9:45am – 10:00am 

Break with Vendors

 

10:00am – 11:15am

Concurrent Sessions

 

1.  Pause, Breathe, Reset: Sustaining Wellness While Serving Others
Rachel Mesmer Ludwig, MSW, MSEd, Program Coordinator, Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene and Social Services

 

Join this session to learn about self-care and stress relief, including meditation, yoga, and breathwork to support work–life balance. You will leave with practical skills to apply work–life balance strategies, establish healthy habits and boundaries, and prevent burnout. Participants will be able to: Identify personal and professional indicators of stress and fatigue; develop a personalized self-care and work–life balance plan that includes specific, measurable strategies for maintaining wellness; and describe at least three evidence-informed stress reduction techniques.

2. NYS Assisted Outpatient Treatment: AOT 101 
Tom Gottehrer, LCSW, Director of Statewide AOT implementation, NYS Office Of Mental Health
Luis Lopez, Director, ICONECT
Melissa Beall, Unit Director of Care Coordination, NYS Office of Mental Health

This session will highlight the technical aspects of AOT and local operation, as well as systemic considerations and how to accomplish person-centered work within mandated care. Attendees will receive a comprehensive overview of the AOT infrastructure throughout the state, and how person centered care is essential to healthy systemic operations. 

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3. Safety First: Practices from the Field

Tiffani F. Mantegna, BS, Director of Care Management, Finger Lakes Community Health
Lilliene Mine, BSN, MSN, Clinical Professional Development Educator, Northwell Health
Yajaira Vega, MS, Deputy Director of Care Coordination, Community Healthcare Network

This session will transform how care managers approach field work by treating personal safety as a vital clinical skill. Rather than a set of restrictive rules, participants will learn a "safety-first" framework that supports better client outcomes while minimizing personal risk.

Participants will learn about crucial pre-visit preparations, such as comprehensive safety risk assessment, understand useful strategies to enhance personal safety and identify effective crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques. Equip yourself with practical tips to navigate challenging field environments confidently and protect yourself during every interaction.
 

​4. Inclusion or Participation: Centering Employee Voice
LaTisha Kentop, MSW, Associate Director of Care Management, Institute for Family Health

This presentation will demonstrate how  highlighting contributions of employees elevate organizational goals and increase retention and employee satisfaction. Participants will learn how to identify employee needs and how to reflect employee choice in organizational change, leading to increased retention. 

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5. CORE Services to Support Complex Cases: How to Make Connections
Erika Epting, LCSW-R, Director of Rehabilitation Services, Bureau of Rehabilitation, Treatment, and Care Coordination, NYS Office of Mental Health
Stephanie D. Rodriguez, BA, Mental Health Program Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health
Amanda Pullmain, BS, Mental Health Program Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health
Taylor LaCasse, BA, Mental Health Program Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health
Meagan Mello, BS, Mental Health Program Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health

This workshop will give Care Coordinators a brief overview of Community Oriented Recovery and Empowerment (CORE) Services, including the 4 types of CORE Services which include: Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Community Psychiatric Support and Treatment, Family Support and Training, as well as Empower Services- Peer Support. Participants will learn about the referral process to connect individuals to each of these services. Learning objectives will include how connecting individuals to CORE can promote recovery, full community participation, and improved quality of life where they may live, learn, work, and socialize.  Attendees will have the opportunity to walk through a case scenario linking an individual with complex care needs to CORE Services, highlighting how an individual’s needs and wants influence service choice.  Attendees will leave with a clear pathway to identify designated CORE Service providers in their local area, learn how to determine which of the four CORE Services would best meet an individual’s goal and how to make a referral to a CORE provider in their local community.

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6. Effective Time Management in Care Coordination
Andrew O’Grady, LCSW-R, CEO, Mental Health America of Dutchess County

In the last few years, the jobs of care managers have changed drastically. The reporting responsibilities, the number of clients you must manage and the new community partners you are expected to report have increased. Going home at the end of the day, with your work completed can certainly improve your personal life. Having good time management skills can improve not only your work life but can bring you inner peace. This session will explore some of your struggles and give concrete strategies to improve your time management skills.

