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2026 Riggs Yale Conference "Mentalizing Across Contexts" (Part 2 of 2) (Recorded self-study)
A conference presented by the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center, Yale Child Study Center, and the Anna Freud Centre
Mentalization—the capacity to understand one’s own and others’ behavior in terms of underlying thoughts, feelings, and intentions—is fundamental to emotional well-being, learning, and effective interpersonal functioning. Yet, how mentalization develops and operates can vary widely across age, culture, and context. Designed for mental health professionals and educators, this collaborative conference offers an opportunity to deepen understanding of the mentalizing process and its implications for treatment, research, and wider applications.
Part 2 of 2
Presentation: "Mentalizing In and Out of the Session: A Socio-ecological Approach to Supporting Mentalizing in Adolescence"
Presenter: Holly Dwyer Hall, PsyD
Description: Dr. Dwyer Hall presents adolescence as a key period of social transition, involving rapid changes in identity, autonomy, and peer relationships with key social cognitive processes remaining under development. Young people must navigate belonging, rejection, and repair relationships whilst creating a coherent sense of self through experiences of being understood and valued. Contemporary social contexts, including the 'social thinning' of the foundations of adolescence in a digital world, further shape how adolescents connect with others, placing increased importance on mentalizing and related social cognitive skills. This presentation introduces a mentalization-based understanding of adolescent development and mental health, and highlights a shift toward a broader socio-ecological approach within Mentalization Based Treatments. Clinical case material shows how interventions can extend beyond individual work to strengthen epistemic trust, support pro-social engagement, and help adolescents access and maintain everyday social support. The presentation emphasises the need for creative and collaborative ways of working that adapt therapy to the realities of adolescents’ everyday social lives.
Presentation: "Mentalizing in Systems of Care"
Presenter: Daniel Knuass, PsyD
Description: This presentation will broaden the focus of mentalization based interventions to consider mentalizing in systems of care, defined in the broadest sense as social systems involved in promoting the health, well-being, and development of children and young adults. Of particular concern will be the role of epistemic trust in systems of care and its role in promoting the development of robust mentalizing. Case examples will be provided to highlight the various dilemmas encountered in such systems and potential interventions to restore mentalizing.
Target Audience
______ Introductory ___X___ Intermediate ______ Advanced
Learning Objectives
Recognise adolescence as a socio-developmental period marked by changes in mentalizing, identity formation, autonomy, and peer relationships and understand risk factors such as peer rejection and social thinning in a digital world.
Identify key social cognitive processes relevant to adolescent mental health and understand how these processes are shaped by family, peer, and wider socio-ecological systems,
Describe how non-mentalizing modes of thought can occur in systems of care
Identify non-mentalizing modes of thought (i.e. psychic equivalence, pretend mode, and teleological stance)
Identify basic techniques used to restore mentalizing in systems of care
Holly Dwyer Hall, PsyD, is the current lead for Mentalization-Based Treatments for children and young people at Anna Freud, where she also lectures on the Doctorate in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and the Early Child Development and Clinical Applications MSc at UCL. She is a registered child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist, Dynamic Interpersonal Therapist, Arts Psychotherapist, and a qualified Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) practitioner, supervisor, and trainer with children, adolescents, and families, and MBT practitioner with adults. Her clinical work spans 26 years across child and adult services in the UK’s National Health Service, social care, education and the private sector. This includes working within a service for adults with a diagnosis of EUPD and establishing a community-based emotional well-being service for under-fives and their parents. She currently provides assessment and treatment for children, young people, and families who have experienced early complex trauma in the clinical division of Anna Freud.
Dan Knauss, PsyD, is the director of training, a staff psychologist, and vice-chair of the Institutional Review Board at the Austen Riggs Center. He holds interests in infant mental health, epistemic trust in systems of care, and mentalization informed approaches to treatment. Dr. Knauss is board certified in psychoanalysis and is active in organizations promoting psychoanalytic thinking and approaches to treatment. He serves on the boards of the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education, Inc., the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology, and as a Member at Large on the board for The Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, Division 39, of the American Psychological Association. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Board for Psychoanalytic Psychology and formerly served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He is passionate about psychoanalytic education and supervision.
Austen Riggs Center Inc. adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. All those at Austen Riggs Center involved in the planning of this activity, including the presenter(s) listed above, report they have no relevant financial relationships with an ineligible company*.
The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Austen Riggs Center.
* An ineligible company is any entity whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Available Credit
- 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
ACCME - As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for a maximum of 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 1.50 APA
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for 1.50 continuing education credit(s) (CE) for psychology. Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
Austen Riggs Center, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0115.
- 1.50 ASWB-ACE
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organization, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Austen Riggs Center maintains responsibility for this. Social workers completing this Enduring will receive 1.50 continuing education credit(s).
Austen Riggs Center, Inc is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0843.
- 1.50 Contact Hours/ ParticipationA certificate of attendance for all Learners.