July 16 & 17 at the Prescott Resort
Dr. Catherine K. Ettman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her PhD in Health Services Research at Brown University and studied Public Policy at Princeton University. Her work explores population mental health, assets that shape mental health, and policies across sectors that can reduce health disparities.
Ryan Dowd spent most of his career as Executive Director of the second largest unhoused shelter in Illnois and teaching graduate level social work classes. Now he trains organizations around the world, including McDonald’s, NYPD, American Banker’s Association and others, on unhoused, mental illness, substance use and trauma.
Dr. Dwinita Mosby-Tyler is the Chief Catalyst and Founder of The Equity Project, LLC — a consulting firm supporting organizations and communities in building diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. She holds a doctorate in the field of Organizational Leadership from the University of Colorado, a Master of Arts degree in Management from Webster University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Alabama.
Dr. Joanne Cacciatore is a Professor at ASU and directs the graduate certificate in trauma and bereavement there. She is in the top 2% of scholars of her field in the world, and is an AASWSW Fellow, also winning numerous other volunteer, research, and practice awards. Her best-selling book, Bearing the Unbearable, has been translated into 7 languages.
Dr. Susan Biali Haas is an award-winning medical doctor, internationally recognized for her expertise in mental health, stress management, burnout prevention, and resilience.
She has provided education on these topics to a wide range of organizations including the United States Navy, Google, McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, AT&T, and MIT.
In addition to her twenty years of clinical experience in general practice, she also coaches a broad range of clients — from senior executives to physicians and other health professionals — to take control of their mental and physical well-being. Dr. Susan’s popular Psychology Today blog has over 11 million views, and she has been featured in media such as The Today Show, Forbes, BBC World Service, Fast Company, Oprah.com, and others. Her latest book is The Resilient Life: Manage Stress, Prevent Burnout, and Strengthen Your Mental and Physical Health.
Amanda E. Sokan holds a PhD in Gerontology, and Masters in Healthcare Administration from the University of Kentucky, as well as a law degree (LL.B) from the University of Buckingham, England. Her professional experience includes faculty positions in Gerontology and Health Administration, consultancy work on aging issues, and program evaluation. Her interests straddle the nexus of gerontology and healthcare, and include: elder rights and justice, elder abuse/mistreatment, cultural competence, LGBT aging, long-term care, aging and healthcare navigation, health promotion and well-being, provider relationships, and workforce planning and development.
Dr. Sokan has a broad range of experience in conducting/facilitating workshops for professionals and laypeople on aging related issues. She has multi-year experience in quality assurance/evaluation – working on a HUD Multi-Family Service Grant, which provides on-site Social Service Coordinator services for residents of a Senior Housing Development.
Dr. Sokan provides consultancy, advocacy and counseling services to individuals (family members and caregivers of persons with dementia) on supportive caregiving, and is a trained facilitator in dementia caregiving. She is currently a member of the Arizona team participating in the CDC/ASTHO Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) lab, tasked with developing a state-wide Lab strategy-and-action plan with a focus on dementia, and dementia caregiving in Arizona. Overall, her focus is on the translation of knowledge and research to improve the aging experience.
Leaders from various Arizona’s Organizations will discuss strategies, barriers, and resources in addressing mental health concerns.
Moderator:
Carol Lewis, Assistant Director, Yavapai County Community Health Services
Panelists:
Dr. Erin Smith, Executive Director, Sedona Sky Academy
Esther Cynthia – Lead Therapist – Children’s Services, Southwest Behavioral & Health Services
Kathy Bashor – Chair, Arizona Peer & Family Coalition
Virginia Cons – Director of Behavioral Health, Arizona Complete Health
Welcome and Opening Remarks, Senator Kelly’s office
Overcoming Adversity, Dr. Lisa Rhine, President of Yavapai College
Population Mental Health: Trends, Assets, and Policies for Prevention
Speaker: Dr. Catherine K. Ettman, Assistant Professor, Department of Health, Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Session Description: This presentation will provide an overview of trends in depression and anxiety in the U.S., the factors associated with improved mental health, and policies across sectors that can protect population mental health. The presentation will explore the Asset Framework to Guide Non-health Policy for Population Health. This presentation will explore the role of financial, physical, and social assets in protecting mental health.
Learning Objectives:
Embracing a New Chapter: Navigating Life’s Transitions
Speaker: Brissa Rubio, Executive Director, Arizona Peer and Family Career Academy
Session Description: The session will uncover some of the key strategies and tools to support in embracing and navigating life’s transitions. Through reflective exercises, stories and discussions learners will have the opportunity to strengthen resiliency creating the positive mindset to embrace a new chapter or support others in their journey of change.
