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Bringing Family Lived Experience To You
Accept, Advocate, Act
December 3, 2024 | Volume 3, Issue 2
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Note from the Executive Director
Thank You for Celebrating with Us!
We are blown away by the excitement we experienced in Orlando to celebrate our 35th year of accepting, advocating, and acting TOGETHER to move towards family-driven, person-centered systems that truly care about families' lived expertise! Our heartstrings were tugged as we listened to our keynote and plenary session speakers' stories of lived experience and how they applied the lessons they learned from their family members in their professional lives to advance social justice for families.
We're already planning another exhilarating conference for 2025, returning to Chicago. We hope you join us once more or for the first time. Look out for the registration page and Call for Proposals to go live early next year on our website and in the newsletter.
December is often a time for wrapping things up, but here at NFSTAC we're just getting started with our new Office Hour series about innovative practices in family peer support. We've also recently launched a new podcast! Find links to both of those ventures, as well as our December webinar about kinship care, a new product about data collection, our Leaders Corner on the NFSTAC resource page, and more below.
As we close out this year, NFF is feeling hopeful for a 2025 full of change and growth. It will require that we all embody a sense of solidarity to fight for the human rights of those with and without disabilities—as the December advocacy days highlight. We must also pause and make space for the grief that we all experience and move through in big and small ways, this National Grief Awareness Week and throughout our lives. While you celebrate with your families of origin and chosen families this holiday season, we encourage you to reflect on all of your accomplishments, grieve the losses, and make a plan to keep fighting for social justice for all!
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Lynda Gargan, PhD
Executive Director, National Federation of Families
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35th Annual Conference in Orlando, FL | | |
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What a conference! You all never cease to amaze us with your enthusiasm for learning and being together in community. We loved seeing you all in person and can't wait to see you again next year! This year's conference was bigger than ever!
We had 723 attendees, 171 presenters, 43 exhibitors, and 24 sponsors who came out to Orlando to help us celebrate our 35th anniversary! Our audience represented 130 organizations from 44 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and Canada!
Here's what people are saying about the 2024 NFF Conference:
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Congratulations to Our 2024 Award Winners! | | |
We had an impressive group of leaders in the family peer workforce recognized at this year's Awards Ceremony! | |
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Karl Dennis Unconditional Care Award
Tavo Sastre
| This award recognizes an individual who has made a lasting contribution to children's mental health on the national level, reflects the values of NFF, is well-known for their commitment and contributions to the field of children's mental health, and demonstrates compassion for families. | |
We had excellent feedback about our conference plenary and keynote speakers who inspired you to keep fighting for social justice for your loved ones with mental health and/or substance use challenges. You can watch or re-watch three of our plenary sessions from Cedar Recovery's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Loyd, former Federation of Families of Central Florida Executive Director Muriel Jones Banks, Founder of the Darnell Deas, Jr. Marvelous Light Foundation Cheryl Deas, and Director of SAMHSA's Office of Recovery Paolo del Vecchio on the NFF YouTube page here. | |
Save the Date for Our Next Conference | | |
Affiliate and Partner News | |
New Leadership at Family Based Services Association of New Jersey, Inc. | |
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The National Federation of Families extends a warm welcome to the new Executive Director of the Family Based Services Association of New Jersey, Inc. (FBSA), Joy England! FBSA's Executive Director, Ann Goldman retired on December 2nd as Joy England took the reins of the organization.
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Thank you for 13+ years of
service at FBSA, Joy!
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Ann Goldman was at FBSA for over 13 years educating and empowering parents/caregivers when making choices that affect their children's education, social development, and career options. FBSA does this in partnership with other local organizations serving under the guidelines of a grant from the NJ Department of Children and Families/ Children's System of Care.
We can't wait to see how Joy England continues this great work.
Happy Retirement, Ann! Welcome to the NFF family, Joy!
