Quick Links

• Conference Program
• Conference Evaluation • Breakout Pulse Survey

Understanding the Invisible Weight and Finding Balance

• Through interactive demonstrations and personal stories, this session explores the invisible weight parents and caregivers carry daily.
• Presenters: Parent Support Partners Lizabel Rivera‑Coriano & Melissa Snyder – Integrated Services Kalamazoo
• Slides

Between Us: Building Belonging Across All Minds

• Through personal testimony and professional insight, this session explores the impacts of depression, anxiety, and trauma, and offers practical and faith-based tools for healing.
• Presenter: Keegan Johnson, Community Integration Specialist & Peer Support Specialist – LAHC – Leaders Advancing & Helping Communities
• Slides

Caregiver Ed and What It Can Do for Your Family

• This session highlights the effects of trauma on children and offers practical tools from the 8-module Caregiver Ed program. Caregivers will gain insight, feel supported, and learn strategies to better understand and nurture children who have experienced trauma.
• Presenters: Parent Support Partners Crystal Pollard-Strother and Lori Abraham – Macomb County Community Mental Health
• Slides

Expanding the Voice of Lived Experience in State Government and Expanding Peer Support for Families

• This session highlights how lived experience shapes Michigan’s behavioral health system. Participants will learn about the Peer Expansion Project and discover how their feedback can strengthen services for children, youth, and families.
• Presenters – MDHHS – Bureau of Children’s Coordinated Health Policy & Supports:
  • Kim Batsche-McKenzie, LMSW – Division Director, Division of Program and Grant Development & Quality Management
  • Justin Tate, LMSW – Manager, Family & Community Partnership, Division of Program and Grant Development & Quality Monitoring
  • Monique Zantop – Parent Peer Professional Coordinator, Family & Community Partnership, Division of Program and Grant Development & Quality Monitoring
  • Audrey Rock, MSA – Children’s Quality Improvement Specialist
• Slides

Conflict Resolution & Communication

• Explore empathy, nonviolent communication, and solution-focused strategies to express needs respectfully, encourage positive change, and transform conflict into stronger connections.

• Presenters: Resolution Services Center of Central Michigan (RSCCM), Yarden Blumstein – Executive Director and Enrique Garza – Restorative Justice Program Manager

• Slides

Unmasked: The Truth Between Us” How Shared Stories Heal Hidden Wounds and Build Bridges in Youth Mental Health

• In this interactive session, participants will learn trauma-informed strategies, engage in creative exercises, and gain tools to support resilience, equity, and meaningful connection in their work with youth and families.
• Presenter: Jaylia Washington – Psychosocial Rehab Director, MiSide; Founder, Braking Barriers for Youth; Founder, Blossoming Ladies Foundation

• Mirror Affirmation Slips
• Healing Takeaway Card

Breaking the Silence: Understanding Depression, Anxiety & Trauma – And the Journey to Healing with reflections of faith and hope

• Through personal testimony and professional insight, this session explores the impacts of depression, anxiety, and trauma, and offers practical and faith-based tools for healing.
• Presenter: Parris Charmai Leisure, Clinical Mental Health Counselor LLPC – Mental Health Advocate and founder of Charmai Creations

• Slides

Finding Community: Mental Health in Foster, Adoptive, & Kinship Families

• An interactive training offering tools, reflection, and connection to help caregivers address mental health challenges, support family well-being, and strengthen community ties.
• Presenters: ACMH Parent Advisory Committee Members – Michelle Dulaney PSP VBCMH, Co-CEO Heart for Homeand Courtney Stillman and Courtney Stillman, COR Parent AFSN

• Slides
• Handout

Dads are Fathers too!

• This session explores fatherhood from my own perspective, looking at the intersection of fathers and mental health through both traditional and new age lenses. We will also examine the generational gap and how it shapes engagement, expectations, and the evolving role of fathers today.
• Presenter: Robert Pettaway, President, ACMH Board of Directors; Parent Support Partner, Black Family Development, Inc.; Hope Mobile Outreach
• Slides

Creating More Safety from Suicide: Let’s Talk

• This training explore the need, and ways that we can educate in our communities to create more safety from suicide. Let’s talk about it, so we can be aware and ready to help.

• Presenter: Lisa Clavier, Founder & President, Kiersten’s Ride; Director, C.A.P.E. Council

• Slides

Questions? Email [email protected]. © 2025 Association for Children’s Mental Health.