7. Children's Care Management: Current State & Future Needs
Alex Baer, Training Coordinator, Children’s Health Home of Upstate New York (CHHUNY)
Nicole Bryl, Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Health Home of Upstate New York (CHHUNY)

Health Homes Serving Children is going into its 10th year of operations but not without its fair share of challenges and successes. At a time when HHSC enrollment is declining statewide but the need for services is increasing, we find ourselves asking how we can effectively meet the need with workforce shortages, increasing documentation demands, and overlapping programs and exclusions. CHHUNY will review data and trends regarding staffing turnover & onboarding, disenrollment, appropriateness criteria, caseloads, rates, outreach & engagement efforts, and provide guidance and best practices to assist CMAs with these challenges. This session will be interactive with CMAs sharing their best practices and providing input as to what the future should look like for Health Homes Serving Children.

 

8. Driving Enhanced Health Outcomes with Embedded CHWs & High-Touch Navigation

Vanessa Walker, BA, Program Manager, Northwell Health

Luciana Sartorio, MS, Supervisor, Care Management, Northwell Health

Community Health Workers
 

Our session presents an innovative, integrated approach to care coordination that dramatically improves health outcomes for vulnerable Medicaid populations, with a specialized focus on maternal health. We combine two powerful, synergistic models: strategically embedded Community Health Workers (CHWs) and the high-touch Maternal Outcomes Program (MOMs).

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Our embedded CHW program places CHWs directly within high-volume Medicaid sites, specifically Internal Medicine and OB/GYN clinics, five days a week. These CHWs are vital for proactively addressing complex social and clinical needs, facilitating service enrollment, and providing direct support. They primarily focus on identifying and mitigating Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) barriers that impact chronic disease management, medication adherence, and access to crucial preventative screenings. For birthing individuals within OB/GYN settings, CHWs provide essential education on prenatal/postpartum care and perinatal mental health, directly tackling social barriers to maternal and infant well-being. This direct clinical integration ensures proactive, preventative care by bridging significant care gaps.

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Complementing and specializing this effort, the Maternal Outcomes Program (MOMs) offers a clinically validated, high-touch care navigation model. MOMs provides crucial longitudinal antepartum and postpartum support for at-risk birthing populations, dedicated to decreasing Preventable Maternal Morbidity and Mortality. A multidisciplinary team, comprised of both clinical and non-clinical staff, delivers personalized, wraparound care through expert telephonic navigation, robust care coordination, and essential connections to specialty care, community resources, and behavioral health services. A core strength of MOMs is its proactive identification of birthing patients with Severe Maternal Morbidity (SMM) Risk Factors, enabling dedicated advocacy and timely access to a full spectrum of resources. Patients thoughtfully transition from MOMs or seamlessly move to continued navigation support, ensuring no gaps in care.

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Together, these programs exemplify best practices in integrated care coordination:

• Holistic & Proactive Engagement: By combining embedded, direct support for general Medicaid patients and specialized, longitudinal care for at-risk birthing individuals, we provide comprehensive, patient-centered support that rigorously tackles SDOH and clinical challenges from multiple angles.

• Data-Driven & Targeted Interventions: Both models leverage data—from centralized trackers guiding CHW interventions to proactive SMM risk factor identification in MOMs—to personalize care, close gaps, and address key population health challenges.

• Interdisciplinary Collaboration & Seamless Transitions: We foster cohesive care teams through weekly CHW-provider meetings in clinics and multidisciplinary MOMs teams, ensuring collaborative case conferencing and strengthening interdisciplinary care throughout diverse health journeys and transitions.

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Attendees will gain practical understanding of scalable, integrated CHW models alongside specialized maternal health navigation. Through facilitated discussions and real-world case scenarios from our Internal Medicine and OB/GYN clinics, participants will acquire actionable insights into data-driven decision-making, effective interdisciplinary collaboration, and strategies for addressing clinical and social determinants of health to foster more resilient communities of care.

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11:15am - 11:30am

Break

 

11:30am – 12:45pm  

Concurrent Sessions

 

1.  From Spreadsheets to Solutions: Turning Care Management Into a Tool, Not a Burden

Michelle Ramos, Manager, Application Support and Development, Monroe Plan for Medical Care

Phillip Balta, Director of Operations, HHUNY (Health Homes of Upstate New York)

Sandy Kelley RN, LMT, Manager, Health Homes, West Region, Monroe Plan for Medical Care

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Care management teams juggle audits, reporting, and quality oversight while working across fragmented data systems, shared drives, and spreadsheets. For many non-technical teams, Excel becomes the default—often leading to increased manual effort, inconsistent data, and heightened audit stress.   This session explores how thoughtfully designed data systems can empower care management teams instead of slowing them down. Using the Health Home audit application (Jetstream Compliance) as a real-world example, attendees will see how centralizing information in a purpose-built tool can simplify audit preparation, enhance visibility, and reduce staff burden.   The session will feature a brief live demonstration of the application, followed by a moderated panel discussion with representatives from a Care Management Agency and a Health Home. Panelists will share firsthand insights into the challenges of fragmented data environments and discuss how modernizing audit workflows can meaningfully improve day-to-day care management.

