A curated listing of international critical psychology conferences and events. Email us at [email protected] if you’d like to suggest an event.

SEPTEMBER

MAD IN NORWAY FILM FESTIVAL: September 24-26, 2026, Lillehammer, Norway We are so excited to announce Rethinking Mental Health Mad in Norway’s International Film Festival! Happening September 24 to 26, 2026 in Lillehammer, Norway. Our international community welcomes the general public, people with lived experience, relatives, professionals, researchers, students, cultural workers, and policy-makers. Visit: madinnorwayfilmfest.org to learn more and purchase tickets! In addition to film screenings, the festival will offer conversations with filmmakers, panel discussions, personal stories, and artistic performances. Through stories of emotion, longing, and the search for identity in a fragmented world, the festival explores the human condition at the intersection of inner and outer realities. The small town of Lillehammer offers a perfect setting for the festival. Film screenings and presentations will be held at the local cinema, and a nearby conference hotel will serve as a gathering place, with a cozy lobby with bar and large dining room. Lillehammer’s town center, with its cafés and pedestrian street, provides a warm and welcoming setting for shared experiences and meaningful conversations among participants from many countries. We will meet in Lillehammer to think together – to broaden our horizons and rethink how we understand mental health struggles and human needs. Our hope is to offer inspiration, encouragement, and renewed energy for ongoing public education and change in the field of mental health. SAVE THE DATES September 24th to 26th and join us for all or part of the festival!

OCTOBER

NEW POSSIBILITIES: CLINICIANS AND VOICE HEARERS REIMAGINE SUPPORT TOGETHER: October 13, 2026, 12PM EDT, online Voice hearing is too often framed as a symptom to be eradicated at all costs. This approach traps everyone involved: the voice hearer carries shame and fear that frequently cause more suffering than the voices themselves, while the clinician carries the impossible task of making the voices stop. In many situations, medication becomes the sole focus. Every voice that persists then reads as failure, only stimulating more efforts for control and suppression, which leaves the person feeling unseen in the process.

Normalizing voices can change this and works best when clinicians have the humility to let people with lived experience lead. Hearing Voices Network approaches were developed by voice hearers themselves, refined through experimenting with strategies people use every day to live alongside their voices. For example, voice hearers have noticed that fighting with voices often just intensifies them, while relating to them can loosen their grip. When a clinician is willing to learn from real people’s lived experiences with voice hearing rather than going by what they’ve learned in school, they can more effectively help and avoid promoting strategies that backfire.