Bridging Minds, Systems and Relationships: Biopsychorelational Healing

A Collaboration between FPI, AFP and AACAP

Virtual Conference • April 04, 2026

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 Objectives

By the end of the conference, participants will be able to:

  1. Identify and integrate systemic and relational considerations into psychiatric and therapeutic practices.
  2. Explore interprofessional collaboration strategies to enhance patient and family outcomes.
  3. Engage in dynamic dialogue to develop action-oriented solutions to clinical and systemic challenges.

Conference Agenda

Panel I: Systemic & Relational Perspectives in Psychiatry and Therapy

1 Hour

Focus: Exploring how family systems theory and relational frameworks inform psychiatric diagnosis and treatment planning.

Panelists:

Dr. Noah SpectorDr. Rishi Kapur

Objectives:

  • Describe systemic influences on mental health symptoms.
  • Demonstrate relational interventions that can complement pharmacological approaches.

Panel II: From Loss to Resilience: Biopsychorelational Approaches with Refugee Families

1 Hour

Focus: Examining the impact of forced migration, displacement, and refugee experiences on family systems, with attention to resilience, relational stress, and systemic healing.

Panelists:

Dr. J GuzderKronick

Objectives:

  • Identify common relational and systemic challenges faced by displaced and refugee families (e.g., role shifts, intergenerational strain, cultural dislocation).
  • Explore therapeutic 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.

Panel III: Integrated Care Models – From Theory to Practice

1 Hour

Focus: Innovative programs and models where psychiatrists and therapists work side by side.

Panelists:

Dr. Dee ShaligramDr. Michelle Rickerby

Objectives:

  • Describe integrated care models.
  • Understanding barriers and how to overcome them in various settings

Panel IV: Ethical, Cultural, and Generational Challenges in Collaborative Care

1 Hour

Focus: Navigating ethical dilemmas, cultural differences, and generational dynamics in family systems.

Panelists:

Dr. DaneshpourDr. Rama Rao Gogineni

Objectives:

  • Apply culturally responsive and ethically sound approaches in systemic work.
  • Recognize and address loyalty conflicts and intergenerational differences in clinical settings.

75 Minute-Breakout Sessions & Conversations

Format: Small groups of 10-12 participants led by a facilitator (mix of psychiatrists and therapists).

Purpose: To foster in-depth dialogue and peer-to-peer learning.

Suggested Breakout Topics:

  1. Strategies for effective psychiatrist-therapist collaboration.
  2. Case consultations integrating systemic and biopsychorelational perspectives.
  3. Addressing structural inequities and social determinants of health.
  4. Building future research and training initiatives in integrated family mental health care.

45 minutes-Wrap-Up & Report Back Session

Facilitators from each breakout group will share 3–5 key insights or action steps. This part will synthesize ideas across groups, creating a shared vision for future initiatives.

Objectives:

  • Synthesize key themes from the breakout sessions.
  • Identify concrete next steps for collaborative action in participants' clinical or organizational settings.

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

Manijeh Daneshpour, PhD

Systemwide Couple and Family Therapy Director, Alliant International University

Manijeh Daneshpour, PhD, is the Systemwide Couple and Family Therapy Director and Distinguished Marriage and Family Therapy Professor at Alliant International University in California. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist with nearly three decades of academic, research, and clinical experience. Originally from Iran, she identifies as a third-wave feminist. Her research, publications, and presentations focus on gender, multiculturalism, social justice, postmodernism, third-wave feminism, and premarital and marital relationships, with contextual therapy serving as the foundation of her scholarly and clinical work.

Dr. Noah Spector

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

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

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.

Registration

Registration Fees

  • Early-bird: $75
  • Regular: $90
  • Late registration: $95
  • Professionals: Full fee
  • Students/trainees: Free
  • Panelists: Waived Registration plus gifts

Payment & Policies

Accepted payment methods: credit card, check, institutional purchase orders.

Continuing Education

CME and CEUs: Alliant will pay for this and does not charge for them.