CMHACY 2008 Conference -
Promoting Wellbeing Through Partnerships

Wednesday, May 7, 2:00 pm to Friday, May 9, noon ~ Pre-Conference Tuesday, May 6, 1:00
Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove on the beautiful Monterey peninsula

In May the process of rolling out Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programs and resources will be in high gear. Many, if not most, counties will have their Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) / PEI Plans approved and different services and program plans will be under consideration. The timing of the CMHACY Conference is ideal in that PEI services and program models will be in a developmental stage. The CMHACY Conference will provide strategies and program models that will be current, relevant, and replicable with critical PEI information threaded through the entire conference. The growing momentum of transformation is apparent with presentations on increased employment of youth and family staff, evidence-based and promising practices, and new strategies to reach underserved cultural and ethnic communities.

This year’s Pre-Conference will feature the dynamic Larry Brendtro, founder of Reclaiming Youth International, addressing Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future. He will also be the keynote speaker Wednesday night, addressing The Resilience Revolution. Other major speakers will be Keith Johnson, Mark Katz, a youth panel, Steve Mayberg, and an expanded panel on Friday involving policy experts and, (invited) legislative staff, who will explore the impact of the state budget on children and families for two hours, ending with a call to action.

The workshops, featuring leading voices and innovative programs from around the state, are organized in eight focus tracks:

The Youth Leadership Academy, presented by Youth In Mind, will again run simultaneously with the CMHACY Conference and the youth will present a panel and two workshops in the Youth Advocacy track.

Last year’s conference was a huge success, drawing 600 families, advocates, providers, and administrators from both the public and private sectors. The need for information sharing and constituency building continues to grow with new resources through the MHSA on the one hand positioned against the state government’s budgetary squeeze on the other. There is great progress as well as a growing need to advocate for children and families in the face of counterproductive tax and allocation decisions.

You, the people who attend this conference, are CMHACY, the largest state-wide independent advocacy organization in California. You are the voice for continued progress, for transformation, for services and the wellbeing of children and youth. By attending you not only learn, you meet others from across the state who are struggling successfully with these challenges, and you add your voice to this movement.

As a last note, this conference does change people - at last year’s conference a county reported that they had added youth advocates because of their experience at CMHACY. The CEO of a large service organization once said that, even after working for years in the field, and speaking with many parents, it was at CMHACY that he first really “heard” them. This is a conference that is more important than the speakers – it’s importance is in you, the advocates of California.

Marty Giffin – President, CMHACY Board of Directors


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