2026 Annual Conference

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Explore the underlying hormonal and metabolic causes of mental health issues at the 2026 AAPPN Annual Conference.

9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 10, 2026

Lynnwood Event Center
3711 196th St SW
Lynnwood, WA 98036

Traveling? There are a number of hotels near the event facility.

Continuing Education

Continuing education: Up to 7.5 ANCC contact hours, including 5.0 pharmacotherapeutic hours.

Conference Sessions

Evidence-based research is unveiling the interaction between endocrinology, obesity medicine, functional medicine, and mental health. Endocrine disorders are often among the root causes of disorders such as cognitive impairment, anxiety, depression, and psychosis.

Enrich your understanding of how these areas impact your clients as we examine:

• A functional medicine approach to mental health through the lens of restoring biological terrain.
• The relationship between mental health and key physiologic systems.
• The therapeutic role of a ketogenic diet in neurological disorders.
• The intricate dynamics that bind mental health and obesity.

Learning from our colleagues

AAPPN has a proud tradition of promoting PMHNP speakers at our educational events. In exploring this topic, however, our Education Committee felt we could learn from ARNPs and physicians who specialize in endocrine medicine. We invite you to join us in welcoming our colleagues to aid us in expanding our knowledge and our skill base to serve our clients.

Opportunities for connection

Our agenda provides time to connect with friends and visit our exhibitors. As is our tradition, registrants will enjoy a delicious lunch and a variety of snack choices.

AAPPN and the Lois Price Spratlen Foundation are co-hosting the third annual Scholarship and Awards Breakfast from 8:00-9:00 a.m. The Breakfast is sold out. Please email us if you would like to be added to the wait list.

Conference sessions

Hormones and mental health: What every psychiatric NP should know
Nicole Smith, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, ONP-C, MSCP

Psychiatric symptoms rarely occur in isolation. Anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia, brain fog, fatigue, cognitive changes, and mood instability may be influenced by underlying hormonal, metabolic, inflammatory, nutritional, and endocrine factors that are frequently overlooked in routine psychiatric evaluation.

This presentation will provide psychiatric nurse practitioners with a practical, evidence-informed overview of the relationship between mental health and key physiologic systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, reproductive hormones, thyroid function, metabolic health, sleep, and nutritional status.

Participants will learn how hormonal fluctuations and deficiencies can contribute to psychiatric symptom presentation across the lifespan, particularly during perimenopause, menopause, and andropause.

Using real-world clinical examples and screening strategies, attendees will gain tools to identify when symptoms may warrant further medical evaluation, understand basic laboratory assessment, and collaborate effectively with primary care, menopause specialists, endocrinologists, and other healthcare professionals.

Learning objectives

1. Describe the impact of reproductive hormones, thyroid function, stress physiology, and metabolic health on mood, cognition, sleep, and psychiatric symptom presentation.
2. Recognize common hormonal and endocrine conditions that may mimic, worsen, or contribute to anxiety, depression, ADHD-like symptoms, insomnia, mood instability, and treatment-resistant psychiatric presentations.
3. Identify key history elements and laboratory markers that may warrant further evaluation or referral when physiologic contributors to psychiatric symptoms are suspected.
4. Apply interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to improve recognition, referral, and management of patients with complex hormone-related mental health concerns.

About the speaker

Nicole Smith, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, ONP-C, MSCP, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner, and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner. She is the founder and medical director of Antigravity Wellness, a functional and integrative medicine practice serving patients throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Dr. Smith specializes in hormone optimization, menopause care, metabolic health, thyroid disorders, weight management, and root-cause approaches to chronic symptoms. She is passionate about helping patients and healthcare professionals understand the complex interactions between hormones, metabolism, sleep, inflammation, and mental health.

Metabolic Psychiatry—A paradigm shift in mental health
Polly Halpern, MN, ARNP

Metabolic psychiatry translates the connection between brain energy and neuroinflammation into practical clinical care.

In this session, we’ll detail the fundamental principles linking insulin resistance, cellular metabolism, and neuroinflammation to altered neural circuit connectivity and psychiatric disorders.

We’ll examine the emerging clinical evidence supporting metabolic and dietary interventions—such as therapeutic ketogenic protocols—for psychiatric conditions.

Participants will learn how to evaluate practical considerations for clinical implementation, including using metabolic lab markers to evaluate insulin resistance, introducing nutrition-based interventions and ongoing patient monitoring.

We’ll also discuss methods to develop a safe, step-by-step approach to implement metabolic dietary therapies, including patient screening, lab assessments, contraindications, and ongoing monitoring.

Learning objectives

1. Describe the link between systemic insulin resistance, brain energy, and mental health, highlighting the historical use of therapeutic diets from pediatric neurology to modern psychiatric care.
2. Identify the clinical evidence and brain mechanisms behind therapeutic ketosis, using metabolic lab markers to evaluate health and guide nutritional choices.
3. Outline an approach to implementing metabolic dietary therapies, including patient screening, lab assessments, contraindications, and ongoing monitoring.

About the speaker

Polly Halpern, MN, ARNP, is a Nurse Practitioner with more than 30 years of experience across a variety of settings, including primary care, internal medicine, and survivorship. She is a founding member of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners.

Halpern has operated a private practice in metabolic medicine for the past 10 years, specializing in root-cause approaches to prevent and reverse metabolic conditions. She also works for Virta Health, a national virtual company specializing in digital tools paired with the ketogenic diet to reverse metabolic disease.

