ISPS-US Annual Conference 2026

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8:00am EST

Coffee & Registration

Friday November 6, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am EST

Coffee & Registration

9:15am EST

Keynote Speaker - The Hope of Harm Reduction: New Strategies for Building Connection Across Realities (Hybrid)

Friday November 6, 2026 9:15am - 10:30am EST

Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Harm reduction philosophy and approaches have made great headway in reducing alienation and deaths of despair in the world of substance use. How can we apply the lessons of these models and community spaces to our work supporting people in non-consensus reality states? What might we gain by letting go of practices that focus on control or reality-checking and starting to embrace strategies voice-hearers use in real-life scenarios to survive? This session will focus on practical ways to reduce power differentials and offer support that feels authentic and responsive to the unique situation of each experiencer. We explore how shifting our paradigm can create new paths forward.

Speakers

Caroline Mazel-Carlton, CPS, BA

Director of Learning Opportunities, Wildflower Alliance

Caroline Mazel-Carlton is a voice-hearer, a former IV drug user and a survivor of institutional trauma in both the psychiatric and criminal legal systems. She now works to promote harm reduction, hope and human rights as the Director of Learning Opportunities for the Wildflower... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 9:15am - 10:30am EST
Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019

Keynote, Hybrid

10:30am EST

Break

Friday November 6, 2026 10:30am - 10:45am EST

Break

10:45am EST

Keynote Speaker - Urhomelessness: Understanding Psychosis as a Person-World Experience (Hybrid)

Friday November 6, 2026 10:45am - 12:00pm EST

Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

What if psychosis was not only related to the social world, but also fundamentally constituted by both person and world? This presentation will offer a social-phenomenological understanding of psychosis as an experience that is constituted through person-world configurations. Predominant historical conceptualizations of psychosis have located the experience within individuals, often minimizing the relevance of social circumstance and context. A growing body of research has identified that many of the social and structural correlates of psychosis historically seen as its sequelae –including social marginalization, socioeconomic disadvantage, housing insecurity, forced migration, and urbanicity-- are better conceived as etiologically relevant risk factors. Drawing on phenomenological-existential, epidemiological, and sociocultural research, this lecture will posit that the social world is not only a determinant of psychosis but also a constitutive facet of the psychotic structure itself. In doing so, I will synthesize across four areas of theory and research: (1) historical accounts of the social dimensions of psychosis, including the institutional psychotherapy movement in postwar France that forms part of the framework for this conference; (2) phenomenological and transcultural research on urhomelessness as a unique mode of being-in-the-world characterized by profound lack of safety and foreclosed belonging; (3) the growing body of evidence for social defeat models of psychosis and structural determinants of mental distress more broadly; and (4) Brent Dean Robbins and colleagues’ work positing psychiatric diagnosis as a potential form of structural scapegoating that locates social pathologies within individuals. The lecture will conclude by considering the implications of this social-phenomenological and structural understanding of psychosis for contemporary mental health research and practice. In doing so, I will explore the possibility that conventional diagnostic frameworks, and the institutions built upon them, are not merely responses to extreme states but may themselves participate in the structural processes through which psychosis is constituted and sustained. These questions will be addressed in relation to contemporary discourse concerning involuntary intervention and reinstitutionalization in New York City.

Speakers

Sarah Kamens, PhD

Editor, Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Sarah R. Kamens, PhD is a clinical psychologist and interdisciplinary scholar whose work focuses on theories of mental distress, including phenomenological-existential approaches to psychosis and structural violence. Kamens holds an MA in Communication from the European Graduate... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 10:45am - 12:00pm EST
Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019

Keynote, Hybrid

12:00pm EST

Lunch (On Own)

Friday November 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST

Lunch on your own.

Please enjoy the many great eateries that New York City has to offer!

Friday November 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST

Lunch

12:00pm EST

Virtual Meet & Greet with Ellenhorn

Friday November 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST

Virtual Room

Join us for a meet and greet with conference sponsors Ellenhorn!

For more than 20 years, Ellenhorn has redefined behavioral health care through its innovative "hospital without walls" model, delivering psychiatric and psychosocial support directly in clients' communities. Grounded in the Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) model, Ellenhorn helps adults preserve their independence, strengthen social connections, and rebuild meaningful lives with dignity at the center of care. We serve clients in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles.

Friday November 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Virtual Room

Meet & Greet, Virtual Only

1:30pm EST

Beyond Coercion: Reimagining Legal Responses to Psychosis (Hybrid)

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Beyond Coercion: Reimagining Legal Responses to Psychosis

1:30-2:30 Everyday Coercion: Interrogating the Economic, Social, and Procedural Costs of Assisted Outpatient Treatment - Nev Jones PhD, Todd Wittenberg, Melissa Uehling MD PhD, Lauren Fowler, Shannon Pagdon MSW
2:30-3pm INSTEAD Mental Health Diversion: An Off-ramp to Care and Support for Individuals Arrested While in "Psychosis" or Extreme States - Allie Dougharty, LCSW

Everyday Coercion: Interrogating the Economic, Social, and Procedural Costs of Assisted Outpatient Treatment - Nev Jones PhD, Todd Wittenberg, Melissa Uehling MD PhD, Lauren Fowler, Shannon Pagdon MSW
This panel brings together findings from rigorous, co-produced qualitative research examining the impacts of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) and psychiatric coercion across multiple domains. Panelists will drawing on interviews with AOT clients in New York (n = 47), outside of NY (n = 20) and community psychiatrists across the United States (n = 35). The first speaker will interrogate failures of judicial due process within AOT proceedings in New York, examining how procedural protections break down in practice and what this means for the rights of people subject to commitment orders. The second panelist will then explain how court-ordered community treatment can disrupt economic participation, including employment, education, and financial stability. The third panelist will consider AOT's disruption of social relationships and everyday social processes, unpacking relational costs of AOT that are rarely captured through quantitative metrics. Finally, the last panelist will present an analysis of psychiatrists' own accounts—both those critiquing and those rationalizing the profession's role in AOT specifically and coercion more broadly—with attention to the complexity and stakes of the moral, epistemic, and institutional tensions providers regularly navigate.

