Request Information
Ready to find out what MSU Denver can do for you? We’ve got you covered.
Have Questions? We have answers.
Contact Us
7th Annual Mental & Behavioral Health Conference
Supporting LGBTQ+ Mental & Behavioral Health in Times of Uncertainty: Healing Collective Trauma Through Belonging, Joy, and Resistance
Friday, February 6, 2026 | 9:00AM – 3:00PM (MST)
Hybrid: Zoom & MSU Denver
The Mental & Behavioral Health Conference (MBHC) is a virtual gathering for students, professionals, and community partners interested in transformative approaches to mental and behavioral health. This year’s conference is hybrid with a theme that draws inspiration from our Keynote Alok Vaid-Menon’s work exploring healing beyond trauma, emphasizing creative and communal responses like poetry and storytelling to adversity and isolation, and building resilience, belonging, and joy, especially in LGBTQ+ communities.
Early Bird Registration Pricing (ends January 2, 2026):
- $25 – Social work students & MSU Denver students
- Want to attend but can’t afford it? If you’re an MSU Denver student, please apply to the C2Hub Student Travel and Professional Development Funding here. If you are not an MSU Denver student and/or you’re unable to get funding through C2Hub, please fill out this MBHC student scholarship form!
- $75 – MSU Denver faculty & staff
- $100 – Community partners; faculty & staff of other institutions
Call for Proposals
The call for proposals is now open! We invite proposals for interactive workshops, panels, and presentations that reflect this theme. Presentations should inspire, educate, and create space for reflection, action, and collective growth. We have provided some examples of how proposals may fit each of the four tracks below.
2026 Conference Tracks
Sessions in this track center LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, highlighting affirming clinical practices, culturally responsive approaches, and community-led strategies. Proposals might explore:
- Trauma-informed and healing-centered care for LGBTQ+ communities
- Queer and trans-affirming frameworks in therapy and mental health practice
- Culturally grounded interventions that foster belonging and resilience
- Addressing the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and systemic harm
- Creative modalities (e.g., art, storytelling, joy) as tools of resistance and healing
This track focuses on the mental and behavioral health of college-aged students, with attention to both clinical and non-clinical supports that address their unique challenges. Proposals might explore:
- Building campus cultures of belonging, joy, and resistance; looking at the campus culture at large
- Addressing collective trauma, burnout, and isolation among students
- Peer support and mutual aid initiatives in higher education settings
- Creative, accessible strategies for supporting student resilience
- Trauma-informed and equity-centered approaches to student mental health services
- Using evidence-based tools when working with students such as the socioecological model of health and wellness, and systems theory and person-in-environment in social work
This track highlights policy, advocacy, and systems-level strategies that shape mental and behavioral health outcomes. Proposals might explore:
- Policy innovations that support LGBTQ+ mental health
- Advocacy strategies for inclusive mental & behavioral health systems
- Addressing systemic barriers to care, including anti-LGBTQ+ laws
- Community organizing and coalition-building for systemic change
- Anti-oppressive and culturally responsive teaching strategies
This track focuses on sustaining practitioners, students, and community members doing LGBTQ+ mental and behavioral health work. Proposals might explore:
- Strategies for preventing burnout and secondary trauma
- Supervision and mentorship for queer and trans clinicians
- Reflective and embodied practices for wellness
- Joy and creativity as resistance and renewal
- Community care, mutual aid, and sustaining collective work overtime
2026 MBHC Proposal Submission
- Proposals Deadline Extended to: Friday, December 12, 2025
- Notification of Acceptance: Week of January 5, 2026
Want to do more to support this conference?
Past Events
Date: Friday, February 7, 2025
Time: 9:00AM – 2:00PM MST
Location: Zoom Webinar 2025 MBHC CONFERENCE
Welcome Address (presentation)
Dr. Dawn Matera Bassett, MSW, LCSW, PhD., Grants Director at MSU Denver
Breakout Sessions 1
Bridging the Gap: Merging Indigenous Wisdom and Contemporary Perinatal Care | Tonya Myles-Day, DSW, LMSW, University at Buffalo, School of Social Work (presentation)
Self Disclosure: A Clinical Elder’s Perspective on its Power for Healing and Power for Wounding | Judith Kay Nelson, MSW, Ph.D. (presentation)
Feature Presentation
RMTAC: Refugee & Migrant Technical Assistance Center for Behavioral Health | Luz Chapa, M.Ed, LPC & Esther Rodriguez, M.S., Clinical Consultant
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION with JaLisa Williams MSW, LCSW
Breakout Sessions 2
Navigating Oppression and Adversity: Resilience and Mental Health Among Indigenous Women During COVID-19 | Kristi Ka`apu, LCSW, DSW Candidate, Tulane University & Rory Glover, MSW, PhD Candidate, Tulane University & Catherine E. O’Connor, PhD, LMSW, Tulane University (presentation)
