RPC Meeting: Ripples from the Rain - Traumas Visible and Invisible
Come join us in the Big Easy for some fun and a hard look through a policy lens for the Regional Policy Meeting Ripples from the Rain: Traumas Visible and Invisible. Featured speakers include national experts on military trauma, overcoming substance use disorder and homelessness, preventing suicide in teens, states response to national disasters, and how MHA affiliates are aiding their communities after national disasters and school shootings. This meeting will coincide with the Council of State Governments and will including a breakfast honoring state legislative mental health and substance use disorder champions. Please join us on December 4, 2024, at the Hilton St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans from 7am – 2:30 pm local time.
Agenda
7 - 7:30 a.m.
Registration and breakfast buffet open
7:30 - 7:35 a.m.
Welcome and housekeeping
- Debbie Plotnick, EVP State and Federal Advocacy, Mental Health America
7:35 - 8:30 a.m.
Legislator Awards Breakfast, honoring 2024 State Legislative Mental Health and Substance Use Condition Champions featuring remarks from past awardee, UT Rep. Steve Eliason
8:30 - 9 a.m.
The Drama from Trauma is a B(east), but Recovery is Real
- Tonja Myles, Advocate and Community Engagement Advisor, the Huntsman Family Foundation
9 - 9:30 a.m.
Psychedelic Federalism: The Federal-State Outlook for 2025
- Charlie Panfil, Public Policy Advisor, the Daschle Group
9:30 - 9:45 a.m.
Break
9:45 - 10:15 a.m.
Peer Initiative: A Collaborative Innovation in Teen Suicide Prevention
- Ken Brown, CEO of Peer Initaitive
- Ashlon Roberts, Youth Peer, Iowa High School
- Jasmine Wooten, Youth Peer, Sam Houston High School
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.
Mental Health in Louisiana
- Karen Stubbs Church, Assistant Secretary, the Louisiana Department of Health Office of Behavioral Health
10:45 - 11:15 a.m.
Trust the Process, Lifting as We Climb: Gaining Student Support for 988 and Mental Health
- Kobe Kelson, Beta Sigma Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Incorporated Lifetime Member
- Section Leader, Southern University Band
- College Program Director, Set Free Indeed
- Laura Evans, AVP of Public Policy and Govt. Affairs, Vibrant Emotional Health
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Trauma-informed Disaster Response and Support
- Renae Vania Tomczak, CEO, MHA of Houston
- Bryan Talisayan, CEO, MHA of Hawaii
- Stephanie Francis, Director of Strategic Development, Louisiana Mental Health Association
- Kay Daneault, Executive Director, MHA of South Mississippi
12:15 - 1 p.m.
Networking lunch (provided)
1 - 1:30 p.m.
Veterans Living with PTSD, Emphasis on Post Traumatic Stress Without the "Disorder"
- Chris Gonzalez, PMP, President, A-G Associations, Inc.
1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
Traumas of Social Unrest and School Shootings
- Shannah Mulvihill, CEO, Mental Health Minnesota
- Paul Jaquith, CEO, MHA of Southeast Florida
- Luis Perez, CEO, Mental Health Connecticut
2:15 - 2:30 p.m.
RPC Leads Report Out on State Policies
- Barb Johnston, Director of Advocacy, MHA in New Jersey
- Ben Harrington, Executive Director, MHA of East Tennessee
- Shannah Mulvihill, CEO, Mental Health Minnesota
- Laura Evans, AVP of Public Policy and Govt. Affairs, Vibrant Emotional Health
2:30 p.m.
End of Program