DMU Hosts Mental Health CME Conference 

Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences will host the Psychiatry for Non-Psychiatrists(opens in new tab) CME conference on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. This conference equips non-psychiatric health care professionals with practical knowledge and skills to recognize, assess and manage common mental health concerns encountered in clinical practice.

Topics will include benzodiazepine addiction and management, somatic symptom and related disorders, personality disorders, recognizing and managing trauma in primary care, psychiatric management of traumatic brain injury, decision-making capacity and pediatric autism.

“The demand for mental health services has grown steadily and outpaced the supply of psychiatrists. Non-psychiatric clinicians are increasingly being called upon to provide vital mental health care in primary care clinics, hospitals and community health centers,” says Autumn Brunia, DO, a psychiatrist at Des Moines University Clinic — Behavioral Health(opens in new tab) and alumna of DMU. “This conference will provide additional support and tools to these clinicians so that they are better prepared to meet the mental health needs of their patient populations.”

Julia Van Liew, PhD, associate professor at DMU and licensed clinical psychologist, is the co-activity director and speaker at the conference. “We designed these sessions around topics non-psychiatric clinicians encounter regularly but rarely get trained on in depth — personality disorders, somatic symptoms, trauma histories — so attendees leave with practical skills they can use with their very next patient.”

The expert speaker line-up for the conference includes additional DMU alumni:

• Alexandra McMullen, DO’24
• Sean O’Keefe, DO’24, MPH’23
• Eric Parrot, DO’19  

Event Details