Schedule

Dr. Salles is a national leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion. She earned a PhD from Stanford University studying these topics. In addition to her academic work, she is a surgeon with extensive lived experience as an Iranian woman working in a male-dominated field. Dr. Salles completed medical school and a residency in general surgery at Stanford. She then pursued a fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. After serving on the faculty in St. Louis for several years, she returned to Stanford to work with the medical school on initiatives related to diversity and inclusion. Her research broadly focuses on gender equity, implicit bias, diversity and inclusion, and physician well-being. Her NIH R01 grant, which was recently terminated, focused on sexual harassment Dr. Salles is passionate about helping workplaces better support marginalized individuals. She currently serves as the Special Advisor for Culture and Community Building in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, where she is also a Clinical Associate Professor.

• Hybrid

This session addresses how institutional structures within global human rights organisations can inadvertently produce trauma, inequity, and psychological harm when governance fails to integrate intersectional power and gender analysis into policy and systems design. Using detailed insights drawn from a governance review and the racism analysis within Amnesty International, and Dr Anjhula Mya Singh Bais’s lived and leadership experience as the first psychologist to Chair the International Board for an unprecedented two terms, the presentation explores how systemic racism, gendered power imbalances, and policy weaknesses converge to undermine organizational wellbeing, mission integrity, and mental health of personnel and impacted communities. The session will explore how institutional cultures that lack trauma informed governance, accountability for gendered harm, and equitable power sharing can institutionalize exclusion and distress, particularly for women, gender diverse individuals, racialized members, and global south voices. This builds on concrete case reflection from Amnesty International while drawing broader lessons about policy design, ethical duty of care, and gender equity in international systems that are committed to human rights but remain vulnerable to harm without rigorous intersectional governance.

• Virtual

Women, especially those of color, are often expected to lead and perform within systems that reward conformity, suppress authenticity, and overlook neurodivergent needs. NeuroSpicy Leadership: Reframing Women’s Success Through a Neurodivergent Lens challenges these paradigms by exploring how neurodivergence, identity, and leadership intersect to influence women’s mental health and professional well-being. Grounded in clinical research and lived experience, this session will explore how masking, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome uniquely affect neurodivergent women in leadership and learn evidence-based strategies to foster authenticity, emotional regulation, and cognitive wellness. Through guided reflection, storytelling, and interactive dialogue, attendees will gain practical tools to identify their cognitive strengths, challenge internalized ableism, and create supportive work environments that value diverse minds. This paradigm shift positions neurodivergence as a catalyst for innovation, empathy, and resilience in leadership. Learning Objectives 1. Identify how neurodivergence impacts women’s mental health and leadership experiences. 2. Implement strategies to foster neuroaffirming, inclusive, and trauma-informed professional cultures. 3. Reframe neurodivergent traits as leadership strengths that promote creativity, adaptability, and psychological safety

• Virtual

Featuring Mary Dobson LMFT, CEDS, Andrea Ciarlelli LMFT, and representatives from a multidisciplinary team of eating disorder specialists. Eating disorders remain among the most lethal—and most misunderstood—psychiatric illnesses. Despite decades of research, care systems continue to miss, misdiagnose, and marginalize large swaths of patients: boys and men, people in larger bodies, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, neurodivergent patients, and those with diagnoses such as OSFED, BED, ARFID, and atypical anorexia. This 45-minute multidisciplinary conversation brings together a psychologist, physician, dietitian, therapist, family therapist, and coach—alongside a former patient with lived experience of atypical anorexia—to examine where and why our systems fail. Panelists will explore diagnostic blind spots, barriers to access, stigma and marginalization, payor and parity challenges, and the chronic underfunding of eating disorder care. Together, we will examine how fragmented models perpetuate harm—and how truly integrated, multidisciplinary treatment can change outcomes. By centering both clinical expertise and lived experience, this panel invites a candid, solutions-oriented dialogue about what it will take to build a more accurate, equitable, and humane future for eating disorder treatment.

