MHA's Sante Fe Regional Policy Council Meeting: Crisis Equals Opportunity

MHA’s Regional Policy Council invites MHA affiliate board and staff, state officials, and industry partners to join its fourth and final meeting of the year Crisis Equals Opportunity. This in-person meeting will be held on December 1st, 2021 will start with Breakfast and a Legislative Awards Ceremony. The program offers participants discussions on how states and advocacy organizations are preparing for universal access to the new three digit National Suicide Prevention Hotline - 988 - as well as how crisis response models and equity fit into the equation. We will be joined by national experts who are serving on the frontlines of negotiations and advocacy as well as policy leaders from the affiliate field.

Tentative Agenda

7: 00a Networking Breakfast

7:30a Legislative Awards Ceremony Honoring State Mental Health Champions

8:00a Policy Meeting Kickoff: Deep Dive into 988 - How it came to be and how it could look

8:15a How 988 Began and Utah's Infrastructure Authorizing Legislation, Representative Steve Eliason, Utah House of Representatives

9:00a The Existing Lifeline and Plans For 988 Adoption Nationwide, Laura Evans, Vibrant Emotional Health

9:45a Development and Implementation of Behavioral Emergency Service Technicians for Crisis Response, Guy Dansie, Utah Department of Health

10:30a Break

10:45a Examples of Crisis Response Around the Country, Wayne W. Lindstrom, Ph.D., RI International

11:30a Networking Lunch

12:30p RPC Representative Panel: 988 Legislative and Funding Efforts in the States, Barb Johnston, MHA in New Jersey; Moe Keller, Mental Health Colorado; Ben Harrington, MHA East Tennessee; Shannah Mulvihill, Mental Health Minnesota

1:45p Conclusion

COVID Pandemic Safety

We look forward to welcoming you to the first in-person RPC meeting in nearly two years and will take precautions to limit the risk of spreading COVID-19.

What we are doing for attendees: Providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), encouraging physical distancing, and mandating masks unless eating or drinking.

What we are asking from attendees: Be vaccinated if eligible, get a COVID test before traveling or if unable to get tested, physical distance before the meeting, and sign a COVID-19 safety acknowledgment upon arrival.

If you have any flu-like symptoms, have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, or have traveled internationally within 14 days of the event, you will not be permitted to attend in-person.