Peter Szatmari, MD, is the Chief of the Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative between the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and the University of Toronto. The head of one of the largest divisions of child and adolescent psychiatry in the world, Peter is an international expert in autism spectrum disorder and specializes in family-based treatment for children and adolescents with depression, eating disorders, oppositional behaviors, and anxiety disorders. He also holds the Patsy and Jamie Anderson Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, and is the author of A Mind Apart: Understanding Autism and Asperger Syndrome and the coauthor of Start Here: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens through Mental Health Challenges.

Pier Bryden, MD, is a psychiatrist and award-winning clinical teacher at The Hospital for Sick Children, and an associate professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Oxford University, and McMaster University, she specializes in the ethical and legal aspects of the treatment of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. She is the current Chair of the Medical Council of Canada’s Central Examination committee, and was previously the Canadian representative to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Ethics Committee. She is the coauthor of How Can I Help?, a national bestseller, and Start Here: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens through Mental Health Challenges.

Janet Smyth is an arts programme consultant specialising in strategic planning of events, programmes and projects for children, young people, educators and care-givers within festivals and creative spaces. She has worked with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the National Galleries of Scotland, Seven Stories in Newcastle and is currently Children’s and Families Programmer for International Literature Festival Dublin, Programme Consultant for the Bath Children's Literature Festival and Reading is Magic virtual festival, Children and Families Programme Curator for the Boswell Book Festival in Scotland and Programme Consultant for the TIFA Kids 2021 Festival.