AGENDA AT A GLANCE

46th ANNUAL MEETING

Day 1: Thursday, April 3rd

8:30 - 9:00

Welcome to the 46th Annual Meeting - Opening Remarks

Alan Teo, MD, MS, President, SSPC

9:00 - 10:30

Panel Discussion: Access to Care

Molly McClain, MD, MPH; Olivia Shadid, MD; Peter Holguin, MD; Lindsay Fox, PA

10:30 - 10:45

Break & Connecting

Take time to grab a cup of tea or coffee and connect (or reconnect) with fellow participants!

10:45 - 12:15

Four Sessions

  • Mental health professionals are deeply invested in accurately assessing psychological distress across diverse populations. This symposium focuses on processes from a mixed methods multilevel community-based mental health intervention study designed to understand and address the disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinx and African refugees/immigrants. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, a quantitative strand measured psychological distress and examined the impact of three nested conditions, while a qualitative strand offered explanatory insights into distress from participants' perspectives. Initial analysis of data, including the PHQ-9 and GAD-7, found that levels of psychological distress were lower than the national average among Latinx immigrants, despite their facing significant health and economic inequities due to long-standing structural discrimination and the pandemic. Integrating quantitative and qualitative data, we explored discrepancies between PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores and the distress expressed in qualitative interviews, leading to the creation of a new cross-cutting measure aimed at more accurately reflecting participants’ distress. This symposium will feature four papers: 1) an overview of the study, including the methods and quantitative procedures used to develop the new measure; 2) a description of the qualitative methodology, offering sociocultural insights into Latinx immigrant psychological distress; 3) findings related to the new measure’s accuracy in measuring distress; and 4) a qualitative exploration of participants’ grief, which highlights important insights into Latinx distress and coping strategies. This research has significant implications for measuring psychological distress globally, as it demonstrates innovative methodological integration that bridges the gap between Western epistemological frameworks and local meanings, thus enhancing both academic and community perspectives. By incorporating these approaches, the study offers a more nuanced understanding of how distress manifests in marginalized populations, particularly in the context of a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Abstract 1: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Developing a Transdiagnostic Outcome Measure of Psychological Distress for Latinx and African Immigrants/Refugees in the Refugee and Immigrant Well-being Project (RIWP)

    Abstract 2: Innovative Qualitative Approaches to Understand Psychological Distress of Latinx and African Immigrants and Refugees to Inform Quantitative Measurement Development in the RIWP+ Study

    Abstract 3: Reliability and Validity of a Transdiagnostic Measure of Psychological Distress for Latinx and African Refugees/Immigrants: A Mixed-Methods Study in the Refugee and Immigrant Well-being Project (RIWP)

    Abstract 4: A Qualitative Exploration of Grief Among Latinx Immigrants: Insights into Distress and Protective Factors during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Background: As many as 44% of refugees (1.3 million people) living in the United States (US) are survivors of torture (SoT). This figure does not include the 1.5 million asylum seekers awaiting case decisions. Clinicians often fail to identify a history of torture, despite torture’s significant impacts on emotional, neurocognitive, and physical health. SoT may not discuss the history with their clinicians due to shame, fear of stigma, belief that healing is not possible, or a lack of understanding that traumatic experiences such as torture may have contributed to their ongoing physical and psychological suffering.

    Aims/Objectives/Issues of Focus: This workshop aims to equip clinicians with information, insights, guidance, and skills-practice to improve their assessment and care of SoT.

    Methods/Proposition: Participants will be provided didactic content regarding the definition of torture, prevalence of torture, types of torture, and forms of humanitarian relief such as asylum and the Convention Against Torture. Participants will learn about the impacts of torture on mental health and about how to screen and assess for a history of torture, considering cultural contributions, the impact of trauma on memory, and differentiating from the common comorbidity of Traumatic Brain Injury. Via a case discussion and shared roleplaying “fishbowl” session, participants will practice skills needed to screen for a torture history, observe modeling by peers, and receive and provide feedback on applying this skillset.

    Results/Potential Outcomes: Participants will be able to discuss the impacts of torture on the mental health of survivors and screen patients for a history of torture, thus improving clinicians’ formulation and treatment-planning.

    Discussion/Implications: The skills needed to effectively assess the impacts of torture in SoT have implications for assessing impacts of persecution and interpersonal trauma more broadly, particularly in transcultural settings. These skills can be utilized both in clinical and forensic contexts.

  • Background: Family caregivers provide invaluable emotional and instrumental support for patients’ recovery. For parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, this role can be particularly demanding, as they often serve as ad-hoc behavioral therapists and advocates in educational and community settings. This burden can lead to caregiver burnout. “Caring for Caregivers” is an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based group intervention developed in Toronto to support caregivers. This unique model, co-led by trained clinicians and lay caregivers, has been adapted across various settings in Canada and internationally, including in South Korea.

    Objectives: This workshop will explore the use of ACT to support caregivers, highlighting its unique components and discussing the implementation and adaptation process across diverse global settings.

