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Bringing Family Lived Experience To You
Accept, Advocate, Act
June 3, 2024 | Volume 2, Issue 9
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NFF News and Highlights
Health Equity Summer Institute
35th Annual Conference
Acceptance Week
Sheila Pires: In Memoriam
Mental Health and Substance Use Challenge Prevention and Recovery: Poverty as an Equity Issue
July 9th, 1:30 p.m. ET
Informal and Formal Family Peer Support: The Impact and Evidence
July 30th, 1:30 p.m. ET
NFSTAC News and Highlights
Office Hour: Professional Responsibilities: Confidentiality, Boundaries, and Ethics
June 11th, 3:00 p.m. ET
Family Room with Sue Badeau
June 20th, 4:00 p.m. ET
Webinar: The Art of Parenting Adult Children
June 26th, 2:00 p.m. ET
Interview Questions to Understand Candidates' Lived Experience
Optimizing Organizational Flow to Prepare FPS for Certification
NFSTAC Family Peer Specialist Through the Lifespan Online Course
Legislative & Advocacy News
CARE Act
Consolidated Appropriations Act
Youth Mental Health Corps
Social Justice Corner
Hone Your Advocacy Skills
Tools for Social Justice Allies
Celebrating Our Affiliates
Parents Helping Parents
Hope on Wheels Interest Form
June Advocacy Resources
Men's Health Month
LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Events and Resources
SAMHSA-Sponsored Webinar: Connection in Crisis: The Impact of Peer Support
June 12th, 3:30 p.m. ET
NW MHTTC's Organizational Culture Change: Facilitating the Development of Healthy Working Teams
June 12th, 5:00 p.m. ET
Great Lakes MHTTC's Centering Health Equity in an Era of Sustainability for Collective Futures
June 27th, 11:00 a.m. ET
NC Families United's Supervisory Curriculum of the Parent Peer Support Practice Model Training
June 25-27, Burlington, NC
SAMHSA's Art of Recovery Project
Family Voice's Family and Youth Surveys
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Note from the Executive Director
Kicking Off a Summer of Health Equity
THANK YOU for inspiring us and getting inspired with us during Children's Mental Health Acceptance Week and Mental Health Awareness Month! We are impressed with your campaigns, how you amplified our campaign, and how you showed up to Accept, Advocate, and Act this May!
We want to use that momentum to propel us into a summer of health equity! We know that mental health is equally as important as physical health. Even though it's written into law that insurance must cover both at an equal level, we have found through listening to the stories of families across the country that this is simply not occurring. We want to talk to you more about mental health parity and its importance as we walk the path to achieve health equity and social justice for families.
If you haven't already, mark your calendars for June 4-6 for our first ever Health Equity Summer Institute. You can read about the impressive line-up of presenters we have waiting to share more about how we can achieve social justice and increase health equity through our individual and collective advocacy efforts. Don't miss this surely inspiring series of presentations that will kick off NFF's efforts to take action towards holding our systems accountable when it comes to mental health parity!
We've started putting together the presentation schedule for our Annual Conference in Orlando this November and we think you're going to be impressed with the breadth of knowledge our presenters are planning to share with you this year. Hotel rooms on the conference site are very limited, so make sure to register for the conference and book your rooms NOW so you can head straight to the pool after an exciting day of learning and networking in sunny Florida! We can't wait to see you there to continue working together towards health equity!
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Lynda Gargan, PhD
Executive Director, National Federation of Families
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Next Week's Health Equity Summer Institute | | |
Back by popular demand are our Keynote speakers from the 2023 Conference in Chicago, along with a select number of dynamic speakers for a free, virtual Health Equity Summer Institute. Join us June 4th, 5th, and 6th from 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. ET each day to hear these champions share their wisdom, expertise, and lived experience on social justice for children and families. Covering suicide prevention strategies, community-based family support, person-centered planning, and much more—you don't want to miss this. There is still time to register for one, two, or all three days. Certificates of completion will be provided for attendees each day. Join us to learn and be inspired! | |
35th Annual Conference in Orlando, FL | | |
Reserve Your Exhibitor Space Today!
The National Federation of Families' 2024 Conference is taking place at the Hyatt in Orlando, FL November 7th – 9th. Help support the work of the National Federation while receiving great exposure by reserving an exhibitor space at our national conference. Your exhibitor table will be visited by hundreds of families, family advocates, and mental health and substance use leaders from across the nation. Space is limited! Join us to network and promote your organization or company.
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Look for our 2024 Keynote announcements later this month! | |
Acceptance Week 2024 in Review | | |
We were thrilled with the engagement and participation we saw during last month's Mental Health Awareness and Children's Mental Health Acceptance Week (CMHAW) campaign. More than a dozen of our affiliates and partners plus additional collaborating organizations worked with us to #AcceptAdvocateAct on behalf of children, youth, and families impacted by mental health challenges. Look for a summary email next week to capture the campaign's success and to recognize all who supported the effort. | |
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Affiliate and Partner News | |
Executive Director Opening in Central Florida
After 12 years of service, the Federation of Families of Central Florida's tireless leader, Muriel Jones Banks, has announced her retirement effective September 2024.