• Hybrid

Corvus Care Collective is a research, training, and policy initiative with the mission to increase access to research-supported, trauma-informed tools and approaches for providers seeking to deliver equitable, culturally humble, trauma-informed care and in-turn, prevent further traumatization for care recipients. This informative session shares the mission of Corvus Care Collective with attendees along with the introduction of techniques for providing care that prevents and reduces re-traumatization for care recipients. Trauma-informed approaches can increase protective factors that can have both short- and long-term benefits for both patient and provider, including establishing and strengthening trust and safety in the patient/provider relationship and protecting one’s mental, physical, emotional, and psychological wellness. In this session, attendees will hear from each of the four founding members of Corvus Care Collective as they present their individual work and research in service of promoting a culture of care and increasing patient power especially for people living with trauma. Ebony Williams will speak about the work of Cactus In Bloom and the importance of improving care for survivors of sexual violence from family planning throughout parenting in order to increase healthy mental health outcomes and to disrupt intergenerational child sexual abuse. Martine Geary-Souza will introduce their research and guidance on trauma-informed pelvic health care. Bex Macfife will introduce a sociological technique for contextualizing patient-provider interactions within the larger context of biomedicine. Sonja Castañeda-Cudney will introduce the Reproductive Psychiatric Advanced Directive, an advanced planning tool designed for pregnant and birthing people with severe mental health diagnoses that promotes the autonomy of all birthing people.

• Virtual

Black immigrant women and girls navigate compounding traumas of migration, racialization, and gender-based oppression, yet remain largely invisible within traditional mental health frameworks. This focused 20-minute session introduces "The Architecture of Belonging", a novel, evidence-informed clinical model for the assessment and treatment of Black diaspora populations. Drawing on systems-level leadership, Yale faculty experience, and national crisis intervention practice, this presentation equips attendees with three immediately implementable competencies: (1) Differential Assessment - distinguishing adaptive hypervigilance from generalized anxiety disorder in contexts of immigration precarity; (2) Intergenerational Intervention - applying a narrative-based technique to bridge the “Acculturation Gap” between immigrant mothers and first-generation daughters; and (3) Cultural Safety Protocol - implementing an assessment approach that prioritizes client-defined cultural safety rather than knowledge-based competence. Participants will leave with evidence-grounded, system-tested strategies that translate intersectional theory into actionable clinical decision-making across academic, crisis, and community settings.

• Virtual

This workshop highlights the connection between spirituality and mental wellness. It is the story of how I found meaning, purpose, connection, and value in my life, after several near-death experiences and a long physical recovery. This deeply personal session explores the emotional and psychological impact of a life-threatening medical emergency and a 101-day hospitalization. Being inpatient four hours from home, facing physical limitations, in addition to overwhelming emotional distress, lead to uncertainty, loneliness, and fear. The trauma of not knowing if recovery was possible, or how long healing might take, or what my life would look like afterward, created emotional distress that often felt unbearable. I will share how gratitude, grace, and giving became essential tools for my emotional resilience and healing. Not only did I survive physically, I gained peace, hope and acceptance, by learning to be vulnerable and humble. I embraced gratitude, learned how to give and receive grace, and practiced giving and kindness to others. This helped me to stay grounded and not lose myself in depression, fear and isolation.

• Virtual

Join Dr. Jessica Zucker and Rebecca Bloom for a deep dive into how women can communicate about their physical and mental health for the best, most productive and healing outcomes. We will explore the impact of the cultural strident trifecta made up of silence, stigma, and shame and discuss how we can upend them. This will be an animated, thoughtful conversation between an expert in women’s reproductive grief and a woman’s health advocate. Both Zucker and Bloom are best-selling, award-winning authors of books about women’s health that delve into the stories of the countless women they’ve supported. Jessica Zucker is a Los Angeles-based psychologist specializing in reproductive health and the author of the award-winning books NORMALIZE IT: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women’s Lives and I HAD A MISCARRIAGE: A Memoir, a Movement. Jessica is the creator of the viral #IHadaMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vogue, and Harvard Business Review, among others. She’s been featured on NPR, CNN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America and earned advanced degrees from New York University and Harvard University. Rebecca Bloom is a Yale College and New York University School of Law educated women’s health, workplace and benefits advocate, storytelling coach, editor and content strategist. A former workplace and benefits attorney, Rebecca advocates for women coast-to-coast, her longest and proudest affiliation with Bay Area Cancer Connections in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has served as a healthcare advocate, insurance and workplace advisor for women fighting breast and ovarian cancer for over 27 years. Rebecca’s book When Women Get Sick: An Empowering Approach for Getting the Support You Need (Broadleaf Books 2025), shares the learnings and stories.

