2015 NAMI-NYS Educational Conference

Building on the tremendous success of last year’s education conference which received record breaking attendance, NAMI-NYS is excited to once again take new steps and broaden our scope this year to present the biggest and most inclusive educational event in our history 

The 2015 NAMI-NYS Education Conference-Redefining Recovery: New Challenges, New Opportunities, New Hopes, is designed to inspire and educate participants by exploring all the different forms of recovery from mental illness. While recovery is a broad term and recovery is not the same for everybody, the conference aims to showcase the groundbreaking work done to improve research, enhance therapies and detail the activities conducted in nationwide, in New York, in multi-cultural communities, the criminal justice system, the education system, college campuses and in the military community to drive and promote recovery.

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Featured Speakers:

 

Two national champions demonstrating how the criminal justice system can help drive recovery will be featured on Friday.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart has continued to draw accolades and media attention for his incredible work of reforming Chicago’s prison system to be able to properly address and rehabilitate inmates living with a mental illness. As the state of Illinois continues to cut-back mental health services Sheriff Dart’s prisons have become America's largest provider of long-term psychiatric care. His crusade has shown a spotlight on the disturbing fact that too many people living with a mental illness are in the correctional system as well as demonstrating the proactive steps that must be taken to address this epidemic.

Click here to watch the 60 Minutes piece featuring Sheriff Dart

Click here to watch the Vice News feature on Sheriff Dart

Click here to read the Atlantic Feature on Cook County-"America’s Largest Mental Hospital is a Jail"

Click here to read Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People in the World Profile of Sheriff Dart

Buffalo’s own Judge Robert Russell revolutionized the court’s role in advancing recovery by creating the nation’s first veteran, mental health and drug courts. Judge Russell’s innovative work has been replicated throughout the country and is ensuring that people with mental health and addition issues are guided towards the appropriate the jail diversion services and are provided the proper tools to advance their recovery. 

Saturday will begin with three plenary sessions that feature next-wave approaches of facilitating recovery. These sessions combine to form the theme “Maximizing Recovery: Refining the Treatment and Research and Improving Outreach.” These sessions will feature three national leaders on the forefront of creating ground-breaking work generating positive recovery focused outcomes. 

The first session will feature Dr. Sarah Morris, Program Chief, NIMH Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders Research Program, who will detail the NIMH the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. 

The second session-Reducing Stigma in Diverse Communities, will feature Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical Center and Director, The AAKOMA (African American Knowledge Optimized for Mindfully-Healthy Adolescents) Project

The third session-Healing Relationships and the Restoration of Health will feature Dr. Wes Sowers of the University of Pennsylvania who will be presenting on Person Centered and Recovery Oriented Treatment. 

 The centerpiece of the conference will be the Redefining Recovery panel during Saturday’s lunch which will feature three of NAMI-NYS’s Recovery All-Stars, Hakeem Rahim, Allie Hill and Jason Paden. You will not want to miss the opportunity to hear from these three heroes as they explain that individuals and families impacted by mental illness should never lose hope. 

On Sunday morning attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a Town Hall discussion with NYS Office of Mental Health Medical Director Dr. Lloyd Sederer. This is the second year, Dr Sederer has held such a session at the conference. Last year's session was tremendously beneficial for both participants and Dr. Sederer. Click here to read Dr. Sederer's article in Pyschology Today describing last year's session where he said of the NAMI-NYS audience "these are the families and patients, the day to day consumers of mental health  services. Who better to speak, who better to shape the future of mental health care? Who better to fix a heretofore unsuccessful effort to bring mental health care to true parity, and to bring it to an equal place at the health care table? When I saw the energy, experience and will of those assembled that morning I actually believed we would succeed."

Click here to learn more about this year's featured speakers and plenary sessions:

 

Conference Agenda:

The 2015 conference agenda features the broadest and most in-depth scope of any Education Conference produced in the history of NAMI-NYS. Attendees will benefit from an exceptional array of plenary sessions detailed above.

 Click here to view the full conference agenda.

This year will also see the return of Friday's focus tracks on children and adolescents, veterans and military families and criminal justice issues. 

This year will see the return of the Young Adult focus track featuring three workshop sessions on Saturday afternoon curated and featuring NAMI-NYS's young leaders who are becoming leaders in their communities. Click here for a Young Adult scholarship application.

 

Become A Sponsor, Exhibitor or Advertisor:

The NAMI-NYS Education Conference offers several affordable options to market your organization to a targeted audience of people living with a mental illness, their families, providers of mental health services and mental health advocates.

Whether it is taking advantage of all the benefits available by becoming a conference sponsor, communicating directly with conference attendees by exhibting at the conference or advertising in the conference journal, you will not want to miss the opportunity to promote your organization and your work by participating in the NAMI-NYS Educational Conference.

Click here to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Click here to view the FAQ sections

Registration Prices:

Early Bird Prices (Prices go up after Oct 24th)

NAMI-NYS Member Rates
NAMI-NYS Member Entire Conference-3 Days (6 meals)    $190.00            
NAMI-NYS Member Saturday and Sunday Only (4 meals)    $140.00            
NAMI-NYS Member Friday Only (2 meals)    $70.00            
NAMI-NYS Member Saturday Only (3 meals)    $90.00            

Non-NAMI-NYS Member Rates
Non-Member Entire Conference (6 meals)    $300.00            
Non-Member Saturday and Sunday Only (4 meals)    $190.00            
Non-Member Friday Only (2 meals)    $150.00            
Non-Member Saturday Only (3 meals)    $175.00            

Professional Rates That Include Discounted Business Card Ad
Professional/Provider Entire Conference (6 Meals and Business Card Ad in Program)    $350.00            
Professional/Provider Friday and Saturday (5 meals and Business Card Ad in Program)    $300.00         Professional/Provider Saturday Only (3 meals and Business Card Ad in Program)    $225.00            
Professional/Provider Friday Only (2 meals and Business Card Ad in Program)    $115.0  

Registration DOES NOT include hotel rooms.

The NAMI-NYS Conference rate at the Desmond is $123 for single or double occupancy rooms. Please call the Desmond at 1-800-448-3500 to make your reservation be sure to mention the NAMI conference

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Scholarships:

Click here for a scholarship application

A SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE A REGISTRATION

 

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Conference Sponsors (as of 8/13) 

NAMI-NYS thanks our generous conference sponsors. You can click here to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

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