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NFSTAC News and Highlights | | |
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Introducing NFSTAC's Podcast Family Collective
NFSTAC's new podcast Family Collective features conversations to inspire change for families and improve family-driven care. As families experience increasing rates of mental health and substance use challenges, there's a critical need for more support, parity in coverage, and social justice for families.
| 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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Office Hour: Positive Collaboration Model and Family Peer Support in Wraparound
December 10th, 3:00 p.m. ET
Our next Office Hour series, Innovative Practices to Sustain the Family Peer Workforce kicks off next week! Over the next seven months, we'll bring you new and promising practices across the U.S. family peer workforce that drive professionalism, respect, and sustainability. The December session will provide an overview of how family peers in New Hampshire use the Positive Collaboration Model as an innovative family support service for parents and parenting partners of children and youth experiencing mental health conditions in New Hampshire.
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Webinar: Navigating the Family - Kinship Care
December 18th, 2:00 p.m. ET
This webinar will explore the critical values of kinship care within the context of child welfare, highlighting the dynamics of the triad: the child, caregiver, and birth parents. It will delve into the essential role of peer support in enhancing the kinship care experience and discuss how these practices relate to broader social justice issues. Through an interactive discussion, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of kinship care's impact on families and communities.
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In addition to the curated resources in the NFSTAC Resource Library, our team has worked with family members and the workforce to create a number of resources for families and family peers.
We have recently added a Leaders Corner to the bottom of our Resources webpage. Find resources just for leaders there, including:
Find more on the NFSTAC Resource webpage!
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National Legislation
Kid PROOF Act
NFF has joined a coalition led by Sandy Hook Promise of over 70 mental health and substance use organizations to urge the leaders of the Energy and Commerce and HELP Committees to include the bipartisan Kid Providing Resources for Optimal Outcomes Against Fatalities (Kid PROOF) Act, in a final SUPPORT Act package (S.3339/H.R. 4531) before the end of this year. Kid PROOF will give parents needed support and save young lives from the tragedy of suicide and overdose. The Kid PROOF Act is led by Senator Lujan (D-NM), Senator Rubio (R-FL), Representative Craig (D-MN), and Representative Tony Gonzales (R-TX).
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SAMHSA has announced the launch of the Behavioral Health Workforce Career Navigator, designed to help current and aspiring behavioral health professionals identify state requirements for a range of behavioral health careers. You can search by state for careers and requirements. SAMHSA also published the Practical Guide for Expanding the Community-based Behavioral Health Workforce, which presents best practices for expanding community-initiated prevention and care and the role of behavioral health support specialists. It offers examples of community-based models of care and provides resources for communities working to ensure community members’ well-being. | |
AB 665 is a bill created by and for youth to bridge a gap between Medi-Cal and privately insured youth in accessing minor consent for mental health services. Minors’ right to consent to outpatient mental health support was established through a prior bill, SB 543. However, SB 543 created a higher standard of need for youth on Medi-Cal in order for the provider to bill Medi-Cal for mental health services. This fundamentally unfair double standard meant that low-income youth were required to wait until they were experiencing a mental health crisis before they could receive confidential, Medi-Cal-covered care. | |
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Celebrating Our Affiliates! | | |
Thank You to Our Affiliates That Came to the 35th Annual NFF Conference! | |
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At this year's conference, we had 37 Affiliates and 10 National Partners join us in Orlando this November! Thanks to all of you for learning with us. We had a blast.
Thank you to the following affiliates and national partners that joined us:
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- Allegheny Family Network
- Allies in Recovery
- ASK Family Services
- Association for Children's Mental Health of Michigan
- Center for Adoption Support & Education
- Champions for Children's Mental Health
- Child & Family Services
- Collectively
- Commonwealth Center for Fathers and Families
- Dads MOVE
- Evolution Foundation
- Families as Allies
- Families Care, Inc.
- Families on the Move of NYC, Inc.
- Families Together in New York State, Inc.
- Family Advocacy & Community Training
- The Family Café, Inc.
- FAVOR, Inc.