Learning Objectives:
Housing as Healthcare: Promoting Wellness through Housing Stability
Speakers: Allison Lenocker, Executive Director, Coalition for Compassion and Justice and Jodi Herfuth, Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator, Arizona Behavioral Health Corporation
Session Description: Housing is a key factor in overall wellness, especially for individuals facing mental health and substance use challenges. This session will explore how stable housing supports recovery and health outcomes. We’ll provide an overview of statewide solutions like the AHCCCS Housing Program and HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) and share local examples from the Coalition for Compassion and Justice, including their low-barrier shelter, aYordable housing and Paloma Village permanent housing community.
Learning Objectives:
Rethinking Your Tribe – Consciously Choosing Interactions that Support Well-Being
Speaker: Brett Labit, Chief Empowerment Officer, TribeUp
Session Description: Most people underestimate the profound impact their relationships have on their mental health and overall well-being. In this interactive session, participants will explore how to consciously curate their “tribe” – the people, places, and things that shape their daily experience across all eight dimensions of wellness.
Learning Objectives:
Suicide – How Can I Help Someone Struggling?
Speaker: Julie Mack, Suicide Prevention Specialist, Behavioral Health and Grants Administration, Arizona Complete Health
Session Description: Session will examine warning signs of suicide and how to assist a person who needs support. Suicide clues, myths/facts and theory will be discussed.
Learning Objectives:
The Benefits of LENS Neurofeedback for Overall Healing And Wellness
Speaker: Dr. Andrea Annibale, Clinical Psychologist and Owner of ONE Psychological Services
Session Description: In this session, Dr. Annibale will explore the benefits of LENS Neurofeedback for treating symptoms associated with anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, Autism, and Chronic Pain and more.
Learning Objectives:
Drugs & The Brain
Speaker: Kimberly Gregory, Education Specialist, Matforce
Session Description: This presentation explores the impact of drugs on the brain, focusing on adolescents and adults.
Learning Objectives:
This Work Ain’t Always Easy: An Overview of the Six Mental Health Conditions That Increase Problematic Behavior
Speaker: Ryan Dowd, Chief Empathy Officer, Homeless Training
Session Description: This session provides an overview of the six mental conditions that can cause problematic behavior, conflict and occasionally violence. Covered are Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Substance use and Personality Disorders. There will be a special focus on the research around mental illness and violence.
Learning Objectives:
Good Grief Support: Grief Care Through a Sustainable And Equitable Lens
Speaker: Dr. Joanne Cacciatore, Professor, Arizona State University; Director of the Graduate Certificate in Trauma and Bereavement Program; Founder, MISS Foundation and Selah Carefarm
Session Description: Grief—especially when traumatic—touches every dimension of human experience, aJecting mind, body, spirit, and community. This dynamic and heart- centered presentation invites participants to deepen their understanding of the complex biopsychosocial, spiritual, and emotional impact of both acute and long-term traumatic grief. Grounded in evidence-informed community-based practice and compassion- centered care, the session explores how factors such as cultural identity, personal history, and the nature of the relationship with the deceased shape grief experiences and challenge dominant diagnostic frameworks.
Participants will learn how to provide supportive, non-pathologizing care that honors individual narratives of loss, while also reflecting on their own roles as witnesses and companions. Emphasis will be placed on the necessity of provider self-care, including practical strategies for cultivating presence and sustainability in the work. Additionally, the session highlights one innovative, community-based model for sustainable bereavement support that blends relational, ecological, and contemplative approaches to grief care across diverse populations.
Whether you are a clinician, caregiver, educator, or advocate, this session will equip you with the tools to meet grief with integrity, humility, and healing presence.
Learning Objectives:
Compassion Fatigue: Self-Care When Life is Disrupted
Speakers: Wayne Tormala, Public Health Consultant, and Moises Gallegos, Consultant, Gallegos Consulting
Session Description: Invite or not, life gets disrupted, and perhaps never more than the past few years. Our capacity to care for others is dependent on our capacity to care for ourselves, and many life disruptions challenge our ability to cope. Thus, self-compassion becomes imperative to our well-being.
