10th Annual Wellness Together Conference

Join us for a dynamic 12-minute Lighthouse Talk, designed to showcase bold ideas, innovative practices, and inspiring stories shaping the future of student mental health and wellness. This presentation is one of four featured during this one-hour block. Due to the fast-paced format, there will be no formal Q&A, but we encourage you to connect with the speaker directly after the block to continue the conversation.

Let’s talk about how Unconditional Positive Regard for students and families cultivates a sense of belonging among students.  We’ll engage in a collaborative discussion format to explore the ways in which we may provide care and understanding to three historically marginalized communities (Newcomer students and families, Muslim students and families, & LGBTQIA+ students and families) and, in the process, improve student well-being and school culture and climate.

Join us for a dynamic 12-minute Lighthouse Talk, designed to showcase bold ideas, innovative practices, and inspiring stories shaping the future of student mental health and wellness. This presentation is one of four featured during this one-hour block. Due to the fast-paced format, there will be no formal Q&A, but we encourage you to connect with the speaker directly after the block to continue the conversation.

Communities nationwide face a critical shortage of licensed mental health clinicians—especially in underserved and rural areas—while early career professionals encounter financial, structural, and policy barriers to licensure. This Session shares a multistate, real world solution: the Mental Health Workforce Acceleration Program. Grounded in lived implementation across California and Hawaiʻi, this session will guide participants through a replicable workforce navigation framework that accelerates licensure, centers equity, and strengthens youth serving systems—without losing human connection at the core.

This session will focus on: 

1. Audit Preparedness: Guidance on compliance requirements and strategies to ensure audit readiness.
   
2. Navigating Medical Necessity: Recommendations for establishing and documenting medical necessity within school-based settings.
   
3. ORP Responsibilities: Practical guidance on Ordering, Referring, and Prescribing (ORP) requirements.
   
4. Rural & Universal Toolkits: New resources designed to address rural implementation challenges while offering blueprints that can support all districts statewide.
   

Students' mental health is a concern. It can look like chronic absenteeism, disruptive behavior, isolation, poor or failing grades, and so much more. While the state has invested an unprecedented number of resources in addressing this matter, challenges with implementation, access, and feasibility remain. Two counties in Northern CA have formed partnerships with local Community Health Centers (FQHCs) helps build sustainable funding by integrating the health and education systems creating a durable funding model for providing lasting mental health supports in schools.
Come hear from county office leaders, CHC executives, and managed care organization leadership how they have built these partnerships, what makes it especially durable, and how you can replicate the model.