Speakers in Workshops 2021

Stefan Lundqvist is a physiotherapist, PhD, working in education, method development, and implementation of Swedish Physical Activity on Prescription (S-PAP) since 2005 at the Center for Physical Activity Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. He conducted his research in primary health care in Gothenburg and at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University. His thesis shows that, in ordinary primary health care, both short- and long-term PAP treatment can be a feasible intervention to increase PA, metabolic health, and life quality in adult patients who are physically inactive, having metabolic risk factors. Stefan has assignments in the Drug and Therapeutics Committee therapy group, responsible for issuing the Regional medical guideline for physical activity and PAP. He is also a member of the Swedish Professional Associations for Physical Activity (YFA), which is responsible for producing and publishing the scientific handbook “Physical Activity in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease” – FYSS and has been involved in the courses for the implementation of Swedish PAP in 9 EU-countries on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Sweden.

Dr Jill Taube is a doctor, lecturer, author and dance instructor. Her mission is to contribute to increased mental health in her own business and in addignmenst. She works by highlighting and raising the healthy, even in those who are ill, and to look after the healthy instead of trying to cure the sick; to have a salutogenic perspective instead of a pathogenic one.

Lance McCracken is Professor and Head of the Division of Clinical Psychology, in the Department of Psychology, at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is also visiting professor at King’s College London and Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the INPUT pain management centre at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He is on the editorial boards for numerous journals in the fields of pain and clinical health psychology, including The Journal of Pain, Health Psychology, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and European Journal of Pain, where he is also Psychology Section Editor. He is a clinical researcher and has published over 270 scientific articles and chapters, and two books, most of these on treatment development in physical health conditions, including chronic pain.

C. Neill Epperson, MD, is Professor and the Robert Freedman Endowed Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine-Anschutz Medical Campus (CU-AMC) where she is also the Executive Director of the Helen E. and Arthur Johnson Depression Center. Before being recruited to CU-Anschutz, Dr. Epperson served as the founder and director of both the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness and Penn PROMOTES, Research on Sex and Gender in Health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where she was a tenured Professor of Psychiatry, with a secondary appointment in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Epperson received her medical degree at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her postdoctoral and research training in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, where she rose to the level of associate professor before her recruitment to the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. Dr. Epperson is internationally known for her unique lifespan approach to women’s reproductive and behavioral health in her clinical, teaching, leadership and scholarly endeavors. Dr. Epperson’s body of research has led to a greater appreciation of the impact of gonadal steroids on brain structure and function and the importance of considering reproductive status and sex in all biomedical research. In addition, Dr. Epperson’s research demonstrates that childhood adversity has an enduring impact on physiologic responses during times of hormonal fluctuation as well as gonadal steroid effects on brain and behavior. Dr. Epperson’s research has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 2 decades. She is a productive mentor and independent investigator with more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and abstracts.

Malin Henriksson is the president of the Swedish NGO Mamma till Mamma (Mother to Mother). Mamma till Mamma’s overall goal is to prevent mental health issues during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, as well as promote recovery among parents suffering from mental health issues. I started as a volunteer in the organisation in 2019 and became the president in February 2021. I have a bachelor degree in political science, and work with communication at a Swedish trade union confederation.

Karin Lindholm is organization developer of the Swedish NGO Mamma till Mamma (Mother to Mother). Mamma till Mamma’s overall goal is to prevent mental health issues during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, as well as promote recovery among parents suffering from mental health issues. I started as a peer support volunteer in 2019, was elected treasurer in February 2021 and took on the role of organization developer in June 2021.

John Lee Cox:is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Keele University, UK . He is an Honorary Doctor at Uppsala University. He was a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist who trained in Oxford, London and Kampala. His Oxford Doctoral Thesis was the first ever controlled study of Antenatal Depression and also included a community follow-up study of depression postpartum in a rural setting. Subsequently he has published over 100 papers, mostly in the fields of Perinatal and Transcultural Psychiatry and Ethics. John developed the first Parent and Baby Day Unit in the UK which has celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The Edinburgh Post Natal Depression Scale, developed with Jeni Holden and Ruth Sagovsky, has been translated into over 60 languages and used in research, clinical work in primary care and in national screening programmes throughout the world. The second edition of Perinatal Mental Health: the EPDS Manual (Cox, Holden and Henshaw) is due for publication in February 2014. John is a former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and past Secretary-General of the World Psychiatric Association. He is a holder of the Marcé medal and was a founding member and President of the Marcé Society.