Applications for her successor are currently being accepted! If you or someone you know is interested in the position, we encourage you to review the job description here. To apply, submit your resume, cover letter, a statement describing your lived experience, and references to Muriel Jones Banks at mjones@ffcflinc.org.
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Commonwealth Center for Fathers and Families
We're thrilled to welcome our newest partner, Commonwealth Center for Fathers and Families (CCFF) in Kentucky, to our growing network. CCFF is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve child outcomes and enhance families and communities by increasing positive fatherhood engagement across the state. Their services and resources promote child and family well-being, responsible fatherhood, health and equity, economic stability and employment, healthy relationships, evidence- and trauma-informed practices, empowerment, and advocacy. Learn more on the CCFF website.
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NC Youth and Family Voices Amplified
We're excited to welcome NC Youth and Family Voices Amplified, housed at the University of North Carolina Greensboro's Center for Youth, Family and Community Partnerships. With the mission to amplify the voice of North Carolina's youth and families in systems and services that support their mental health and well-being, they are a welcome addition to our expanding list of partner organizations. They provide education, community partnerships, and support to enhance family-driven and youth-led care. Learn more about their services and resources here.
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MIKID Expands to Colorado
We're excited to share that our long-time affiliate in Arizona, MIKID, has opened a second location in Colorado. Based in Pueblo, MIKID is now providing family peer support, education, and training in 34 counties in Colorado. We're excited to welcome their second location as an NFF partner as they work to improve behavioral health and wellness of children and youth through a family-centered approach for Colorado's youth and families.
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Sheila Pires: Honoring a Great Champion
Sheila A. Pires leaves a profound legacy of leadership, collaboration, and innovation through her work in both the system of care and the family movements. Her contributions have been life changing for children across the nation, and for their families and caregivers. As the Innovations Institute shares, may we all continue this journey in her name.
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NFSTAC News and Highlights | | |
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New NFSTAC Infographics
We have two new infographics for you this month! Check our two new companion infographics for our training about organizational flow for organizations supporting Certified Family Peer Specialist candidates: Interview Questions to Understand a Candidate's Family Lived Experience and Optimizing Organizational Flow to Prepare Family Peers to Apply for Certification. If you missed this training, recordings of Part 1 and Part 2 of Family Peer Specialist Certification: Optimizing Organizational Flow to Prepare FPS to Apply are available on the NFF YouTube page!
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Office Hour: Professional Responsibilities: Confidentiality, Boundaries, and Ethics
June 11th, 3:00 p.m. ET
In June, Gail Cormier will discuss the importance of maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of families, as well as how to develop, communicate, and sustain healthy boundaries with families.
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Family Room with Sue Badeau
June 20th, 4:00 p.m. ET
"Family Room” is designed for family members to actively engage in an interactive discussion with one another, ask questions, or share their solutions in an informal setting. Your host for the series is Sue Badeau, an author, trainer, speaker, and family peer expert with lived experience as the parent of 22 children. This month’s open conversation will be the final event in this series.
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Webinar: The Art of Parenting Adult Children
June 26th, 2:00 p.m. ET
Join us to learn about accepting the changes in your role when it comes to parenting your adult children. Whether it’s creating healthy boundaries instead of hovering, offering practical guidance instead of opinions, or observing instead of intruding, there’s a lot we can learn about the art of parenting our adult children.
| NFSTAC invites you to submit requests for free technical assistance from our network of partners and subject matter experts. NFSTAC is driven by the needs of families and the workforce that supports families. You'll find education, training, and family support resources tailored specifically to families, the family peer workforce, communities, healthcare systems, clinicians, and educators. | |
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NFSTAC is excited to announce the first fully online course designed to introduce the five Core Competencies family peer specialists master to effectively support families in 5 lessons: 1) Resiliency, Recovery, and Wellness, 2) Effecting Change, 3) Creating a Person-Centered Plan for the Families, 4) Systems Knowledge and Navigation, and 5) Professional Responsibilities. Earn a certification of completion for training hours that count towards national certification. This free course is publicly available for all individuals, organizations, and states to use to prepare family peers!
