2026 Global Conference on Advancing Mental Health Highlights
Explores Embodiment, Coherence, and Whole-Person Mental Health
On September 27, 2026, Sofia University hosted its fourth Global Conference on Advancing Mental Health online, bringing together scholars, researchers, clinicians, educators, artists, community leaders, and practitioners from around the world. Guided by the theme “Embodiment, Coherence, and Whole-Person Mental Health in a VUCA World,” the conference explored mental health through a broad, interdisciplinary lens, one that recognizes the connections among the body, mind, relationships, culture, community, technology, environment, and meaning. Across presentations, research, conversations, and creative work, the program created space for diverse perspectives on human wellbeing and flourishing.
The conference opened with remarks from Dr. Carol Humphreys, President of Sofia University, and Dr. Dorote Lucci, Academic Chair of the Global Conference on Advancing Mental Health, followed by a featured keynote conversation with Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter on flourishing, legacy, and the developmental journey. Drawing on her work in adult development, the conversation invited participants to consider human growth as an ongoing process that unfolds across different stages of life and increasingly complex ways of understanding oneself and the world. The discussion explored how development can shape the ways individuals make meaning, relate to others, exercise leadership, and respond to the needs of the wider world. It also raised questions about moving beyond established ways of thinking, balancing personal development with meaningful action, and considering how individual growth can contribute to a broader positive impact. The conversation ultimately positioned flourishing not simply as personal achievement, but as an evolving developmental process connected to how people live, lead, and contribute to the world around them.
Dr. Mary Poffenroth then delivered a keynote exploring fear, resilience, and flourishing in an uncertain world. Her presentation examined the psychological realities of living amid complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change, and considered how individuals can develop resilience while navigating circumstances that cannot always be predicted or controlled. Rather than treating fear simply as an obstacle, the session opened a broader conversation about how people understand and respond to uncertainty and how resilience can support continued growth and engagement. The presentation resonated strongly with participants, prompting reflection on the challenges of contemporary life and the possibilities for cultivating greater resilience and flourishing in the face of change.
The program continued with “Dreams as Living Images: Meaning-Making and Mental Health,” a distinctive conversation featuring Dr. Bonnie Buckner, Dr. Jerri Lynn Hogg, Ruby Hwang, and Dr. Dorote Lucci. The session explored dreams not simply as experiences that occur during sleep, but as living and meaningful dimensions of inner experience that can offer another way of engaging with the self and the world. Through a shared exploration of dreams, imagery, symbolism, and personal experience, the conversation considered how dream material can contribute to meaning-making and open new perspectives on psychological and emotional life.
By bringing together different perspectives on dreams and their significance, the session expanded the conference’s broader inquiry into whole-person mental health. It offered a space to consider forms of experience that are deeply personal, symbolic, and difficult to capture through conventional frameworks, while highlighting reflection and meaning-making as important dimensions of psychological wellbeing. In this way, the conversation reinforced the conference’s broader interest in understanding the whole person through multiple forms of experience and knowledge.
The program continued with “Dreams as Living Images: Meaning-Making and Mental Health,” a distinctive conversation featuring Dr. Bonnie Buckner, Dr. Jerri Lynn Hogg, Ruby Hwang, and Dr. Dorote Lucci. The session explored dreams not simply as experiences that occur during sleep, but as living and meaningful dimensions of inner experience that can offer another way of engaging with the self and the world. Through a shared exploration of dreams, imagery, symbolism, and personal experience, the conversation considered how dream material can contribute to meaning-making and open new perspectives on psychological and emotional life.
By bringing together different perspectives on dreams and their significance, the session expanded the conference’s broader inquiry into whole-person mental health. It offered a space to consider forms of experience that are deeply personal, symbolic, and difficult to capture through conventional frameworks, while highlighting reflection and meaning-making as important dimensions of psychological wellbeing. In this way, the conversation reinforced the conference’s broader interest in understanding the whole person through multiple forms of experience and knowledge.
A special plenary on embodiment across the lifespan brought together Dr. Pier Luigi Lattuada, Dr. Regina U. Hess, Hugo Bordalo Machado, Ilja van de Griend, and the AlmaSoma team. Drawing on developmental, somatic, relational, transpersonal, Indigenous, and transgenerational perspectives, the conversation examined how experiences surrounding conception, pregnancy, birth, attachment, and early relationships may shape later experiences of safety, regulation, connection, and identity. Dr. Hess introduced the work of the World Transpersonal Alliance and its efforts to foster international collaboration; Ilja van de Griend explored embodied coherence in a VUCA world; and Hugo Bordalo Machado considered embodied motherhood and the influence of personal history, culture, and intergenerational experience on relationships and development.
