PAAO Seminar - May 21 Chicago IL

Get ready for PA Awareness Day in Alberta - April 23/4

From: QuadeerShakur@gmail.com
Reference to: www.PAawarenessDay.org
April 25, 2011 is (Officially) 6th Annual Global PA Awareness Day.
Start or find an Event in your Community and join us in raising awareness about PA.

As we have to work - Alberta PAAO will be organizing Information Events in Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer this year on  Sat/Sun April 23-24, 2011 (plus elsewhere if we can find enough motivated volunteers).

Please stay tuned for more details, or join our email list to be kept up to date.  If you want to Volunteer please complete this form.

Lecture with Dr. Richard Warshak in Calgary - Thurs Feb 24@7pm

Alberta PAAO is very pleased to be sponsoring a public lecture by world renown PA expert - Dr. Richard Warshak Ph.D - author of  "Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond from a Vindictive Ex".   (More background about Dr. Warshak is available at his website.)

Dr. Warshak will make a 45 min presentation on "Understanding, Preventing and Overcoming Parental Alienation" and then be available for questions and discussions with the audience.

The event will take place at the Blackfoot Inn, 5940 Blackfoot Trail SE in Calgary at 7pm on Thursday Feb 24.  Tickets are available in advance (here) for $25pp ($30 at the door). Group discounts apply for online, in advance orders only.

To order click on on "Events" tab above, or just click here.

A message from Jill Egizii - President of PAAO

PAAO is bringing the issue of PA to the attention of legislators and legal professionals everywhere - but here is a message from Jill EGIZII - President of PAAO.



(FYI, PAAO conducted a telemarketing campaign this past week. If you wish to be removed from that list please notify HQ at info@paawareness.org - or let me know at cjones@paawareness.org)

Year-end Donations Appeal

Dear Everyone,

PAAO really needs your help and financial support.

We have greatly improved the level of general public awareness, but within the professional community there is still alot of demand for understanding how to deal with PA.  The PAAO Board and Advisory Committee members are determined to refocus attention on participating at as many major professional conferences and meetings as possible over the next 6 mths BUT we have reached that critical point.  (I couldn't resist this ancient cover from National Lampoon magazine in 1973.)

I should also mention that as PAAO is a registered charity in both Canada and the US - some of you who work internationally may have an added incentive.  Albertans should be aware that we have one of the most generous (combined Fed+Prov) Charitable Tax Credit's in the country that amounts to 50% above $200.

To make a direct donation with your Credit Card (VISA, MasterCard, AMEX or Discover) or through your PayPal account, just click on the tab above called "Donate" - or just click here.

The Good Karma Divorce

A judge in Chicago IL has written to a "guide" to divorce called "The Good Karma Divorce".  I have not read it but I heard her in an interview with PAAO President Jill Egizii.

Instructive video about the "Teen Betweener"

For more info goto www.teenbetween.ie.

Update from AACAP Conference in New York City - Oct 24-29

An update from Robert Samery - VP PAAO, who attended the 57th AACAP Annual Conference in New York City this week with PAAO President - Jill Egizi.  (AACAP stands for the "American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry" and is the pre-eminent professional association of many court appointed evaluators and behavioural assessors.)  In photo below Jill and Robert are shown engaging in discussion with one of the attendees at the Conference.  As a Board, we decided it was extremely important that PAAO be present at this event to help make the case for including PAD in DSM-V (the influential Handbook and Manual for Professional Psychiatrists).   We received tremendous assistance from many members of PAAO's Advisory Board including: Dr. Amy Baker, Dr Richard Sauber and Dr. Michael Bone (also Dr. William Bernet who despite not being on the Advisory Board was instrumental in pitching Jill on our involvement).  All  made themselves available throughout the Conference taking turns answering queries and even helped staff our information display.

[We are asking all PAAO Supporters for their help in covering the US$5,000 we have budgeted for this exhibition space and associated promotional materials.  Each conference attendee received our regular brochure and some extra material about PAAO.   Our two board members who attended, setup, staffed the display and "spread the word" all paid their own conference expenses including travel, lodging and incidentals.  I am going to boldly suggest a very generous donation of $100 per PAAO supporter.   (But of course, everyone must decide what they can afford.)  As PAAO runs such a tight ship unless we recoup this expense, we will not be able to fund any other upcoming events.  All are important in gaining acceptance of PAD for DSM-V.  And remember, PAAO qualifies for a charitable tax receipt in either Canada and the US, where ever the donor is resident.]

Here is Robert's dispatch:


Hello all,

From rainy New York I can report the following from the AACAP conference.

After a tiring day of both delayed travel, and heavy setup on Tuesday,
Jill and I met back at the exhibit hall this morning. We seemed to be
talking to at least 1 person interested in PA issues throughout the
entire day. We were helped enormously by Michael Jeffries, who is an
extremely articulate advocate.

We a small portion of the 4700 delegates at the conference, and they
came from all points in N. America as well as the UK, Sweden,
Portugal, Spain, Brazil, France, Peru, Costa Rica, (and I may have
missed a country or 2).

Of those that spoke with us, most were aware of the issue, and a few
were happy to learn there is a name to what they have been seeing.
Many also expressed a real joy in seeing that we were even on the list
of exhibitors. That gives me a tremendous confidence in knowing that
we have done a great deal of good by even just showing up.

I'm sending you a picture of Jill, Michael and me speaking to 1 of the
many who came by to hear about what we do.

I'll try and send more of an update tomorrow.

Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

From article in AP Newswire:

Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer

Oct 1, 2010
NEW YORK     (AP) -- The American Psychiatric Association has a hot  potato on its hands as it updates its catalog of mental disorders -  whether to include parental alienation, a disputed term conveying how a  child's relationship with one estranged parent can be poisoned by the other.

"We're gotten an enormous amount of mail - more than any other issue," said Dr. Darrel Regier, vice chair of the task force drafting the manual. "The passions on both sides of this are exceptional."

"There is not sufficient scientific evidence to warrant its inclusion in the DSM," Regier said in a statement.

In an interview, Regier - who directs the APA's research division - said the proposal technically remains alive pending final presentations by the end of 2011. But he described chances for inclusion of parental alienation as "slim" - given that it has not been selected for field trials that normally would be a prerequisite for official recognition.

Meier, the George Washington law professor, has urged judges to be cautious in how they allow the topic to be raised in cases where one estranged parent is accused by the other of abuse.

She said the initial impetus for recognition of parental alienation syndrome came in large part from the fathers' rights movement, but suggested much of the momentum now comes from psychologists, consultants and others who could profit if the concept had a more formal status in family court disputes.

"It's monetary," Kates said. "These psychologists and therapists make huge money doing the evaluations and therapies."

Obviously we are not making enough noise.

Upcoming Events/Conferences

This is a reminder to everyone about some of the important Upcoming Events taking place worldwide.

Sat Oct 2 + Sun Oct 3, 2010 CPAS Conference, Mt. Sinai Medical Center NYC
http://cspas.ca/program_times.shtml

Oct 28-30, 2010 AFCC's Ninth Symposium on Child Custody Evaluations, Cambridge/Boston MA.
http://afccnet.org/pdfs/AFCC%20Cambridge.pdf

Fri Nov 12 - Sun Nov 14, 2010 CEPC Conference - KEEP (Kids Expect Equal Parenting) Toronto ON
http://www.canadianepc.com/portal/index.php