On November 13th and 14th, 11 Beacon Mental Health employees and 33 coalition volunteers attended the 2023 Missouri Substance Use Prevention Conference in Columbia, MO. This two-day event was packed full of networking, education, peer sharing, and updates from the field.Attendees had the chance to attend seven of the 21 offered workshops, with Beacon staff presenting three breakouts: “I’m New Here,” “Local Strategies for Youth Vaping,” and “Got Hope? Leveraging Peer-to-Peer Relationships to Prevent Youth Suicide.” Other workshops covered topics including substance use prevention strategies, prevention science, school curriculums, suicide prevention strategies, and advocacy training.
On the first evening of the conference, all volunteers were invited to a networking dinner at Shakespeare’s Pizza. Those who attended reported learning new information, gaining a better understanding of the prevention field, and making new connections throughout the state. The Northland Coalition was elated to be a part of such a large group of invested prevention partners to attend the two-day event, and anticipates many community actions to follow!
Keynote presenters included Senator Holly Thompson Rehder, Bryce Herkert-Resident Agent in Charge in Southwest Missouri Drug Enforcement Administration, Sarah Efthymiou-Senior Council for the Bolder Advocacy Program at Alliance for Justice, and Steve Miller of Act Missouri. These speakers covered a variety of topics including combating the opioid crisis and 501(C)(3)’s advocacy/lobbying abilities.
Thank you Missouri Behavioral Health Council, Missouri Department of Mental Health, and the Missouri PRC Network for hosting a fantastic event! And many thanks to our incredible Prevention team for representing Beacon Mental Health and Kansas City so well.
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