The Friends of Semel Open Mind series returns with a dynamic lineup of acclaimed authors, mental health experts, neuroscientists, physicians, filmmakers, and thought leaders who are helping us better understand ourselves and the challenges of modern life. Through engaging discussions on topics ranging from anxiety, parenting, recovery, and chronic pain to optimism, motherhood, mindfulness, and the science of human flourishing, this season offers opportunities to learn, reflect, and connect. We are delighted to share these upcoming programs and hope you'll join us for a season of discovery, insight, and inspiration.
RESTRUNG
Vijay Gupta
Thursday, September 10, 2026
7:00 - 8:00 PM PDT Live In-person at UCLA Semel Institute Auditorium
Vijay Gupta’s searing memoir, Restrung: A Memoir of Music and Transformation, the story of a gifted prodigy’s rapid rise, ambition, unraveling, and eventual renewal, illustrates how music transcends performance, becoming a source of healing, survival, and profound human connection. Learn More
The Power of Real Optimism
Deepika Chopra, PhD with Wendelin Slusser, MD, MS
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
5:00 - 6:00 PM PDT via Zoom
What does it really mean to stay hopeful in difficult times? In The Power of Real Optimism, Dr. Deepika Chopra offers a refreshing and practical approach to resilience—one grounded not in toxic positivity, but in science, self-awareness, and emotional honesty. Learn More
When Life Happens
Rachel L. Goldman, PhD with Helen Lavretsky, MD MS
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
5:00 - 6:00 PM PDT via Zoom
In When Life Happens: The Mindset Shift You Need to Manage Stress, Build Confidence, and Break Free, renowned clinical psychologist and speaker, Dr. Rachel L. Goldman delivers an inspiring, approachable, and practical strategy guide to helping women reclaim their confidence,reshape how they see themselves, inside and out, and build resilience before stress knocks at their door. Learn More
Shuffle
Benjamin Flaherty with Helena Hansen, MD, PhD, and A. Thomas McLellan, PhD
Sunday, October 18, 2026
3:00 - 5:00 PM PDT Live In-Person at the James Bridges Theater, UCLA
Through the lens of his own recovery, filmmaker Benjamin Flaherty offers a character-driven look inside the billion-dollar addiction treatment industry where young people are bought and sold for their insurance policies and ushered into a system designed to keep them sick. Shot over the course of three years, SHUFFLE follows three individuals whose lives depend not on getting into treatment, but on getting out of treatment alive. In the process, the film shines a light on the insurance fueled cycle of addiction treatment fraud that is spreading across the country. Learn More
Scaffold Parenting
Harold Koplewicz, MD. with Eraka Bath, MD
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
5:00 - 6:00 PM PDT via Zoom
In Scaffold Parenting, Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant and Secure Kids in an Age of Anxiety, world-renowned child psychiatrist Dr. Harold Koplewicz introduces the powerful and clinically tested idea that the deliberate build-up and then gradual loosening of parental support is the single most effective way to encourage kids to climb higher, try new things, grow from mistakes, and develop character and strength. Explaining the building blocks of an effective scaffold from infancy through young adulthood, he expertly guides parents through the strategies for raising empowered, capable people. Learn More
The Motherload
Sarah Hoover with Misty Richards, MD MS
Thursday, November 5, 2026
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Join us for a discussion of The Motherload by Sarah Hoover
What happens when What to Expect When You're Expecting turns out to be nothing like what you actually experience?
In The Motherload, Sarah Hoover offers a fearless, funny, and deeply honest account of early motherhood, one that challenges the myth of instant maternal bliss. Instead of immediate joy, she found herself navigating postpartum depression, anxiety, rage, brain fog, and the painful loss of identity, intimacy, and career. As she writes with her signature wit, her newborn was "objectively a tiny worm, even worse, a worm with my nose." Learn More
Landon: A Memoir
Landon Donovan with Michelle G. Craske, PhD
Tuesday, November 20, 2026
7:00 - 8:00 PM PT Live In-Person UCLA Tamkin Auditorium
Landon Donovan, world-renowned US Soccer Champion and author of Landon: A Memoir, in conversation with Dr. Michelle Craske, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, and of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Kevin Love Fund Centennial Chair, and Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at UCLA.