    Methods: The workshop will outline the unique features of the ACT program, particularly its mindfulness-based elements that align with Eastern philosophy and Buddhism. The peer-led approach will be discussed, including advantages and challenges in training and implementation. The application of the Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) tool to address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues, as well as the RE-AIM framework for scaling up, will be reviewed. The program’s dissemination in South Korea will be highlighted, examining both cultural congruence and necessary adaptations. The workshop will include both didactic presentations and experiential exercises from the ACT program.

    Potential Outcomes: Participants will gain insights into how cultural conceptions of health and resilience shape psychosocial interventions, recognize the importance of cultural and DEI adaptations, and understand the modifications needed for effective global dissemination.

    Discussion: Supporting family caregivers is essential for sustainable caregiving. Reflecting on cultural perspectives around health and resilience can enhance clinicians’ understanding and empower caregivers more effectively, including clinicians' own self-care. Attention to social and cultural factors is crucial to ensure interventions remain relevant, inclusive, and impactful across diverse global populations.

    1. Help-Seeking Pathways in Psychosis: Experiences with Hallucinations, Ngamuk, and Accessing Traditional and Healthcare Interventions in Indonesia

    2. Review of Ogbanje/Abiku: An Evolving Cultural Health Construct in West Africa

    3. Social and Cultural Factors Contributing to Mental Health Treatment Hesitancy and Engagement Among Latines with Serious Mental Illness: A Content Analysis

12:15 - 1:30

Lunch (On Own)

Take some time to explore all that Albuquerque has to offer! Click here to learn more.

1:30 - 3:00

Hughes and Spiegel Fellowship Award Recipient Talk & Four Sessions

    1. Applying Anthropology in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry to Prevent Violence

    2. Assessing Psychiatrists' Approaches to Non-US Born Patients' Mental Health: Contextualizing Trauma and Resource Utilization

    3. Exploring Training Gaps in Immigrant Mental Health: Perspectives from a Sample of US Psychiatry Trainees

  • Oregon’s rural and frontier communities face many healthcare challenges: It can be difficult to access specialty care without driving long distances. Healthcare professionals frequently feel isolated from their peers and burned out by large patient panels. Complex conditions like opioid use disorder, mental health challenges, and other chronic conditions remain prevalent across Oregon. Launched in 2014, Oregon's original ECHO continues to focus on Adult Mental Health--however it has evolved and grown while taking an inventive approach to ensuring it serves the needs of the communities it is intended to help. Thanks to funding from HRSA, the Oregon ECHO Network now includes a specific focus on improving the quality of care for LatinX populations in six rural Oregon counties. Pre- and post-program survey data indicate this multi-site, multidisciplinary, and case-based approach to tele-mentoring not only strengthens delivery of mental health services in primary care settings, it remains vibrantly connected to the communities it intends to serve. This presentation will describe the history and core features of the ECHO model, review the above-mentioned data, discuss when this model is likely to be helpful, and outline steps any program can follow to ensure it actually meets the needs of its target communities.

    1. Celebratory Theater for addressing the mental health needs of immigrants and refugees

    2. Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD in Refugee Populations: A Review of the Current Evidence Base

    3. Bridging Cultural Understanding for Treatment of Displaced Artsakh Armenians (local)

  • Unaccompanied migrant minors (UMMs) from across the globe arrive in the United States seeking to improve their living conditions, often fleeing severe hardships in their home countries. Over the past 15 years, the number of minors crossing the southern border has surged. The migration journey is frequently associated with multiple traumatic events, and the compounding effect of these events presents as complex trauma in psychiatric care. Culturally and trauma-informed psychiatric care is crucial to addressing the mental health needs of this vulnerable population. This presentation details a training model for psychiatric residents and child and adolescent psychiatric fellows in providing comprehensive care to this population. Presenters will summarize the outpatient psychiatric care and coordinated services delivered by these trained residents and fellows at a designated clinic. This innovative clinical endeavor is singular in delivering psychiatric care to UMMs at the United States border region. By describing the specialized training curriculum and services, the presenters will outline opportunities for improving training and care by integrating culturally sensitive and trauma-informed care principles. The presenters will share clinical observations on the commonalities of psychiatric diagnoses and discuss associated treatment challenges with this population. Finally, the session emphasizes the vital need for specialized training in culturally sensitive, trauma-informed care to meet the mental health needs of this population, thereby enhancing their well-being and facilitating their integration into society.

  • Feasibility and applicability of implementing the Framework for Comprehensive Understanding of Structural Stigma in Mental Healthcare Systems (FOCUS-MHS): A case example of Nepal by Dristy Gurung

    Dristy Gurung is the co-investigator and project manager for the NIH-funded R01 project- Reducing Stigma among Healthcare Providers to Improve Mental Health Services (RESHAPE) at a non-profit organisation, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal. Dristy is also working as a Research Associate for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Mental Health Implementation Network [MHIN]. She is also doing a part-time PhD at King’s College London, focusing on developing a measurement framework for mental health-related structural stigma in low and middle-income countries that looks at what matters most to people with lived experiences, stigma researchers, and policymakers. She worked as a commissioner on the “Lancet Commission on ending stigma and discrimination in mental health”, and chaired the launch event of the commission report, which the World Health Organization hosted. Her work not only focuses on promoting inclusivity within mental health systems but also in other areas of global health, such as addressing the geographical and gender disparities or gaps within the health and research workforce. She was awarded the Visionary Innovators Shaping Tomorrow’s Advancements (VISTA) award by the National Institute of Mental Health, USA, during the NIMH Global Mental Health conference in October 2023 for her contributions and work as an early-career researcher.

