RSU Hosts Lectures and Workshops by World-Class Experts on Mental Health and Spirituality
Discussions on today's challenges and the importance of psychology and spirituality in addressing them are gaining momentum both in society and in professional circles. Emphasising the important contribution of interdisciplinary research to these discussions, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) is inviting you to attend the 9th International Scientific and Practical Conference Health and Personality Development: An Interdisciplinary Approach from 13 to 15 April. The conference will provide the opportunity to learn about the latest research results and to participate in masterclasses.
This year, the traditional topics of the conference, which are related to an interdisciplinary and multidimensional view of psychological care, will be complemented by lectures and workshops on spirituality. These themes can appeal not only to professionals, but also to spiritual teachers and practitioners.
Thursday, 13 April – the morning plenary session will begin with a lecture on current scientific challenges and a review of recent research on wellbeing. This will be followed by seven parallel sessions on various interdisciplinary topics. In the afternoon, keynote speaker Jeffery A. Martin (USA) will give a lecture on promoting mental and emotional wellbeing through the use of technology. Martin is a social scientist who studies spiritual transformation processes and altered states of consciousness. He is the founder of the Transformative Technology space. This lecture will be followed by a lecture by Julia Mossbridge (USA) on Spirituality Technologies (SpiritTech), which are now becoming increasingly popular worldwide. The associate professor represents the University of San Diego and is the co-founder of The Institute for Love and Time. The day will conclude with a panel discussion on the impact of supervisory qualifications on the daily life of the professional.
Friday 14 April – Imants Barušs (Canada) will be giving a lecture on peculiar and altered states of consciousness. Barušs is a professor at King’s University College with a long-standing research interest in altered states of consciousness. Afterwards, participants are invited to attend a workshop lecture on spirituality and health, and different types of spiritual experiences by a world-renowned neuroscientist and author of many books Andrew Newberg (USA). He is a pioneer in modern research on spiritual experiences, director of the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health and a physician at Jefferson University Hospital.
Saturday, 15 April – the day will begin with a lecture on the wisdom of spirituality by Indulis Paičs, a local spirituality researcher, and a lecture on spiritual delusions and false paths by Daiga Katrīna Bitēna. The programme also includes a lecture on contemporary military psychology in Latvia and the professional activities of military psychologists during wartime. During the day, there will be various workshops, including by two visiting professors from the RSU Department of Health Psychology and Paedagogy. Professor Christian M. G. Stierle (Germany) will conduct a workshop on intensive exposure therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder, and Professor Timothy D. Evans (USA) will present a workshop on the art of managing your life and your mental health.
Dalība konferencē, kuru rīko RSU Veselības psiholoģijas un pedagoģijas katedra, ir bezmaksas. Tā noritēs Zoom vidē latviešu un angļu valodā. Par katru konferences dienu dalībnieki saņems 12 tālākizglītības punktus, bet par dalību meistarklasē – 4 akadēmiskās stundas. Referenti saņems sertifikātu par uzstāšanos ar zinātnisku darbu. Konference notiks tiešsaistē, Zoom vidē. Saite uz pasākuma galvenajiem notikumiem būs reģistrācijas e-pastā, saites uz meistarklasēm būs pieejamas RSU mājaslapā.
Participation in the conference, which is organised by the RSU Department of Health Psychology and Paedagogy, is free of charge. It will be held on Zoom in Latvian and English. Participants will receive 12 continuing education points for each day of the conference and 4 academic hours for participation in a workshop. Speakers will receive a certificate for presenting a scientific paper. The conference will take place online, on the Zoom platform. The link to the main events will be in the registration email, the links to the workshops will be available on the RSU website.