 

2. Compassion Fatigue and Burn Out – The Cost of Caring

Kathyrn Pruiett, BS, Health Homes Care Manager Supervisor, CCOR

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This presentation will explore the "cost of caring" in our roles as Health Homes Care management.  Participants will understand the critical distinction between compassion fatigue and burnout and learn actionable strategies for professional resilience. Participants will also understand the importance of advocating for clinical supervision, policy changes and workplace culture, as needed.

 

3. Work as Recovery: What Care Managers Need to Know about Employment

Cesar Ortiz, BA, MS, Mental Health Program Specialist II, NYS Office of Mental Health

Jennifer Semonite, MS, CRC, WIP-C, Mental Health Program Specialist II, NYS Office of Mental Health

Stephanie D. Rodriguez, BA, Mental Health Program Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health

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Employment is a powerful yet underutilized component of mental health recovery.  This session will explore the role of employment in providing stability and increasing quality of life for individuals receiving behavioral health services.  Presenters will specifically address common myths and concerns about work, including assumptions about readiness and loss of benefits.  Participants will gain practical strategies for initiating conversation about employment, learn the critical role of benefits advisement and better understand how employment supports can be integrated into care planning.  Additionally, participants will be introduced to Individualized Placement and Support, the evidence based model to supported employment utilized in various Office of Mental Health sponsored programs.  This session will also include an overview of programs that provide behavioral health supported employment, equipping care managers with referral pathways to support recovery through work.

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4. Mental Health Outpatient Treatment And Rehabilitative Services (MHOTRS) Regulatory Changes – New Service Flexibilities and Requirements 

Julie Lloyd, LCSW-R, Director of Clinic & Integrated Services, Adult Community Care, NYS Office of Mental Health

Shannon Fortran, MA, MHC, IMH-E®, Director of Youth/Families Clinic, School-Based & Integrated Services, NYS Office of Mental Health
Nancy Potts, LMHC, Mental Health Program Specialist, Adult Clinic & Integrated Services, NYS Office of Mental Health
Elizabeth Porter, MSW, Mental Health Program Specialist, Adult Clinic & Integrated Services, NYS Office of Mental Health

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Mental Health Outpatient Treatment and Rehabilitative Services (MHOTRS), also known as Article 31 clinics, have gone through transformative changes in recent years. Part 599 regulations and MHOTRS Guidance continue to evolve to prioritize making MHOTRS programs person-centered, recovery-oriented, with a focus on coordinated and integrated care to meet the complex needs of the population served. Attendees will learn about upcoming changes to MHOTRS program requirements, flexibilities for service provision, and initiatives to address service gaps. This includes addressing the outpatient responsibilities in collaborating and coordinating with hospitals for admission and discharge planning.  This presentation will inform care managers about how these changes impact referrals and coordination with MHOTRS programs, what to expect from MHOTRS programs during critical transitions into and out of hospital settings, and how MHOTRS programs can address multi-faceted needs for the SMI population.

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5. Bridging the Gaps: Using Social Care Networks to Strengthen Whole-Person Care

Janelle Shults, Regional Director, Capital Region, Healthy Alliance

Brandon Barton, Regional Director - North Country, Healthy Alliance

Brittany Taylor, Regional Director, Central New York, Healthy Alliance

Social Care Networks (SCNs) — stemming from New York’s 1115 Waiver Demonstration Amendment, New York Health Equity Reform (NYHER) — and Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) services are transforming how we support community members with complex medical and social needs. This session will explore how these statewide initiatives are integrating social care into the healthcare landscape to improve outcomes for individuals served through Health Home care coordination and other whole-person care models.

