How can we repair relationships in a world torn apart by polarization, conflict, and misunderstanding? In this dynamic conversation, three experts come together to offer their unique perspectives on rebuilding connection amidst division. Esther Perel, celebrated for her transformative work on intimacy and relational repair in her bestselling books, courses, and the podcast Where Should We Begin?, delves into how we can restore trust, nuance, and complexity in intimate relationships. Mónica Guzmán, author of I Never Thought of It That Way and a pioneer in bridging political divides through curiosity, shares insights on fostering empathy and understanding across seemingly irreconcilable differences, drawing from her experience navigating family dynamics with opposing political views. Bill Doherty, author of Becoming a Citizen Therapist: Integrating Community Problem-Solving Into Your Work as a Healer and Take Back Your Marriage, brings his expertise in helping couples and communities resolve conflicts through dialogue and shared purpose. 

Together, they will explore the messy, powerful work of repair, recognizing that true connection doesn’t mean eliminating differences, but learning to hold space for them. In a world where we often mistake our stories for truth, these experts argue that real understanding goes beyond living alongside those who think like us. Instead, it lies in our ability to coexist respectfully and empathetically with those whose stories and perceptions may deeply challenge our own. The goal is not to erase the divide, but to ensure it does not define our relationships by default—acknowledging that even in profound disagreement, there is a shared humanity that compels us to care for one another when it matters most. 

These days, if the modern human mind could have a personal translator, PR agent, and cheerleader, that person would be Dan Siegel. Beyond his impressive CV—he’s a clinical professor of psychiatry, founder and co-investigator at numerous research centers, founding editor of the Norton professional series on interpersonal neurobiology, and executive director of the Mindsight Institute—Siegel’s bestselling books have found their way into the hands of millions of everyday people seeking advice on developing awareness, regulating emotions, and raising whole-brain children. Having worked as a therapist and mind researcher for over 30 years, Siegel gets people and their patterns—on both a human and neurobiological level. More than any other psychiatrist alive today, he’s changed the way we live, communicate, parent, and think about thinking.

In this keynote, we’ll explore how persistent patterns of emotion, thinking, and behavior—known as “personality”—may have formed, and how to enable those potential prisons to transform into platforms of possibility that serve as playgrounds in life. Using research from the trans-disciplinary field of Interpersonal Neurobiology, we will explore the Patterns of Developmental Pathways (PDPs). Join us, and have your mind blown by our field’s beloved mind expert.

*Seats are limited.  Advanced registration is required and an additional fee will apply.

After a long day of honing your clinical skills, join your friends and colleagues for an evening of comedy thrills! Kick back and indulge while you experience an evening of stand-up comedy headlined by comedy sensation Kellen Erskine with our very own Symposium faculty, Elliott Connie.

Kellen Erskine has appeared on Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, America’s Got Talent, Comedy Central, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. Known for his sharp, observational humor and engaging, relatable stories, Erskine was named one of TBS’s Top Ten Comics to Watch in 2017, and his comedy clips have garnered over 150 million views on the streaming channel Dry Bar Comedy.

Opening the night is long-time Symposium faculty member and developer of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Elliott Connie. When he’s not practicing and teaching, he’s traveling across the country honing his comedy chops and hosting shows for stars like Tiffany Haddish. With incisive, witty commentaries on everything from parenting to relationships, come see for yourself why Connie has dubbed his comedy calling “a new way to heal the world.” Let’s face it: therapy is hard work. And while the insurance companies may not recognize a bad case of comedy deficiency disorder, we sure do! So it’s okay to leave your notes, your DSM, and your inhibitions behind for tonight. We won’t tell.

*Join us for drinks, dessert, and an evening of much needed laughter.  Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. There is an additional fee to attend.

Having developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an approach that changed many western medical practices, Jon Kabat-Zinn has been dubbed the “Godfather of Modern Mindfulness.” But for those who’ve followed his work over the last 50+ years, he’s been something else: their greatest teacher. Humble, practical, and full of spiritual
wisdom and humor.

A Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School—where he founded the MBSR clinic in 1979 and years later, the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine—Kabat-Zinn is the author of 15 books, including the time-honored bestseller Wherever You Go, There You Are and the recently released Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief. Used to treat everything from anxiety to trauma to immune response, with everyone from hospital patients to combat veterans, his teachings have produced a community of global healers, with more than 1,000 MBSR instructors and over 740 MBSR programs in hospitals, clinics, and health centers worldwide.

In this can’t-miss keynote, he’ll explore why mindfulness is so foundational to psychotherapy and how it can continue to provide all of us—clients and therapists—with a refuge for healing, acceptance, and radical acts of love during tumultuous times. The message of mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn once told the Networker, “Is an invitation to everybody to wake up to the true dimensionality of who we are.” Join us and open yourself to an unforgettable experience of being in the here and now.

Born in Vietnam, forcibly displaced as a child to Australia, and now living in rural Alaska, Linda Thai has dedicated her life to unraveling the mysteries of how trauma impacts the human mind and body, both personally and collectively. Her relentless focus on expanding our understanding of trauma, driven by her personal experience as a former child refugee, has led to her becoming a highly sought-after international teacher and trainer for therapists around the globe. A colleague of internationally renowned psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, she’s assisted with his small-group psychotherapy workshops aimed at healing attachment trauma. Her teaching is infused with empathy, storytelling, humor, research, practical tools, applied knowledge, and experiential wisdom.

In this keynote address, she’ll elucidate a new view of attachment theory that better encompasses our needs as whole humans, engages the full web of relationships anchoring our lives, and helps break the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma at the individual and community levels.

*Seats are limited.  Advanced registration is required and an additional fee will apply.

This evening of candid storytelling about the intimate moments of therapeutic practice has become such a hit that we’re bringing it back! Each storyteller will reveal a tale from the heart about a session, a client, or a therapeutic moment that stands out from all others because it was… the most touching? Surprising? Humbling? Explosive? Hilarious? Come and find out – and leave with a deepened sense of what’s at the core of relationships.

*Seats are limited.  Advanced registration is required and an additional fee will apply.

Multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian, and community organizer, Tricia Hersey has radically changed the way we think about rest. After an epiphany about her own mental and physical exhaustion and its connection to the legacy of forced labor endured by her ancestors, she founded The Nap Ministry, a hugely popular community-based organization, and began advocating for revolutionary rest. But resting isn’t just about giving our minds and bodies a break from the daily grind—though that’s a part of it. In her bestselling books, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” and We Will Rest! The Art of Escape, Hersey invites us to re-envision rest as a social justice issue. Refusing to overfunction and run ourselves ragged in the name of productivity helps free us from the destructive mental, physical, and spiritual impact of oppressive systems like capitalism and white supremacy.  

In this keynote, Hersey will guide us in a collective experience of immersive daydreaming. She’ll introduce us to rest as a powerful way of practicing love, liberation, and community care. By giving ourselves permission to freedom-dream, we can access the liberating forces inherent in rest, and reconnect with it as a divine human right.