Speakers
Prof. Walter Geke
MD Walter Gekle studied medicine at the University of Tübingen in (West-)Germany and, under the impression of the publications of Prof Luc Ciompi moved 1991 to Berne, Switzerland, where he completed the specialization as a psychiatrist in 1998, always with a special interest for people suffering from psychosis. In 1999 he spent 6 months in Melbourne / Australia working at the “Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Center EPPIC” , then led by Prof. Pat McGorry. Back in Switzerland he then held leading positions in different realms of psychiatry, eg crisis intervention (until 2006), hospital care and integrated socialpsychatric care for a sector of about 100 000 inhabitants (until 2010), deputy director of a psychiatric serviced integrated in a somatic hospital (until 2019) and since then works in the above mentioned positions.
Prof. Dainiu Puras
Dainius Pūras is professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and public mental health at Faculty of medicine, Vilnius university, Lithuania. He is also a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child development center, Vilnius university hospital. Among positions he was holding, Dainius Pūras was President of Lithuanian Psychiatric Association, Dean of the Faculty of medicine, Vilnius university, Director of the Human rights monitoring institute. During the years 2007-2011 Dainius Pūras was a member of the UN Committee on the rights of the child. During the years 2014 – 2020 he was serving as a UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health.
More information about his reports to the UN and other activities in the role of the UN Special rapporteur:
www.handover-dialogues.org/legacy
Prof. Françoise Davoine
· Agrégation de Lettres Classiques, Phd in Sociology
· Maître de Conférences (retired) at the EHESS, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris
· Member of the Ecole Freudienne untiil Lacan's death
· Member of the ISPS and ISPS-US
· Psychoanalyst, in Psychiatric publc hospitals and dispensaries during 30 years .Still in Private practice
· Weekly Seminar during 40 years at the EHESS, with Jean Max Gaudillière, on "Madness and the Social Link", until his death in 2015
· Erikson Scholar at the Austen Riggs Center, Massachusetts
· Gaetano Benedetti Award, ISPS-US 2023
· Honorary Lifetime Member of ISPS, Helsinki 2024.
· Conferences in Europe and America. Annual seminars in Mexico.
Prof. Jorge Tizón
Doctor of Medicine, specialist in psychiatry and neurology, psychologist, and psychoanalyst (SEP-IPA).
For 22 years, he directed the Mental Health Units in the La Verneda, La Pau, and La Mina neighborhoods of Barcelona (8 Teams or Units: children and adolescents, adults, addictions, SMI, early childhood, research, etc.) and founded and directed, between 2005 and 2011, the "Mental Health Prevention and Early Care Team for Patients at Risk of Psychosis" (EAPPP, of Barcelona Primary Health Care), the first Spanish team entirely dedicated to the subject.
Previously, the loss of his job as a psychiatrist during the Franco regime led him to work in various community services, starting with Primary Care Medicine. He has continued this community work for the past fifty years, advising health, mental health, social services, daycare and education services, neighborhood and social movements, prison staff, specialized services for children and vulnerable youth, and more.
He has published more than three hundred articles in scientific journals, 37 books, and more than 200 book chapters. He has received various professional awards, such as the "National Award for Research in Neuropsychiatry" from the AEN (National Association of Neuropsychiatrists), the "Excellence in Quality of Care in Psychiatry and Mental Health" award from the Avedis Donabedian Foundation (2009), and the Professional Excellence Award from the Barcelona Medical Association (2010), of which he has been an Honorary Member since 2016.
As a teacher, he is currently a professor at the University Institute of Mental Health at Ramon Llull University (Barcelona) and at various universities and training institutes, both Spanish and international.
He directs the 3P book collection ("Psychopathology and Psychotherapy of Psychosis"), published by Herder (Barcelona-Berlin-Mexico).
Some of his published books include: "Notes for a Relationship-Based Psychology" (7 editions), "Elementary Protocols for Primary Mental Health Care," "Casebook on Mental Health Promotion in Primary Care," "Understanding Psychosis," "Family and Psychosis," and the treatise "Loss, Grief, Mourning: Experiences, Research, and Care" (2nd ed.).
His latest published books are: “Psychopathology of Power”, “Emotional Health in Times of Crisis: Reflections from a Pandemic” (2nd ed.), the treatise “Notes for a Relationship-Based Psychopathology” (4 vols.), “War as a Battlefield: Deconstructing Myths and Symbols” and “Psychiatric Reform: The Future of an Illusion”.
Dra. Iseult Twamley
Clinical Psychologist and Open Dialogue Trainer/Supervisor. From 2012 to 2024 she was Clinical Lead of the Irish Open Dialogue implementation in West Cork, working with Open Dialogue as a mental health care pathway working with complex and acute presentations to mental health, and coLead on a research programme with University College Cork on this implementation. She also served on the advisory committee for the Irish clinical care programme in Psychosis.
Iseult participated in the first international Open Dialogue 3 Year Training (based on the Finnish model) where she was trained as a Trainer. She has since led orbeen involved in Open Dialogue training and supervision in the UK, Europe, Australia and China. Currently she is co-founder and director of INDICO institute (International Insititute of Dialogic and CoCreative Practices) offering foundational and advanced (trainer/leadership) courses in Open Dialogue and Dialogic Practices as a way of transforming mental health systems and care. Her experience in Ireland has given her a particular interest in supporting Open Dialogue implementations in their specific context and culture.
Dra. Carmen Valiente Ots
Accredited professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and director of the Psychology Clinic at the UCM. With a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, she completed her training as a clinical psychology resident with rotations at various outpatient and inpatient centers in the US (Kino Hospital, Tucson, AZ).
She worked as a specialist in clinical psychology at the San Carlos Clinical University Hospital in Madrid (1995-2006).
She has participated in several projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation on serious mental disorders (8 as PI). The most recent ones have focused on the population of people with serious mental disorders, highlighting her experience in the field of psychotic disorders.
She has collaborated internationally with various foreign institutions (e.g., Bangor University, UCSD; USC; Liverpool University, Glasgow University, and Manchester University, among others). She belongs to a consolidated research group at the UCM (UCM-940693), has actively participated in BECKFEST (a research group of experts in the psychology of psychosis), and is a member of international consortia [COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) and EMDR for Psychosis International Consortium (EPIC)].
Belén Lozano Viñas
She is a health psychologist, coordinator of the care team at the University Psychology Clinic of the Complutense University of Madrid, and associate professor at the same institution.
She is currently pursuing a doctorate in "A Comprehensive Trauma-Focused Intervention for People with Psychosis and Posttraumatic Stress." She is a member of the EMDR for Psychosis International Consortium (EPIC).
She began her professional experience at the Carabanchel Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center. She then completed her training at the Complutense University Clinic. After completing this internship, she worked privately, treating adolescents and adults.