INSTEAD Mental Health Diversion: An Off-ramp to Care and Support for Individuals Arrested While in "Psychosis" or Extreme States - Allie Dougharty, LCSW
INSTEAD Mental Health Diversion offers holistic, non-punitive, in-community case management and legal system navigation for individuals experiencing psychosis and other mental health crises at their time of their arrest in New Orleans, Louisiana. The INSTEAD program helps facilitate participants' release from jail, re-entry into the community, and collaborates with legal system actors to have their legal cases dismissed after three months of participation. While program participants are required to engage in some form of mental health treatment and/or assessment, they are not mandated to attend inpatient treatment or take medication. This presentation will explain the ethical and clinical foundations of the program, highlight the difference between our diversion model and other available diversion options in Orleans Parish, share qualitative data about participant experiences, and highlight the issues inherent in operating a progressive, person-centered program in a conservative legal system.

Speakers

Nev Jones PhD

Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Nev Jones, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Director of PathLab, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Institute for Bioethics. Her research examines coercive psychiatric treatment, early psychosis services, and... Read More →

Allie Dougharty, LCSW

INSTEAD Program Director, Ubuntu Village NOLA

Allie has been living in New Orleans for the 10 years and working as social worker for the past 5 years. She has background in building mutual aid networks, harm reduction outreach for PWID, and tenants’ rights organizing. She approaches social work with a focus on genuine relationships... Read More →

Lauren Fowler

Research Coordinator, University of Pittsburgh

Lauren earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA. After graduating, she worked in a clinical neurophysiology research lab in Pittsburgh studying first-episode psychosis. Through this experience, along with her own lived experience... Read More →

Todd Wittenberg

Peer Trainer, Greater Mental Health

Todd Wittenberg is a native New Yorker who has been working in the Peer Specialist Field for 10 years. He has served in many capacities include one-on-one field work, group facilitation in a jail, OnTrack NY, Crisis intervention, research, and he is now co-leader of a Peer Training... Read More →

Melissa Uehling MD, PhD

PGY-1; Psychiatry Resident, Yale University School of Medicine

Melissa Uehling, MD, PhD is a PGY-1 in the Yale Psychiatry Residency Program and NRTP. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Alabama, and went on to complete her MD and PhD in sociology at Emory University. Her doctoral work focused on subjectivity... Read More →

Shannon Pagdon MSW

Doctoral Student, University of Pittsburgh

Shannon Pagdon, MSW, is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. Her work brings together early psychosis services, peer support, lived experience co-production, stigma, and the phenomenology of psychosis. Grounded in lived experience and a background... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019

Breakout Session, Hybrid

1:30pm EST

Metacognitive Frameworks for Social Connection and Creative Engagement (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

Breakout Room #1

Metacognitive Frameworks for Social Connection and Creative Engagement

1:30-2:15pm Complex Trauma and Metacognition: From Concrete Symptom to Creative Engagement - Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP, Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, Danielle Frank, LCSW
2:15-3pm Reconnecting with Others: Metacognition and Social Recovery in Psychosis - Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP, Jessica Garrelts, MS, Marlee Gieselman, BS

Complex Trauma and Metacognition: From Concrete Symptom to Creative Engagement - Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP, Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD, Danielle Frank, LCSW
Research and experience show that psychosis is a function of alienation from self and other. We can find the roots of psychosis in the early developmental failures that are linked to complex trauma. In this panel, we will offer three perspectives on psychosis that invite creative engagement between persons as a means for promoting greater ease within the social environment. The first speaker focuses on ways in which psychosis can be traced to failures within the parent-child bond, providing a lack of a sense of competent personhood. A case will be presented in which the experience of having internalized the mother’s voice, over time, could be recognized as an aspect of an interpersonal relationship rather than a concrete reality. This process was built on an attitude of active interest in the person’s experience as a way of building space for two minds to meet and exchange experiences and perspectives. The second paper focuses on play as an aspect of clinical work that can facilitate learning, intimacy, and personal growth. After exploring impediments to play, the presenter looks at how readiness for play can be assessed and fostered, in part by embodying an attitude of curiosity and trust. The final presenter will discuss creativity in relation to considerations regarding ethical clinical practice. Clinical material will be used to discuss the use of creativity as an internal position of the therapist as a phenomenological and practical matter, bridging psychoanalytic ethics and technique. Together, the three papers show ways in which the clinician’s willingness to engage creatively and playfully can help to enhance the reflective capacities of the person suffering from symptoms of psychosis.

Reconnecting with Others: Metacognition and Social Recovery in Psychosis - Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP, Jessica Garrelts, MS, Marlee Gieselman, BS
Individuals with psychosis frequently experience disruptions in social functioning, including difficulties forming and maintaining relationships, reduced social support, and interpersonal withdrawal. While these challenges are often conceptualized through social cognition, less attention has been given to the role of metacognition. In this presentation, we propose that the integrated model of metacognition may offer a framework to better conceptualize difficulties related to social functioning and corresponding treatment options. Two domains of metacognition that may be particularly relevant are decentration and understanding the mind of the other. Decentration is understood as the ability to view the world with recognition that one is not at the center of all noteworthy events or actions of others. In this way, one can understand that events are the result of complex emotional, cognitive, and environmental factors. Understanding the mind of the other is the ability to form increasingly complex and integrated representations of specific other people. Metacognitive deficits in these domains may result in intolerance for social ambiguity and lack of awareness of perspectives outside the self. These obstacles may contribute to suspiciousness, hypervigilance, and misinterpretations of threat commonly observed in paranoia. This presentation will utilize the integrated model of metacognition to better understand social dysfunction in psychosis. We suggest that Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), as well as its group-based adaptation (MERITg), are therapeutic interventions that enhance metacognitive capacity and thus improve social functioning in a person centered and recovery-oriented way. We propose that enhancing metacognition through MERIT acts as a method for improving social functioning, reducing social misinterpretations, and strengthening interpersonal connectedness.