Beyond the diagnosis: Restoring the biological terrain of mental health — nutritional, inflammatory, metabolic, endocrine, and mitochondrial contributors to psychiatric symptoms
Penney Stringer, MD

Psychiatric symptoms arise within the context of the whole living human ecosystem. While psychiatric diagnosis and psychopharmacology remain essential tools, brain health is shaped by the complex interactions between metabolism, immune signaling, the microbiome, mitochondria, hormones, environmental exposures, lifestyle, and the conditions in which human biology exists.

This session explores a functional medicine approach to mental health through the lens of restoring biological terrain.

We’ll review commonly overlooked contributors to psychiatric symptoms including nutrient deficiencies (B12, folate, iron, vitamin D, magnesium, essential fatty acids), blood sugar dysregulation, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, gut-brain-immune communication, toxic exposures, sleep disruption, circadian imbalance, and stress physiology.

Participants will learn a practical framework for assessing the human ecosystem through targeted clinical history, screening questions, laboratory evaluation, and emerging tools such as continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and wearable technology that provide real-time insight into metabolism, sleep, recovery, and nervous system regulation.

Learning objectives

1. Describe mental health through a systems biology framework, recognizing the connections between the brain, metabolism, immune function, microbiome, mitochondria, hormones, environmental exposures, and nervous system regulation.
2. Identify commonly overlooked nutritional, inflammatory, metabolic, and environmental contributors that may influence psychiatric symptoms, cognition, energy, and emotional resilience.
3. Utilize practical assessment tools—including targeted patient history, laboratory evaluation, and real-time biometric feedback from wearable technologies—to identify opportunities to restore biological terrain and support whole-person mental health.

About the speaker

Penney Stringer, MD, IFMCP, is a board-certified family physician with more than 25 years of clinical experience integrating full-spectrum primary care, functional medicine, environmental medicine, women’s health, and mind-body medicine.

Her work centers on restoring biological terrain, honoring the interconnectedness of mind, body, spirit, and environment, and helping people reconnect with the rhythms of nature as a foundation for truly integrative primary care.

A longtime student and teacher of mind-body medicine, Dr. Stringer integrates nutrition, lifestyle medicine, nervous system regulation, environmental awareness, and the science of human connection to support resilience, vitality, and whole-person healing.

Obesity management essentials for the psychiatric NP
Sandra Christensen, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, MFOMA, FAANP

Obesity is a chronic, progressive, relapsing disease that requires long-term treatment. In this session, we’ll explore how this disease impacts the physical and mental health of your patients.

You’ll learn how genetic, environmental, medical, and psychological factors contribute to the development, progression, and persistence of obesity, and why lifestyle therapy is rarely enough to achieve and maintain disease control. 

Far too often, people with obesity are told that obesity is easily solved by eating less and moving more or that it is an emotional problem that can be addressed with psychotherapy. Without an understanding of the complexities involved, mental health clinicians can unknowingly cause harm when treating patients with obesity.

Because some psychiatric medications can cause weight gain or contribute to the development of insulin resistance, it is important to know which medications are optimal and how to monitor patients if they are on a weight positive medication. 

We’ll review the components of comprehensive evidence-based treatment, including obesity medications, so that you are better able to make appropriate referrals and provide knowledgeable support for your patients. Through interactive case studies, you will learn how to apply your learning on Monday morning.

Learning objectives

1. Recognize obesity as a chronic, progressive, relapsing, treatable disease.
2. Demonstrate understanding of the bi-directional relationship between obesity and mental health conditions.
3. Integrate knowledge of the components of comprehensive, evidence-based obesity treatment into mental health treatment plans.
4. Identify individuals who have, or are at risk for, obesity and make appropriate referrals.

About the speaker

Sandra Christensen, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, MFOMA, FAANP, has specialized in obesity medicine since 2005 and is the Founder of Integrative Medical Weight Management in Seattle, WA. She is a Master Fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association and a Fellow of AANP. She serves as the President of the Washington Obesity Society and is an Associate Editor of Obesity Pillars.

Christensen speaks frequently at national and local conferences and webinars and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles on the topic of obesity that address topics such as nutrition, medication management, optimizing body composition, and women’s health. She was named the 2022 Obesity Medicine Association Clinician of the Year and America’s Top NP in 2024.

Scholarship and Awards Breakfast

Celebrate our profession at the third annual Scholarship and Awards Breakfast from 8:00-9:00 a.m. immediately prior to the conference.

This joint event by AAPPN and the Lois Price Spratlen Foundation will shine a spotlight on our profession’s current and future stars. We’ll recognize AAPPN’s 2026 award recipients and the Foundation’s 2026 scholarship recipients. We’ll also enjoy a delicious Northwest buffet breakfast with friends and colleagues.

The Breakfast is sold out. Please email us if you’d like to be added to the wait list.

Volunteer organizers

The AAPPN Annual Conference is designed by psychiatric ARNPs for psychiatric ARNPs. Our thanks to our Education Committee volunteers who coordinated this event: Derek Greenwood, Teddi Nee, Gregory Saunders, and Jinn Schladweiler. 

Contact hours

This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by Oregon Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. 

Attendees may earn up to 7.5 contact hours, of which 5.0 can be applied toward the pharmacotherapeutic continuing education requirement for advanced practice nurses with prescriptive authority. Participants must be present for or view all the educational activity to receive contact hours.