Coffee Break

Session 2

1. Restorative Yoga: A Practical Demonstration – Penny Rafferty, Yoga Practitioner and Trainer.

   This practical session explores how restorative yoga may support emotional regulation, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and strengthen resilience through breath, movement, stillness, and body awareness.

2. Functional Neurological Disorders: Panel Discussion.

   This panel considers the diagnostic and management challenges of functional neurological disorders, including how symptoms may emerge at the intersection of brain, body, stress, and lived experience.

3. When the Body Speaks First in Children in Distress – Dr Lubna Latif, Consultant, CAMHS.

   This session explores somatic symptoms in children and adolescents, including how bodily symptoms may communicate emotional pain and when diagnostic labels may help or hinder care.

4. Functional Neurological Disorders in Children: Case Vignettes and Psychiatric Management – Dr Meenakshi Sharma, Consultant CAMHS.

   This session uses clinical vignettes to explore assessment, formulation, multidisciplinary working, and psychiatric management in children and young people presenting with functional neurological symptoms.

5. Functional Neurological Disorders: Evolution of the Concept and Diagnostic Issues – Dr Ajaya Updhyaya, Consultant Psychiatrist.

   This session traces the evolution of functional neurological disorders as a clinical concept and considers diagnostic uncertainty, terminology, stigma, and the relationship between neurological symptoms and psychological formulation.

6. The Challenges in Treating Functional Neurological Disorders – Dr S Sridharan, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist.

   This session examines the clinical, psychological, neurological, and service-level challenges involved in treating functional neurological disorders, with attention to engagement, formulation, rehabilitation, and long-term recovery.

Cake Cutting on the 15th Anniversary of Emotions Clinic and Lunch Break

Session 3

1. Chronic Insomnia, Pain and Psychosomatic Disorders – Presentation from Menarini Farmaceutica, UK
2. The Gut–Brain Axis – Dr Mina Bobdey, Consultant Psychiatrist. Examining microbiome research, psychobiotics, and the ways digestion, inflammation, and gut health may influence emotional regulation, with a special focus on IBS and Crohn’s disease.
3. Somatic Approaches to Healing – Nicola Herd – Somatic Therapist. Exploring breath, movement, awareness, relationships, and the ways trauma may be stored, expressed, and released through the body.
4. Longevity, Ageing & Mental Health – Dr Rahul Tomar, Consultant Psychiatrist, Older adults

   Exploring how physical ageing, lifestyle, resilience, cognition, and emotional wellbeing interact across the lifespan.

Coffee Break

Session 4

1. Digital Therapeutics and Biofeedback – Dr Kishore Chandiramani, Consultant Psychiatrist. Reviewing wearables, heart-rate variability, brain entrainment, breathwork, and vagal tone as emerging tools for self-regulation and personalised mental health support.
2. Nutrition and Mental Health – Speaker to be confirmed. Considering dietary patterns, the microbiome, micronutrients, metabolic health, and lifestyle medicine as contributors to mood, cognition, and recovery.
3. Menopause and Mental Health – Speaker to be confirmed. Understanding the psychological impact of hormonal transition, including mood changes, anxiety, sleep disruption, cognitive symptoms, identity, relationships, and holistic support.

Conclusion