You may think you know Landon Donovan―but you don’t. As one of the most decorated players in US soccer history, he knows many recognize his greatest triumphs, but far fewer understand his deepest struggles. Learn More
The 21st Minute
Julia Krankl, MD with Bill Resnick, MD
Thursday, December 10, 2026
7:00 PM PT via Zoom
Explore Practical Strategies for Mental Wellness
Join us for an Open Mind program with Dr. Julia Krankl, UCLA and Harvard trained psychiatrist and author of The 21st Minute Everything You Wish Doctors Explained About Mental Health. In her groundbreaking new book, Dr. Krankl presents a practical, evidence-informed “mental wellness menu” of fifteen actionable strategies, focusing on mindset, lifestyle, community, nutrition, mindfulness, and connection to the natural world. Dr. Krankl’s unique approach extends beyond the traditional twenty-minute clinical visit and offers tools for building resilience and sustaining well-being. Learn More
How We Thrive
Stephanie Malia Krauss
Thursday, December 17, 2026
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
If the pace of modern life is wearing you down, read on!
In her newest book, How We Thrive: Caring for Kids and Ourselves in a Changing World, bestselling author, Stephanie Malia Krauss offers science-backed strategies to navigate the complexities of modern life and a new way forward. Learn More
The Mind Behind The Brain
Mario Mendez Ashla, MD, PhD
Wednesday, January 13, 2027
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Where does human nature reside—in the mind, or in the brain?
Join renowned UCLA behavioral neurologist Mario Mendez Ashla, MD, PhD for a fascinating presentation based on his book, The Mind Behind the Brain: A Neurologists’s Search for Human Nature. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Dr. Mendez explores one of humanity's oldest questions through the lives of patients whose brain disorders illuminate the biological foundations of empathy, morality, identity, language, and the self. Learn More
Mind Drama
Donna Jackson Nakazawa with Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, PhD
Tuesday, January 26, 2027
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Why Can't We Stop Overthinking?
In her groundbreaking new book, Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist, acclaimed science writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa explores why we so often become trapped in our most self-defeating thoughts and how to transform that mental energy into something empowering and productive.
Learn More
Unlearn Your Pain
Howard Schubiner, MD
Wednesday, February 10, 2027
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Migraines, headaches, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, and a host of other chronic illnesses have caused hardship worldwide.
For the past twenty years, Howard Schubiner, internist, Clinical Professor at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and author of the highly anticipated new book Unlearn Your Pain, The Science of Recovering from Chronic Pain, Fatigue, Anxiety, and Depression has practiced clinically and conducted research trials to uncover the root cause of these challenging illnesses.
Learn More
Beyond The Bipolar Label
Dr. Andrea Vassilev
Thursday, February 25, 2027
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Beyond the Bipolar Label: A Workbook to Overcome Self-Stigma, Break Free from shame, and Live Authentically
Living with bipolar disorder often involves more than managing symptoms; it can also mean carrying feelings of shame, self-doubt, and embarrassment. These experiences are often fueled by self-stigma, the negative beliefs people internalize about themselves because of their diagnosis. Although self-stigma is one of the most significant challenges facing people with bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, it is rarely discussed and even less often addressed.
Learn More
The Mindful Therapist
Daniel J. Siegel, MD
Tuesday, March 30, 2027
5:00 - 6:00 PM PT via Zoom
Join us for an inspiring discussion of the The Mindful Therapist: An Interpersonal Neurobiology Approach to Healing and Wholeness (2nd Edition) by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel as we explore how mindfulness, neuroscience, and the human connection can help us cultivate healthier minds, deeper relationships, and more compassionate lives. Learn More
To watch videos of our past Open Mind programs,
please visit our YouTube Channel
