2024 Missouri Behavioral Health Conference

Plan to attend the 2024 Missouri Behavioral Health Conference in Branson, Missouri. The conference will occur at the Branson Convention Center on September 11-13, 2024.

Cost: $150 per person (includes CEs)

Registration Is Live!

We think we fully comprehend that courage, creativity and determination are critical to our success. However, you will quickly see how much we all still have to learn about the innate power of these concepts when you hear the story of Mario Arnauz Bonds. Bonds is a multitalented motivational speaker and singer-songwriter. Made famous by NBC Universal's 2012 run of The Glee Project, season two, in which he showed the world that a person with a disability can rise to meet any challenge, Bonds enjoys entertaining and inspiring millions. One of a set of triplets and adopted at age 16, Bonds comes from a large family of nine siblings. Born with Morning Glory Syndrome, a degenerative condition that gradually destroyed the optic nerve in both of his eyes, he was completely blind by the tender age of nine. After losing both his vision, and his parents, Bonds experienced a childhood the likes of which few of us can even imagine—suffering abuse on a number of levels, abandonment and eventually, homelessness. Amazingly, one thing he never suffered from was hopelessness. Instead of allowing these setbacks to define him, Bonds utilized them to propel himself forward—earning a spot in the prestigious Suitland’s School for the Visual and Performing Arts in his teens, followed by a degree in Journalism from George Mason University. Among his various achievements, he became a gifted technology expert, providing skillful computer guidance to people needing support. In recognition of his work with students and the performing arts, Bonds was awarded the prestigious Imagination Award for 2012 by the Imagination Stage, a theatre arts organization for young people. He is the author of Without Sight but Full of Vision, a memoir recounting how he overcame a childhood marked by blindness, abuse and abandonment. Bonds exemplifies the philosophy that triumph and success are still possible, no matter the obstacle, with sufficient courage, creativity and determination to overcome the odds. His experiences and lessons will motivate you, both personally and professionally, to push the envelope, overcome any difficulty and ultimately, make the choices that will set you along the path to achieving your goals. Bonds is a must see keynote who will deliver a passionate “special surprise” for the audience, as he demonstrates what it truly means to overcome adversity—you will undoubtedly walk away inspired!

Sam Quinones (last name pronounced Kin-YOH-Ness) is a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and author of three books of narrative nonfiction. His latest book is Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic (Bloomsbury, 2015), for which he traveled across the United States.  Dreamland chronicles the roots of America’s epidemic of opiate addiction, nation’s deadliest drug scourge in its history. In it, Quinones recounts twin stories of drug marketing in the 21st Century: A pharmaceutical corporation flogs its legal new opiate prescription painkiller as nonaddictive. Meanwhile, immigrants from a small town in Nayarit, Mexico devise a method for retailing blacktar heroin like pizza in the US, and take that system nationwide, riding a wave of addiction to prescription pills from coast to coast. The collision of those two forces has led to America's deadliest drug scourge in modern times. The story is also an attempt to show how Americans’ desire to avoid pain, together with destruction of community, exaltation of the private, made the country especially vulnerable to addiction to opiates, the most isolating class of drugs we know as a species. Dreamland won a National Book Critics Circle award for the Best Nonfiction Book of 2015. It was also selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Amazon.com, Slate.com, the Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Entertainment Weekly, Audible, and in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Business by Nobel economics laureate, Prof. Angus Deaton, of Princeton University. A Young Adult version of Dreamland was released in July of 2019. Quinones is at work on a follow up to Dreamland, about the scourge of fentanyl, methamphetamine, as well as dispatches from grassroots efforts to combat the epidemic. His first two highly acclaimed books grew from his 10 years living and working as a freelance writer in Mexico (1994-2004). True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx was released in 2001. It is a cult classic of a book from Mexico’s vital margins – stories of drag queens and Oaxacan Indian basketball players, popsicle makers and telenovela stars, migrants, farm workers, a narcosaint, a slain drug balladeer, a slum boss, and a doomed tough guy.

Actress, producer, host, author and activist Jodie Sweetin garnered the love of millions in her role as Stephanie Tanner on ABC’s long-running, hugely popular sitcom “Full House,” and the widely popular Netflix spinoff “Fuller House.” She most recently starred in and Executive Produced “The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost” for the Hallmark Channel. Previously, Jodie starred in two holiday films — “Merry Swissmas” on Lifetime and “A Cozy Christmas Inn” on the Hallmark Channel. She also pulled double duty as co-Executive Producer and star in the rom-com Just Swipe and “Craft Me a Romance.” She was seen toughing it out in the jungles of Panama on the celebrity driven CBS reality series “Beyond the Edge” and simultaneously competing in the Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition: That’s So 90s.” Jodie also co-hosted the popular parenting podcast “Never Thought I’d Say This” for five seasons. In addition, Jodie is a favorite guest among most talk shows, becoming a recurring guest co-host on “The Talk” and E!’s “Daily Pop” regularly. She also can also be seen performing stand up comedy at famous comedy clubs in Los Angeles as well as hosting “Family Dinner with Jodie Sweetin” monthly at The Comedy Store which is a panel featuring various comedians playing games and exchanging personal stories over a delicious meal. Jodie is a mother of two teenage girls, a published author of her memoir UnSweetined and outspoken activist in multiple areas, advocating for true political and societal changes including Women's issues, BIPOC support, AAPI violence prevention and awareness, Climate Change, the Unhoused populations, LGBTQ+ equality and Progressive Financial Policies.