• Virtual

This session explores the development and findings of a comprehensive LGBTQ+ health needs assessment conducted at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine. Despite the heightened vulnerability of LGBTQ+ patients to mental health distress, medical trainees often feel inadequately prepared to provide inclusive care. We will present a transferable framework for evaluating institutional curricula, using our recent study, which revealed that 83% of students felt the current curriculum did not sufficiently prepare them. Given that data from early 2025 indicates that women and those who identify as women now make up the majority of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, this is a highly relevant topic for this conference. The learning objectives for this session include empowering attendees to identify specific" knowledge gaps" within current medical school curricula, specifically those that leave trainees feeling unprepared to treat LGBTQ+ patients. The session will then provide a practical understanding of the methodology required to develop a regulatory-compliant, IRB-approved needs assessment. Finally, the session aims to teach attendees how to use the data to advocate for meaningful institutional reform and curricular improvements. The audience will gain insights into how marginalized student identities interact with medical education and how to translate student dissatisfaction into actionable data for faculty and deans. The session is designed to be highly engaging and collaborative, moving from a standard lecture format to involve attendees directly in the research process. It will begin with live polling to gauge the audience’s own perceptions of LGBTQ+ health education, allowing for immediate comparison with the study’s findings. This will be followed by a structured Q&A segment, providing a forum for attendees to discuss the logistical challenges of student-led advocacy.

• Virtual

High-achieving women are frequently perceived as resilient, capable, and well-resourced, yet many experience chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout beneath the surface of outward success. Cultural narratives that equate productivity, achievement, and high-functioning behavior with wellness often obscure early warning signs of psychological distress which leaves women unsupported precisely because they appear to be coping well. This session challenges the assumption that success is synonymous with wellness and explores the hidden emotional and mental costs of sustained over-performance. Drawing from neuroscience, trauma-informed mental health practice, and clinical experience, the presentation examines how women’s nervous systems adapt to prolonged pressure, responsibility, and invisible emotional labor. Patterns such as perfectionism, hyper-vigilance, and over-responsibility are reframed not as strengths, but as survival strategies shaped by societal expectations and internalized beliefs. Participants will gain insight into why traditional coping strategies and self-awareness alone are often insufficient for lasting relief, and why regulation, safety, and internal stability are essential for sustainable wellness. Rather than offering productivity-based solutions, this session introduces a regulation-centered framework that supports emotional grounding, self-trust, and long-term mental health without requiring women to do more or push harder.

• Virtual

This presentation introduces The Lifecycle Gap, a systems-level framework grounded in a central premise: sex and gender are not modifiers of psychiatry; they are foundational clinical variables. Treating biological processes as contextual rather than central contributes to cross-sectional care, fragmented diagnosis, delayed escalation, and the mislabeling of biologically patterned illness as "treatment resistant". The consequences of this gap are visible at both clinical and public health levels. Periods of heightened vulnerability, such as adolescence, the postpartum window, PMDD, and the menopausal transition are associated with increased risk of depression, psychosis, self-harm, and suicide. Maternal mortality data increasingly identify suicide as a leading contributor to maternal mortality rate, underscoring the cost of under-addressed mental health risk. These outcomes reflect not failure of clinicians, but the absence of longitudinal frameworks for anticipatory risk ratification, stage-specific knowledge, and integrated training. This presentation proposes a forward-looking path; embedding standardized life-stage timelines into psychiatric training, evaluation and formulation; defining core competencies in women's mental health across the lifespan; and aligning research, accreditation, and policy with the clinical reality that biologically patterned processes shaped by sex traits, gendered exposures, and medical interventions are foundational to psychiatric care. Closing the Lifecycle gap represents an opportunity to shift psychiatry upstream from reactive, episodic treatment towards anticipatory, prevention-oriented care. By aligning training, research, and systems of care with predictable periods of biological vulnerability, psychiatry can improve population-level outcomes, reduce preventable morbidity and mortality, and more efficiently allocate clinical resources across the lifespan for women and individuals who menstruate.