Speakers

Danielle Frank, LCSW

Staff Psychotherapist, Lenox Hill Hospital Outpatient Center for Mental Health

Danielle Frank is a clinical social worker, with experience in community mental health, college counseling andhospital settings and is also in private practice. Her interests include trauma, gender/sexuality, psychoanalytic treatment ofpsychosis, and the psychic implications of sociopolitical... Read More →

Marilyn Charles, PhD, APP

Psychologist/Psychoanalyst, Austen Riggs Center

Marilyn Charles is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center, Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS), and Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. Affiliations include the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, Universidad de Monterrey... Read More →

Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP

Assistant Professor, Indiana State University

Courtney Wiesepape, PsyD, HSPP [she/her] is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Indiana State University, where she teaches, mentors, and supervises graduate and undergraduate students. She is the founder and director of the Metacognition for... Read More →

Jessica Garrelts, MS

PsyD student, Department of Psychology, Indiana State University

Jessica Garrelts is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Indiana State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in biology from Butler University in Indianapolis, IN in 2018. She later earned her master’s degree in psychology from... Read More →

Marlee Gieselman, BS

PsyD student, Department of Psychology, Indiana State University

Marlee Gieselman is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Indiana State University. She earned her B.S. in psychological sciences at Western Kentucky University, and her research interests include suicide risk and serious mental illness, particularly as they relate... Read More →

Jeremy Ridenour, PsyD

Associate Director of Admissions, Austen Riggs Center

Jeremy Ridenour is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center where he serves as Staff Psychologist, Associate Director of Admission, and Director of Psychological Testing. He has published various articles on psychosis and the personality assessment. Jeremy Ridenour... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Breakout Room #1

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

1:30pm EST

Navigating Voice Hearing - Experiential Workshops (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

Breakout Room #3

Navigating Voice Hearing - Experiential Workshops

1:30-2:15pm Supporting Voices in Times of Crisis - Cindy Marty Hadge, Sasha Bunbar
2:15-3pm Who Is Afraid of the Voices? Rebuilding the Social Link Through Theater and Voice Dialogue - Yulia Landa, PsyD, MS, Jessica Levitt, CDA, Michael Jacobs, PhD, Christina Asig, MD

Supporting Voices in Times of Crisis - Cindy Marty Hadge, Sasha Bunbar
There are a growing number of resources for supporting people who hear voices. However, Westernized society continues to resort to reactive responses more often than not when it comes to someone in crisis. This tendency only grows when the crisis involves voices who may be talking about suicide or hurting others. Yet, research increasingly tells us that carceral responses that take power away from people in distress can actually worsen the risk of both.This workshop will teach people how to support individuals who hear voices* and are having experiences that may be interpreted as crisis. Through the use of presentation, video, demonstrations and roleplays, participants will learn to interpret what is and isn’t a crisis and how to support the person in understanding and moving through the experience in real time.*’Hearing voices’ is an umbrella term and includes people who have visions, unusual beliefs and other non-consensus reality experiences.

Who Is Afraid of the Voices? Rebuilding the Social Link Through Theater and Voice Dialogue - Yulia Landa, PsyD, MS, Jessica Levitt, CDA, Michael Jacobs, PhD, Christina Asig, MD
Voice hearing is often understood as a private symptom, yet many voices speak the language of relationships—criticizing, threatening, blaming, excluding, or demanding. This interactive workshop explores how theatrical role-play can transform voice hearing from an isolating internal experience into a shared social encounter that invites dialogue, reflection, and connection. Drawing on lived experience, dialogical approaches to psychosis, and our previous work on theater as a means of understanding and normalizing psychosis, presenters will demonstrate how role-play can help individuals develop new ways of relating to voices through curiosity, boundary-setting, and self-advocacy. Participants will engage in experiential exercises and discussion designed to illuminate voices as relational experiences rather than simply symptoms. The workshop will also explore how capacities developed in dialogue with voices—such as setting limits, challenging accusations, and asserting one's perspective—may generalize to relationships with family members, partners, peers, and the broader community, supporting recovery as a process of reconnection and disalienation.

Speakers

Yulia Landa, PsyD, MS

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Director, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Treatment and Prevention of Psychosis Research and Clinical Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Yulia Landa, PsyD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment and Prevention of Psychosis Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Landa completed a postdoctoral fellowship in schizophrenia treatment and research at Weill Medic... Read More →

Jessica Levitt, CDA

Jessica lives in New York City. She holds a Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential. She works with children receiving cancer treatment, supporting their emotional well-being through play, creative activities, and therapeutic
engagement. Her interest in art complements her work by highlighting children's creativity, resilience, and capacity for self-expression... Read More →

Michael Jacobs, PhD

Dr. Michael Jacobs has over 15 years of experience working with clients in different capacities who have mental health challenges. Prior to becoming a psychologist, Michael worked as a vocal coach, a voice teacher, and has a decade of experience as a professional musical theater performer... Read More →

Christina Asig, MD

Cindy Marty Hadge

Roots Up

Cindy Marty Hadge is an internationally recognized trainer and public speaker on topics including the Hearing Voices Movement, trauma, suicide and more. For many years, she worked for the Wildflower Alliance, founding the first ever on-line family & friends Hearing Voices Group in... Read More →

Sasha Dunbar

Roots Up

Sasha Dunbar (all pronouns) is in awe of the ever-unfolding wisdom of community. Being multi-heritage (Jamaica+Scotland), Black and queer from NYC informs how they connect to the world and all of its stories. They were relieved to learn about peer support after a time of struggle and spiritual... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Breakout Room #3

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

1:30pm EST

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Track (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

Breakout Room #2

This panel is a continuation of panels presented for the past 4 years that focus on an in-depth discussion of clinical work with an individual diagnosed with psychosis via a detailed reading and discussion of a psychotherapy transcript. It serves as an extension of discussions that are held in an ongoing basis during our ISPS-US/CCP case conference, although anyone with an interest in clinical work is welcome to attend and join the discussion. We have found that the discussion that arises from this immersion into a moment "in the consulting room" is often surprising, illuminating, and most of all, inspiring.

