OUR SPEAKERS BUREAU

Gayathri Ramprasad, MBA, CPS

Gayathri is the Founder and President of ASHA International. She is an award-winning mental health advocate and social entrepreneur with a unique insight into mental health and wellness.

Gayathri was born and raised in Bangalore, India, amidst ancient traditions, and a large, loving extended family. Her happy childhood, however, gave way to a traumatic adolescence. By the time she was 18, she was debilitated by generalized anxiety disorder and panic attacks. At 23, as a young mother in America, she struggled to free herself from the death-hold of depression.

Gayathri’s successful battle in overcoming life-threatening mental illness and her amazing recovery taught her the power of hope and holistic wellness. Now, she shares that message with others. Her ability to transform trauma into triumph has inspired and empowered thousands of audience members nationally and internationally. Individuals and organizations alike applaud Gayathri as an agent of hope and transformational change. 

Gayathri hopes her story offers inspiration and healing to those struggling with mental health issues, and understanding to those who care about them.

Topics:  Mental health and holistic wellness, cultivating  recovery and wellness in behavioral health, healing from depression, transforming trauma into triumph, variations in cultural value systems and its impact on mental health and wellness,  and mental health advocacy.

James K. Boehnlein, M.D., M.SC.

Dr. Boehnlein is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health and Science University where he is Director of Medical Student Education for psychiatry, and Associate Director for Education for the VA Northwest Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Portland, OR. For the past 24 years he has been a staff psychiatrist at the Portland VA Mental Health Clinic and at OHSU’s Intercultural Psychiatric Program, where he has treated Southeast Asian and Central American refugees. He is currently President of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, an international association of psychiatric and social science researchers and educators. 

Topics: Cross-cultural psychiatry (particularly cultural and anthropological perspectives on post-traumatic stress disorder and long-term adjustment of traumatized refugees), the interface of culture and medical ethics, spiritual issues in psychiatry and psychological trauma, and medical education.

Julie A. Fast

Julie Fast is a leading mental health expert on the topics of bipolar disorder, depression, seasonal affective disorder and mood management. She was diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar II in 1995 and struggled for many years to get the illness under control. In 1999, she took her mental health management into her own hands and created The Health Cards System for Bipolar Disorder, a treatment system now used around the world.

Julie is the bestselling author of five books on mood disorders, including Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder and Get it Done When You’re Depressed. She is also an award winning columnist and a bipolar disorder management specialist who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz website www.ShareCare.com as well as a much sought-after speaker and family and partner coach.

Topics: An insider’s perspective into living with mental illness, mood disorder management techniques, health care professional training, and family and partner coaching.

Lilly Glass Akoto, LCSW

Lilly Glass Akoto is a passionate advocate for basic human rights and has been involved as a professional in the mental health world since 1989. She has a private mental health practice where she serves clients who struggle with severe mental health challenges, specializing in suicide issues, grief and loss as well as identify formation.

Lilly is dedicated to developing a program called “Professional to Professional” with the hope that this program will give support to professionals who struggle with mental health challenges. Her objective is to create safe places for professionals to share their pain and heal, and ultimately, to break down the walls of stigma that are so deeply embedded in the professional world. She believes that professionals should be allowed to work through their challenge without threat of losing their employment.

She is unreserved about sharing her narrative, her truth and her journey to freedom from depression. Lilly uses every part of her life story to illuminate the realities of struggling with mental health challenges in this world, to touch your heart, to make you think and to give you hope.

Topics: Depression, suicide, racism, adoption, self-worth, identity issues, the power of words, advocacy, recovery & healing.

Utpala Shanker, Ph.D.

Dr.  Shanker is a licensed psychologist in private practice.  Her clinical experiences include working with multidisciplinary teams in outpatient, inpatient, residential, day treatment, and medical settings in the Midwest, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest of the United States.  These diverse clinical experiences have enhanced her understanding of how mental illness is perceived in ethnic and racial demographics, as well as in immigrant and refugee populations.  Furthermore, being born and raised in a collectivist culture, but having lived most of her adult life in an individualist society, Dr. Shanker brings a unique emic perspective into her understanding of multiculturalism. 

Topics:  Cross-cultural issues in mental health, integrating multicultural awareness in evidence-based treatment, child and adolescent mental health from a multicultural perspective, promoting awareness of mental health in diverse populations.