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Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act
This bipartisan legislation was reintroduced this May by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Jamie Trone (D-MD), and Rep. Brittany Petterson (D-CO) alongside 86 lawmakers across both aisles. The goal of the CARE Act is to begin to treat substance use like the critical public health emergency it is. If voted into law, the CARE Act would provide state and local governments with $125 billion in funding over ten years:
- $4.6 billion per year to states, territories, and tribal governments
- $3.3 billion per year to the hardest hit counties and cities
- $2 billion per year for public health surveillance, biomedical research, technical assistance, and improved training for health professionals
- $1.6 billion per year to support expanded and innovative service delivery, including $1 billion for public and nonprofit entities
- $1 billion per year to expand access to overdose reversal drugs and provide this life-saving medicine to states to distribute to first responders, public health departments, and the public
This is an essential bill in 2024 as the opioid crisis continues to claim more lives. As a supporting organization, NFF will follow the bill’s progress.
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Consolidated Appropriations Act
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted in March, included a section requiring CMS to provide guidance on expanding behavioral health services and the behavioral health workforce. That guidance explicitly calls out peer support specialists as an important workforce for states to consider growing. NFF is working with the Mental Health Liaison group as well as the Center for Law and Social Policy to monitor and provide feedback to CMS on the guidelines and guidance they would provide as part of this act around supervision, training, mental health promotion and early intervention, and reimbursement of certified peer specialists. NFF will keep you updated on any needed calls to action.
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New Youth Mental Health Corps
Youth Mental Health Corps will start this fall, to train young adults to support their peers. The initiative aims to provide support to youth with mental health challenges, reduce suicide, and address the youth mental health crisis on a peer-to-peer level. Youth ages 18 to 24 will soon be able to join the Youth Mental Health Corps where they will receive a living stipend to assist their peers in accessing mental health support by working with them in schools, health clinics, and community organizations. Participants can also earn certificates in mental health first aid, peer support, recovery, or as a community mental health worker or get credits toward a degree in behavioral health. This fall, CO, MI, MN, NJ, and TX will kick the program off. In 2025, the program will reach youth in CA, IA, MD, NY, UT, and VA!
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While Mental Health Awareness Month and Children's Mental Health Acceptance Week are behind us, we know our advocacy work must go on. We must continue to light the path to social justice for children, youth, and families until everyone is supported, heard, and accepted as valued members of our communities.
During May, we hone our personal advocacy skills and rally together to lift our collective voice. We ask you to carry that energy and maintain the volume of our rally cry throughout the year. While we move on to other campaigns and projects, let us not forget the thread that connects us all in our hearts and our work. Allow the phrases #AcceptAdvocateAct and #SocialJusticeForFamilies to continue to energize and guide you. The videos below are great tools to help maintain your inspiration and momentum as your advocacy efforts continue year-round and to share with others, inviting them to join us as social justice allies.
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Visit our social justice page to think further about what you can do as an individual or organization to promote social justice for families whose children—of any age—experience mental health and/or substance use challenges during their lifetime. We encourage you to use the tools provided there to strengthen your efforts to #AcceptAdvocateAct. | |
Celebrating Our Affiliates! | | |
Parents Helping Parents
Oklahoma
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Our affiliate in Oklahoma, Parents Helping Parents, helps advocate for and support parents whose children experience substance use. This year, they took their resources and support services on the road! Partnering with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Grand Mental Health, and Stonegate Center, they hosted Oklahoma's first-ever Hope on Wheels Bus Tour, bringing dozens of statewide mental health, recovery organizations and resources to rural communities in Oklahoma that are currently underserved. To learn more, email Becky O'Dell at ED@parentshelpingparents.info or call (405) 550-7326.
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Interested in being a Featured Affiliate?
We would love to feature YOU! Reach out to dasby@ffcmh.org if your
organization has a program, event, or great story to share!
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Men's Health Month in June focuses on improving the lifestyles of men. All month long, community events and clinics take place to increase awareness of the leading health concerns men face—including mental health challenges. It's important to encourage the men in our lives to get regular checkups and be aware of the risks for their age, ethnicity, and lifestyle and to seek support for physical, mental health, and substance use concerns. | |
June is Pride Month, a time to support and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and reaffirm our commitment to health equity for all LGBTQ+ persons. This June, advocate for mental health support and expanded access to care to promote healing and celebrate the resilience of the LGBTQ+ community. Research has shown that when families support and affirm their LGBTQ+ loved ones, it reduces anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, harmful substance use, and other negative life and health outcomes. Learn more here. | |
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Art of Recovery Project
Calling all artists with lived experience! As members of the Recovery Month planning committee, we're celebrating SAMHSA's Art of Recovery project! Through creative expression, art has a transformative impact on mental health and substance use recovery. The project is open to youth (13 – 17 years old) and adults (18 years old and older). Submissions can include painting, drawing, mixed media, or photography. An online gallery will launch in September to celebrate National Recovery Month. Please visit this page for important details.
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Family Voices is learning more about what youth and families need to feel engaged in health care transformation. They invite you to complete a short survey if you are a:
Family member / caregiver of a child or young person (age 0-26) with a disability or special health care needs:
A young adult with a disability or special health care needs (18-26 years old):
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