Dr Daniel Amen, Physician, Adult and Child Psychiatrist, 12-times New York Times Best-Selling Author and Founder of Amen Clinics and BrainMD is on a mission to end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health.  He is dedicated to providing the education, products, and services to accomplish this goal.  Dr Amen will provide an understanding of the biological underpinnings of mental health and how using advanced imaging can help to inform treatment strategies.

 

 

Our adolescents are suffering.  Globally, suicide is the second leading cause of mortality in adolescents.  For practitioners, there are many underlying physical causes such as nutritional deficiencies that can be tested for and treated with integrative medical approaches.  Dr Debby Hamilton will highlight how natural treatments from herbs to targeted supplements can be combined with prescription medication to help alleviate mood and physical symptoms along with supporting the body’s ability to tolerate stress.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that environmental pollutants play a major causative role both in mental illness and in the disabling neurological diseases which are increasing at an alarming rate in our population.  Dr Jenny Goodman will highlight ways that patients can protect themselves by adding in the 'good stuff', and detoxing from chemicals from our polluted environment ('The Bad Stuff').

Currently, pharmacogenomics is the main form of genomics used in psychiatric care. However, outcomes can be improved when genomics is also used to look at the underlying genomic contributing factors, of anxiety, including cortisol metabolism, nutrient pathways relating to the synthesis and binding of GABA, norepinephrine, and serotonin, and even genomic factors relating to growth factors, thyroid and sugar metabolism. Dr Hausman-Cohen will highlight how once identified each of these factors can be addressed.

Sam Burkey will highlight how yoga practice can help release unresolved stress responses in the body, ease associated muscular tensions and holding patterns and establish breathing techniques which are highly effective tools for managing strong emotions and feelings. 

Prof Chris Shimasaki will highlight how streptococcus, Lyme, mycoplasma, and other infections can trigger an antibody response against specific brain targets, resulting in familiar psychiatric and behavioural symptoms such as OCD, anxiety, ADHD, chronic depression and other common symptoms.  Through case studies he will describe how diagnosing the underlying root is critical to providing appropriate and effective treatment.

Dr Erin Louise Bellamy will highlight how the application of Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy is safe and shows promise as an efficacious therapy for some mental health conditions.  When initiated correctly with a specialised practitioner, she will highlight how some people are able to taper down and even eliminate their psychiatric medications as their symptoms improve.  

Dr Rani Bora will chair a panel discussion that will explore how healthcare professionals can bring compassion, love, and a sense of meaning into their practice.  Attendees will gain insight into how addressing the mind, body, and spirit connection can elevate both clinician and patient experiences, creating a more fulfilling, balanced, and effective healthcare environment for all.

Dr Olivia Lesslar will outline how ancient survival threats, such as scarcity, predators, pathogens, and sensory dangers, continue to shape modern human responses to stressors. A framework was developed to help clinicians understand how these primal fears—rooted in our evolution—manifest today, influencing behaviours like anxiety, social connection, and responses to illness or environmental stress. These ancient instincts still drive our reactions to perceived threats in the modern world.

ADHD diagnostic rates are breaking all records. Then, with the controversial Panorama documentary and the global shortages of ADHD medication which is driving one of the biggest social experiments in recent history, ADHD has suddenly become the subject that everyone is talking about.  Dr James Kustow will share his ’10 Domains of Dysregulation’ model of ADHD and introduce seven key pillars for managing and harnessing the potential of ADHD, introducing tips and tools that can radically transform lives. 

Dr Carnahan explains how the gut and brain communicate via the vagus nerve which acts as a superhighway between the two, mediating hormones, neurotransmitters, microbes, inflammatory and healing molecules. She shows how a healthy gut is key to modulating inflammation and neuroinflammation throughout the system and the brain, and shows the key factors that disrupt gut permeability and healthy neurotransmitter production.

Lifestyle medicine pioneer Dr Dean Ornish will present the findings from his world breaking peer-reviewed randomised controlled clinical trial that has demonstrated that an intensive lifestyle intervention, without drugs, significantly improved cognition and function in many patients with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.