The conference also broadened the conversation about mental health through “From Toilets to Thriving: Infrastructure, Dignity, and Mental Health,” presented by Dr. Jolie Gutentag and Shawn Shafner. Their work connected sanitation, dignity, bodily experience, and environmental sustainability, demonstrating how seemingly ordinary infrastructures and cultural attitudes toward bodily functions can influence wellbeing, health, dignity, and the everyday experience of being human. The presentation also generated lively audience engagement around sanitation, infrastructure, health, and access to basic bodily needs.
Art provided another pathway for exploring experiences that can be difficult to express through language. Haiping Guo introduced an online gallery featuring artwork created by people with mental health conditions, with Dr. Caifang Zhu and Dr. Dorote Lucci contributing to the broader gallery conversation. The discussion emphasized the importance of seeing individuals beyond diagnostic labels and recognizing creativity, individuality, and expression as meaningful dimensions of human experience. The gallery created additional opportunities for connection, dialogue, understanding, and reflection.
The program also featured a research presentation by Stephanie Witechowsky and Cassandra Gaddis, “Paradise Lost: Meaning-Making, Embodied Transcendence, and Stewardship Amid Ecological Grief.” The presentation extended the conference’s exploration of embodiment and meaning-making into questions of ecological grief, transcendence, and stewardship, bringing a research-oriented perspective to the broader conversation about human experience and wellbeing.
Dr. Kerri Husman brought the conference’s exploration of embodiment into the realm of leadership through her presentation, “Embodied Leadership and Human Flourishing.” Her session examined leadership as a deeply human and relational practice, connecting the ways we lead with resilience, coherence, self-awareness, and whole-person wellbeing. By placing embodiment within the context of leadership, Dr. Husman invited participants to consider how greater awareness of oneself and one’s relationships can shape the ways individuals communicate, respond to challenges, and engage with others. The session expanded the conference’s conversation about human flourishing beyond individual wellbeing, highlighting leadership as an area in which personal awareness, relational connection, and the capacity to navigate complexity can have a broader impact on organizations and communities.
In a separate session, Dr. Marilyn Schlitz presented “Death: Let’s Talk About It,” bringing a different dimension of the human experience into the conference dialogue. Through her book presentation, Dr. Schlitz opened a thoughtful conversation about mortality and the importance of creating space to engage with a subject that is often difficult to discuss. Her presentation invited participants to approach death not only through the experience of loss, but also through questions of meaning, connection, presence, and how awareness of mortality can shape the way people understand and live their lives. By bringing conversations about death into a conference centered on whole-person mental health, the session underscored the importance of acknowledging the full spectrum of human experience—including the questions and transitions that can profoundly influence wellbeing, relationships, and our understanding of what it means to flourish.
The relationship between technology and mental health emerged as another significant theme. Farrah N. Khan examined mental health, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and human trust, considering how increasingly digital environments influence psychological wellbeing, identity, decision-making, relationships, and resilience. Her discussion highlighted the importance of transparency, consistency, predictability, privacy, security, and trust as artificial intelligence and digital technologies become increasingly embedded in personal, professional, and social life.
The conference concluded with a conversation on community healing, recovery, and belonging, bringing together Rima Nashashibi, Kamola Mir, Dr. Dawn Celeste McGregor, and Aloha Ley. Their perspectives connected individual wellbeing with community resilience, women’s health, agency, recovery, belonging, and collective action. Together, these contributions reinforced the importance of understanding mental health within the social and community contexts in which people live.
Across the full program, the conference brought together perspectives spanning psychology, embodiment, transpersonal studies, leadership, research, art, technology, health, sanitation, and community resilience, demonstrating the breadth of contemporary approaches to mental health.
Taken together, the presentations and conversations offered a multidimensional view of human flourishing—one that values embodied awareness, relational connection, meaning-making, agency, resilience, and thoughtful engagement with a changing world. The conference highlighted the value of bringing research, clinical practice, lived experience, creative expression, leadership, and community perspectives into dialogue.
Sofia University extends its appreciation to all speakers, presenters, panelists, organizers, volunteers, students, and participants whose knowledge, creativity, and engagement contributed to this global dialogue and helped advance the conversation around mental health and human flourishing.
