Press Release: Therapy First to Host First-of-Its-Kind Youth Mental Health Conference, Sponsored by Frontiers Media
PRESS RELEASE
Therapy First to Host First-of-Its-Kind Youth Mental Health Conference in NYC, Sponsored by Frontiers Media
Twenty-seven distinguished mental health experts from diverse perspectives will convene October 17–18 to explore clinical common ground in caring for youth experiencing gender dysphoria amid rapid social, cultural, and technological change.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Therapy First will host its inaugural national conference, Identities in the Therapy Room: What Is Unfolding?, October 17–18, 2026, in New York City. For the first time, mental health clinicians from diverse perspectives working with young people experiencing gender dysphoria will come together to explore and consider how to improve mental health care for this vulnerable population amid a rapidly changing cultural and clinical landscape marked by social media, advancing technologies, and significant changes in the field of pediatric gender-related care. Since January 2025, more than 40 hospitals and health systems in the United States have permanently ceased, paused, or substantially restricted gender-related medical interventions for minors.
Access to high-quality mental health care for gender distressed youth has never been more urgently needed or difficult to get. Over two full days, 27 distinguished speakers representing a range of clinical disciplines and perspectives will join an audience of mental health clinicians to think together about what professionally and culturally competent clinical care now demands of them given the lived realities of youth today.
The conference is sponsored by Frontiers Media, one of the world’s largest and most impactful research publishers and publisher of more than 200 peer-reviewed journals. Its publications include Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Frontiers in Psychology, and Frontiers in Psychiatry.
“Therapy First is humbled to take this next step in addressing the challenges affecting both young people and the clinicians entrusted to help steward their development. Identities in the Therapy Room: What Is Unfolding? is a first-of-its-kind conference bringing together mental health experts from diverse perspectives to explore the clinical common ground needed to improve care for young people experiencing gender dysphoria.”
— Paul Garcia-Ryan, President, Therapy First
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Jonathan Shedler, PhD will present the keynote address, “The Fundamentals of Psychotherapy: What They Are and Why They Matter.” Shedler is internationally recognized as an author, researcher, and clinical teacher. He is best known for his article The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, which received worldwide acclaim for demonstrating that psychoanalytic therapy is an evidence-based treatment. His research and writing continue to shape contemporary understanding of personality and its central role in psychotherapy. He is the author of more than 100 scientific and scholarly articles, creator of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) for personality diagnosis and case formulation, and co-author of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-3). Shedler lectures internationally, leads workshops for professional audiences, consults to U.S. and international government agencies, and provides expert supervision and consultation to clinicians worldwide. He is Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Erica Anderson, PhD will present “The Importance of Finding Common Ground.” Anderson is a clinical psychologist who is best known for her work with gender questioning youth. She previously served as a staff psychologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital’s Child and Adolescent Gender Center, and was the first transgender president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH). She has also served on the board of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Drawing on more than 40 years of clinical experience, she writes and speaks widely on the importance of individualized assessment and treatment for youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
Alessandra Lemma, D. Clin. Psych. will present “From Scrolling Through to Working Through: Adolescence, Algorithms, and the Search for Coherence.” Lemma is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society and a Chartered Clinical and Counselling Psychologist with extensive experience as a clinician, academic, and author. She is currently Visiting Professor in the Psychoanalysis Unit at University College London, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, DIT at the Anna Freud Centre, and Visiting Professor at Centro Winnicott in Rome. She formerly served as Head of Psychology and Professor of Psychological Therapies at the Tavistock Clinic. Internationally recognized for her contributions to psychoanalysis, trauma, the impact of technology on the psyche, transgender identities, and ethics, Lemma is the recipient of the 2022 Sigourney Award, the 2025 Scharff Award, and the British Psychoanalytic Council’s 2025 Bernard Rattigan Award for Psychoanalysis and Diversity. Her books include Transgender Identities: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2022), First Principles: Applied Ethics for Psychoanalytic Practice (OUP, 2023), and Psychotechnical Becomings: Psychoanalysis, Identity, Desire and Mourning in Times of AI and Digital Mediation (Routledge, 2026); forthcoming is Journeying Through Psychoanalysis: Lessons from the Couch (Wiley, 2027).
Laurel M. Silber, PsyD will present “Formulating Ghosts at Adolescence: Psychotherapy with the Attachment Context in Mind.” Silber is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, who has worked with children, adolescents, and their families for more than 30 years. She has published articles and chapters in edited volumes on child psychotherapy, intergenerational transmission of trauma, parental implication and childism, play and play therapy, and gender. Her forthcoming book is Transforming Transmitted Trauma with a Child in Mind. Silber serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy and is the former Director of the Child Relational Psychotherapy Program of the Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia.
Eric Yarbrough, MD will present “A Systemic Approach to Evaluation.” Yarbrough completed medical school at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and his psychiatry residency at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. He began his career at St. Luke’s Hospital, where he served as Associate Training Director and as an outpatient psychiatrist treating patients with a broad range of conditions, including serious mental illness. His career has focused on LGBTQ+ mental health, and he has served as President of AGLP: The Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists, Director of Psychiatry at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, and Medical Director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recently served as Chair of its Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities. Yarbrough is the author of Transgender Mental Health (American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2018).
ABOUT THERAPY FIRST
Meeting the needs of gender dysphoric youth is one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing the mental health field today. Therapy First’s mission is to raise the quality of care available to this population and to drive the systemic improvements in the mental health field necessary to meet their needs.
Therapy First has been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post. It is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider.
MEDIA CONTACT
Paul Garcia-Ryan
President, Therapy First
[email protected]
MEDIA CONTACT
Paul Garcia-Ryan
President, Therapy First
[email protected]
CONFERENCE DETAILS
Identities in the Therapy Room: What is Unfolding?
October 17-18, 2026
New York City