ninja toy and nightmare and sleep workbook- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q86WADrAF30
Gilly the Giraffe (Self-esteem & confidence)
Cleo the Croc (Children who have been hurt and learned to be afraid to let people close
Presley the Pug (Emotional regulation, relaxation, calm, mindfulness, and finding an emotional safe place)
Ollie the Octopus (grief, bereavement and loss)
Binnie the Baboon (Anxiety, fear, stress, and worry).
“A Therapeutic Treasure Deck: Sentence-completion and Feelings Cards”. http://amzn.to/2sug6V0
“A Therapeutic Treasure Deck: Grounding, Regulating, Coping, and Soothing Cards” ( http://amzn.to/2taWYRp)
“The Parenting Patchwork cards”
“The therapeutic treasure deck of strengths cards”.
“The Trauma Deck”
Karen also has a series of online modules- with more coming most months. Please see our online training tab.
Some personal interests:
Besides being incredibly passionate about being a Psychologist, making positive changes in the areas of trauma and beyond, and supporting organisational changes. Karen loves spending time with her family and friends. Karen is also a huge traveller and has spent much of her life abroad. Some recent trips included Angola, Pakistan, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Madagascar, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, India- the list goes on and on. Karen loves an adventure activity whether it be paragliding, hot air ballooning, horse riding, sky diving, quad biking etc. Karen also loves doing anything creative and arty as a hobby especially powertex, resin, acrylic pour, mosaic, collage, and glass fusion (you can find her art under the name enrichedtexturebykiki on instagram). Karen is a big animal fan- particularly dogs, horses, monkeys, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, and lions. Karen is also a movie and TV geek.
Associates:
Safe Hands and Thinking Minds specialises in the areas of attachment, parenting, trauma, child protection, adoption, and fostering; however we also have a range of associates who are experts in wider specialities such as eating disorders, motivational interviewing, neuropsychological assessments, autism, children exhibiting behaviour of a sexual nature, and school-based therapy. Therefore, please contact us to enquire further.
