About this course

Learning Objectives

• Describe the perspectives of family members and loved ones experiencing negative symptoms to inform comprehensive understanding of the family system.
• Discuss the influence of family in the experience of negative symptoms.
• State the theory and evidence base for supporting families and social networks in the context of psychosis and negative symptoms.
• Explain optimal strategies to engage carers in positive therapeutic alliances and structured psychosocial family-based treatment approaches.
• Describe their practice with families and the continuing development needed to become skilled and creative family intervention practitioners.

Learning Levels

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Sydney Harris, M.AmSAT

  Alexander Technique Teacher Trainer

  Sydney is the mother of an adult son who suffered from extreme states while he was in college. Initially, she naively thought that her son’s behavior - “negative symptoms” were related to delayed adolescence. It soon became apparent that much more was going on with him that she and her husband didn’t understand. They became frightened and frantically looked for answers. It has been over ten years since this journey began, and the family has cycled through many phases. They are still learning how to be together.

  Sydney is sad that her son has suffered so much. However, his suffering encouraged her to look at herself, not just try to fix him. She has pursued this through psychoanalysis, the Maestricht Interview Training, reading, numerous classes and attending the Mad in America support group. Her life has been greatly enriched by these endeavors and helps her to stay open to what may be possible for her son.

  She also hopes that by combining what she has learned with her professional experience, she has something unique to offer caregivers and their loved ones. She has been an Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, and an AT teacher-trainer for over 45 years. Sydney also serves on the board of ISPS-US.

• 

  Ishaa Vinod Chopra

  CEO and Founder, Finding Order in Disorder Foundation

  Ishaa is a Guelph MSc. Candidate in Critical Family and Kinship Studies with an Interdisciplinary focus on Gender, Sexualities and Bodies at the University of Guelph, Canada. She has a Diploma and Honours Degree in Early Childhood Education from George Brown College. A BFA in Indian Classical dance of Kathak; she was trained under Guru Pta. Maneesha Sathe and now Prajakta Dravid- founder of Kathak school- Ātmikā in Toronto.

  'Finding Order in Disorder', her deeply personal memoir, explores intersectional themes of lived experiences in mental well-being and being a survivor of intimate partner violence through the medium of expressive arts such as dance therapy, mad poetry, visual arts, and journaling. She has led dance workshops through community arts engagement at Toronto Neighbourhood Organization- TNO, George Brown Polytechnic and Workman Arts programming at Meridian Arts Centre.

  An artist-scholar, her multidisciplinary art is featured in a York University thesis film ‘Unfinished’ screened at Workman Arts Organization's Rendezvous with Madness, Stella’s Place Mental Health film festivals. Her work has been disseminated at academic conferences such as Children’s Mental Health Ontario - CMHO , International Society of Psychosocial Approaches to Mental Health- ISPS-US, Digital Mental Health International Collaborative- eMHIC and Council of Exceptional Children - CEC.

  Her writing, inspired by her Supervisor, Dr. Adam W.J. Davies, has appeared in AECEO’s eceLINK journal. She is the CEO and Founder Finding Order in Disorder Foundation Non-Profit & Arts Collective that seeks to explore projects such as hybrid podcasts, therapeutic dance and community engagement for mental wellness.

• 

  Hilary Mairs, PhD, MSc, BA(Hons), DipCOT

  rofessor Hilary Mairs is an Occupational Therapist by background. She is the current Deputy Head of the School of Health Sciences at The University of Manchester. Her clinical experience, teaching and scholarship have focused on individual and family psychosocial interventions for psychosis. She has published several papers and facilitated workshops in Europe and the Far East relating to interventions to address reduced expression and activity (negative symptoms) in psychosis/schizophrenia. Her book, Revisiting Negative Symptoms: Working with reduced expression and activity in psychosis, has been published in English (2017) and Italian (2019). Professor Mairs has also worked with service user and carer networks to co-produce educational materials about hearing voices (positive symptoms of psychosis) and reviews of specific educational strategies to enhance student and healthcare professionals understanding of these experiences.

Disclosure

References

• Estradé, A., Onwumere, J., Venables, J., Gilardi, L., Cabrera, A., Rico, J., ... & Fusar-Poli, P. (2023). The lived experiences of family members and carers of people with psychosis: a bottom-up review co-written by experts by experience and academics. Psychopathology, 56(5), 371-382. https://doi.org/10.1159/000528513
• Lewins, A., Morant, N., Akther-Robertson, J., Crellin, N. E., Stansfeld, J. L., Smith, R., & Moncrieff, J. (2024). A qualitative exploration of family members’ perspectives on reducing and discontinuing antipsychotic medication. Journal of Mental Health, 33(3), 333-340. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2022.2069710
• Gleeson, J. F., Ludwig, K., Stiles, B. J., Piantella, S., McNab, C., Cotton, S., ... & Penn, D. L. (2025). Systematic review and meta-analysis of family-based interventions for early psychosis: Carer and patient outcomes. Schizophrenia Research, 276, 57-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2025.01.006
• Ong, H. S., Fernandez, P. A., & Lim, H. K. (2021). Family engagement as part of managing patients with mental illness in primary care. Singapore medical journal, 62(5), 213. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2021057
• Claxton, M., Onwumere, J., & Fornells-Ambrojo, M. (2017). Do family interventions improve outcomes in early psychosis? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 371. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00371
• Mairs, H. (2017). Revisiting negative symptoms: Working with reduced expression and activity in psychosis. Macmillan Education.
• Lutgens, D., Joober, R., Iyer, S., Lepage, M., Norman, R., Schmitz, N., ... & Malla, A. (2019). Progress of negative symptoms over the initial 5 years of a first episode of psychosis. Psychological Medicine, 49(1), 66-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329171800048X
• Lutgens, D., Gariepy, G., & Malla, A. (2017). Psychological and psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(5), 324-332. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.116.197103