3:00 - 3:15

Break

3:15 - 4:45

Five Sessions

  • Background: Despite remarkable advances in science, technology, and philosophy, human conflicts seem inevitable—whether at the individual level in family or workplace dynamics, at the community level causing group tensions, or escalating to war globally. Empathy for those affected by conflict may be perceived as taking sides, while movements advocating social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion can provoke backlash against “wokeness.” Can compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and peace be achieved by objectively judging “right” versus “wrong,” especially in the context of complex personal and intergenerational trauma?

    Objectives: This workshop will examine human conflicts through the lens of cultural psychiatry and contextual behavioral science, helping participants develop skills such as defusing entrenched thoughts, enhancing empathy and perspective-taking, and practicing non-judgment in triggering situations.

    Methods: Apparent ""cultural conflicts"" often reflects underlying rigidity in internalized rules and entrenched narratives. Our workshop will feature both didactic presentations and experiential exercises to critically examine this. We will integrate principles of cultural psychiatry—including emic/etic perspectives, mediation of cultural conflicts, the Outline for Cultural Formulation, and the Cultural Relational Framework—with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), contextual behavioral science, and Buddhist philosophy, particularly the concept of non-self. These approaches promote shifting from judging situations as “right” or “wrong” toward evaluating their “workability” based on values like compassion, empathy, and peace.

    Potential Outcomes: Participants will gain insights into how rigid, fused thoughts contribute to conflict and othering, developing skills to promote peace and reconciliation. These insights have implications for clinical practice, social justice advocacy, and global mental health.

    Discussion: Mental health professionals play a key role in advancing social justice and promoting global mental health. Integrating cultural psychiatry and contextual behavioral science can foster effective action toward peace-building at both clinical and societal/global levels.

  • Traditional medicine (TM) has been integral to Latinx communities since pre-colonial times, characterized by a rich history and multicultural influences, with the current integration of modern practices (Chávez, 2016; Torres & Sawyer, 2005/2006). Despite being often misunderstood, stigmatized, and delegitimized, Latinx individuals continue to practice TM, especially when access to culturally appropriate healthcare is limited (Padilla et al., 2001; Willies-Jacobo, 2007). In a diversifying healthcare workforce, professionals of color are increasingly incorporating cultural practices to address the needs of underserved populations. However, literature on integrating decolonial, indigenized (e.g. Indigenous Ways of Knowing; Cajete, 2000), or cultural practices in healthcare remains sparse. This workshop aims to achieve two main objectives: 1) Evaluate a qualitative study on the experiences of helping professionals who utilize both traditional and conventional medicine, and 2) Understand a Latinx ethnoindigenous idiom of stress/trauma and healing practices used in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest through integrating a psychiatric general healing model (Kirmayer, 2004). The workshop will feature lecture, videos, experiential activities, and traditional dialogue (pláticas) to enhance knowledge and awareness of the reasons behind the continued practice of TM within Latinx communities. Key to destigmatizing TM is fostering community and belonging among practitioners and patients, encouraging communities to "remember the medicine" and reclaim cultural pride. It is vital to legitimize traditional knowledge in educational and medical settings to promote understanding and acceptance. Training programs should demystify TM, while mental health practitioners must cultivate knowledge and wisdom for effective integration into their practices or develop collaborative relationships with traditional practitioners to better address underserved populations' needs. Research methodologies should respect and value traditional knowledge, and ethical considerations must address the commodification of TM, ensuring its integrity and cultural significance. Exploring the experiences of individuals who navigate both traditional and conventional medicine can yield valuable insights into their interplay.

    1. Astronaut Households: The Lived Experiences of Pseudo-Single Chinese Immigrant Mothers with Pregnancy, Sitting the Month, and Childcare in Canada From a Cultural Perspective

    2. Cultural Considerations for Immigrant Bangladeshi Perinatal Mental Health: A Case Series

    3. Child Intellectual Disability in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa: Engaging with caregivers, spiritual healers and traditional healers

    1. Cultural Self-Awareness Among Doctoral Students in Clinical Psychology in Quebec: Current Situation and Perspectives

    2. Critical Reflexivity and Trauma-Informed Practices in Intercultural Contexts: Developing a Community of Practice for the Staff of a Community Organization Dedicated to Supporting Women in Conflict With the Law