Valerie DeMarinis, PhD (psychology) is Senior Professor in Public Mental Health at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, Sweden; Professor of Public Mental Health Promotion at Innlandet Hospital Trust, Norway; and Emeritus Professor in Psychology of Religion and Cultural Psychology at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research areas include refugee mental health, cultural information in treatment, public mental health and violent extremism. Recent/current research programs include: Director of the Wellbeing and Health section of the nationally-funded IMPACT research programme/Centre of Excellence at Uppsala University; Primary Mental Health Analyst for the EU- Horizon 2020 project RESPOND: Governance of Migration; and, PI for both Swedish and Norwegian projects on medical communication efficacy of the Cultural Formulation Interview (DSM-5). Her applied research and clinical work includes a focus on radicalisation and preventing violent extremism as a public mental health concern, including with young people who have been involved with either white-power extremism or Islamist extremism.

Lars Lien is president of the Norwegian Psychiatric Association and adviser to the National Competence Service for concurrent substance abuse and mental illness (ROP). He is a specialist in community medicine and in psychiatry and took his PhD in 2003 on a study of risk factors for mental health problems in adolescents with an immigrant background. He participates in and leads various research projects with topics ranging from health care research to basal neurobiology. He is affiliated with the Department of Health and Social Sciences at Inland University College as Professor and is consultant physician among the Sami population and Professor II at the Arctic University of Tromsø.

Paul Farrand, is Director of the Low Intensity CBT (LICBT) portfolio within Clinical Psychology, Education, Development and Research (CEDAR); Psychology, at the University of Exeter. Within this role he has responsibility for a team of clinical educators delivering commissioned LICBT training for the NHS and involved in developments in countries such as the USA, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. Current research is focussed on LICBT, in particular adapting LICBT interventions to accommodate the needs of different groups including armed forces veterans, the Muslim community in England and Saudi Arabia and in combination with Uppsala University, developing an LICBT approach for informal carers of people with long term physical health conditions. Recent research interests focus on the development and evaluation of a ‘Psychological Practitioner’ workforce to support LICBT interventions and exploring the potential for support to be provided through artificial intelligence. Given his expertise in LICBT, Paul is sole editor of Low Intensity CBT Skills and Interventions: A Practitioners Guide and sits on NHS Expert Advisory Groups for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme and Psychological Practice in Physical Health Care. Clinically, Paul has worked within the Head and Neck clinical specialism for over 20 years.

Andrea Beetz holds a MA and PhD in Psychology and a PhD in Special Education and works as a professor for special and inclusive education at the IU International University of Applied Sciences. The focus of her research is on attachment theory, attachment based interventions in educational settings and animal-assisted interventions. She has published her research in numerous (>150) articles and book chapters/books covering positive effects of human-animal interactions on stress regulation and activation of the oxytocinsystem, theories and mechanisms explaining positive effects of human-animal interactions and animal-assisted interventions, animal-assisted education/special education, school-dogs, reading with dogs, therapeutic riding and more. As an international expert she has served as a current/former board member of international associations in the field of human-animal interactions like IAHAIO, ISAZ, and ISAAT.

Michael Kaufmann is the Director of the Sam and Myra Ross Institute and the Nature-Based programs at Green Chimneys. Michael has been actively involved in Human/animal Interaction Programs, Animal Welfare and in Humane Education for 35 years. In 2005 he joined Green Chimneys Children’s Services as Farm and Wildlife Director and is the Director of the Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys, dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world. At Green Chimneys, he directs all aspects of the nature- based therapeutic/educational programs and supervises the Institute dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world.