- Federation of Families Miami-Dade
- Federation of Families of Central Florida, Inc.
- FMI Foundation
- FYIdaho
- Georgia Parent Support Network, Inc.
- Hawaii Families as Allies
- Indiana Family to Family
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- Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children, Inc.
- Magellan Healthcare Behavioral Health Management
- Maryland Coalition of Families
- Mentally Ill Kids in Distress (AZ and CO)
- Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health
- Mountain State Parent, Children, & Adolescent Network
- Nevada PEP, Inc.
- North Carolina Youth & Family Voices Amplified
- Oklahoma Family Network
- Oregon Family Support Network
- Other Parents Like Me
- Parents Helping Parents, Inc.
- Parent Professional Advocacy League
- The PAXIS Institute
- Reach Family Services, Inc.
- South Florida Wellness Network
- SPAN Parent Advocacy Network
- TN Voices
- Total Family Care Coalition
- Vermont Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health
- Washington State Community Connectors
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Thank you for sharing your stories, events, and advocacy campaigns with us over the last two years. This will be our last Celebrating Our Affiliates section as we streamline our newsletter. Continue to reach out to us to share your successes! We love hearing from our phenomenal affiliates. | |
December Advocacy Campaigns | | |
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This week is National Grief Awareness Week (December 2-8, 2024). National Grief Awareness week is a time to acknowledge everyone who has experienced loss, and to help raise awareness about grief nationwide. In honor of this national observance, SAMHSA is unveiling several activities and new resources on bereavement and grief, including a new bereavement and grief webpage and a social media toolkit. In addition, SAMHSA will host two informational webinars this week
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The United Nations recognizes December 3rd as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This year's theme is "Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future," to reflect the global disability rights movement's slogan "Nothing About Us Without Us."
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For the past twenty years, the United Nations (UN) has celebrated December 10th as Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that sets out a broad range of fundamental rights and freedoms to which all of us are entitled. This year's theme is Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now. This year’s theme is a call to acknowledge the importance and relevance of human rights in our everyday lives. We have an opportunity to change perceptions by speaking up against hate speech, correcting misinformation, and countering disinformation. Take action to observe Human Rights Day and Month this December and all year long. Human rights are important for everyone, including those with mental health and/or substance use challenges. Fighting for human rights is an important step on the journey to achieving social justice and equity.
The UN also observes December 20th as International Human Solidarity Day, because they know that to make a difference in realizing true social justice, we must work together!
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SAMHSA's 2023 NSDUH Data Report for Adolescents Across Sexual Identities
SAMHSA recently released new data from the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) on the behavioral health of LGBTQ+ youth. Results indicate that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely than straight youth to experience mental health challenges, including having a major depressive episode and serious thoughts of suicide.
Most youths (approximately nine in 10), regardless of sexual identity, reported they had someone to whom they could turn if they wanted to talk about a serious problem.
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The National Alliance on Mental Illness launched a new section of their website dedicated to supporting family members and caregivers of loved ones living with mental health and/or substance use challenges. There are videos, blogs, and articles about supporting loved ones, taking care of yourself, crisis prevention, and additional support—including securing stable housing and how to support a loved one interacting with the justice system. | | |
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November was National Family Caregivers Month! If you missed this wonderful blog from SAMHSA's Office of Recovery Public Health Advisor Carol Cecil celebrating family caregivers and explaining how SAMHSA is working to support them, make sure to give it a read!
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The Administration for Children & Families (ACF) wants to hear directly from program providers and peer support workers with experience creating and maintaining peer support programs. ACF has launched a new peer support services survey to learn from existing programs and identify interests and gaps that will guide the development of future ACF resources. Findings from this survey will inform various agency activities, help ACF explore emerging areas of need, and improve programs. This survey is open until December 6th!
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This CMS slideshow breaks down the recent guidance on best practices for ensuring children and youth have access to comprehensive health care services—including early and periodic screening, diagnoses, and treatment—as a part of Medicaid coverage.
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