    3. What’s in a diagnosis? A clinical approach to adolescent psychiatric self-diagnosis in the social media era

  • Through mindful viewing of clips of 2 films—today’s vehicles of myth--participants will open their hearts to the quality of belonging with others and belonging to others that is so important in our time. The 2 films are: 1) “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” (2018), a documentary film directed by Morgan Neville about Fred Rodgers, 2) “Bagdad Café” (1987), a feature film directed by Percy Adlon about a German woman tourist visiting an isolated café in the Southern California desert confronted by a Black woman and her family and others. We will illustrate through clips of these 2 films how intolerance and loneliness are depicted and transformed by embracing the other through compassion, love, and recognition of our interdependence as humans. This workshop aims at a mindfulness experience of these 2 films in which inspiring characters embody belonging as a way to resilient well-being for the purpose of renewing these qualities in the lives of the participants and in our work with patients. After an introduction to the concept of belonging, the 2 films, and the process of mindful viewing of films, the film clips of the first film will be shown followed by processing focusing on the participant's own experience of the film clips including silent reflection, journaling, dyadic sharing, and group discussion. This process will be repeated with clips from the second film. General discussion and Q & A will conclude the session. This workshop is based on a 5-day CME film seminar conducted July 29-August 2, 2024, at the Door County Summer Institute, Egg Harbor, WI, that was accredited by the Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin

4:45 - 5:00

Break

5:00 - 6:00

Mentorship Roundtables

Topics include:

  1. Career Mentorship in Cultural Psychiatry-

  2. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

  3. Research and Publishing in Peer-Reviewed Journals

  4. Training/Education

6:30 - 8:30

Welcome Reception & Dinner (Dinner Served) 

Join us for complimentary cocktails and soft drinks with delicious appetizers before our sit-down dinner!

Day 2: Friday, April 4th

8:00 - 9:30

Coffee & Tea Bar

8:30 - 8:45

Welcome Remarks for Day 2

8:45 - 10:15

Keynote Speaker:
Brandon Kohrt, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Global Mental Health Equity, George Washington University

Brandon Kohrt, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and anthropologist who has worked for 25 years to improve mental health services in countries affected by war and political violence, disasters, and other forms of adversity. He holds the Charles and Sonia Akman Professorship in Global Psychiatry at George Washington University, where he is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Global Health, and Anthropology, and Director of the Center for Global Mental Health Equity. He works regularly with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and humanitarian organizations around the world.

Dr. Kohrt is the academic partner lead for the World Health Organization/UNICEF Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP) initiative to establish competency frameworks and assessments for providers of psychological and other mental health services around the world. EQUIP has been used in more than 1000 mental health trainings across 40 countries.

Dr. Kohrt’s work also addresses development of mental health assessment tools and research trials for reducing stigma in healthcare settings to improve the quality of mental health services. Dr. Kohrt was a Commissioner for the Time for United Action on Depression: A Lancet–World Psychiatric Association Commission and The Lancet Commission on Ending Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health.

10:15 - 10:30

Break

10:30 - 12:00

Five Sessions

  • This symposium comprises three presentations discussing community-based research projects in Nunavik. It allows to interrogate how Indigenous knowledges can be mobilized to address issues in mental health (MH), thus specifically speaking to this domain of the conference, while exploring capacities of projects to work towards decolonization and indigenization of interventions. The first presentation (Gaulin et al) discusses findings from a doctoral thesis examining explanatory models of MH and psychotic phenomena in Nunavik. This presentation addresses as well the challenges around doing research or clinical work as non-Inuit in Inuit contexts. The two other presentations report on the Atautsikut community of practice (CoP) in youth MH and wellness put into practice in Nunavik and taking the form of small groups reflexive spaces. We (Nadeau, Paningajak et al) will first discuss the implementation of the CoP, which allows to address the conditions by which such an initiative can provide an intercultural collective reflexive space contributing to Inuit and non-Inuit workers capacity building while supporting their wellbeing. It looks at how this project transformed through time to keep with the intended decolonial posture while adapting to group dynamics as well as to local and contextual conditions. Among these conditions is the scarce and unstable access of Indigenous remote communities to communication technologies essential to support such projects as CoPs. The discussion regarding technologies opens to a wider reflection on values of in-presence versus virtual presence. The last presentation (Konate et al) further explores the conversational and reflexive spaces provided by the CoP using Somerville & Perkins’ (2003) contact zone to theorize the site, and border work to understand the emotional and intellectual work of intercultural collaboration. Through qualitative methods, it aims to uncover facilitators and barriers in building ‘safe enough’ spaces of dialogue promoting the emergence of local knowledge within the Atautsikut CoP.

    Abstract 1: «He is not crazy, he is just hearing voices »: Crossed perspectives on the conceptualizations of parallel and multiple realities – psychotic phenomena - in Nunavik

    Abstract 2: Implementing collective reflexive spaces to improve mental health of Indigenous contexts: the necessary transformations of the Atautsikut intercultural community of practice.

    Abstract 3: Safe enough? Toward Intercultural Spaces of Dialogue Centering Local Knowledge: The Atautsikut Community of Practice in Youth Mental Health and Wellness in Nunavik

