Bridging Minds, Systems, and Relationships: Biopsychorelational Healing
A Collaboration between Family Process Institute, Association of Family Psychiatry, and American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Virtual Conference
Mission Statement
To create a collaborative platform for family psychiatrists and family therapists to explore systemic and relational factors and the biopsychorelational determinants of behavior, fostering integrated approaches that improve mental health care delivery and outcomes for individuals and families.
Conference-Wide Learning Objectives
By the end of the conference, participants will be able to:
- Identify and integrate systemic and relational considerations into psychiatric and therapeutic practices.
- Explore interprofessional collaboration strategies to enhance patient and family outcomes.
- Engage in dynamic dialogue to develop action-oriented solutions to clinical and systemic challenges.
Conference Agenda
10:00 – 10:15 | Welcome and Introduction
Conference Chair: Dr. Manijeh Daneshpour
10:15 – 11:15 | Panel I: Systemic & Relational Perspectives in Psychiatry and Therapy
Panelists:
Learning Objectives:
- Describe systemic influences on mental health symptoms.
- Demonstrate relational interventions that complement pharmacological approaches.
11:15 – 12:15 | Panel II: From Loss to Resilience: Biopsychorelational Approaches with Refugee Families
Panelists:
Learning Objectives:
- Identify common relational and systemic challenges faced by displaced and refugee families (e.g., role shifts, intergenerational strain, cultural dislocation).
- Explore strategies that foster resilience, belonging, and healing within refugee family systems.
- Discuss how systemic and relational perspectives can inform policy and community responses to the global refugee crisis.
12:15 – 1:15 | Panel III: Integrated Care Models – From Theory to Practice
Panelists:
Learning Objectives:
- Describe integrated care models in which psychiatrists and therapists collaborate.
- Identify common barriers to integration and strategies to overcome them across clinical settings.
1:15 – 2:00 | Lunch Break (45 minutes)
2:00 – 3:00 | Panel IV: Ethical, Cultural, and Generational Challenges in Collaborative Care
Panelists:
Learning Objectives:
- Apply culturally responsive and ethically sound approaches in systemic work.
- Recognize and address loyalty conflicts and intergenerational differences in clinical settings.
3:00 – 4:00 | All-Presenters Panel Discussion
Panelists:
Moderator:
Dr. Manijeh DaneshpourLearning Objectives:
- Integrate insights from psychiatry and therapy to advance biopsychorelational collaboration.
- Identify emerging themes and opportunities for future clinical, training, and research initiatives in integrated family mental health care.
4:00 – 5:00 | Audience Q&A and Concluding Remarks
Learning Objectives:
- Synthesize key concepts across panels into practical applications.
- Engage in reflective dialogue to identify next steps for collaboration within participants' clinical, educational, or organizational contexts.
Featured Presenters
Michelle Rickerby, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University
Michelle Rickerby, MD has had her academic home at Brown University since 1996. Following her residency training, she spent 20 years working with a team on the development of the Partial Hospital Program at Hasbro Children's Hospital, a nationally recognized program known for creating a model of family-based integrated care for children and teens with complex combinations of medical and psychiatric illness. She transitioned to community-based practice in Providence, RI, in 2018, where she focuses on outpatient family-based integrated care, program development consultation, and cross-disciplinary family therapy training. Her primary teaching role throughout her tenure at Brown, where she is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, has been as the previous co-director and current Director of family therapy training for the child psychiatry and triple board residents. She is currently a Co-Chair of AACAP's Family Committee.
Manijeh Daneshpour, PhD
Systemwide Couple and Family Therapy Director, Alliant International University
Manijeh Daneshpour, PhD, is the Systemwide Director of Couple and Family Therapy and a Distinguished Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Alliant University in California. A licensed marriage and family therapist with nearly three decades of academic, research, and clinical experience, she is deeply shaped by her lived experience as a Middle Eastern woman originally from Iran and as a self-identified third-wave feminist. Her scholarly and clinical work emerges from the intersection of personal history, cultural context, and professional practice. Dr. Daneshpour has worked extensively with Muslim families and is the author of Family Therapy with Muslims, using classic family therapy models and their clinical applications for working with Muslim families. Her most recent book, Gender, Power, Global Social Justice: The Healing Power of Psychotherapy, examines how gender and power shape relational life globally and explores the role of family therapists in supporting ethical and relational change.
Dr. Noah Spector
Care Coordinator, CHEO Kids Come First / 1Call1Click.ca
Dr. Noah Spector is a registered social worker with over twenty years of experience in children's mental health care. He is currently the Care Coordinator for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)'s Kids Come First / 1Call1Click.ca Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders Program. Dr. Spector is also a lecturer in family therapy within the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is the founding Program Director of the CHEO Research Institute (RI)'s Mind Matters team, which includes all CHEO-based researchers studying brain, mind, and the contexts, families, communities, and healthcare settings, in which children and youth can thrive. Dr. Spector holds a PhD in Education from the University of Ottawa and an MSW from McGill University. His research interests include interprofessional collaboration and the development of family interventions within acute pediatric mental health contexts. He is also a proud father of two children under the age of ten, who teach him daily how difficult and rewarding parenting can be.
