Mental Health America held the second day of keynote events at its 2024 Mental Health America Conference on Friday, starting with music and conversations with the Yo2/ Orchestrathe world’s only classical music organization created for people with mental illness and the people who support them. The presentation was sponsored by Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.
Following the performance and panel discussion, four of Mental Health America’s young mental health leaders, Makaila Davis, Anastasia Erley, Jonathan Jean Charles and Kaisar Perry, took the main stage, along with Vice President of Youth Advocacy and peers, Kelly Davis. The group discussed what is missing in current approaches to mental health and the importance of intergenerational collaboration that provides two-way mentoring and authentic relationships.
“To me, intergenerational collaboration means combining the wisdom of older generations with new ideas from younger ones to create more sustainable mental health solutions,” said Makaila Davis.
Jonathan Jean Charles encouraged attendees to “leverage the past, inform the present, and create a better future.”
At the conclusion of the panel, the MHA mPower Award was presented, celebrating the life and work of a teen or young adult who has spoken out about mental health issues to educate their peers and fight stigma. Ernesto Isaac Lara.
In his acceptance, he emphasized the importance of representation and how meaningful it is to receive the award as a young, queer grandson of immigrants. He reminded attendees that their experience does not depend on their accolades or the institution with which they are affiliated, but rather on their own personal journey.
“I am not an expert because of the institutions I work for, I am an expert because of my lived experience and I will always defend that,” Lara said.
Mid-morning breakout sessions were presented on the various topics of the conference: mental health of youth and young adults; policies and promotion; and community responses to disasters and humanitarian crises. A featured session was presented by Anisha Marrapu, 12, founder of BhavnaFoundation. Marrapu discussed his work using a machine learning model and resting-state EEG data to detect and treat psychiatric disorders early.
“It is tremendous to know that Anisha is twelve years old and is already working to help her peers address their mental health,” said Dr. América Paredes, director of social impact at MHA, “her efforts in developing diagnostic tools such as EEG to respond to early intervention and identification of needs is remarkable and commendable. She is leading the way and reminds us to have hope for the future.”
In the afternoon, actor Teddy Sears presented the 2024 MHA Media Awards. Winners included: Hawaii News Now: Hope for Hawaii Island“I need to ask you something“, “in your shoes” The Awakenings Reviewand MindSite News.
The afternoon breakout sessions that followed included topics such as cannabis and psychosis, peer respite care, and mental health support for marginalized LGBTQ+ youth.
“When working with LGBTQ youth, replace judgment with awe and meet people where they are,” Phii Regis of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation said during her presentation.
Attendees gathered again on the main stage in the evening to hear a keynote address from Dr. Brian Anderson, CEO of the Coalition for Health AI. Anderson addressed measuring trustworthiness in AI and emphasized the need to achieve consensus on definitions and standards, including fairness, transparency, and robustness. He spoke of the mental health field as a unique space for AI, with potential benefits in providing non-judgmental support and assisting people in patient advocacy.
“I think, without a doubt, in the next two years we will all have something on our phone powered by AI that will potentially have the ability to ingest our health data if we wanted to,” Anderson said, “if the tools are trained appropriately, and they are innate, able to align with the types of values and priorities that you as an individual have, right, and you know your health data, there is a really interesting space where each of us can have an advocate who never tires, who is always there. taking care of us, that maybe it’s advocating for what we need or what we want, or helping us advocate for what we need and what we want with our doctors, particularly in the mental health space.”
After the keynote conference, three awards were presented. The Betty Humphrey Equity Champion Award, which recognizes those who promote the intersectionality of mental health as it relates to discrimination, poverty, stigma, racism, and the broader social and economic determinants of health, was awarded to the Montgomery County Public Schools International Office of Admissions and Enrollment EML Therapeutic Counseling Team for the services they provide to emerging multilingual learners.
The Joseph de Raismes III Policy Award, which honors an individual who, like de Raismes, makes outstanding contributions to advancing mental health policy, was presented to Barbara Johnston for her impactful work advocating for mental health, deinstitutionalization, addiction, and crisis management.
The George Goodman Brudney and Ruth P. Brudney Social Work Award, which recognizes significant contributions made to the care and treatment of people with mental illness by practicing social work professionals, was presented to Dr. Joey Pagano for their deep empathy, compassion, and unwavering commitment to harm reduction.
“I just believe in principles like self-determination and…principles like meeting someone where they are and just loving someone until they’re ready to make that change and get the help they need,” Pagano said in his acceptance speech.
The 2024 American Mental Health Conference continues through Saturday, September 21.
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