  • The 2007 Lancet series of global mental health articles challenged well-resourced governments, institutions, and organizations to act urgently to reduce mental health inequities among the earth’s populations, both between and within countries. The Movement for Global Mental Health was launched as a coalition of individuals and institutions committed to collective actions to close the treatment gap for people living with mental disorders worldwide. Global Mental Health (GMH) would focus on populations where gaps were the largest: among people living in low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries. It would promote two fundamental principles: evidence on effective treatments and human rights of people with mental disorders. Despite its humanistic aspirations, this mission for GMH raised alarm among cultural psychiatrists who critiqued the absence of cultural context in its population-based, public health approach. Ethnographic studies showed that presentation, attribution, classification, prevalence, and prognosis of mental disorders vary greatly across cultures. ICD and DSM diagnostic systems used by GMH lacked established validity within LIMC cultures. Concerns were raised that GMH research programs would commit “medical colonialism” by exporting to LIMC Western notions of personhood and good mental health. WHO was critiqued for its usage of “depression” as if a universally valid disorder that could be remedied by a standard mental health tool kit, whereas ethnography showed “depression” to have no shared definition or meaning across LMIC cultures. This workshop will engage attendees in active examination of their own GMH research or clinical programs: Are the questions posed at the birth of GMH still relevant? Has this cultural critique been adequately understood and responded to in current training and practice as GMH has matured as a discipline? In not, how can we better anticipate, detect, and mitigate adverse consequences of well-intended actions within today’s GMH? How can this awareness be built into our GMH training programs?

    1. Structural Factors Influencing Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American University Mental Health: A Narrative Review

    2. Effects of Community-Driven Approaches on Mental Health Access, Quality, and Utilization Among Asian Americans

    3. Systematic review of loneliness and depression in the adult immigrant population within the United States

  • Indigenous culture places high value in humans as one with nature, and Indigenous knowledge can therefore help us to understand and build resilience to the critical harms of climate change to human physical, mental, and spiritual health driven by Western culture’s extractive domination of nature. Human-induced climate change has been named by the World Health Organization to be the single greatest threat to human health, and building resilience to climate change and slowing climate change is the most pressing and all-encompassing health promotion task of our time. Vulnerable communities and people that live in close relationship with the land, including notably Indigenous People, are first and disproportionately affected. Meanwhile, Indigenous knowledge supplies direction for our society to grow in harmony with nature, for the wellbeing of humans and the Earth as one inextricably combined system.

    This workshop will educate participants on climate change’s multifaceted influences on mental health and threat multiplication of negative social determinants of health. We will highlight the harms experienced by Indigenous communities, and we will examine colonialism that drives health inequity. Then, we will explore facets of Indigenous culture that provide a framework for promotion of mental health and societal sustainability.

    This workshop will combine didactic presentation with small group discussions facilitated by session leaders.

    We will apply climate science and knowledge about social determinants of mental health among Indigenous communities in small group discussions of cases concerning individual and community mental health as driven by the climate crisis and related trauma. We will return to small group discussions to practice applying Indigenous approaches to mental health in practical case scenarios.

    Participants will gain knowledge to aid them in supporting Indigenous patients’ mental health, as well as skills to incorporate climate psychiatry into practice and apply Indigenous knowledge to promote sustainability.

    1. Symptom vs. Context: Lessons Learned from a Large-Scale Implementation of the Cultural Formulation Interview

    2. A Model for Professionalizing Forensic Mental Health Documentation for Asylum Seekers

    3. Exploring “Language of Suffering”: Idioms of Distress Among Eritrean Refugees Living in Israel

12:00 - 1:15

Annual Meeting Assembly & Awards (Lunch Included)

1:30 - 3:00

Five Sessions

    1. A Stratified Care Model for Refugee Mental Health: A Work in Progress from Boston Medical Center’s Immigrant and Refugee Health Center

    2. Establishing a forensic evaluation clinic for asylum seekers in an under-resourced border state: Lessons learned and pathways forward

    3. Understanding the experiences of Sanctuary Scholars in Ontario, Canada: A community-based participatory research project with youths navigating precarious migrant status

  • Bilingual providers working with linguistic minority clients often navigate higher and more complex caseloads, and are asked to engage in tasks outside their role, such as translating documents, case management, assisting with immigration needs, and educating their teams about the cultural needs of their clients. This can lead to exploitation, burnout, and isolation; Over the past decade, the provision of services in Spanish has declined due to bilingual providers leaving community mental health to safeguard their well-being. This workshop explores how the NLPA Bilingual Issues in Latinx Mental Health Special Interest Group (SIG) addresses these systemic challenges. The SIG created a collaborative/empowering network that provides peer support, access to resources, and a reimagined consultation and mentorship model that challenges traditional power dynamics in mental health care. Through initiatives like the Spanish Consultation Group and Charlas (training sessions on culturally and linguistically responsive care for Latinx Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S.), the SIG offers bilingual professionals and trainees a space to share experiences, engage in desahogarse (emotional un-drowning), and access tailored professional development. These spaces promote belonging, reduce isolation, and challenge the “expert” myth by encouraging collaborative conscientización (developing critical awareness through reflection and action, as defined by Paulo Freire). By co-creating spaces that integrate reflection, linguistic skills, and clinical practice, the SIG meets the unique needs of bilingual providers, whose experiences often differ significantly from those of monolingual practitioners. This workshop will delve into the ethical dilemmas and potential exploitation present in traditional training models, and and discuss decolonized consultation practices prioritizing language equity, cultural relevance, and reflective practice. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to challenge hierarchical supervision, foster peer support, and build sustainable community networks for bilingual mental health providers. This work is fundamental to advancing mental health equity for immigrant communities speaking minoritized languages.