• Hybrid

Despite growing evidence supporting early intervention, psychiatry remains largely reactive, addressing mental health crises only after significant impairment. This downstream approach disproportionately impacts women, whose mental health risk often aligns with predictable life transitions such as perinatal periods, caregiving expansion, career or identity shifts, relationship disruption, and midlife neuroendocrine changes. Emerging research shows that proactive, anticipatory interventions during these windows, including targeted psychoeducation, resilience-building, and timely psychiatric consultation, can reduce stress, prevent symptom escalation, and improve functional outcomes. This session presents a preventive psychiatry model that moves upstream, positioning psychiatric expertise at predictable points of vulnerability to mitigate long-term morbidity. Participants will learn strategies for early risk identification, anticipatory guidance, and scalable, evidence-informed approaches to supporting women before crisis thresholds are reached, reframing psychiatry as a partner in prevention rather than reaction.

• Hybrid

Women with PMDD experience a wide array of detrimental symptoms in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycles, including low mood, difficulty navigating interpersonal relationships, changes in appetite, sleep disturbances, and suicidal ideation. Women seeking care and support are often dismissed or misdiagnosed by medical professionals, thus adding to their adverse experiences. The minimization of women’s symptoms in this context can lead to medical trauma, a form of psychological distress that results from negative interactions with the medical system. These symptoms alone are concerning, but when coupled with PMDD symptoms, medical trauma can pose serious risk to this population’s mental and physical health and well-being. To combat the effects of medical trauma and PMDD in a clinical setting, clinicians have a responsibility to create a safe space for women to disclose and explore their symptoms and experiences. One way that clinicians can do this is to incorporate validation into every part of the clinical process, including assessment, risk evaluation, and rapport building. Validation serves as a tool to not only alleviate symptoms, but also to restore trust, reduce distress, facilitate the healing process, improve therapeutic engagement, and encourage self-advocacy. Learning Objectives: (1) Identify at least four ways that medical dismissal and delayed diagnosis can contribute to medical trauma in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and exacerbate PMDD symptoms. (2) Integrate validation as a clinical intervention in at least three therapeutic contexts (e.g., assessment, risk evaluation, rapport building). (3) Recognize at least three positive impacts that providing validation in a therapeutic setting can have on women’s symptoms, therapeutic engagement, and recovery journeys.

• Virtual

Pregnancy and the postpartum period constitute a profound process of matrescence, which involves extensive biological, psychological, relational, and identity transformations. During this developmental transition, women experience hormonal shifts, bodily changes, emotional vulnerability, and evolving self-concepts, all within a sociocultural landscape that promotes narrow ideals of body control and “ideal” motherhood. Eating disorders, psychiatric conditions with high global prevalence and among the highest mortality rates, frequently persist, recur, or newly emerge during the perinatal period. Despite increased attention to maternal mental health, pregnancy and eating disorders are often treated as separate clinical concerns, obscuring a high-risk intersection with serious consequences. Perinatal eating disorders are associated with obstetric complications, nutritional deficiencies, impaired maternal-infant bonding, and elevated risk of postpartum relapse. This presentation highlights the prevalence, risk factors, and clinical manifestations of perinatal eating disorders, examines their maternal-fetal impacts, and underscores the ethical imperative for clinicians to adopt culturally responsive, trauma-informed assessment and intervention within perinatal care.

