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2019 Annual Training Conference

September 25-28, 2019
Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge, CO

Program

View the full 2019 program now!

Session Handouts

Learn more about our breakout sessions and pre-conferences.

Golden Abacus & Light Bulb Nominees

Learn more about this year’s Golden Abacus and Golden Light Bulb nominees.

Meet this Year’s Featured Speakers

Judith Grisel, PhD

Judith Grisel, PhD
General Session Speaker

Judith is an internationally recognized behavioral neuroscientist and a professor of psychology at Bucknell University with expertise in pharmacology and genetics whose research focuses on determining root causes of drug addiction.

Professor Grisel recently published: “Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction,” a New York Times bestseller.

Vijay Gupta

Vijay Gupta
Keynote Speaker

Vijay is a violinist and educator whose efforts to merge music with mental health are changing the world, note by note.

Gupta is the founder of Street Symphony – a musical advocacy program that empowers citizen-musicians by engaging with communities experiencing extreme poverty, incarceration, and homelessness. The results have been extraordinary.

2019 Schedule

Day and Time Topic
Wednesday
9:00am – 5:00pm
Pre-Conferences
(See schedule below)
Thursday
8:45am – 5:00pm
General Session Speaker: Judith Grisel, PhD Thursday Evening: Networking Reception and Golden Abacus and Golden Light Bulb Awards Announced
Friday
8:30am – 5:00pm
Keynote Speaker: Vijay Gupta Friday Evening: Special Concert featuring Country singer Jason DeShaw
Saturday
8:30am – 11:15am
Conference Wrap-Up

2019 Schedule

Day and Time Topic
9:00am – 5:00pm
$50
Includes breakfast and lunch
Mental Health First Aid Summit in the Rockies
Mental Health First Aid Colorado invites you to connect with the regional MHFA movement, celebrate our impact, and rekindle your passion for saving lives. Learn from leading subject matter experts and connect with your peers with networking opportunities. The Summit is designed to inspire, challenge, and recognize instructors and their potential, as well as recognize agencies that are broadly supporting the movement. Adult and Youth MHFA coordinators, instructors and leaders from Colorado, throughout the Rocky Mountain region and beyond are welcome!
9:00am – 5:00pm
$150
Includes breakfast and lunch
Reframing for Innovation: Exploring More Robust Responses to Poverty Through Multiple Perspectives
Presenter: Eric Meade

Why are some people poor? What should we do about it? These questions have prompted many different answers for hundreds of years. Are the poor lazy? Are there just not enough jobs? Is there a “culture” or a “mindset” of poverty? Do the stresses of poverty keep people poor? This preconference will invite participants to find new insights and opportunities for their work by applying a variety of perspectives on poverty – even those they would rather avoid. While it’s hard work, this process can enable a deeper understanding of poverty and can point to new opportunities to more effectively address it. The preconference will draw upon Eric Meade’s new book, Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity’s Greatest Challenge.
9:00am – 12:00pm
$50
Includes breakfast
Humanizing the Patient Experience to Build Customer Loyalty and Financial Stability
Presenter: Dorothy A. Perry, PhD, MBA, MEd

This pre-conference workshop is targeted to a behavioral health provider audience, especially to those working within management, executive, and board levels. The Medicaid healthcare business has become a competitive one. No longer do private sector providers shun Medicaid beneficiaries; rather they actively recruit these individuals. Community Health Centers and Behavioral Health Community Centers must actively compete for this line of business. So how does a center keep its Medicaid revenue from shrinking? Research is showing that client engagement and experience in the form of ‘human kindness’ is much more beneficial than beating the productivity whip or other types of solutions to increase market share.