Speakers

Nancy Burke, PhD, ABPP

Co-Chair, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

Nancy Burke, PhD, ABPP, is a psychoanalyst, writer and psychotherapy activist in Evanston IL. She is currently vice-president of ISPS-US, co-chair of Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago, NFP, and a board member, past-president and core faculty member of the Chicago Center for... Read More →

Zak Mucha, LCSW

President, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

Zak Mucha, LCSW is a psychoanalyst in Chicago and the author of Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis and Street-Corner Social Work, Emotional Abuse: A Manual for Self Defense, and two collections of poetry.

Adam Weg, LCSW

Primary Clinician, Lenox Hill Hospital

Adam Weg, LCSW practices psychoanalytic psychotherapy in New York City, with a special interest in the psychoanalysis of “serious mental illness.” He also works in the Early Treatment Program at Lenox Hill Hospital, and is an Associate Faculty Member at the Chicago Center for... Read More →

Michael Ryzner-Basiewicz

PhD Candidate, Duquesne University

Michael Ryzner-Basiewicz is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Duquesne University. He is a member of ISPS-US and associate clinical faculty at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. Michael works psychoanalytically with small children, adolescents, and adults.

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Breakout Room #2

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

1:30pm EST

The Transformative Power of Peers (Virtual Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

Virtual Room

The Transformative Power of Peers

1:30-2pm The Role of Peer Specialists & Radical Powerlessness - Abaigeal (Abbe) Duke, Elise Diamond
2-2:30pm Redefining Community and Enlarging Connection: Peer Support on Discord from Wildflower Alliance - Claudia Wilson, MSW, MFA, Michal Ditkoff
2:30-3pm The Peer Message in the Psychiatric Hospital - Patrick Kaufmann, CPSS, CPRC, BS, Shannon Kaufmann, CPSS, ITE

The Role of Peer Specialists & Radical Powerlessness - Abaigeal (Abbe) Duke, Elise Diamond
The profession of Peer Specialist goes well beyond merely being a person with lived experience. Peer Specialist is the only role in the mental health system specifically intended to undermine and interrupt power relationships, with a well-developed body of practices and competencies in service to those goals. In this panel discussion featuring Abaigeal Duke and Elise Diamond, the Peer Specialist Training Department at OnTrackNY, we will explore some examples of how Peer Specialists do radical powerlessness, what other provider roles can learn from Peer Specialists, and how the Peer Specialist role can be truly integrated into multidisciplinary (particularly Coordinated Specialty Care) teams to transform all aspects of care.The conversation will begin with sharing some stories about the role of power relationships in the public mental health system and how Peer Specialists recognize and trouble those power relationships. The panelists will then facilitate a conversation to surface participant’s experiences with power relationships. We will collectively identify strategies for interrupting power, putting into practice the core Peer Specialist competency of drawing out the expertise that already exists in any given group of people.

Redefining Community and Enlarging Connection: Peer Support on Discord from Wildflower Alliance - Claudia Wilson, MSW, MFA, Michal Ditkoff
Peer Support is done from the point of view of lived experience. It offers connection and camaraderie through relationships, but what happens when those relationships are jeopardized by the Covid 19 pandemic? What do organizations do to continue social connection and rebuff against alienation? In 2006 a peer-support worker within the Wildflower Alliance, Natan Cohen created a discord platform for folks to come together using Wildflower Alliance Values to have spaces to share mental health challenges, problems, and receive support. Since that time, this online community has grown to over three-thousand members, many within Massachusetts and many from around the globe. While this community is still growing and learning, it has become a space that offers members possibilities and connection. This happens due to the dedicated participation of volunteers, staff, and community members who help to co-create space and a culture of care. Folks who attend this workshop will hear about how we hold space, handle conflict, and maintain a deep sense of connectivity by practicing our guidelines and approach. We aim to consistently (through learning together) grow and discover new ways forward. A few of our guidelines include: “not giving a personal assessment of other people's experiences unless they ask about it,” and “not using clinical language” so as to not reproduce the harm that has happened in clinical settings. The presenters of this abstract are Wildflower Alliance employees who started using the space as regular, ordinary members, who then wanted to be a part of this work in deeper ways. While we are not the founders/creators of this space we have contributed significantly to the diversity/variety of this space by adding our presence and lived experience of being Black, Queer, and Neurodivergent. We provide peer-support in this space, creative projects, and play within this community. Together we affirm the values of the space to welcome anyone and to continually co-create space intentionally.

The Peer Message in the Psychiatric Hospital - Patrick Kaufmann, CPSS, CPRC, BS, Shannon Kaufmann, CPSS, ITE
Presenters will share briefly on personal experience as a voice hearer and as a spouse of a voice hearer. They will describe their experiences with bringing recovery groups and specifically a hearing voices group into the psychiatric hospital. Attendees will learn the advantages of peer led groups that address unshared reality especially on their effectiveness in acute hospital settings. Presenters will be objective while identifying challenges and room for growth. As a collective all involved will consider why these approaches are valuable as they also explore how this approach can be improved upon for future efforts.