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Participants will learn how SCNs and HRSN services operate; how they can be leveraged to address social drivers of health such as housing instability, food insecurity, and transportation barriers; and how community-based organizations, care managers, and clinical providers can collaborate more effectively through this new infrastructure. Real-world examples will illustrate how these supports are already strengthening care coordination and improving member stability — and where there is continued opportunity for growth.

 

6. Paws, Purpose, and Prevention: Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions into Whole-Person Care

Britney Ettinger, CASAC-Advanced (G), CRPA, NYCPS, Program Director, MHA of Dutchess County

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Animal-assisted interventions are evidence-based interventions that support trauma recovery, emotional regulation, and engagement in mental health and substance use treatment. This session focuses on the use of therapy animals in care management, residential programs, and community-based services, while also providing education on service animals and emotional support animals to ensure accurate understanding of their roles, legal protections, and appropriate use in whole-person care.

 

7. Strengthening Supervisory Skills

Kimberly A. Herman, BA, MSW, Manager- Care Management- Western Region, Northwell Health

Franceska C. Anilus, BA, MSW, Supervisor, Care Management, Northwell Health

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Strengthening a supervisor’s skills is important because supervisors are the link between organizational goals and the frontline teams who carry out the work. Supervisors play a key role in cultivating a healthy work environment and driving strategic outcomes. When supervisors are well‑trained and confident in their abilities, everyone benefits — employees, leadership, and the organization as a whole. In this course, you will learn how to build resilient, collaborative teams through empathetic leadership, cultivating a supportive and inclusive culture. Our presentation will focus on key areas that will help enhance your skill set including exploring practical methods for enhancing collaboration, optimizing workflows for efficiency and compliance, and developing the next generation of leaders to ensure sustained impact.

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8. Triage and Collaboration in Care Management Programs

Jen Knauss, MA, Regional Director, Rehabilitation Support Services

Richelle Drowne, LMHC, Team Lead, Rehabilitation Support Services

Thomasina Rifenberick, Team Lead, Rehabilitation Support Services

Andrea Orokos, BA, Program Director, Rehabilitation Support Services

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Rehabilitation Support Services (RSS) operates several different care management type programs in the Capital District. These programs collectively developed a Triage Tool to allow for ease of access to services, appropriate program enrollment, and effective collaboration between programs. In this workshop, RSS will discuss each care management program and the development and utilization of the Triage Tool to enhance services. Safe Options Support (SOS) is a multidisciplinary team developed by the Office of Mental Health consisting of Clinicians, Care Managers, and Peer Specialists who work with adults who are unhoused in our communities. The team outreaches individuals in shelters, motels, and on the streets and uses various techniques to engage them in services. The team follows the evidence-based Critical Time Intervention model provide intensive support to link individuals to shelter, permanent housing, providers, and supports in their community. Critical Time Intervention (CTI) is a multidisciplinary team developed by the Office of Mental health consisting of Clinicians, Care Managers, and Nurse working with adults who are coming out of an inpatient hospitalization or have frequent emergency room visits. The CTI team is embedded at Albany Medical Center. They provide intensive support to individuals for a period of 9 months following hospitalization. RSS has a Health Home Care Management program in the Capital District- consisting of Care Management, Health Home Plus, and AOT clients. The Care Management program serves roughly 1000 individuals in the Capital District. Care Managers provide support to individuals with a SMI diagnosis and/or chronic health conditions. The program assists linkages to providers and community resources to assist with medical, mental, and social health care needs.

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12:45pm – 1:30pm

Lunch & Dessert with Vendors

 

1:30pm – 2:45pm

Concurrent Sessions

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1. Health Home Plus (HH+) for High Need Adults living with Serious Mental Illness

Melissa Beall, Unit Director of Care Coordination, NYS Office of Mental Health

Kelly Jobin, MS, Health Home Program Lead, New York State Office of Mental Health

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In this presentation, OMH will provide an overview of Health Home Plus, an intensive level of Health Home care management for high need individuals living with SMI. Highlights will include sharing best practices for engaging HH+ eligible individuals, and for collaboration with key community providers and other critical services.

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2. Comprehensive Care Management Checklist for Structured Care Management Engagement

Thelma McClendon, LMSW, Care Management Coordinator, Northwell Health

Christina Alonso, LCSW, Sr. Director of Care Management Services for HHSC, Northwell Health

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Care Managers are critical for client engagement, service coordination, and positive outcomes. However, inconsistent documentation and unstructured follow-up often lead to unmet needs and reduced satisfaction. This workshop will introduce two key strategies to optimize care management: The Care Manager Checklist: A tool designed to standardize monthly check-ins. By implementing these tools, we aim to streamline information gathering, improve planning, and ultimately enhance client success.

