Thursday,
19th September: Professor Anette Søgaard Nielsen, Denmark, Dr
Ola Siljeholm, Sweden and Dr Gallus Bischof, Germany: Joint Keynote
Presentation on CRAFT and its cross-cultural applicability in
Europe.
Friday,
20th September: Dr Jacqui Sundbery, Manal Shehab, and Skye
Stewart, Australia, Australia: Joint Keynote Presentation on Family
Violence and its relationship with alcohol, drugs and gambling problems
within
Marginalised Communities (one with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait
Islander communities and Indigenous / first nations peoples; the other
with the
Muslim community).
Friday, 20th September: Steph and Peter Shilton, CBE,
England, in conversation with Richard Velleman, England/India: Joint
Keynote
Presentation on Living with (and overcoming) gambling addiction.
About
the speakers:
Professor
Anette Søgaard Nielsen, Denmark: Anette Søgaard Nielsen currently works at the
Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Unit of
Clinical Alcohol Research.
Prof.
Nielsen is a nationally recognized scientist who in her work focus
primarily on
developing and evaluating methods for treating alcohol use disorders
(AUD). Her
primary research areas include: i) improving outcome of treatment for
AUD; ii)
improving access to treatment for AUD; iii) support to significant
others to
individuals, suffering from AUD, iiii) stigma reduction and iiiii)
narrative
medicine.
www.researchgate.net/profile/Anette-Nielsen-2
portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/persons/ansnielsen
PhD Ola
Siljeholm, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, STAD, Centre for
Psychiatry
Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden: Ola Siljeholm Dr Siljeholm is a
clinical Psychologist working with patients with alcohol use disorder
and he is
a postdoctoral researcher developing prevention interventions for young
adults
affected by parental substance use. Olas research has mainly focused on
CRAFT
combined with parent training for affected family members of
individuals with a
substance use disorder.
Dr
Gallus Bischof, Germany: As
well as being the AFINet Chair, Gallus Bischof is a clinical
psychologist and psychotherapist. He studied at the Universities of
Mannheim
and Heidelberg, received his Ph.D. from the University of Greifswald in
2004,
and currently is Senior Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry
and
Psychotherapy, University of Luebeck, Germany. A special area of
interest has
been the analysis of the social impact of drug and alcohol problems,
including
family members and social networks, and strategies to improve the reach
of the
addiction treatment system. He is a member of the steering committee of
the
German Society of Addiction Psychology, member of the German Society
for
Addiction Research and Therapy, the Motivational Interviewing Network
of
Trainers and the International Network on Brief Interventions for
Alcohol and
other drugs, as well as serving as Editor for the German Journal of
Addiction
Therapy (“Suchttherapie”). He conducted the first study in Germany on
Community
Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) and has published several
articles
(mainly in German) on concepts and treatment options for family members.
www.researchgate.net/profile/Gallus-Bischof/4
research.uni-luebeck.de/en/persons/gallus-bischof
Dr
Jacqui Sundbery, Australia: Dr
Jacqui Sundbery is an Enterprise Fellow at the Indigenous Health
Equity Unit, Onemda, Melbourne University, Australia. She is a
researcher and
family therapist with a background in the arts.
Jacqui is
currently coordinating a research translation project around trauma
aware,
healing informed perinatal care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander
families in the state of Victoria and has supported capacity building
projects
in family violence, Out of Home Care and Inclusion and Equity. She
worked at
The Bouverie Centre delivering the Graduate Certificate in Family
Therapy:
First Nations and was part of the Working with the Mob family
therapy-family
healing team. Jacqui also has a small private practice where she sees
individuals, couples and families
findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1042270-jacqui-sundbery
Manal
Shehab, Australia: identifies
as a Muslim Australian with Egyptian heritage. She is a
faith-based family alcohol and other drug peer practitioner and group
facilitator working with migrant and refugee communities at Self Help
Addiction
Resource Centre (SHARC) in Family Drug and Gambling Help and The Muslim
Youth
Adult Family Services.
