Real Voices Conference

Kudos to Conference Scholarship Providers

The Real Voices Conference planning committee sends many thanks to the Missouri Coalition of Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) and the Missouri Recovery Network (MRN) for providing a number of scholarships for consumers to attend the upcoming conference.

 

Because of the generosity of those two organizations, 76 consumers who needed help with paying the $65 registration fee will now be able to attend the conference. Payment of the registration fee is all that is required for consumers to attend. Hotel and meals are included in the fee. 

 

The 30 CMHC scholarships and 46 from MRN all have been awarded.

Consumer Conference 2009 -- more important news

I have not logged on in a while, but better late than never, as my mother used to say. I have a lot to report. The conference planning committee has had to address a lot of issues. There were many questions I would never have even thought of at the beginning of all this.

"Who is a Consumer?"
The conference planning committee has come to consensus as to who is considered a "consumer." A consumer is someone who self-identifies as receiving services for mental health, substance abuse or developmental disabilities. Individuals need not receive their services through the DMH to qualify as a consumer. If an individual has a head injury that occurred prior to the age of 21 that affects two or more major life functions, he or she is considered as having a developmental disability, and therefore will be eligible to attend.

The $65 registration fee for consumers and family members includes sleeping rooms and meals.

The excitement is building!

Well, the excitement is building as announcements are being sent all over the state about the Real Voices Real Choices Conference to be held August 23-25.

We know it will be a challenge for some of you to come up with the registration fee, but we urge you to seek scholarships from providers, and/or there are always the old standbys — bake sales and car washes. No kidding though, this conference is one we consumers cannot afford to miss. We will learn so much, plus this will be a great opportunity for networking, and — who knows — maybe we'll even make a friend or two. Last but not least, this conference will help us connect with consumers from all over the state. Think of the potential of that!

A conference registration brochure and a Call for Presentations form are available on the Department of Mental Health's web site. You can open these documents, print them out, fill in the information, and send them in with your fee to the address listed. The conference registration brochure was made to be printed on legal-size (8 1/2 x 14-inch) paper, but however you print it, as long as it's readable, it will be accepted.

Real Voices Conference Date and Place Set

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

We've chosen the dates of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, August 23-25, 2009, at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Lake Ozark, Missouri, for the 2009 Real Voices, Real Choices conference. Rooms are $85 per  night and we DO encourage sharing.

Trying to locate a conference site was made easy when the 2009 DMH Spring Institute was canceled.  To have been held at Tan-Tar-A, DMH would’ve had to pay a huge deposit by forfeiting the dates. So Real Voices Real Choices was able to book at Tan-Tar-A on substitute dates and avoid paying the deposit.  At it's last meeting the planning committee discussed the conference registration fee, but we were unable to set a firm amount just yet.  Love to hear your comments back on this news.

The Planning Committee is satisfied with the accessibility at Tan-Tar-A.  People First has it's annual conference there and have been satisfied with the accessibility.  The committee reviewed the layout for the meeting rooms and recommended that we add art and time-out rooms (two separate) nearby the meeting rooms.  We also asked that plenty of time be scheduled between sessions to allow those in wheelchairs to use the restrooms, etc.

Theme and Call for Presentations

Real Voices, Real Choices: Expanding Our Vision is the theme chosen for the 2009 Conference at Tan-Tar-A.  A call for presentations will be issued soon with a deadline of mid-March.  Details will follow in another blog.

Presenters will be asked to cover the areas of Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, or Social aspects or issues in our lives (either consumer, youth or family).  If you'd like to submit a presentation(s) for consideration, start putting your ideas together to be ready to submit when the formal call is issued.

Suggestions Wanted for Fund Raising

Debra Walker, DMH Office of Public Affairs, and Executive Director of the Missouri Mental Health Foundation, will assist the Fund Raising Committee in its work.  She has shared guidelines with us for getting the job done.  Committee members are eager to get busy fund raising.  We need to raise funds to be able to offer some conference scholarships and/or meet all the incidental costs associated with the conference.  The Marketing Committee will be developing a brochure to help with this.

Any money we receive as donations will go into Missouri Mental Health Foundation so that donors can have a tax deduction.  Any money raised from events will also go into the fund.  We are looking for ideas and suggestions for events or contacts to ask.  If you can help with suggestions or contacts, please share.  If you want to do a fundraising event, such as a bake sale or raffle or any other activity, please let us know.  This is OUR conference so we all need to pitch in.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Next Planning Meeting Scheduled

The next conference planning committee meeting will be February 3, 2009, at DMH.  We had eleven of us working at the last meeting on January 7.  Robert Qualls and Dave Helling did a great job of co-chairing it.  That meeting had better representation of consumers from within the DMH divisions.  

Leigh Gibson, DMH Office of Consumer Safety, is staff support to our committee.  She requested that except for herself and administrative support, staff of the three DMH divisions will not be a part of our committee. Therefore, this effort will truly be consumer-driven and represent our choices. 

Remember, the committee will welcome your participation, so why not join us next time?

Until next time,

Marge Parrish

Your input needed in Conference Planning

Hi! I'm Jan Wagler the other blog volunteer author. I, too, went to the December 4 Consumer, Family and Youth Summit Conference planning meeting. We're focusing on an even bigger and better conference than last year. And we have a while to plan for this one.

The planning committee is still hoping to increase participation from all divisions, more people from across the entire state, more diversity, ethnicity, including the deaf community. Yes, a whole lot more people to meet, to network with, to learn from, and maybe make a new friend or two.

Here We Go! Conference 2009 planning underway

The planning committee that put together the Real Voices Real Choices Consumer, Youth and Family 2008 Summit got together December 4 to begin planning for 2009.  I volunteered to be an author on our blog.  I am reporting what we’ve done thus far and invite you to become a part of the planning committee if you are so inclined.

Leigh Gibson, DMH Office of Consumer Safety, chaired the meeting until new co-chairs were elected later in the meeting.

Put your Thinking Caps on

Our summit was a success, but now the real work begins. We'll need your help to make next year's conference just as successful.

To begin with, although there are many topics we could discuss at our upcoming conference, we need to organize around a common theme. The theme will determine the focus of our sessions and activities as well as our speakers.

A name for our conference also is an important issue. Do we like Real Voices-Real Choices? Do we keep the same name year after year, or will the conference name be based on the particular conference theme? The Leadership Summit was our starting point. Do we continue with a leadership focus or expand our horizons?

Another big issue is cost. How do we fund the conference with the limited resources of the state and our own pocketbooks? Does anyone have connections to corporate entities or organizations that might serve as sponsors and help defray the costs?

Finally, we need to select a committee to take the lead on this planning. Let us know if you would like to volunteer to help or if you would like to nominate someone for the committee who could help move us forward.

So, put your thinking caps on and keep watch on this site for further updates and requests for feedback on these and other topics relating to the conference.