Conference Interest Areas

Conference tracks are like "mini-conferences" within the conference.
Conference tracks for clinical, management, and administrative support staff include:

• Case Management - Clinical & Application Skills
• Best practices & program sharing
• Personnel & professional development
• Clinical & rehabilitation services
• Community support services for people with serious & persistent mental illness
• Child & adolescent clinical skills
• Statewide policy & planning
• Community psychiatric services
• Public policy & advocacy

Continuing Education Credits

Applications will be made for pre-approval of CEU credits for psychologists, physicians and nurses, social workers, marriage and family therapists and others. The conference is designed to meet unique continuing education requirements for each profession. Specific information regarding CEU credits will be available in September following board action.

Opening Session
Optimal Nourishment of Mind, Body and Spirit
Wednesday, September 23-1:00 pm
Gregory A. Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP
Penny George Institute for Health and Healing - Minneapolis, MN

Mental health professionals are under greater stress than ever before. Time, energy, emotional and spiritual strength are not only limited resources, we can justifiably feel that they are actually endangered resources. Regretfully, the combination of incredible demands on the mental health professional as well as the restorative power of pharmaceuticals can mean that the fundamentals in life are too easily overlooked.

Attendees will gain insights from the latest scientific research that will strengthen their capacity for self-care and their capacity to care for others. Specific information will be provided regarding meditation, placebo, exercise and interventional nutrition.

Gregory A. Plotnikoff serves as the Medical Director of the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Northwestern Hospital . He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work in interventional nutrition, herbal medicines and spirituality in clinical care. In addition to being a board-certified internist and pediatrician, he has additional training as a hospital chaplain, in medical acupuncture, in mind-body skills and as a practitioner of Traditional East Asian Medicine.

Plenary Sessions (Choose One) First Choice
Achieving Excellence: Seven Goals to Transforming MN's Mental Health & Alcohol and Drug Abuse Systems
Thursday, September 24-8:30 am
L. Read Sulik, MD
Chemical & Mental Health Services, MN Dept of Human Services - St. Paul, MN

In November of 2008, Dr. Sulik became Minnesota's new assistant commissioner for chemical and mental health services in the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Dr. Sulik will share seven priorities he has set for improving mental health services in the state. Among them: eradicating the stigma still associated with mental illness, overcoming barriers to access, reducing costs of mental health care and promoting activities that improve wellness.

L. Read Sulik is responsible for State Operated Services programs serving people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, chemical dependency and traumatic brain injury, as well as the DHS Adult Mental Health, Children 's Mental Health and Chemical Health divisions..

Plenary Sessions (Choose One) Second Choice
Strategies for Healing from Secondary or Vicarious Trauma
Thursday, September 24-8:30 am
Mary Braheny, MFT & Diane Halperin, MFT
Life Designs, Redondo Beach, CA

Stress is an inevitable part of life. However, what are the factors that make an event or situation traumatic and what are the most healing ways of transforming it? How as caregivers do we remain healthy and effective during weeks, months and years of being empathetic with traumatized clients? These and other questions will be explored as we look at the effects of trauma and the interventions that speak to the body, mind, and spirit of the traumatized and the caregivers who assist them.

As caregivers our emotional availability and ability to go into the dark with our clients is a vital part of the clients transformational process. By its nature it has a profound effect on us as healers as well. Keeping ourselves balanced, aware, objective and empathetic, as well as maintaining healthy boundaries is our professional and personal "work out". Developing a toolbox of preventative techniques along with strategies to get us back on track is the self-care that will insure our good health and professionalism. Creative arts therapies are non-verbal modalities that bring awareness and movement to traumatic experiences that may not have words or other means of expression. They offer ways of circumventing the details that may re-traumatize yet provide the means to bring a client back into their bodies. The creative arts help the client to release their negative held muscle memory and once again befriend their bodies.

At the completion of this presentation participants will be able to: understand trauma and secondary trauma, recognition of issues of secondary trauma, and describe non-verbal interventions for trauma.

Mary Braheny, MFT, and Diane Halperin, MFT are international consultants and trainers in the use of the creative arts for personal and professional excellence for business, personal growth and transformation, psychotherapy, and recovery programs. Each brings over 30 years experience to the field. Braheny and Halperin hold master's degrees in art therapy, movement/dance therapy, counseling psychology and reiki. Both are licensed marriage, family therapists and have co-authored the book, Mind, Body, Spirit: Connecting with Your Creative Self and a visualization tape by the same name. Braheny and Halperin are co-creators of Life Designs, a creative arts consulting company that designs trainings, workshops, and retreats. Both maintain private practices in southern California where their combined skills and knowledge in movement, art, psychotherapy, therapeutic touch and visualization bring clients back to a place of integrated health.

Closing Session
4 Keys to Create, Build, and Enjoy Lasting Momentum
Friday, September 25-11:20 am
Dave Horsager
Horsager Leadership Studio

Trust is a fundamental, bottom-line issue. Without it, leaders lose teams and organizations lose reputation, relationships and revenue. Through academic research and firsthand experience, Dave Horsager has learned what it takes to gain - and keep the trust edge. Through a captivating presentation, Dave combines humor and illusions with business insight and analysis. He will show you how the little things, done consistently, add up to huge results. Attendees will walk away with concrete steps they can immediately use to improve their lives and those of their clients. Learn:
. The 4 pillars that build trust quickly with coworkers and clients
. The 3 ways to build connections - quickly
. Keys to build morale, sales, and customer loyalty
. How to never have a day where you say, " I didn't get anything done."
. The greatest need for a motivated staff, and how to fill it
. The "why" and "how" behind the most foundational key to real success
. To boost daily productivity by using DMA's (Difference Making Actions)

Dave Horsager is business strategist and keynote speaker. Through his book and program - The Trust Edge - he shares the secrets of using trust to impact the bottom line. Combining humor, illusions and memorable stories with research and insight, Dave sheds light on the confusion and misconceptions surrounding the cornerstone of personal and professional success.