Virend K. Somers

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Person in Long Term Recovery. I run a successful private practice in New Orleans, LA, specializing in counseling and corporate training. Outside of the office, my passions are gardening, playing bridge, and advocacy work, especially in the area of Stigma Reduction and Substance Use Disorders. I am in the process of moving to Atlanta, GA, where I will continue my private practice and hope to connect with others in the Advocacy world there. Teddy and Jazz Man, my trusty sidekicks/therapy dogs, will be riding shotgun as we embark on this new adventure.

Chelsie Monroe is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and founder of a group private practice, Balanced Mental Wellness in Littleton, Colorado where she serves as medical director. She has over 15 years of experience working in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient, psychiatric emergency services, forensics, community mental health, and private practice settings. She specializes in complex trauma, forensics, addiction, and severe mental illnesses, and has special interest in psychedelic assisted therapies and entrepreneurial APN roles. Chelsie is board certified in Integrative Psychiatry, and is an expert in ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP). She is trained as a psychotherapist and believes the relationship is the key to being an excellent clinician.

David Plante, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also serves as the Medical Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness/Wisconsin Sleep and as the Program Director of the clinical sleep medicine fellowship. He completed residency in adult psychiatry at Massachusetts General/Mclean Hospital and fellowship in sleep medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He has served as the Chair of the ICSD-3 Text Revision Hypersomnolence Section Working Group and Chair of the Medical Advisory Board for the Hypersomnia Foundation. Dr. Plante is a clinician-scientist whose research focuses broadly on central nervous system disorders of hypersomnolence as well as the interface of sleep and neuropsychiatric disorders.