  • Background: Mental health research and service provision – both domestic and global – often entail working in teams and contexts marked by power differentials, such as between collaborators in the Global North and Global South; wealthy institutions and poor communities; and teams consisting of clinicians, social scientists, traditional providers, and/or service-users. Power differentials within research and clinical teams raise unique challenges that range from ethics to logistics and scientific validity.

    Aims: Workshop participants will (a) consider challenges that arise due to power differentials within mental health research and clinical teams and (b) brainstorm strategies for maximizing inclusivity of voices, balancing decision-making power, and minimizing harmful effects of power differentials.

    Methods: Participants will work through a series of case scenarios drawn from domestic and global mental health projects that are marked by power differentials, including (1) a global mental health project funded by a grant to a PI from a high-income country to test an intervention in a low-income country in collaboration with local researchers, mental health practitioners, and traditional and religious leaders; (2) a community mental healthcare center located in a rural US county and served by clinicians from a nearby urban center as well as peer specialists from the community; and (3) an interdisciplinary team of clinicians and social scientists who are co-designing and adapting psychiatric services with members of minoritized communities. Activities will include small-group discussion of case scenarios and reporting back to the full group, with facilitator input regarding how they approached these cases.

    Potential outcomes: Participants will gain skills in identifying power differentials, considering their ethical, logistical, and scientific implications, and applying strategies to avoid or mitigate harmful effects of power differentials.

    Implications: This workshop will help participants to design more inclusive and equitable mental health research and clinical projects.

    1. Holding Multiple Perspectives: Assessment and Treatment in the Context of Culture, Autism, and Trauma in Young Children

    2. International Human Rights in the Elderly

    3. Silent Narratives: Unveiling the Psychiatric Complexity of Native Sign Language Users

  • This symposium will present on new cultural and social/structural issues in DSM-5-TR both when originally published in 2022 and in 2024 with 2 new additions. In 2022, the Introduction contains a new section entitled "Impact of Racism and Discrimination on Psychiatric Diagnosis." The Outline for Cultural Formulation was revised; for example, social determinants of mental health are explicitly included in the list of cultural stressors and supports. The Cultural Concepts of Distress now includes Hikikomori as one of ten examples. In Sept. 2024, a Cultural Formulation Interview (Military version) was added; it is the first alternative Cultural Formulation Interview to the original one first published in 2013 in the DSM-5. In Dec. 2024, it is anticipated that the American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees will approve the addition of "Moral" to the current "Religious or Spiritual Problems" to acknowledge distressing experiences such as moral injury, moral distress, and moral injury as a Z-Code in the "Other Conditions that May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention." It is important for clinicians, faculty, and trainees know about these changes and apply them in their clinical work and training efforts.

    Abstract 1: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2022)

    Abstract 2: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2024): Cultural Formulation Interview (Military version)

    Abstract 3: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2024): Moral, Religious, or Spiritual Problem

3:00 - 3:15

Break

3:15 - 4:45

Five Sessions

    1. Changing the narrative about “psychosis” among immigrant communities in the United States

    2. The Role of Islam in the Help-Seeking Behaviors of Muslim Psychosis Patients

    3. A gendered analysis of the lived experience of patients with first-episode psychosis

  • Background: The increasing prevalence of mental health conditions worldwide requires strategies to address the treatment gap between the individuals who need mental health support and the available mental health workforce. Evidence-based approaches have become an effective way to close this existing gap by training individuals without mental health backgrounds to deliver mental health support. However, it is essential to ensure that the delivery of these interventions is done in a safe and non-harmful way. Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP) is a collaborative project between the World Health Organization and UNICEF that aims to address this challenge by offering a multitude of standardized competency assessment tools in various languages that guide trainees, trainers and supervisors in delivering optimal care, supported by culturally and context-specific role-plays facilitating evaluation and personalized feedback.

    Aims: The workshop on EQUIP will provide participants with comprehensive training on how to use the EQUIP platform and its’ tools. This includes guidance on navigating the platform, understanding its various features, and utilizing the assessment tools to evaluate competencies in mental health support services.

    Method: The workshop will guide the participants in learning how to use the competency-based approach in their trainings and/or supervision. It will consist of the following:

    - Overview of the EQUIP approach

    - Introduction to the platform, competency assessment tools and standardized role-plays

    - Practice using the EQUIP platform and assessment tools

    - Discussion on potential benefits, challenges and strategies for addressing them Result: By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to implement EQUIP tools within their own organizations, ensuring quality in mental health care delivery.

    Discussion: The workshop, as well as the conference theme, will emphasize the importance of culturally adapted tools and approaches to improve mental health care across diverse settings globally.

  • Background: Despite the reach of globalized psychiatric care, under-resourced families and communities around the world may struggle to support those with chronic mental illness, and may turn to shackling. Shackling is a human rights violation, but sensationalistic portrayals can perpetuate ethnocentric stereotypes in lieu of new insights.

    Aims/Objectives/Issues of Focus: An anthropological perspective, grounded in longitudinal ethnography, provides a more nuanced look at shackling, which does not necessarily occur in the absence of hospitalization or pharmacotherapy, but speaks to the challenges of community based care. In Indonesia, shackling is known as pasung. Our project asks why, despite national calls to end pasung, it is still used, how the practice fits into pathways of treatment, and what the experience is like for those involved.