 

3. From Overload to Impact: Shared Leadership that Works!

Lauren Owens, MSW, Regional Care Management Director, Access Supports for Living, Inc.

Chanel Cain, BA, Regional Care Management Program Coordinator, Access Supports for Living, Inc.

Erin Slattery, BA, Care Management Referral and Community Engagement Specialist, Access Supports for Living, Inc.

Kelli Johnson , MS, Senior Care Management Team Leader, Access Supports for Living, Inc.

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This training introduces a leadership model that moves away from traditional top-down decision-making and toward shared ownership, trust, and collective intelligence. Participants explore practical approaches to leading through collaboration, facilitation, and empowerment.   Leaders learn how to guide direction, align teams around purpose, and support autonomy while maintaining clarity and responsibility.   The presentation will discuss how this can lead to effective caseload management through collaboration, shared responsibility, and coordinated teamwork.  Participants will learn how to partner with staff in workload planning, prioritization, and problem-solving rather than relying solely on directive management. The training highlights strategies for shared decision-making, transparent communication, and team-based support to address complex cases, competing demands, and capacity challenges. Participants will also explore methods for sharing information, leveraging team strengths, and supporting one another to reduce burnout while maintaining high-quality service delivery.

 

4. Making Hidden Data Measurable: Feature Creation in Care Management

Tavin Weeda, MS, Data Scientist, Community Care Management Partners

Nathan Ito-Prine, MHA, C.E.O., Community Care Management Partners

Nicholas Smith, Data Analyst, Community Care Management Partners

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In any data-driven field, there’s a familiar phrase: “We need more data.” Or, “If we just had one more field, we could finally answer this question.” It’s a common saying because it’s often true. In Health Home Care Management, many of the most important drivers of outcomes are either difficult to measure in a structured way or not collected at all. At Community Care Management Partners, we tend to approach this challenge from two directions. The first is continued advocacy at the state level for access to Medicaid Data Warehouse datasets. That effort is ongoing and shared across Health Homes. The second and the focus of this presentation is learning how to extract more value from the data we already have. Much of the data generated through day-to-day care management lives in places that are not immediately analysis-ready. EHRs contain large amounts of unstructured or semi-structured information: free-text encounter notes, narrative assessments, and case documentation that capture critical details about member engagement, care team judgment, and the realities of service delivery. Historically, these fields are often underused in quantitative analysis because they are hard to standardize, expensive to label, or difficult to interpret at scale. As a result, they are frequently treated as informational rather than analytic assets. Our presentation focuses on changing that assumption. Using a combination of traditional feature engineering and Natural Language Processing, we build new variables from existing EHR data particularly from unstructured encounter notes that can be used alongside more familiar structured fields such as claims, encounters, and demographics. Some of these features are simple: identifying whether certain types of outreach, interventions, or follow-up activities occurred within a given time window. Others are more complex, requiring natural language processing to detect concepts, patterns, or contextual signals embedded in a care manager’s text. The goal is to surface patterns of care management that are otherwise difficult to see, and to test how those patterns relate to meaningful outcomes. By translating narrative data into analyzable features, we can ask new questions: Which types of outreach are associated with improved outcomes? How does the timing or frequency of certain interventions matter? Are there detectable signals in documentation that precede positive or negative changes in member outcomes? This session will walk through our approach to feature creation using both Natural Language Processing methods and more conventional techniques, discuss lessons learned around validation and interpretability, and show how these features are used in downstream analysis. We hope attendees will come away with practical ideas they can apply to their own data, especially in settings where “getting more data” isn’t an immediate option, but using existing data more creatively is.