• Virtual

Many studies demonstrate that traumatic events can often lead to post-traumatic growth, positive psychological challenges experienced as a result of highly challenging and emotionally distressing situations. Post-traumatic growth can provide an opportunity for individuals to recommit to personal values, identify new personal strengths, or improve interpersonal relationships with others. In the context of reproductive and perinatal medical trauma, post-traumatic growth can support mothers to make positive meaning of their experiences, serving as both an adaptive coping strategy and protective factor against adverse mental health outcomes. This session will provide attendees with an overview of traumatic events that occur across various reproductive and perinatal medical settings, as well as an introduction to the concept of post-traumatic growth and its application to reproductive and perinatal medical trauma. Attendees will be engaged via mentimeter and small discussion formats to identify the potential ways in which reproductive and perinatal medical events can be traumatic and opportunities for post-traumatic growth within these contexts. The session will also teach clinicians and other service providers how to facilitate meaning making for mothers through exploratory counselling processes and psychoeducation.

Sexual health is a foundational yet frequently neglected component of women’s mental health. Across cultures and generations, women are often socialized to minimize sexual concerns, normalize discomfort, and avoid discussing intimacy—particularly during major life transitions such as perimenopause, menopause, weight changes, postpartum periods, and chronic illness. This pervasive silence contributes to unrecognized and untreated sexual health concerns that frequently manifest as anxiety, depression, irritability, diminished self-worth, relationship strain, and psychological distress. This session explores the bidirectional relationship between sexual health and mental health in women, highlighting how hormonal changes, body image shifts, cultural stigma, and societal expectations intersect to shape both psychological well-being and clinical outcomes. Drawing from internal medicine, women’s health, menopause care, obesity medicine, and sexual health, the presentation examines common yet under-discussed concerns—including low desire, pain with intimacy, shame, and identity changes—and how their dismissal within healthcare settings perpetuates mental health burden.

• Hybrid

Youth human trafficking remains widely under-identified within mental health and healthcare systems, despite its significant prevalence and profound psychological impact. Trafficked youth frequently present in clinical settings with symptoms that are misattributed to individual pathology rather than understood as adaptive responses to exploitation, coercion, and chronic trauma. As a result, opportunities for early identification, appropriate intervention, and recovery-oriented care are often missed. This presentation examines youth human trafficking as a critical mental health and public health issue, with an emphasis on prevalence data, clinical indicators, and the role of mental health providers across settings. Drawing from trauma-informed, developmentally responsive, and survivor-centered frameworks, the session will explore how trafficking may manifest in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, including its overlap with complex trauma, attachment disruptions, substance use, dissociation, and survival-based behaviors. Participants will be guided in identifying red flags within clinical presentations, understanding barriers to disclosure, and responding ethically and effectively when trafficking is suspected. The presentation will also address best practices for engagement, safety planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supporting healing and recovery without reinforcing harm, stigma, or retraumatization. Emphasis will be placed on strengthening clinical attunement, critical inquiry, and provider responsibility within systems that often overlook exploitation hidden in plain sight.

• Virtual

This presentation examines the specific impact of role ambiguity and confusion on the mental health of stepmothers. This presentation focuses directly on how navigating the "stepparent," "spouse," and "social/familial" dimensions of a blended family serves as a predictor for depression and anxiety. Grounded in Feminist and Family Systems theories, we analyze why stepmothers report higher rates of psychological distress compared to biological mothers and how role-based stressors contribute to clinical outcomes. Learning Objectives: • Define role ambiguity within the stepmother context, specifically identifying the tension between societal "mothering" expectations and biological parent "gatekeeping" • Evaluate the predictive relationship between stepmother role difficulty and symptoms of depression as measured by the Questionnaire for Couples in Stepfamilies and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale • Identify which specific sub-roles (e.g., the role of spouse or stepparent) are statistically significant predictors of symptoms of depression and anxiety Skills or Insights: • How to incorporate assessment in practice to explore where a client is experiencing "role confusion". • Applying Family Systems Theory and Feminist Theory to understand how "triangles," "gatekeeping," and societal stigma contribute to mental health symptoms. • Understanding that while familial roles universally impact depression, anxiety is more closely tied to the "spouse" and "direct stepparenting" roles

