Day 1

8:45 a.m.            Registration Opens

                                Continental Breakfast (Cameo Lobby)

10:00 a.m.            Keynote 1 (Cameo)

Deepening the Conversation about Racism and Racial Equity in Our Movement

Chacku Mathai (he/him)

.75 hours Ethics

Communities, systems, and organizations across the country are responding, hopefully now more than ever, to the impacts of racism, and more broadly, systemic oppression. In order to make meaningful progress towards inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, we need to deepen the conversation and commit to an explicitly anti-racism and anti-oppression framework and identity as a movement. This presentation will offer some perspectives about:

• What does the word “Movement” even mean in the context of an antiracist, intersectional lens? 

• What can we learn from how On Our Own Maryland and other organizations across the country build meaningful advocacy partnerships and change while maintaining integrity with the tenets and lessons from our predecessors, such as Judi Chamberlin and her writing of On Our Own? 

• How might we advance racial equity in our movement and commit to an anti-racism framework and identity? 

• How does an intersectional lens challenge us to organize differently?

• What are the key terms, concepts, and definitions we need to understand together?

• What are the ways we can talk about race issues and establish shared values? 

• What are our goals and objectives for racial equity and how do we measure progress?

• How can we assess the intersectional impact of our positions on racialized groups?

• What policies, social norms, and practices might we need to change to reflect racial equity as a process and a set of outcomes?

• What do we still need to learn about ourselves as a movement?

11:00 a.m.            Session 1 Workshops (Choice of 2)

Workshop 1A: History of Structural Oppression in Behavioral Health (Crystal)

Dr. Danielle Hairston

1.5 hours Advocacy

Workshop 1B: Spotlight on DEI Efforts in Maryland's Behavioral Health Community (Tiffany)

Catina Carnell, Adelaide Weber (she/her), Johnnie Fielding

1.5 hours Advocacy

Hear three different perspectives on how DEI principles and practices are being implemented in Maryland’s behavioral health community. This panel will highlight successes, challenges, and lessons learned in a peer-run Wellness & Recovery Organization providing support in Western Maryland, a provider organization serving individuals and families in Central Maryland, and a statewide initiative that is bringing peer support ‘behind the fence’ of Maryland’s correctional institutions. 

1:30 p.m.      Session 2 Workshops (Choice of 2)

Workshop 2A: Resisting Internalized Stigma & Oppression for Personal Well-being and Justice (Crystal)

Alicia Lucksted, PhD (she/her), Kris McElroy (he/they) 

1.5 hours Mentoring/Education

Alicia Lucksted & Kris McElroy will lead a positive and interactive workshop through reflection, conversation, creative exercises, and practical ideas for resisting and rejecting internalized oppressions (mental health stigma, racism, ableism, cis-hetero-sexism, classism, and an epic list of other prejudices), paying close attention to the harms this stigmatization causes, how it is both similar and very different across different stigmatized identities and life / health condition, and how these are also often sources of community, strength, and pride. Attendees will participate in sharing experiences and processes that create social justice and healthier environments that honor the identities, realities, and experiences of each other and ourselves.

Workshop 2B: Navigating Difficult Conversations (Tiffany)

Dr. Pamela Rakhshan Rouhakhtar (she/her)

1.5 hours Mentoring/Education

Dr. Pamela Rakhshan Rouhakhtar and her colleagues will address systemic disparities in equity and inclusion in the United States, including mental healthcare training and service delivery systems, and discuss the importance of having difficult conversations and addressing discomfort when building equitable and productive collaborations between diverse institutions and teams working towards more equitable and inclusive preservice training and mental healthcare delivery through the lens of collaborative efforts between members of a multidisciplinary team from Predominantly White Institutions and a Historically Black College/University pilot program, adapted for outreach and pre-service provider training on early psychosis specifically targeting providers serving BYF in Urban communities. 

3:15 p.m.             Session 3 Workshops (Choice of 3)

Workshop 3A: Healing and Realizing You through Self-Portrait (Crystal)

Jericho Westgate, LCPC (he/they)

1.5 hours Recovery/Wellness

Jericho Westgate’s group-oriented, strengths-focused, and trauma-informed workshop is a guide to telling your story through self portrait, helping you to remember who you are and be centered in that reality as a tool for recovery and wellness. Participants may use a variety of provided artistic mediums and share their work with the group. Through their shared revelations and diverse expressions, participants will discuss symbolism in their artwork and its significance to their lives. 

Workshop 3B: Voice & Vision: Imagining Transformation (Tiffany)

Vanita Leatherwood (she/her)

1.5 hours Recovery/Wellness

Equity work includes diving deep into theories and frameworks. It’s vital work but it can also begin to feel heavy. How do we move from concepts to action? What do transformative power shifts look like? Feel like? How do we remember we are talking about our lives? During this session participants will have the opportunity to play with music, reflect and doodle. We will relax, explore, and share our visions of a world grounded in equity, inclusion, peace, and perhaps celebration.

Workshop 3C: Healing Circle: Creating Brave and Safe Spaces for BIPOC Peers (Cameo)

Evelyn Clark, CPC (she/her)

1.5 hours Recovery/Wellness

Clark will lead a Healing Circle, which is a sacred circle or space where individuals, who share similar life experiences, gather to share their personal stories, actively listen to the stories of others, and share wisdom and light in community with others. There is a clear intention of healing and honoring the humanity of each member. This practice is rooted in the traditional practices of indigenous and First Nation communities. Today, we warmly invite those who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color to join us for this healing session.