Speakers

Michal Ditkoff

Michal Ditkoff (they/them) is a student at Brandeis University and graduate of Brookline High School (class of 2023). Currently, they are on the Wildflower Alliance Discord Moderation Team, focusing on online peer-support offerings. They have been an advocate for the mental health... Read More →

Abaigeal (Abbe) Duke

Recovery Specialist & Trainer Supervisor, OnTrackNY/CPI/ NYSPI

Abbe Duke(she,her,hers) is the Recovery Specialist & Trainer Supervisor at OnTrackNY. Abbe is a long time Peer Specialist who has worked in a variety of settings throughout New York State’s mental health system. Operating from perspectives of liberation and systems transformation... Read More →

Elise Diamond

Recovery Specialist & Trainer, OnTrackNY/ CPI/ NYSPI

Elise Diamond (they/them/theirs) is a Recovery Specialist & Trainer at OnTrackNY. Elise is mostly a gardener, but has also been a Peer Specialist and trainer for awhile. They spend a lot of time thinking about healing and liberation, and they’d probably like to talk about that with... Read More →

Claudia Wilson, MSW, MFA

Coordinator of Online Alt2Su Supports, Wildflower Alliance

Claudia Wilson is a Black, Trans writer and peer-supporter from Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. They studied Social Work and Black Literature in college and earned their MFA from UMASS Amherst. Their work lives at the intersections of identity, memory, and becoming—and is deeply rooted... Read More →

Patrick Kaufmann, CPSS, CPRC, BS

Peer Support Specialist, Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital

Patrick Kaufmann works at Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, an organization that contracts with Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital. He applies his first-hand experience to connect with patients not only having been hospitalized there long term but also specifically as a voice... Read More →

Shannon Kaufmann, CPSS, ITE

CEO, Wellness Concepts

Shannon Kaufmann is a peer support who has utilized peer experience to lead a wellness center, create a healing from trauma program, and spearhead a statewide project that brought peer support into the psychiatric hospitals for the first time. She was the recipient of the Peer of... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST
Virtual Room

Breakout Session, Virtual Only

3:00pm EST

Break

Friday November 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EST

Break

3:30pm EST

Disalienation as System Change: Relational and Community Approaches to Recovery (Virtual Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:45pm EST

Virtual Room

Disalienation as System Change: Relational and Community Approaches to Recovery

3:30-4:15pm Alienation, Trauma, and the Voice That Speaks: Understanding Psychosis Spectrum Experiences Through a Social-Relational Lens - Carina A. Iati, PsyD, Jeannie Bass, CPS
4:15-4:45pm Housing as Key to Social Connections and Improved Health - Joël Doty, MA, MBA

Alienation, Trauma, and the Voice That Speaks: Understanding Psychosis Spectrum Experiences Through a Social-Relational Lens - Carina A. Iati, PsyD, Jeannie Bass, CPS
Research consistently shows that psychosis spectrum experiences are not distributed randomly across society — they emerge disproportionately among people who have experienced the most profound forms of social rupture: poverty, racism, displacement, and abuse. Not because these populations are inherently more “at risk,” but because alienation, disconnection, and powerlessness are among the most potent incubators of extreme states.This presentation draws on the Reframing Psychosis Spectrum Experiences curriculum to argue that destigmatizing psychosis is not merely a clinical or linguistic act — it is a political and relational one. When we stop asking “what is wrong with this person?” and begin asking “what happened to this person, and in what world did this experience make sense?”, we align ourselves with the disalienating tradition that ISPS-US has long upheld.This presentation is shaped equally by clinical knowledge and lived-experience wisdom. Presenters will speak from direct experience of how social alienation — including within psychiatric systems — shapes the experience of psychosis and the possibility of recovery. That perspective grounds the curriculum's trauma-informed, socially-aware framework throughout, and informs the presenters' shared argument that meaning-centered, community-embedded care is not merely a clinical alternative — it is an act of social repair.

Housing as Key to Social Connections and Improved Health - Joël Doty, MA, MBA
Most housing models are not designed to facilitate socializing withpeople who are neuro-typical. We know psychosis and other mental health challenges are unique to the individual as is treatment and coping options. However, the need for human connection is universal. Rather than isolate from the general community, this presentation proposes integrating people with mental health differences into the community with an intentional housing model that facilitates understanding, kindness and friendship.

Speakers

Ruben Valle, PhD

Carina A. Iati, PsyD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Carina A. Iati, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in psychosis spectrum experiences, complex trauma, and the unique needs of transitional age youth. She earned her doctorate from Indiana State University and completed advanced training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School/Worcester... Read More →

Jeannie Bass, CPS

Director of Peer Support, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Jeannie Bass, CPS, is a Certified Peer Specialist with over a decade of experience providing peer support in the public sector, community, and private mental health settings. She is a recognized leader in the international Hearing Voices Movement. Jeannie brings her lived experience... Read More →

Joël Doty, MA, MBA

Director, Community Village Group

Joël is the founder of the organization Advocates for Supportive Housing and the director of the non-profit, Community Village Group in Ann Arbor, MI. She is the mother of an adult child with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. She and her group are primarily senior citizens who worry... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:45pm EST
Virtual Room

Breakout Session, Virtual Only

3:30pm EST

Creative Expression in Recovery - Arts Workshops (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST

Breakout Room #3

Creative Expression in Recovery - Arts Workshops

3:30-4:15pm Alleged Lunatic Society: Creative Writing Workshop - Eliot Duncan, D Mortimer
4:15-5pm Beyond Origami: Expressive Origami Therapy as the Therapeutic Tool for Multiple Dysfunctions - Toshiko Kobayashi, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT

Alleged Lunatic Society: Creative Writing Workshop - Eliot Duncan, D Mortimer
Two authors with lived experience, Eliot Duncan and D Mortimer, offer a generative creative writing workshop that centers participants' lived experiences and the Madness Literary Canon. Through generative writing prompts, we frame our experiences away from isolating, clinical pathology and bring them instead into the light of a supportive, literary social context.