• Virtual

Loneliness has emerged as a critical public health concern, yet research and clinical interventions often overlook a particularly vulnerable group: women who experience loneliness within their marriages. While marriage and long-term relationships are frequently assumed to be protective for mental health, emerging evidence suggests that emotional disconnection within intimate partnerships may pose unique psychological and physiological risks for women. And loneliness in relationships may function as an intergenerational stressor, influencing children’s attachment models and emotional development. This presentation examines relational loneliness as a distinct stressor contributing to anxiety, depression, burnout, and nervous system dysregulation in women. Integrating findings from attachment research, psychoneuroimmunology, longitudinal marriage studies, and polyvagal-informed clinical work, this talk reframes intimate relationships as a central context for women’s mental health—not merely a backdrop. Through clinical case examples and early research, attendees will explore how chronic emotional loneliness activates stress pathways, why women are disproportionately impacted, and how relational attunement and repair may function as underutilized mental health interventions. This isn’t a session on “one more thing for women to do;” instead it provides a critical roadmap for women to build their agency and power in their emotional and relational lives.

• Hybrid

Framily Matters: How girlfriends give us roots and wings Although the US Surgeon General officially labeled loneliness as an epidemic in 2023, UCLA identified female friendships as keys to adaptive stress response and longevity (Taylor et al., 2000). When women gather, some say magic happens and others profess that the world heals. When friends are like family, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, and we feel seen, validated, and supported. This workshop highlights how supportive female friendships, sometimes referred to as “girlfriends” and “sisterhood/sister circles”, positively impact mental health, coping, and resilience. The presenter will summarize research on how female friendships serve as a source of identity, belonging, and empowerment. Learning objectives (Participants will be able to): • Identify key qualities of healthy female friendships/sisterhood/girlfriends • Describe how friendships impact mental health • Reflect on ways to cultivate supportive connections with framily As a systems-trained, licensed marriage and family therapist, I am passionate about holistic wellness and curious about the influence of culture and context on clients' identity, values, and relationships. This focus extends not only to romantic partnerships and families of origin but also to different types of relationships such as friendships and workplace dynamics. Case scenarios and interactive reflection questions will be used to engage the audience/attendees

• Virtual

This workshop examines the critical gap between crisis intervention and sustained mental wellness in women's lives, drawing from clinical training in NICU and ICU settings and over five years of coaching work with women navigating trauma, identity, and major life transitions. While significant progress has been made in identifying women's mental health needs, awareness alone does not equal healing—and crisis intervention, while necessary, is not sufficient for long-term recovery. Through the lens of clinical observation and hands-on coaching experience, this session explores why so many women operate in chronic "survival mode," how nervous system dysregulation sustains this pattern, and what practical tools can help women—and those who support them—move toward sustained mental wellness. Attendees will engage in embodied breathwork, facilitated group discussion, and live demonstration of regulation techniques applicable across clinical, coaching, and advocacy settings. This workshop is designed for clinicians, coaches, therapists, advocates, and anyone working at the intersection of women's health and mental wellness who wants to move beyond stabilization toward equipping women with the internal resources to truly thrive.

• Hybrid

“Lo Ha Vivido” is a term used by many of my elders when I have shared a recent stress or unjust circumstance. Whether is an aunt, my mom or an elder, they have listened, shook their head and replied with their own remembering of a similar moment. This is where we can hold space for our Epigenetics and how they live in us. From Post Partum Depression to Transitioning through Grief and welcoming New Relationships, what have our ancestors experienced that opens up in us in our timeline? This platica centers: -Understanding Epigenetics -Reflecting on the Lived Histories of our Ancestors and the Parallels -Holding Space for unlimited compassion for our ancestors. We have a chance to live the legacy we hope to be remembered by. It is not too late. No way! You have divine wisdom and sacred life stories to heal generations. So many women before us did not have the time and space to unravel without judgment. So many women before us could not be curious about their needs without disappointment. Too many women have had to keep their inner child away from play to stick to familial burdens and expectations. Too many ancestors became ancestors never fully living authentically. We get to be the living ancestors now and use our breath, our stretch, our stomps to reclaim what was once silenced in us. You are an important part of the group, you are the golden key to your ancestral family home. Cynthia Alonzo Perez, LCSW, we will share stories and remedies for what our cells are conveying. This talk serves as a way to ease into your week with loving intention for yourself so you may carry on with all the roles. May the time we spend lovingly reveal parts of yourself you have not stepped into and invite those parts to dance again or giggle like you used to familial burdens and expectations. Too many ancestors became ancestors never fully living authentically.