Manal runs
various workshops and has extensive public speaking experiences on many
issues,
some of which are: supporting families impacted by a loved one’s
alcohol and
other drug use ; family violence; women's rights in Islam;
intersectionality
and the dismantling of systemic and institutional barriers faced by
marginalised women as well as running women's self-growth workshops.
Manal is a
member of the Multifaith Advisory Group to the Victorian Premier and
Cabinet on
Family Violence in Faith setting, board member of Federation of Ethnic
Community Council Australia and member of Women’s Federation for World
Peace
and is an active participant in many interfaith/multifaith dialogues
exploring
psychosocial issues.
Manal is
the author of ‘The Faith Leader's Practice Guide and Toolkit on
Preventing and
Responding to Family Violence in Faith Settings’ published in 2022 on
behalf of
State Government of Victoria.
Manal is
also a published author of Islamic Children’s books.
Skye
Stewart, Australia: Skye
Stewart is a Wergaia and Wamba Wamba midwife and researcher. In 2021
Skye was
the successful recipient of the Stillbirth Centre of Research
Excellence
Fellowship where she created a bereavement support guide for Aboriginal
families following stillbirth – the first of its kind to be created in
Australia. In 2024 Skye was awarded HESTA Australian Midwife of the
Year for
her innovative work with Aboriginal communities in bereavement. Skye is
currently working at University of Melbourne on projects supporting
Aboriginal
mothers in the perinatal period who experience complex trauma, Skye’s
cultural
role is to do what she can to ensure Aboriginal mothers and their
babies stay
safe, alive, well and together.
Steph
and Peter Shilton, England
Peter
and Steph Shilton are revered as a leading couple in the UK in raising
awareness of gambling harms. Peter is the world renowned England
goalkeeper and
holds the England record of most capped male footballer he also holds
two world
records for football. Peter is a global legendary statesman. Peter was
honoured
Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Years Honours
list for
his dedication to football and his commitment to reducing gambling
harms.
Peter and
Steph have worked with the UK parliament in reducing gambling harms,
they wrote
a best seller book “SAVED”of their gambling addiction experience. They
have
conducted interviews globally on gambling addiction and regarded by
media as
the go to couple as experts in the field of lived experience.
Steph had
27 years in the NHS and is a qualified therapist she is currently
working in
the UK for a leading gambling addiction charity and has successfully
developed
an affected other service.
Peter and
Steph achieved in 2023 a parliamentary ban on gambling companies in the
UK from
advertising on the front of football shirts.
They are
both patrons of gambling harm studies around youngsters and grassroots
football
for Bristol University and ambassadors for the UK Presidents Children
disability sporting Charity. e was a goalkeeper and he holds
the all-time record for the most
competitive appearances in world football (1,390), and has represented England in
the National team more times than any other player (125). But he also
had a
45-year gambling addiction, now overcome with the help of his wife,
Steph.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shilton
www.peter-shilton-consultancy.com/aboutus.html
Richard
Velleman, England, India: Richard
is a founder of AFINet and is it’s Treasurer. He studied at the
Universities of Sussex and Exeter, trained in clinical psychology,
and
obtained his PhD at the University of Exeter before moving to Bath,
where he
worked within both the University of Bath and the National Health
Service
mental health services. He has researched and written extensively about
alcohol
and drug problems, with a special interest on the impact of addiction
problems
on the family and the development of methods for helping and supporting
affected family members. With colleagues within AFINet-UK he developed
the Stress-Strain-Information-Coping-Support model of
understanding the impact of addiction problems on families; the 5-Step
Method to help affected family members in their own right; and
the
ideas of protection and resilience in children affected by family
substance
misuse problems. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
He
currently divides his work time between AFINet-related activities and
co-Directing the Addictions and related Research Group (ARG), part of
Sangath,
based in India.
www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard-Velleman
www.bath.ac.uk/psychology/staff/richard-velleman
sangath.in/addictions-research/