Beyond Origami: Expressive Origami Therapy as the Therapeutic Tool for Multiple Dysfunctions - Toshiko Kobayashi, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT
When individuals experience extreme mental states or multiple dysfunctions including such as psychosis, the family members often suffer from severe relationship crisis. Prolonged caregiving stress, communication breakdowns, and the heavy burden of psychiatric labels frequently lead to alienation. Traditional talk therapy can reinforce these clinical boundaries, sometimes making it not good enough to rebuild authentic connections, which Expressive Origami Therapy has potential to help. This experiential workshop introduces Expressive Origami Therapy, as a safe, non-verbal approach to restore the social link within families. Expressive Origami Therapy is built upon four pillars—Brain Activation, Providing Safety & Versality, Interactive Communication, and Creative Self-expression—which foster the foundational conditions for a good life. Furthermore, Expressive Origami Therapy is not only an art therapy technique/theory, but also a mindful practice rooted in the philosophical understanding that suffering and daily struggles are universal human experiences. Drawing from Buddhist philosophy, this workshop shifts the paradigm from "treating a pathology" to "acknowledging shared humanity." We all experience varying degrees of suffering, and we all strive for living well. Expressive Origami Therapy provides a safe, non-verbal sanctuary where this shared vulnerability can be embraced. In the act of folding paper, the rigid roles of "patient" and "caregiver" dissolve; everyone becomes a fellow creator navigating the process of the healing together.

Speakers

Eliot Duncan

Author and Educator

Eliot is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. His debut novel, PONYBOY (Norton, ’23), was the first book with a trans protagonist to be nominated for The National Book Award. He teaches a workshop called Exquisite Love: Madness as Divinity... Read More →

D. Mortimer

D Mortimer is a writer, lecturer, and interdisciplinary humanities researcher specialising in experimental and hybrid writing practices. Their work spans poetry, hybrid prose, performance, and curatorial practice, engaging questions of gender, embodiment, disability, and literary... Read More →

Toshiko Kobayashi, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT

Director, Origami Therapy Association

Toshiko Kobayashi is a Board-Certified Art Therapist, Clinical Supervisor, and the founder of Expressive Origami Therapy (EOT). Kobayashi has dedicated her career to integrating traditional cultural practices with trauma-informed care. She served as a Senior Art Therapist and Clinical... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST
Breakout Room #3

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

3:30pm EST

From Control to Connection: Human Rights Aligned Approaches (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST

Breakout Room #2

From Control to Connection: Human Rights Aligned Approaches

3:30-4pm Lived Wisdom, Dialogic Practice, Trust, and Respect: Best Practices from a Human Rights Perspective - Claire Bien, MEd
4-4:30pm In the Openness of the Beast's Eye: A Study of a Different Response to the Crisis in Mental Health in a Brazilian City - Jana Koosah, PhD Student
4:30-5pm Provision of Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Early Intervention in Psychosis - Ruben Valle

Lived Wisdom, Dialogic Practice, Trust, and Respect: Best Practices from a Human Rights Perspective - Claire Bien, MEd
This talk speaks to the ways in which the social conditions of our lives, including imbalances of power, stigma, cultural misunderstandings, and racism, influence perception and treatment. The goal is to instill within the professionals who have vast power over the rest of a person’s life the necessity of beginning with a large measure of professional humility, addressing each individual, each interaction, each conversation, each diagnosis, and each disposition, with a clear understanding of the reasons for the actions, behaviors, and concerns that brought the person who stands or sits before them into their awareness. The talk is drawn largely from a chapter I wrote for a book entitled Prescribing Psychiatric Medications: The How, Why, and Why Not, edited by John D. Cahill, MD, and Keith Gallagher, MD, to be published by Cambridge University Press in late 2026/early 2027. The chapter, entitled: "Wisdom from without: what can we learn from the consumer movement about prescribing well,” speaks to the vastness of human experience and vulnerability and presents critically important perspectives of the disability rights/mental health recovery/peer/survivor movements, with an emphasis on human rights, person-centered and trauma-informed approaches to treatment, mutual trust and responsibility, and shared decision making among all parties. It is informed by my own lived experience as well as by the lived wisdom and experiences of colleagues and friends in the Hearing Voices Network, ISPS, and the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health.

In the Openness of the Beast's Eye: A Study of a Different Response to the Crisis in Mental Health in a Brazilian City - Jana Koosah, PhD Student
My research in Brazil examines a new approach to crisis management that does not involve coercion and makes use of 24-hour community centres. This approach fosters autonomy and heteronomy without servitude. Drawing on the work of Basaglia, Foucault, Fanon, Castel, Tosquelles and critical psychoanalysis, the study explores crisis as a situation that links health, social suffering, power and knowledge rather than as an individual psychiatric disorder. The study argues that responses to crisis outside of psychiatric isolation can become practices of collective transformation, mutual care, and socio-political recomposition. It therefore emphasises territoriality and critiques psychiatric colonisation.

Provision of Psychological and Psychosocial Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Early Intervention in Psychosis - Ruben Valle
Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) is grounded in the principles of early intervention and phase-specific treatment. Consequently, EIP is not limited to pharmacological management but relies on a broad set of evidence-based psychological and psychosocial strategies that address the diverse needs of people with emerging psychosis. Research has demonstrated the existence of EIP programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, their capacity to deliver such interventions remains largely understudied, particularly given that mental health systems in LMICs struggle to provide comprehensive mental health care. This presentation synthesizes the current state of psychological and psychosocial strategy provision within EIP services in LMICs, drawing on two complementary studies.

A systematic review showed that most EIP programs in LMICs reported only a limited set of psychological and psychosocial strategies. The most consistently offered interventions were individual psychoeducation and family education or support. Major gaps were observed in the provision of supported employment, educational support, and structured engagement and retention strategies. Among the few studies evaluating effectiveness, the addition of psychological and psychosocial components to antipsychotic medication produced better outcomes than medication alone across most domains.

A case-study of 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean examined in depth the provision of psychological and psychosocial care within EIP programs and related initiatives. Findings confirmed the scarcity of psychological and psychosocial interventions and highlighted key barriers such as limited trained human resources, non-protocolized care pathways, and care models reliant on personnel in training. At the same time, the study documented the limited implementation of innovative care models, as well as the insufficient involvement of service users and families in program design, delivery, and cultural adaptation.

Together, these findings show that delivering comprehensive psychological and psychosocial care remains challenging in LMICs, even in the context of specialized health services. Advancing their provision in LMICs may involve the use of novel care delivery methods (i.e., task-sharing and task-shifting) and digital health technologies that have demonstrated benefits in other areas, while assuring co-participation with key stakeholders and culturally responsive adaptation.