• Virtual

The Reproductive Psychiatric Advance Directive (ReproPAD) was created in 2023 by an interdisciplinary team that included people with lived experience along with experts in the fields of reproductive psychiatry, a maternal fetal medicine, mental health law, legal advocacy, mental health advocacy, mental health policy, and students of medicine and law. It was originally designed for people with SMI diagnosis who can become pregnant. Sonja Castañeda-Cudney will introduce the tool, demonstrate the importance of advance planning for all people who can become pregnant and experience a mental health challenge, and discuss how the ReproPAD provides a pathway for autonomy in decision-making throughout the perinatal period for a person’s reproductive and mental health. This session will go over the scale of the population of both birthing people with SMI and people who can become pregnant and experience a mental health challenge in the U.S., and the risks to birthing person, child, and family unit when this population can not access adequate or appropriate care. Attendees will be presented with common barriers to care along with some evidence-based best practices for this population. The ReproPAD will be shared as a tool for care providers and care recipients to create an advanced plan that incorporates an individual’s reproductive and mental health care preferences. Sonja will walk attendees through the ReproPAD template sections and discuss scenarios for tool application.

• Virtual

This session will provide an overview of female genital mutilation (FGM), a non-medical practice involving the partial or total removal of external female genitalia. The presentation will begin by defining FGM, reviewing its classification, and discussing its prevalence, with an estimate of 200 million women and girls affected worldwide, primarily in parts of Africa and the Middle East, but growing presence in the West. The cultural, social, and religious factors that contribute to the persistence of FGM, such as beliefs related to morality, hygiene, marriageability, and control of sexuality, will also be explored (1). The session will then focus on the physical and mental health consequences of FGM, including chronic pain, menstrual and urinary complications, sexual dysfunction, obstetric complications, and significant psychological distress (2). Emerging research will be reviewed, including studies demonstrating high rates of PTSD, depression, somatic symptoms, and anxiety among women with FGM. Attention will be paid to trauma exposure, lack of consent, and family decision- making dynamics as predictors of adverse mental health outcomes (3). The latter portion of the session will address barriers to accessing care, including stigma, provider knowledge gaps, cultural mistrust, and limited availability of specialized services. Emphasis will be placed on culturally responsive, trauma-informed mental health care that incorporates women’s values, coping strategies, and sociocultural context. The session will highlight practical strategies for assessment, supportive interventions, and appropriate referrals across different life stages.

• Virtual

Women—especially neurodivergent women—are frequently expected to self-regulate while simultaneously co-regulating children, partners, workplaces, and extended family systems. When expectations, language, and supports are misaligned across environments, the burden of regulation disproportionately falls on women, often resulting in chronic stress, anxiety, emotional overload, and burnout. Traditional mental health interventions frequently emphasize individual coping strategies, unintentionally reinforcing the idea that regulation is a personal responsibility rather than a shared, systems-level process. This session introduces a neurodiversity-affirming, systems-based framework that reframes regulation as a collective effort rather than an individual deficit. Participants will explore why commonly recommended self-regulation strategies fail when broader systems are not aligned, and how coaching—rather than training—caregivers, partners, and teams leads to more sustainable and culturally responsive outcomes. The presentation will examine the importance of shared language, clear expectations, and collaborative care models in reducing emotional labor and improving mental health outcomes. Using real-world examples, the session highlights how aligned support systems across home, work, and relationships reduce anxiety and emotional exhaustion. Emphasis is placed on low-lift, high-impact strategies that redistribute regulatory demands without increasing cognitive load, allowing women to move from survival-based coping toward sustainable regulation and wellbeing.

