Heather Honaker is a Managing Consultant with TBD Solutions and the President of the Crisis Residential Association. A native of northern Virginia, Heather has helped organizations across the country to build new and improved systems of crisis care. She is a nationally certified counselor with a penchant for effective leadership and compassionate crisis care.

In this episode I sit down with heather to learn about why she became a mental health professional, the trials and tribulations of leading an essential workforce during a pandemic, and where she draws her inspiration to serve and lead.

To learn about CrisisCon, visit www.CrisisCon.org.

To learn about the Crisis Residential Association, visit www.CrisisResidentialAssociation.org.

Read the Crisis Residential Association's Open Letter in Response to the Executive Order "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets" here:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7359637226361634816

Stephen Parker is a behavioral health planner at the global architecture+engineering firm Stantec. Stephen is a proponent of “architect as advocate” for colleague, client, and community alike, and he believes strongly in leadership through service.

With awards from Behavioral Health Business and FastCo, Stephen is a collaborative researcher and accomplished architect with millions of square feet of built work and thousands of inpatient mental health beds. He’s co-written inpatient mental health design standards for the US Department of Veterans Affairs, crisis design guides for N. American behavioral health systems and designed emergency psychiatric environments across the globe.

Stephen also serves the Design in Mental Health Network in the United Kingdom as an Associate to the Board, is a Practitioner with the Trauma-Informed Design Society, and is a member of the America Association of Emergency Psychiatry. Defying stigma by design, Stephen is driving purpose across Stantec’s Mental+Behavioral Health projects globally.

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CrisisCon is coming! Join us in Indianapolis for the largest behavioral health crisis conference in the country, September 28th - October 1st. Register now at www.CrisisCon.org.

Elan Javanfard is a clinician with both purpose and passion, and an unrelenting advocate for humans facing mental health challenges. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Elan is the Senior Director of Whole Person Care at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Los Angeles, CA.

In this episode, Elan shares his experiences around working with challenging populations, bringing better ideas into behavioral health care, and recognizing that strength is not lasting without rest and restoration.

For information about the National Crisis Continuum Conference, visit www.CrisisCon.org.

To learn more about the Crisis Residential Association, visit www.CrisisResidentialAssociation.org.

Dr. Scott Zeller is the founder of the EmPATH Unit, a psychiatric alternative to emergency departments and inpatient hospitals that empowers doctors and staff to effectively serve patients in emotional distress or crisis.

Scott is one of the innovators in emergency psychiatry and has held leadership roles within the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry. Scott is a clever and gifted healer, and he brings sensible practices into the health care industry. I was so blessed to interview him for this episode.

To view Scott's De-escalation video referenced in this episode, visit this link:

https://youtu.be/6B9Kqg6jFeI?si=glVudn-nZL-knCDo

To learn more about the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry and the National Update for Behavioral Emergencies conference, visit:

https://www.emergencypsychiatry.org/

To learn more about Vituity, visit:

Michelle Grigsby-Hackett is the executive director of Affiliated Sante Group, a behavioral health provider with locations in Maryland and North Carolina.

This episode was recorded live at the National Crisis Continuum Conference in October of 2024.

Becky Stoll is the Senior Vice President of Crisis Services for Centerstone, a nonprofit health system specializing in mental health and substance use disorder services. 

In this interview, Becky shares her early experiences of serving people, from the hospitality industry to hospitals and crisis services. Becky is a wealth of information, with clinical and consulting experiences that span the globe!

Wendy Martinez Farmer, LPC, MBA, is the Vice President of 988 Strategy, Grants and Clinical Standards. Wendy is a pioneering mental health advocate and has dedicated her career to breaking down barriers and fostering positive change in mental health care. 

Wendy has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors.

Wendy is is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from Marquette University and an MBA from Georgia Southern University.

As a distinguished suicide prevention leader, Wendy has made significant contributions to the field. She sat on the Standards, Training, and Practices Committee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from 2016 to 2019 and was a member of the Care Transitions Work Group with Georgia from 2020 to 2023. In January 2022, Wendy was elected to the Board of Directors for the International Council for Helplines, where she currently serves as treasurer.

Preston Looper is the founder and principal of Full Tilt Strategies, a crisis consulting organization serving clients across the country. I sat down with Preston to learn about his early days in the behavioral health system in Texas, his motivations for making the world a better place, and his intriguing findings from a recent national survey of mobile crisis teams.

Adam Graham is a licensed professional counselor, consultant, advocate, and author of the book "Turning Point: How to Make the Most of Mental Health Conversations." Adam has helped communities across the country to improve their threat assessments, develop mobile crisis teams, and assess the safety net of care. He has consulted for Google and the FBI, and he is passionate about training and helping others in crisis.

Cherene Caraco is the CEO of Promise Resource Network, a peer-run organization operating over a dozen services in North Carolina. Cherene has grown up in the behavioral health system, both as a provider and as a service recipient. As a suicide attempt survivor, Cherene leverages her experience to develop and operate trauma-informed treatment options to people experiencing emotional distress or mental health crisis. 

Learn more about Promise Resource Network at www.PromiseResourceNetwork.org. 

ANNOUNCEMENT! The 2023 National Crisis Services Conference is coming to Charlotte, North Carolina! Learn more at www.crisiscon.org.