Speakers

Claire Bien, MEd

Research Associate, Yale University Program for Recovery and Community Health

Claire Bien, MEd, is a research associate at the Yale University Program for Recovery and Community Health; mental health advocate and educator; and author of a memoir, Hearing Voices, Living Fully: Living with the Voices in My Head. She is treasurer of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS) and a board member and immediate past president of ISPS-US. She served as a board member of the Hearing Voices Network (HVN)-USA from 2019. Claire speaks widely about her experience... Read More →

Jana Koosah, PhD Student

PhD Student, Universidade de São Paulo, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Psychologist and doctoral researcher Jana Koosah is currently conducting her doctoral research in the Department of Social Psychology at the University of São Paulo. Her research examines responses to crisis situations within community-based, non-institutional mental health care... Read More →

Ruben Valle, PhD

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST
Breakout Room #2

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

3:30pm EST

Transforming Clinical Education: Lived Experience and Meaning-Centered Care (In-Person Only)

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST

Breakout Room #1

Transforming Clinical Education: Lived Experience and Meaning-Centered Care

3:30-4:15pm Out of the Shadows and Into the Classroom: Integrating Lived Experience into Education and Training About Psychosis - Philip T. Yanos, PhD, Evan Auguste, PhD, Emese Ilyés, PhD, Ethel Kirabo Nalule, MSc, Madi Barber BS
4:15pm-5pm Opening the Door: Resident and Patient Perspectives on Meaning-Focused Care in Psychosis - Punita Peketi, MD, Rachel Waford, PhD, ABPP, Saritha Venkataram, Camila Camacho

Out of the Shadows and Into the Classroom: Integrating Lived Experience into Education and Training About Psychosis - Philip T. Yanos, PhD, Evan Auguste, PhD, Emese Ilyés, PhD, Ethel Kirabo Nalule, MSc, Madi Barber BS
Most undergraduates are between the ages of 18 and 25, a period when the onset of psychosis and other mental health conditions often first begins- which means these experiences are not hypothetical, they are already in the room, carried by students and faculty alike, often unnamed. Further, since many are experiencing mental health conditions for the first time, this age range is when the potential impact of stigma toward others (in the form of expressed microaggressions and social rejection toward peers) and oneself (in the form of internalized stigma and a decreased willingness to seek help) increase considerably. College and graduate coursework that concerns psychopathology and “abnormal” psychology typically focus on imparting information drawing heavily on DSM frameworks that can reduce dynamic, complex, and context dependent experiences into checklist and labels. This approach poses particular risks for students from racialized and classed communities, whose encounters with distress are not only more likely to be misread, over-pathologized, or under-supported by clinical systems, but whose experiences are often fluid, multiply-shaped, and resistant to categorical capture. When diagnostic categories become identities rather than provisional descriptions, stigma is not just possible - it is structurally produced. A key strategy for potentially decreasing stigma includes incorporating lived experience (through personal disclosures, sharing videos, podcasts, songs, in-class visits, and other approaches) into one’s teaching approach. This strategy often leads students to disclose their lived experience which also has the potential to impact stigma, which can meaningfully shift the affective and epistemological climate of the classroom. At the same time, this kind of teaching requires holding space in ways the academy was not designed for: institutions of higher education were built around hierarchy and gatekeeping, not around feeling, connection, or the relational conditions that make honest disclosure possible. Faculty and students who bring their full selves into these encounters do so at real cost, and that cost is not evenly distributed. Disclosure from faculty and students poses risks, especially in the current political climate. In the current panel, 3 John Jay Psychology faculty and 2 students will discuss the impact of the incorporation of lived experience into the classroom.

Opening the Door: Resident and Patient Perspectives on Meaning-Focused Care in Psychosis - Punita Peketi, MD, Rachel Waford, PhD, ABPP, Saritha Venkataram
For individuals who are experiencing symptoms of psychosis, psychiatrists are often their first line of treatment. The medical model often attributes psychotic experiences with a biological focus rather than with psychological and social perspectives. This may stem from residency training, as residents focus heavily on symptom reduction rather than understanding how trauma, culture, and social aspects may contribute to patients’ experiences. Residency training is a pivotal point in a psychiatrist’s career as training shapes the attitudes and perceptions for different patient populations. We spoke to 5+ psychiatry residents at Emory, some of whom have experience of learning psychotherapy for individuals with psychosis during their training. We aimed to understand how this experience may influence how psychiatry residents conceptualize, approach, and connect with this patient population. This is a pilot study to provide a basis for further research. This is a pilot study to provide a basis for further research.Teaching residents how to “hold” and explore meaning behind symptoms versus solely focusing on symptom reduction may allow residents to be more curious and exploratory in their own approach to psychosis. This may help psychiatrists “open the door” from the biological view towards the multifaceted standpoints (social, cultural, trauma) that contribute to our patient presentations. Additionally, we spoke to patients who are enrolled in additional psychotherapy treatment regarding their experience. We aimed to understand patients’ experience of this space to explore themselves outside of the context of symptom reduction, and how this also may have influenced their connection and alliance to their provider. By understanding how trainees and patients experience meaning-focused care, we hope to shape educational foundations that holistically respect patients’ lived experiences.

