December 2, 2024

Opening Up 2025 – Register Today for the January 31st Event 

Join us virtually from 11am – 2pm on Friday, January 31^st for the Opening Up forum, hosted by the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, which specializes in perinatal, premenstrual and perimenopausal mental health, supporting women and their families throughout all of life’s stages.  

The 4th Annual edition of Opening Up, entitled Empowered Beginnings: Navigating Mental Health Through the Perinatal Journey, will delve into the intricate connection between previous mental health concerns, the perinatal phase of pregnancy, and post-partum wellbeing after giving birth. 

The Opening Up forum has attracted a global audience by offering a supportive space that unites a collective of passionate and collaborative mentors openly sharing their knowledge through an open, non-judgmental, and community-building approach. The event is unique in its commitment to bringing speakers with internationally renowned medical expertise together with those with lived experience of mental illness who share their journeys and life lessons, too.  

Meet Your Hosts

Meet Some of the Speakers

Dr. Daisy Singla  

Dr. Daisy Singla is a clinical psychologist by training, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She has led and contributed to large clinical trials focused on clinically sensitive and contextually relevant models of care targeting depression, anxiety and child outcomes in an effort to improve child and maternal health worldwide. Dr. Singla aspires to increase access to evidence-based psychological treatments to enrich the lives of all women, their children and their families. 

Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen 

Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Equity. Her research is focused on the psychological and social factors that promote or detract from optimal health trajectories and seeks to address patient-oriented research priorities related to the development, testing and dissemination of prevention and intervention programs that will improve both parent and child mental health. Her current program of research is profoundly influenced by her role as a mother and her clinical work, which has often led her to engage in community building, mindfulness and self-compassion research. 

Dr. Simone Vigod  

Dr. Simone Vigod is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Temetry Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and head of the Department of Psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital. Dr. Vigod is a leading expert in perinatal mood disorders and has conducted some of the largest studies worldwide on maternal mental illness around the time of pregnancy. Mental illness at this life stage poses unique risks to mothers and their children at a critical juncture in both of their lives. Her research is helping raise awareness about gaps in access to specialized perinatal mental healthcare, as well as identifying vulnerable populations where these gaps are most prominent. 

Event Details 

Friday, January 31, 2025 
11:00am – 2:00pm EST – A Virtual Event!  

Registration is $10, and 100% of your ticket purchase price will be donated to support the work of the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.  

Click Here to Purchase Your Tickets 

We want everyone who wishes to attend Opening Up to be able to do so. If you need compassionate (free) access to this workshop, click here. If you have any questions, please reach out to openingupforumsjwhcc@gmail.com for a quick response.