Invited speakers
- Jaakko is a founder of Open Dialogue. He is an advanced specialist level family therapist; he also works as a trainer in psychotherapy. His main interests are in developing and analyzing family- and social network-centered practices in the most severe psychiatric crises, such as psychosis and depression. His research has been focused both on analyzing the effectiveness of open dialogues in psychosis and depression, and on developing the analysis of dialogues in family therapy and network therapy sessions.
Participating as practical philosopher at the annual International Meetings on the Treatment of Psychosis since 1997. Became honorary member of the Cuban Psychiatric Society in March 2019.
One of Mia’s aims in training processes is to open and expand the dialogue to ncrease people’s creativity and resourcefulness. In her role as a trainer, she is keen to emphasise and invite people who work in mental health settings to explore their own life narratives and the impact that these stories and their values have on their current professional practice.
Open Dialogue is one of the Good Practices in the World Health Organization`s “Mental health crisis services: promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches,” where Mia worked with the WHO authorities in creating the publication.
Giovanni Rossi participated in the closure of the psychiatric hospital in Mantua and the planning and implementation of mental health services in Mantua and Modena. Editor of the radio station Rete 180 "La voce di chi sente le voci" ("The voice of those who hear voices") and promoter of the mental health radio movement. Involved in advocacy and evaluative research in mental health services, Giovanni Rossi was a WHO consultant for Latin America and the Caribbean and a professor of social psychiatry at the University of Modena and Reggio nell'Emilia.
- She started working at the psychiatric services in Interlaken, Switzerland. She attended the first Open Dialogue training in Switzerland in 2015/16 and she helped to spread the word on this approach in the German-speaking area. She collaborates with the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and works within the Expert Committee for Psychiatric Drugs of the German Society for Social Psychiatry. In January 2017, she co-founded the first trialogue specific to the topic of reducing and stopping neuroleptics, based in Bern.
- As the mother, Regina did not agree on the status quo of mental health treatment in Poland. She was convinced that “whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass!”. This attitude led her to start thinking that in the XXI century there must be better treatment somewhere in Europe.
- As Regina found in the 2011 Open Dialogue she decided to transfer this approach to Poland. Not alone of course but with a team of people oriented to mental health system change.
First results:
- In 2018 Open Dialogue became “the heart” of the Community Mental Health Centers created in three counties of Poland and one district of Warsaw.
- In the same year the Government announced pilot of the mental health Reform based on moving mental health services from institutions to local society;
- In 2021 Regina was appointed by Mental Health Europe as one of female heroes of Europe’s mental health;
- Until XII/2021 there are 400 people graduated from Open Dialogue courses.
Raffaele Barone is a trainer and supervisor in psychotherapy specialisation schools and Mental Health Departments. He is a board member of the International Network of Democratic Therapeutic Communities (INDTC).
Scientific Committee
- Principal investigator in projects aimed to evaluate innovative approaches in mental health, such as Open Dialogue, Recovery Houses, and co-produced experimental centres. These interventions are based on the assumption «nothing about us without us», promoted by the international movement of mental health services users. Her main research activity aims at understanding and evaluating the outcomes of these interventions, with a focus on the analysis of cognitive, emotional and social processes underlying the recovery of people with experience of severe mental health issues.
Until 2020, Anna Paola Marchetti was head of the "Rehabilitation and home support Program" and the Open Dialogue team in the Public Mental Health Service in Turin, Italy. She is an OD trainer and supervisor.