    Methods/Proposition: We investigate this through Pasung Multimodal (working title), an interactive website. At its heart is the story of Dedi, a young man with chronic mental illness who is shackled, released, and struggles for stability. This central ethnographic film is complemented by additional interviews with families, community members and care providers; interactive timelines; archival and contextual materials; and more.

    Results/Potential Outcomes: The workshop will discuss Pasung Multimodal, inviting participants to reflect on its relationship to their own research and clinical practice. Participants will gain an understanding of interpersonal and clinical pathways that lead to shackling in Indonesia and challenges to ongoing community centered care. They will be able to compare these to pathways in their own research or clinical communities. Participants will learn how multimodal methods can complement other forms of data collection and research presentation to communicate the lived experience of mental illness treatment to practitioners, students, and the general public.

    Discussion/Implications: The workshop will allow participants to better understand the persistence of this troubling practice and the use of multimodality.

    1. “Political Not PC Cultural Psychiatry”: Can Cultural Psychiatrists Do What Politicians Can Not?

    2. The Impact of Project 2025 and Pending Federal Legislation on DEI Initiatives

    3. Care, Violence, and the American Dream: Professionals’ Experiences of Double Binds and Moral Injury Within Immigration Detention

  • Rapid climate and environmental changes have accelerated the rate of natural disasters, conflict exposure, and forced displacement worldwide. Climate change, climate-related disasters, the recent global pandemic, and the urgent call for integration of planetary health merge exponentially into polycrisis and necessitate the more effective and positive evolution of our global practice toward locally-owned, -adapted, -created, and -directed actions with communities. However, at the very core lie the controversies, inadequacies and potential harm in the definitions and implementations of “locally-led,” “community-based,” “resilience,” and “participatory” activities. In addition, there is growing need for examination of externally-driven “localization” and begs the questions about inclusivity, timelines, scale, and collaboration. In the evolution of humanitarian assistance, the World Humanitarian Summit started The Grand Bargain with goals to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action and to deliver resources “into communities in need.” In short, in May 2016, the “localization of aid” in humanitarian response was formally launched. Since then, the term has been utilized in myriad ways across sectors and across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus with no consensus of definitions, approaches, and impact. Expanding to the broader intentions of decolonization of aid, there are numerous case study examples spanning good practices to moral distress amongst aid workers to lasting disruptions of community networks. Common thematic areas exposed include: decision-making, governance, measures of impact, transfer of risk/vulnerabilities, access to resources, sustainability, and exit strategies. In this session, Interdisciplinary Global Mental Health Innovation advances the themes of this conference, including indigenous knowledge, community-centered care, multidirectional learning, and innovations to address forced migration. This workshop will engage multidisciplinary participants, including anthropologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other key disciplines toward collectively identifying and critically examining key factors, gaps, opportunities, and potential further collaborations integral to decolonization, localization, and shifting the power in current polycrisis contexts and for generations to come.

4:45 - 5:00

Break

5:00 - 6:30

Poster Session & Reception

Network with your colleagues during the poster sessions; serving complimentary cocktails and sodas with appetizers!

    • Bridging Worlds: Ayahuasca as a Pathway to Decolonizing Mental Health

    • Evaluating the Role of Shared Decision-Making in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Scoping Review

    • Culturally Specific Behavioral Health Alliance: Pilot Project for Community Based Care Model

    • La Voix d'un Réfugié: Giving Voice to the Refugee Resettlement Experience

    • Borderlands Learning: Decolonizing Clinical Counseling Training Through Community-Engagement

    • Impact of Self or Parental Undocumented Immigration Status on Mental Health of Latinx College Students in the United States in Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review

    • Parental Substance Use on Infant Foster Care Entries and Parental Outcomes in New Orleans

    • Impacts of Culturally Adapted Trauma-Informed Training on Caregiver Stress, Child Emotional Regulation, and Caregiver-Child Relations in Grenada

    • Understanding Geriatric Suicide: Risk Factors, Determinants, and Effective Interventions

    • Plant-based Diets and Mental Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review

    • Revamping Post-Secondary Mental Health Services with Culturally Diverse Youth Voices at the Forefront

    • Culture in Forensic Mental Health Assessments Research: A Scoping Review

    • Building community resilience: a multi-level, community-based approach to preventive mental health care

    • Culturally Informed Psychiatric Care for the Sikh Community: Challenges and Opportunities

    • Culturally Inclusive Music Exploration: A DEI Training Initiative

    • What variables predict stigmatizing attitudes toward people with mental disorders and their treatment in Filipinos and Americans?

    • A Scoping Review on the Use, Methods, and Efficacy of Culturally Tailored Music Therapy

    • Mental Health Perceptions and Barriers among Tibetan Immigrant Communities in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Approach

    • A gendered analysis of the lived experience of patients with first-episode psychosis

    • Bàyyi xel ci jàmmu yaram (ci lépp,ci sa dundin ak sa yaram ak sa bopp): coppite meloy jamono ak wérug xel ci Kafrin Senegaal

    • Humanistic transgender-affirming therapy in Egypt: A cultural perspective

    • What variables predict stigmatizing attitudes toward people with mental disorders and their treatment in Filipinos and Americans?