 

5.  REACHing for Excellence: Collaboration, Cultural Infusion, and Trauma Informed Care for the LGBTQ+ Population

Rachael Rivera, MSW, Director of Family Services, Access: Supports for Living

Reed Gillen, BA, Community Engagement Specialist, Access: Supports for Living

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In this workshop presenters will share the Resilience, Education, And Children’s Health (REACH) model for serving adolescents and emerging adults by focusing on connecting LGBTQ+ people to mental health supports for suicide prevention. By collaborating with other services, such as Critical Time Intervention (CTI), Children’s Welfare, and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) programming, the REACH program model uses a mix of community education, social programming, peer advocacy, and trauma-informed care to seamlessly connect with young people and their support systems with services that encourage person-driven planning.  Presenters will outline essential elements of LGBTQ+ cultural infusion for care provision and provide examples of how these elements have been integral in care collaboration with other services, particularly while navigating crisis situations and collaborating with other programs for post-crisis follow up care. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in an activity that will assist in identifying how to include best practices for LGBTQ+ populations into care management and will receive additional resources to incorporate with their teams.

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6. Workforce Initiatives and Training Development

Karlo D Francis, MSW, Director of Care Coordination, Community Healthcare Network

This session lays out the benefits of building a solid infrastructure coupled with a supportive leadership culture that results in increased enrollment, fiscal viability and employee growth and development. Participants will learn creative ways to build a strong care management agency infrastructure and build a culture of supportive and transparent leadership that drives productivity and enhances patient care. 

 

7. Reintegration Residential Programs: The Missing Link in Whole-Person Recovery

Britney Ettinger, CASAC-Advanced (G), CRPA, NYCPS, Program Director, MHA of Dutchess County

Reintegration residential programs provide a critical bridge between treatment and independent living. This session explores how recovery housing functions as an integrated care model, supporting mental health, substance use recovery, care coordination, and community reintegration, while reducing recurrence, crisis utilization, and failed transitions of care.

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8. How Services and Supports Mask Accurately Assessing the Needs and Strengths of Children and their Families

Dana Soto, Coaching Manager, CANS-NY Technical Assistance Institute
Joanne E. Trinkle, MSW, Senior Policy Analyst, University of Kentucky, Center for Innovation in Population Health

Children and their families who are connected to supports and services can appear to be doing well. The question the assessor is faced with is “If the child is currently doing well, do they still have a need?” If the child is doing well because of a support, service or intervention, but still has a need,  it could be that the support, service or intervention is “masking” the need. Using examples and interactive discussion, this session will explore reliable rating of the CANS-NY.

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2:45pm – 3:00pm

Break

 

3:00pm – 4:15pm

Concurrent Sessions

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1. Integrated Care and Care Management

Kelly Bevins, Deputy Director, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, Treatment, and Care Coordination, NYSOMH
Sarina Master, Director of Adult Special Populations, Policy and Programming, NYSDOH
Fatima Aboul-Seoud, MA, Manager of Data Analytics and Integrated Care, Health Home Program, NYSDOH

This session will explore New York State’s evolving approach to integrated care across multiple agencies and programs, with a particular focus on what that work means for care management on the ground. The presentation will highlight cross-agency efforts to better align physical health, behavioral health, and social care, and will discuss where care management infrastructure, especially Health Homes, fits into the State’s broader integrated care vision. Attendees will leave with a clearer sense of how statewide integration strategies translate into practical opportunities and challenges for care managers.

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2.  Critical Time Intervention (CTI): Sharing Experiences, Implementation and Lessons Learned

Melissa Beall, Unit Director of Care Coordination, NYS Office of Mental Health
Craig Wilson, MHC, Mental Health Program Specialist II, NYS Office of Mental Health - Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, Treatment and Care Coordination
Mark Graham, LCSW, Senior Vice President of Community Care, ACMH, Inc
Stefanie Aluia, LCSW, Clinical Team Lead, Access: Supports for Living
Patricia Moore, LCSW, CASAC-Master, Clinical Team Lead, Access: Supports for Living

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In this presentation, OMH will provide an overview of the new Critical Time Intervention (CTI) program. CTI is a time-limited, phase-based care management approach focused on enhancing continuity of care during transitional times, for example from a hospital to community. CTI promotes community integration, self-advocacy, and access to ongoing support by helping individuals develop and utilize strong ties to their professional and non-professional support systems during and after transition periods. CTI includes assertive outreach and engagement with individuals in higher-level care settings, as well as in the community, with a focus on addressing key social care needs at the individual level. ACMH, Inc. and Access: Supports for Living will share their experience implementing the CTI program model, including lessons learned, collaboration among key stakeholders, and insights into the client experience.