Learning Objectives:
A One Nerve Jump: The Gut-Brain Axis
Speaker: Alex Klintworth, Hi Energy Life
Session Description: Explore the intricate relationship between stomach acid, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and mental health. We will delve into how low stomach acid contributes to SIBO and nutrient malabsorption. We’ll take a holistic look at the full digestive tract, the gut-brain access, and how imbalances contribute to mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, and brain fog.
Learning Objectives:
Sharpen Your Brain: Strategies to Strengthen You—and Those You Care About
Speaker: Jen Beyst, Master Neuroplastician, Executive Director, Cognitive Function Development Institute
Session Description: Your brain and nervous system are at the center of how you think, feel, connect, and cope. In this session, we’ll explore simple yet impactful, research- backed ways to boost cognitive clarity, emotional regulation, and everyday resilience. Whether you’re navigating stress, supporting a loved one, or just want to feel sharper and more in control, this session oJers practical tools you can use immediately.
Learning Objectives:
Breathe to Release: Harnessing Breathwork for Trauma Healing and Emotional Freedom
Speaker: Cheryl Bailey, Entrepreneur, Grit and Grace Meditation LLC
Session Description: In this transformative session, participants will explore the powerful role of breathwork in releasing trauma stored in the body and fostering emotional freedom. We will delve into both upregulating and downregulating breathwork techniques that facilitate deep healing, promote self-awareness, and create a safe space for emotional release.
Learning Objectives:
Why Mattering Matters
Speaker: Danielle Treiber, Systems Change Program Director, Sonoran Prevention Works
Session Description: This workshop will allow participants to engage in the process of the development of the “druggie identity”, understand the purpose that it serves, and also understand the influence that people, policies, structures, and systems impact and reinforce the need for this identity. The participants of this workshop will work through identity mapping to understand the process personally and then will workshop how this can be used to identify key factors that put youth at risk of chaotic substance use and other mental health disorders. The participants will also receive practical ways to engage youth and influence the systems and structures that create exclusion.
Learning Objectives:
Survivor Centered Leadership: Principles and Practices for Ethical Inclusion
Speaker: Savannah Sanders, Executive Director, Applejack’s Ranch
Session Description: Ethical survivor engagement isn’t just about amplifying voices; it’s about building sustainable systems. This presentation explores how Lived Experience Leadership, when grounded in ethical practices, prioritizes the well-being and self-care of the entire organization. We’ll examine strategies that foster a culture of support, preventing burnout and ensuring that those with lived experience, and those who support them, can thrive in their roles. Discover how centering wellness contributes to a more resilient and impactful organization.
Learning Objectives:
Showing Up As You: Authenticity As a Tool For Health And Wellness
Speaker: Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler, CEO and Chief Catalyst, The Equity Project
Session Description: In this powerful and thought-provoking keynote, we explore the transformative concepts of authenticity and psychological safety. These concepts are more than just workplace buzzwords; they are foundational pillars of mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. Using her own powerful story around identity and reclaiming her name, Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler will describe how being free to show up authentically — without masks, without armor — can lead to deeper connection, greater resilience, and sustainable wellness.
Thank you for attending!
A film about why you should join a club – and why the fate of America depends on it.
There will be a special showing of the Film, Join or Die, at the Conference. In this feature documentary, follow the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy’s present crisis.
Join Bob as he explores three urgent civic questions: What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in crisis? And, most importantly… What can we do about it?
Following the film, a local panel of community leaders will share and explore ways to engage community members through volunteering, participating in clubs, classes, and more!
What does registration include?
Registration includes attendance for both days of the Conference, lunch on both days, and the book, Bearing the Unbearable, by Dr. Cacciatore. There will also be networking opportunities.
Will there be special dietary accommodations?
When purchasing a ticket, attendees can select a main dish for lunch, with vegetarian main dish options for both days. It’s up to the attendee’s discretion to select the main dish that fits their dietary needs.
Is there a special event hotel room rate available?
There are a limited number of hotel rooms at the Prescott Resort for Conference Attendees. Please call 800-967-4637 directly and let them know you are making a reservation for the Mental Health Conference by Community Health Services.
Are CEUs provided?
Session information can be provided upon request for attendees who want to apply to their accrediting organization for CEUs.
Can tickets be refunded?
Tickets can be refunded until July 2nd (two weeks prior to the Conference). Please be aware there is an Eventbrite processing fee.
Are there any scholarships available?
YCCHS has a limited number of scholarships available to cover the cost of registration for individuals who would otherwise be unable to attend the conference. If you are interested, please fill out the form by June 23: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7VHC8KY You will be notified if awarded.