Decolonizing Sex: Resisting settler sexuality through a sex positive lens. | Kristin Spooner, DSW, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Board Certified Sex Therapist, The Radical Social Worker (Private Practice)
EMDR Therapy Approaches with BIPOC Clients and Addressing Culturally Based Trauma and Adversity | Mark Nickerson, LICSW, EMDR Institute Trainer and Clinical Consultant (presentation slides)
(presentation recording)
Closing Address
Dawn Matera Bassett, LCSW, Ph.D. and Teiriana Ibarra Event Planning Specialist
Date: February 16, 2024
Time: 10:00am – 2:00pm MST
Location: Zoom Webinar 2024 MBHC CONFERENCE
Keynote Address Presentation
With Dr. Loretta Ross, with The Institute for Democratic Education and Culture
Breakout Sessions 1
Culturally Adaptive Mental Health Practices: Centering the Counter Narrative
Sense-Making: Using Narrative Storytelling Across the Lifespan with Althea Simpson, LCSW, RPT-S
Embodiment Healing techniques with Dr. AT
Building Bridges: The utilization of a narrative humanization approach in the fight to reduce and unlearn stigmatizing belief with Dr. Kristin Spooner, DSW, LICSW,
Breakout Sessions 2
Supervision and the Healing Process
Using Storytelling as a Supervisory Technique with Dr. Omekio Riggins, DSW, LCSW, LCAS-A, CCTP-II, LPN
Authenticity in Practice with Dr. Andrea Daniels, DSW, LCSW-S
Infusing Cultural Humility into your supervision session; promoting Brave Spaces with Manasseh Begay,
Closing Address
Dawn Matera Bassett, LCSW, Ph.D. and Teiriana Ibarra Event Planning Specialist
Friday, February 17, 2023 | 10:00 AM to 2:15 PM (MST)
Auraria Campus | Denver, CO
The 4th Annual Mental & Behavioral Health Conference consisted of three (3) hours and provided knowledge regarding the emerging mental and behavioral health trends in the State of Colorado since the Pandemic. Participants acquired knowledge about workforce resilience and how to best support LGBTQ+ and BIPOC populations.
Participants were:
- Able to discuss the state of the mental and behavioral health crisis in Colorado
- Able to describe services to support mental and behavioral health needs in Colorado
- Learned about emerging Mental and Behavioral Health services to support LGBTQ+ and BIPOC populations
- Understood the importance of addressing Work Force Resilience
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1.9M with no funds financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
Conference Schedule
10:00 AM – Welcome Address
10:10 AM – Keynote Address: State of Mental and Behavioral Health Crisis in Colorado
10:30 AM – Keynote Panel Discussion: Crisis in Care(moderated by Dr. Tanya Greathouse)
- Speakers:
- DJ Ida, Asian Pacific Center
- Chris Richardson, Mental Health Center of Denver
- Leanne Rupp, National Association of Social Workers – CO Chapter
11:35 AM – Morning Breakout Sessions: The Macro Perspective of the Mental Health Crisis
- State Trends in Mental Health Services Needs Through a National Lens Since the Pandemic with Kim Patton, PsyD
- Emerging Trends in Mental and Behavioral Health Due to the Pandemic with Kate Parker, LCSW VP Clinical Care, COO, and Sara Reid, M.A., MHP Grants and Program Evaluation Manager
- Professional Development: The Ins & Outs of Licensure, Continuing Education in CO, & ASWB Exam Developments with Leanne Rupp, MSW, LCSW Executive Director
12:30 PM – Lunch and Student Tabling
1:10 PM – Afternoon Breakout Discussion: Emerging Issues in Mental and Behavioral Health
- Being Hopeful and Resilient in the Workplace with Susan Archuleta, Grants Community Liaison Specialist
- Emerging Issues in the LGBTQ+ Community: ‘Til Death Do Us Part with Li Brookens, LCSW, CGP, WPATH GEI SOC7 Certified Member, and Virginia Sanford, LPC
- Supporting BIPOC Communities Through Mental and Behavioral Health Crises with Sarah Naomi Jones, Center for Trauma and Resilience
2:05 PM – Closing Address
Sponsored by the MSU Denver College of Health and Human Sciences, MSU Denver Department of Social Work, and MSU Denver Health Institute
Friday, January 29, 2021 | 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (MST)
Virtual Webinar | Denver, CO
The 3rd Annual Social Work Mental & Behavioral Health Conference was an opportunity for students, faculty, and community members to connect virtually with community and national experts on their response to the mental and behavioral challenges communities are experiencing due COVID-19, the exposed racialized tensions, and this country’s political divide.
Two (2) hours of CE credits pending approval by NASW-CO
Presenters
Welcoming Address: Dr. Dawn Matera-Bassett, MSW, LCSW, HRSA Principle Investigator & Associate Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver
Keynote Speaker & Moderator: Dr. Julie Clockston, LCSW, National Association of Social Workers Colorado (NASWCO) Chapter President
Presenters:
- Dr. Liz Mendez-Shannon, MSW, Vice President of Program Development at Sewall Child Development Center
- Dr. Pam Begay, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Farmington, New Mexico
- Dr. Larry Curry, LCSW, CAC III, Founder and CEO, Clinical Director of The Curry Center LLC
- Enid Nieves, MSW Candidate, Director of Hotline Services at the Center for Trauma and Resilience
- Sonam Khanal, LCSW, Asian Pacific Development Center
Closing Keynote: Dr. Judith Kay Nelson, MSW, LCSW, Dean Emerita at the Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work
Closing Remarks: Dr. Joni Handran, LCSW, CAC III