 

3.  AOT and Enhanced Voluntary Agreements – 2025 Budget Update

Tom Gottehrer, LCSW, Director of Statewide AOT implementation, NYS Office Of Mental Health

Sarah Dougherty, BS, MHPS II, AOT Training Specialist, NYS Office of Mental Health

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Overview of the statutory and systemic changes brought about by the 2025 Budget Enhancement Funds for Counties. Participants will learn to recognize how the AOT statute drives local systemic interventions for persons under AOT orders, and will be able to understand statutory changes to Kendra’s law. 

 

4. Boundaries in the Helping Profession

Gina Fattibene, LCSW, Director of Adult Care Management;  Adjunct Instructor at Suffolk County Community College Human Services, Association for Mental Health & Wellness​

Jacqueline Peralta, LMSW, Assistant Program Director, Adult Care Management, Association for Mental Health & Wellness

Erica Qually, LMSW, Team Coordinator, Association for Mental Health & Wellness

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This presentation will discuss the  importance of professional boundaries, how to identify boundary challenges and how to address these boundary challenges while fostering change. Discussion of how lack of boundaries can lead to compassion fatigue/burnout will be addressed, including how to best incorporate self care.  The presenters will incorporate exercises and role playing to practice the skills discussed.

 

5.  The EQ Thermostat: Setting the Temperature for Retention and Impact

Tracy Solarek, MBA, ACC, NYSWBE | Founder & Chief Inspirer, Optymum Potential

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In the nonprofit world, passion is often treated as a renewable resource, but love for the mission isn’t enough when your team is overstretched and running on empty. If you’re losing great people faster than you can update the org chart, it’s time to stop the "sprint" and start leading with intention.

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In this high-impact session, we move beyond surface-level fixes to address the root of retention. As an emotional intelligence expert, we will explore practical, powerful strategies rooted in self-awareness and trust-building that radically improve team commitment and morale.

 

6. Using Data in PSYCKES to Support Care Coordination and Integrated Care

Molly Finnerty, MD, Medical Director, Office of Population Health and Evaluation, NYS Office of Mental Health & Research Associate Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Health

Kristen McLaughlin, MA, Medical Informatics Director, Office of Population Health and Evaluation, NYS Office of Mental Health

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PSYCKES has a long history of supporting care managers providing high quality care coordination and integrated care. This presentation will provide an overview of the PSYCKES web-based and mobile applications that highlights new data and features including updates to the HH+ Eligibility criteria to include homeless past 6 months with DOH SMI past year; addition of the HH+ Tableau in PSYCKES; creation of new HH+ Advanced View, etc. Presentation and demo will be followed by Q&A.

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7. Soul Care: Moving Beyond Self-Care Toward Sustainable Renewal

Samantha Sonia Headley, Implementation Specialist/Trainer, ICONECT

Marissa Messiah, Implementation Specialist/Trainer, ICONECT

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Burnout, moral distress, and emotional exhaustion continue to challenge care managers across systems particularly in roles that require sustained empathy, crisis response, and navigation of complex service environments. While self-care is frequently encouraged, many professionals report that common strategies (time off, mindfulness apps, wellness tips) are insufficient to address deeper depletion.

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This workshop introduces soul care as a professional sustainability practice, focusing on identity, inner voice, meaning, and emotional restoration. By combining brief grounding practices with structured reflective writing, participants are given practical tools to process stress, reconnect with purpose, and strengthen resilience in ways that support long-term effectiveness in care management roles.

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This session is intentionally designed to be accessible, trauma-aware, and inclusive of all writing comfort levels, making it well-suited for a diverse conference audience.

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8. It Is What It Is: Breaking the Barriers of Stigma -Boundaries and Self-Care

Heather Ann Pitcher, BA, Founder and CEO, The Brain and Body Coalition

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It Is What It Is: Breaking the Barriers of Stigma is a signature workshop designed by The Brain and Body Coalition for professionals, caregivers, and community leaders. This interactive training explores the intersection of stigma, stereotypes, self-care, and the systemic and cultural reasons boundaries are often ignored, blurred, or discouraged in helping and leadership roles. Grounded in the HEAL Framework :Humility, Empathy, Action, and Listening this workshop examines how trauma is innate and cumulative, and how unaddressed trauma can directly impact our ability to set healthy boundaries and care for ourselves effectively. Participants will explore how stigma and cultural expectations shape responses to stress, responsibility, and burnout, and why self-care and boundaries are not optional but essential for sustainability and well-being.

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Dinner is on your own.