• Virtual

This session examines endometriosis as a condition that impacts both the brain and the body. It begins with an overview of endometriosis as a systemic inflammatory disease and reviews research linking chronic pain and inflammation to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and central sensitization. Using a neuroscience framework, the presentation explores how persistent pain and immune activation affect brain structure and function, including stress response pathways, neurotransmitter balance, and nervous system regulation. The gut-brain axis is explored in depth, highlighting the roles of the microbiome, intestinal permeability, cytokine signaling, and vagal nerve communication in mental health. From a clinical nutrition perspective, the session discusses how food functions as biological input for the brain. Topics include blood sugar regulation, micronutrient status, inflammation promoting dietary patterns, and nutrition strategies that support neurotransmitter synthesis and neuroinflammation reduction. Interwoven throughout the session is the presenter’s lived experience with deep-infiltrating endometriosis and years of medical gaslighting. This narrative illustrates the emotional burden of dismissal, delayed diagnosis, and chronic pain, while reframing nutrition as a tool for both physiological healing and psychological empowerment. The session emphasizes the importance of validating patient experience and integrating mental health into endometriosis care models.

• Hybrid

The Mental Health Movement Inside Reproductive Injustice is a powerful talk from Madam Nselaa Ward, JD, on shame, survival, reproductive autonomy, and the psychological cost of living in a country that still treats women’s bodies like public property. Blending personal story, movement history, and cultural critique, this talk calls for a new understanding of reproductive justice, one rooted not just in law and policy, but in mental health, dignity, and human sovereignty

• Virtual

What if balance isn’t something you achieve, but something you practice? Doing Less, Feeling More is a 90-minute micro-workshop exploring what balance looks like in your body. You’ll experiment with gentle somatic practices, playful movement, soap making, and ritual to experience how your nervous system recalibrates under pressure. Day 1 focuses on redefining balance, set points, and equilibrium in motion, and is open to all conference attendees. In-person attendees registered for Day 2 will receive a workbook and sticky notes. Virtual attendees will get access to the digital workbook for Day 1. Day 2 is an in-person sensory lab where you’ll create aromatherapy soaps and participate in a communal washing ritual serving as “balance anchors.” You’ll leave with handmade soaps, a workbook, guided recording, daily rituals for emotional equilibrium, and the option to sign up for a peer mentorship that values shared responsibility, flexibility, and reciprocity. If Day 2 fills or you’re unable to attend in person, you can order a take-home kit to complete the sensory portion independently at home or at a future Wren Astra virtual event. This workshop is donated by Wren Astra Coaching, the trauma-informed, play-based creator of Inner Compass Healing™ toolkits. All proceeds support WMHC and mental-health nonprofits for women and youth.

• Hybrid

Women whose infants require neonatal intensive care face profound psychological stress during a uniquely vulnerable period of the perinatal experience. Mothers of NICU-hospitalized infants experience significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms, yet their emotional needs are often under-recognized within traditional women’s mental health frameworks. This session explores the NICU experience through a trauma-informed, hope-centered lens, offering practical strategies to support maternal mental health during and after neonatal critical care. Drawing on clinical expertise and lived experience, the presentation highlights common psychological stress responses, the impact of language and communication on emotional well-being, and opportunities to foster psychological safety and resilience in brief clinical encounters. Through a case-based discussion and guided audience reflection, participants will examine how trauma-informed communication can validate emotional experiences, reduce distress, and support adaptive coping. Attendees will leave with immediately applicable tools to integrate into clinical, therapeutic, and advocacy-based settings to better support maternal mental health across the perinatal continuum.

Sexual violence against women remains a pervasive global problem, with nearly one in three women experiencing some form of sexual violation. Acts such as childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, and harassment are associated with profound physical, psychological, and social consequences, including injury, sexually transmitted infections, anxiety, depression, substance use, and difficulties with trust and boundaries. Despite these harms, survivors frequently encounter societal stigma, victim blaming, and accusations of dishonesty, which discourage disclosure and reporting. Beyond trauma-related responses, survivors are also vulnerable to grief, a dimension that has received comparatively little scholarly and clinical attention. In particular, disenfranchised grief, or grief that is minimized, unrecognized, or unsupported by society, can complicate recovery following sexual violence. Failure to assess and address this grief in clinical settings may contribute to severe outcomes, including suicidal ideation. This presentation emphasizes clinicians’ ethical responsibility to recognize the multifaceted impact of sexual violence and outlines practical strategies for validating and addressing survivors’ grief to promote healing and support.