Join us at Mental Health America’s 2025 Regional Policy Council (RPC) meeting on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago in Chicago, IL.
The full-day, in-person meeting will begin with a Legislative Awards Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. CT, where MHA will honor state legislators who have championed impactful policy change in support of people with mental health and substance use disorders.
The awards ceremony will be followed by presentations and discussions that address the unparalleled policy change and fiscal rollbacks that are happening within the states and federally. Policy experts will engage with attendees as they highlight data on what works, why it works, how to remove existing barriers, open pathways for innovative treatments, and continue services that keep people in the community and help them thrive.
For more information, please contact Debbie Plotnick at dplotnick@mhanational.org or Elisha Coffey at ecoffey@mhanational.org.
Agenda (subject to change)
7 – 7:30 a.m.
Registration and breakfast buffet open
7 – 7:30 a.m.
Welcome and housekeeping
- Debbie Plotnick, Executive Vice President, State and Federal Advocacy, Mental Health America
7:35 – 8:35 a.m.
Legislator awards breakfast
- Honoring 2025 State Legislative Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Champions, including a greeting from previous Legislative Champion Awardees and State Medicaid Perspectives on Mental Health from Sean Slone, Public Policy Manager, the Council of State Governments
8:35 – 9:20 a.m.
Proven harm reduction and deflection programs
- Koren VanderWeele, Sr. Program Manager, TASC, Inc.
- Jac Charlier, Executive Director, Center for Health and Justice, TASC Inc., and Executive Director, PTACC
9:20 – 10:05 a.m.
Responding to misinformation about mental health treatment and psychiatric medication
- Eric Rafla-Yuan, M.D., Chair, Committee to Protect Public Mental Health
10:05 – 10:20 a.m.
Break
10:20 – 11:05 a.m.
What works, what’s next: Research and resources to promote recovery-oriented care
- Judith Cook, Ph.D. Professor and Director, Center on Mental Health Services Research & Policy, University of Illinois Chicago
11:05 – 11:30 a.m.
Leveraging constituent services across the aisle
- Barb Johnston, Director of Policy and Advocacy, the Mental Health Association in New Jersey
- Ben Harrington, Mental Health Association of East Tennessee
11:30 a.m. – noon
Technology and mental health: Evidence of help or harm
- Jessica Jackson, Ph.D. Vice President of Alliance Development, Mental Health America
Noon – 1 p.m.
Networking lunch
1 – 1:30 p.m.
Study outcomes: Practitioner attitudes towards psychedelics
- Sarah Norman, MPP, Executive Director, BrainFutures
1:30 – 2 p.m.
Good housing policy is good healthcare
- Julie Nelson, Associate Director, Corporation for Supportive Housing
2 – 2:25 p.m.
RPC leads report out on state policies
- Barb Johnston, Director of Policy and Advocacy, the Mental Health Association in New Jersey
- Ben Harrington, CEO of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee
- Shannah Mulvihill, Executive Director and CEO, Mental Health Minnesota
2:25 – 2:30 p.m.
Final announcements
- Debbie Plotnick, Executive Vice President, State and Federal Advocacy, Mental Health America
2:30 p.m.
End of program
