Flash Sessions

What are Flash Sessions at NAMICon? 

These are more valuable content for NAMICon Minneapolis attendees, but shorter presentations. Flash Sessions are 30-minute presentations and will be featured in the NAMI Community Hub at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

A Community Approach: Faith-Based Partnerships to Improve Mental Health 

Speakers: Christine Essig and Stacey A. Isaacson 

We will share our learnings and strategies from partnering with faith leaders to better understand and address the top mental health needs within their communities and how we are partnering to meet those needs, particularly in underserved communities. Learning objectives include how to: 

• Listen to the voice of the community to identify needs and inform strategy 
• Leverage community partnerships and trusted community leaders  
• Incorporate and customize evidence-based practices for the audience 

Emotional Support Animals: An innovative, holistic approach 

Speaker: Prairie Conlon, LCMHC, LPC, NCC 

Emotional support animals (ESAs) have many misconceptions surrounding qualification, who can prescribe them, and how they benefit clients. This session will help participants learn more about this non-invasive form of consist daily therapy, to include determining qualification, how it works collaboratively with a client’s existing treatment plan, and how it creates a comfortable path for those who might be timid about seeking mental health treatment for the first time. 

Do it for the ‘Gram – Social Media in Mental Health Education and Advocacy 

Speaker: Pratyusha Pilla 

People under 20 years old are not reading newsletters or following Facebook pages. These modalities of communication are no longer efficacious when it comes to the adolescents and young adults of 2023. NAMI has access to experts and a wealth of resources which can save lives, and to share these properly, we need to meet people where they are rather than expecting them to find us. I will be highlighting steps moving forward and examining what we can do from an individual and organizational stance.

Artists set the narrative of our country, let’s stop them from dying 

Speaker: Sean Daniels 

The Recovery Project wants to change the narrative of the public health crisis that is addiction in our country.   

By being of service to artists–who both need support and create the stories that form our understanding of the world—and the general public, we hope to shatter the stigma of asking for assistance, thereby saving lives.  

Using Community Based Interventions to Address Barriers of Maternal Health Among AA Women 

Speaker: Dr. Nicole Arkadie 

Participants to learn about a community based intervention activity that fostered a sense of belongingness among 25 African American Mothers who attended a moms empowerment event. They will learn strategies of therapeutic intervention that helped AA mothers feel heard, reduced distress levels, and created a community. They will gain knowledge about term self-rescue and be able to apply the strategies learned to assist in having psychological flexibility and mental wellness 

EmPATH units – the Patient-Centric Innovation in Hospital Emergency Department Psychiatric Care 

Speaker: Scott Zeller, MD 

The historic shortcomings of crisis care in hospital emergency departments are well known, yet in many regions there are few alternatives for the highest-acuity conditions – and even in areas with robust community crisis programs, many individuals still inevitably go to ERs. We can improve with Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) units – calming, comfortable settings in hospitals completely separate from the ER, with amazing outcomes, no coercion, & high satisfaction. 

On Our Own Terms: Reactivating The Black Experience Toward Collective Healing 

Speaker: Charlyn Anderson 

In May 2018, Starting With Today launched The Shape Up: The Barbershop Talks Series, a program that brings Black male therapists & professionals to the Black barbershop.  

Highlighting best practices learned, this session’s objectives are:  

• Identify, name, integrate, and celebrate cultural traditions that provide elevated wellbeing and healing 
• Prioritize strength-based lens and practices to both individual and collective care  
• Identify ways to partner with nontraditional community care providers 

Embracing, Engaging, and Empowering Military and Veteran Caregivers 

Speaker: Lisell Perez-Rogers, MA 

Hidden Heroes and Hidden Helpers are the caregivers supporting our nation’s Veterans. These Caregivers play a critical role in the mental health outcomes of their Veteran, but often experience mental health and wellness challenges of their own. In this session, participants will learn:  

• The role caregivers play in supporting Veteran health outcomes;  
• The unique factors that contribute to caregivers’ mental health and wellness; 
• Barriers to accessing mental health care;  
• How to support caregivers. 

Healing Black Men and Youth from Traumatic Grief: Utililzing the BRuH Approach to Therapy 

Speaker: Allen Lipscomb, PsyD, LCSW (he|him) 

This workshop is designed for mental health clinicians and providers. The goal is to teach, inform and encourage mental health practitioners to provide anti-oppressive and antiracist clinical services to Black men and youth experiencing traumatic loss with an equity and inclusive clinical approach. 

In this session, participants will: 

1. Identify how African American/Black men and youth respond to grief, loss and trauma.
2. Be able to examine stigmas, stereotypes and cultural beliefs about Black male express