Rishi Kapur, MD
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, CHEO
Rishi Kapur, MD. identifies as a cisgender second-generation Canadian South Asian male. He trained and works as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at CHEO. He is passionate about medical education, staff and learner wellness, and health equity. He has taken an interest in exploring clinical work with rural and urban Indigenous communities, gender-diverse populations, and racialized children and families. He has co-led the family therapy teaching program for core psychiatry residents and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellows at the University of Ottawa for five years. He is fascinated by organizational health and improving systems and processes within institutions. In his spare time, he enjoys yoga, cycling, the cello, and spending time with his family and Samoyed.
Jaswant Guzder, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
Jaswant Guzder, MD. is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia and Co-Director of the UBC Social and Cultural Psychiatry Program, with a career deeply grounded in refugee mental health and culturally informed care. Since 2020, her clinical work in Victoria, BC, has centered on supporting refugee and immigrant communities through the Vancouver Island Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Mental Health (VICCIR), alongside work with Indigenous Child and Youth Mental Health services across southern Vancouver Island. A retired Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, where she continues to collaborate with the Divisions of Child Psychiatry and Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, she has held major leadership roles, including Head of Child Psychiatry and founding Co-Director of the Cultural Consultation Service at the Jewish General Hospital. Her global research and training initiatives focus on high-risk children and cultural psychiatry, with longstanding partnerships in Jamaica, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Dr. Guzder has authored numerous articles, co-edited Cultural Consultation: Encountering the Other in Mental Health Care, and collaborated with Rome's Museo Laboratorio della Mente on an art-based project in 2017. Her advocacy and clinical leadership have been recognized with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Deepika Shaligram, MD
Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist, Boston Children's Hospital
Deepika Shaligram, MD is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist with Boston Children's Hospital. She is an attending psychiatrist in the Outpatient Psychiatry Services and affiliate faculty in Global Health. She is co-director of the Boston Children's Hospital Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program and the International Psychiatry Observership Program. Her areas of interest include access to care, education, and social justice. She is a member of AACAP's Climate Change Committee and co-chair of the Diversity & Culture Committee and the Taskforce on Children, Families, and Immigration. Dr. Shaligram serves on the boards of the New England Council on Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the Family Process Institute. She is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Fellow of AACAP. She is a contributing editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She enjoys teaching psychopharmacology, family psychiatry, and collaborative care.
Rama Rao Gogineni, MD, MFT
Professor of Psychiatry, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Rama Rao Gogineni, MD, MFT is a graduate of Kakatiya Medical College, Osmania University, and completed psychiatry residency at the University of Pennsylvania and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He was trained in family therapy and psychoanalysis. He is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Senior Educator in Developmental Psychiatry at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He is an active, contributing member of U.S. and international psychiatric organizations. He has several publications, presentations, and serves as editor of five books.
Rajesh Mehta, MD
Director of Psychotherapy Training for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program and Attending Psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters
Rajesh Mehta, MD is a double board-certified child, adolescent, and general psychiatrist currently serving as Director of Psychotherapy Training for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program and Attending Psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD), affiliated with Eastern Virginia Medical School–Old Dominion University, Virginia. With a strong background in psychodynamic psychotherapy and systems-based family care, Dr. Mehta integrates developmental, cultural, and relational frameworks in both clinical practice and teaching. Trained in India and the United States, Dr. Mehta has cultivated a globally informed perspective on mental health. He completed psychiatry residency training at St. Louis University in Missouri, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship training at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, and an advanced course in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. He has supervised psychiatry residents and fellows across multiple academic centers. Dr. Mehta is an active member of AACAP, APA, AFP, IACAPAP, and GAP and contributes to several educational and research initiatives. He currently serves as Vice President of the Association of Family Psychiatrists (AFP). His academic work includes the development of short-term psychodynamically oriented family therapy and scholarship focused on the role of fathers in child development, cultural psychiatry, and systems-based care. He has presented posters, case conferences, and workshops on child mental health, integrative psychotherapy, migration and mental health, and early childhood development.
Registration
Registration Fees
- Early-Bird: $75 (before March 1, 2026)
- Regular: $90 (until April 1, 2026)
- Late Registration: $95 (after April 1 until April 4, 2026)
Registration Categories
- Professionals: Full registration fee applies
- Students/Trainees: Free registration
- International Participants (outside North America): Free registration (Canadian professionals are not eligible)
Payment & Policies
Accepted payment methods include credit card, check, and institutional purchase orders.
Additional registration and payment details will be provided upon enrollment.
Continuing Education
Participants will receive 6 units of Continuing Education (CEUs) and Continuing Medical Education (CMEs) for full participation in the conference.
There is no additional cost for CEUs or CMEs, as these are fully covered by Alliant University.