Speakers

Camila Camacho

Camila is a graduate student in public health and a qualitative research coder and analyst with interests in health communication and human rights advocacy. She has contributed to qualitative research examining therapeutic relationships and to research focused on hearing healthcare... Read More →

Philip Yanos, PhD

Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Philip Yanos, PhD is a professor in the psychology department at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the author of the books Written Off: Mental Health Stigma and the Loss of Human Potential (2018) and Exiles in New York City: Warehousing the Marginalized on Ward's ... Read More →

Rachel Waford, PhD, ABPP

Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor, Consulting Psychologist, Early Psychosis Clinic Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Grady Health System Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Rachel Waford, PhD, ABPP is a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist in Atlanta, GA. She is an Assistant Professor at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Hubert Department of Global Health and Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry... Read More →

Punita Peketi, MD

Psychiatry Resident, Emory University

Punita Peketi will complete her psychiatry residency at Emory University in July 2026. She earned her MD at Northeast Ohio Medical University and her bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences, with a minor in psychology, from the University of Akron. Her interest in psychiatry grew... Read More →

Saritha Venkataram

Masters Student in Clinical Psychology, American University

Saritha Venkataram is an MA in clinical psychology student at American University where her research interests center on the patient and therapist process, including training. She served as a research coordinator exploring the impact of long-term psychotherapy on patient experience... Read More →

Ethel Kirabo Nalule, MSc

Doctoral Student, John Jay College/CUNY Graduate Center

Ethel Kirabo Nalule is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center. Inspired by bell hooks and Paulo Freire, she views education as a practice of freedom, recognizing that when a student walks into and out of... Read More →

Madi Barber, BS

Doctoral Student, John Jay College/CUNY Graduate Center

Madi Barber is a second year PhD student in Clinical Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver where she earned a BS in psychology. In her undergraduate work, Madi engaged in a variety of research projects including... Read More →

Evan Auguste, PhD

Assistant Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Evan Auguste, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He completed his PhD in clinical psychology with a major area of focus in forensic psychology at Fordham University in 2022. Auguste is a 2014 graduate of Middlebury College. He identities... Read More →

Emese Ilyés, PhD

Doctoral Lecturer, John Jay College

Emese Ilyés, PhD, is a Doctoral Lecturer in Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, where she teaches liberation psychology, research methods, and participatory action research. Her scholarship centers on decolonial methodologies, community... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST
Breakout Room #1

Breakout Session, In-Person Only

3:30pm EST

Young People, Families, and Recovery in Early Psychosis (Hybrid)

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST

Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Young People, Families, and Recovery in Early Psychosis

3:30-4:15pm Family Recovery in First Episode Psychosis: Perspective from Georgia’s Peer Workforce and Team Leads - Beth Broussard, MPH CHES, Emily Griner, MPH, Sophie Pollack-Milgate, BA, Angie S. Williams
4:15pm-5pm Negotiating Identities: Supporting Recovery During the Transition to Adulthood - Michaela I. Fissel, MA

Family Recovery in First Episode Psychosis: Perspective from Georgia’s Peer Workforce and Team Leads - Beth Broussard, MPH CHES, Emily Griner, MPH, Sophie Pollack-Milgate, BA, Angie S. Williams
While the dominant model in mental health recovery focuses on the individual, personal recovery cannot be separated from the functioning of the family unit (Price-Robertson, 2016). Families frequently face emotional distress and confusion following a diagnosis, yet they often play a central role in supporting individuals' recovery, highlighting the need for services that address the wellbeing and recovery of the family unit (Mueser et al., 2015; Sharony & Josman, 2022; Estradé et al., 2023; Brunette et al., 2018; Gordon et al., 2016). In the state of Georgia, Certified Peer Specialist Parents (CPS-P) have been incorporated into psychosis care through first episode psychosis (FEP) programs to provide support to family members by using their own lived experience (Georgia Parent Support Network). Drawing from qualitative work with CPS-Ps, CPSs, and Team Leads working in FEP programs in the state of Georgia, this panel will explore the multiple ways in which peers conceptualize family recovery: through the holistic recovery of the family unit, the recovery and wellbeing of individual family members, and family recovery as a means of strengthening the family’s ability to support their loved one’s recovery. The panel will also discuss ways the peer workforce in Georgia has fostered greater connection not only within family units, but also across broader communities through shared lived experience, extending beyond the traditional Certified Peer Specialist model.

Negotiating Identities: Supporting Recovery During the Transition to Adulthood - Michaela I. Fissel, MA
This session is designed for people working with transition-aged youth and young adults seeking to enhance their ability to promote recovery during the transition to adulthood through a developmentally appropriate and generationally relevant perspective. For young people who experience psychosis and altered states of consciousness, the transition into adulthood can seem unattainable. With a 15% growth in the rate of mental health challenges experienced by young adults in the last decade there is a greater likelihood that the current generation of young adults will experience the highest rates of life-long and chronic illness than any other generation before. Despite more than two decades of research and tailored services, the impact of mental health challenges continues to derail young adults and miff policy makers and treatment providers. This interactive training offers a dynamic process to encourage attendees to explore approaches for promoting self-exploration and personal growth as young folks negotiate identities towards recovering a sense of self beyond a psychiatric diagnosis.

Speakers

Beth Broussard, MPH, CHES

Academic Research Scientist, Emory University, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Beth Broussard, MPH, CHES, is an Academic Research Scientist at Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is the Director of Early Intervention for the Clinical and Research Program for Psychosis at Grady Health System. She completed... Read More →

Emily Griner, MPH

Research Projects Manager, Emory University, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Emily Griner, MPH, is a Research Projects Manager at Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She assists with the execution and analysis of a variety of clinical and socio-behavioral research conducted within the Clinical and Research... Read More →

Sophie Pollack-Milgate, BA

Graduate Research Assistant, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Laney Graduate School

Sophie Pollack-Milgate, BA, is a master’s student in Public Health and Bioethics at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health and Laney Graduate School. Before coming to Emory, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Contemplative Studies from Brown University and worked... Read More →

Angie S. Williams

Youth & Young Adult Peer Coordinator, Aspire Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services

Angie S. Williams is a behavioral health professional with over 16 years of experience at Aspire Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services. She serves as Youth and Young Adult Peer Support Coordinator and LIPT Chairperson, where she promotes collaboration, advocacy... Read More →

Michaela I. Fissel, MA,

Executive Director, Advocacy Unlimited, Inc.

Michaela holds a masters in conscious studies and transpersonal psychology with a concentration in supporting recovery during the transition to adulthood through a generationally relevant and developmentally appropriate approach. Bringing 18 years of research, practice, and instruction... Read More →

Friday November 6, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm EST
Student Dining Hall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019

Breakout Session, Hybrid