6:30 - 9:00

SSPC Board Meeting & Dinner (Invitation Only)

Day 3: Saturday, April 5th

8:00 - 10:30

Coffee Bar

8:30 - 8:45

Opening Day 3 Remarks

8:45 - 10:15

Panel Presentation: Indigenous Mental Health

Deb Altschul, PhD, Deidre Yellowhair, PhD, Teresa Gomez, MA

10:15 - 10:30

Break

10:30 - 12:00

Five Sessions

  • This symposium will present on new cultural and social/structural issues in DSM-5-TR both when originally published in 2022 and in 2024 with 2 new additions. In 2022, the Introduction contains a new section entitled "Impact of Racism and Discrimination on Psychiatric Diagnosis." The Outline for Cultural Formulation was revised; for example, social determinants of mental health are explicitly included in the list of cultural stressors and supports. The Cultural Concepts of Distress now includes Hikikomori as one of ten examples. In Sept. 2024, a Cultural Formulation Interview (Military version) was added; it is the first alternative Cultural Formulation Interview to the original one first published in 2013 in the DSM-5. In Dec. 2024, it is anticipated that the American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees will approve the addition of "Moral" to the current "Religious or Spiritual Problems" to acknowledge distressing experiences such as moral injury, moral distress, and moral injury as a Z-Code in the "Other Conditions that May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention." It is important for clinicians, faculty, and trainees know about these changes and apply them in their clinical work and training efforts.

    Abstract 1: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2022)

    Abstract 2: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2024): Cultural Formulation Interview (Military version)

    Abstract 3: New Cultural and Social/Structural Issues in DSM-5-TR (2024): Moral, Religious, or Spiritual Problem

    1. Innovating Mental Health Support: Community-Driven Strategies for Sustainable Wellbeing for Healthcare Workers in Nepal

    2. Collaboration with mental health professionals: a qualitative study on the perspectives of clergy and church members in Ghana

    3. Bridging the Mental Health Gap in Washington, D.C.: A Community-Centered Adaptation of Problem Management Plus in Wards 7 and 8

    1. Iglesias: Partnering with Churches to Reduce Mental Health Disparities in New York City

    2. Pentecostal Prayer Camps and Mental Health in Ghana: A Colonial Legacy or Cultural Heritage?

    3. Violence and Voices of Resistance of Women: A study of six local and transnational movements based in Beirut and Cairo

  • Background: As many as 44% of refugees (1.3 million people) living in the United States (US) are survivors of torture (SoT). This figure does not include the 1.5 million asylum seekers awaiting case decisions. Clinicians often fail to identify a history of torture, despite torture’s significant impacts on emotional, neurocognitive, and physical health. SoT may not discuss the history with their clinicians due to shame, fear of stigma, belief that healing is not possible, or a lack of understanding that traumatic experiences such as torture may have contributed to their ongoing physical and psychological suffering.

    Aims/Objectives/Issues of Focus: This workshop aims to equip clinicians with information, insights, guidance, and skills-practice to improve their assessment and care of SoT.

    Methods/Proposition: Participants will be provided didactic content regarding the definition of torture, prevalence of torture, types of torture, and forms of humanitarian relief such as asylum and the Convention Against Torture. Participants will learn about the impacts of torture on mental health and about how to screen and assess for a history of torture, considering cultural contributions, the impact of trauma on memory, and differentiating from the common comorbidity of Traumatic Brain Injury. Via a case discussion and shared roleplaying “fishbowl” session, participants will practice skills needed to screen for a torture history, observe modeling by peers, and receive and provide feedback on applying this skillset.

    Results/Potential Outcomes: Participants will be able to discuss the impacts of torture on the mental health of survivors and screen patients for a history of torture, thus improving clinicians’ formulation and treatment-planning.

    Discussion/Implications: The skills needed to effectively assess the impacts of torture in SoT have implications for assessing impacts of persecution and interpersonal trauma more broadly, particularly in transcultural settings. These skills can be utilized both in clinical and forensic contexts.

  • Ever since his adolescence, Ketut Sudiarta lived with severe mental illness. His tumultuous adulthood was shaped by episodes of instability and violence: over the course of ethnography he wandered the streets, attacked his half-sister who died from her injuries, was incarcerated and hospitalized, and ultimately, after two previous attempts, died by suicide. Ketut was also a fond friend and family member who tried to live a fruitful life, and participated in an ambitious familial healing process to address and redress the wrongs of which he seemed a part. This ethnographic film is shot and narrated by Ketut’s childhood friend and explores the grief, concern, and culturally-informed meaning-making surrounding a deeply troubled life. This visual ethnography explores culturally-specific approaches to violent episodes and individuals within the extended family system by documenting responses that focus on inclusivity and collective healing. Taking guidance from revered spiritual leaders, Ketut’s difficulties are framed as the product of troubled relationships in and across interconnected and mutually influential human and spiritual realms.

12:15 - 1:45

Lunch & Learn (Deli Buffet Included)

Southwest Native American Approaches to Trauma and Treatment by Diné and Pueblo Behavioral Health Practitioners