Our 23rd Annual Conference will be held from November 14th - 18th, 2012 in Washington D.C. at the Grant Hyatt Hotel. This year's theme is “Sustaining and Expanding Excellence in Children’s Mental Health Services and Supports.”

We are firmly committed to the vision that, in every corner of our nation, families of children and youth with emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges can secure the services and supports needed for their children to grow up healthy and able to maximize their potential.

Our national conference committee is excited to create this opportunity for families and young people, community members and professionals to share their expertise in support of our vision. We invite the production and submittal of workshop, poster session, and a selective number of 3 hour intensive pre-conference institute proposals for the 2012 conference of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. Our theme emphasizes our interest in conference presentations and poster sessions that illuminate ways to bring our collective vision to life during these challenging economic, social and political times.

Coming on the heels of national elections that will establish the landscape for progress for years to come, our 2012 national conference will focus on the techniques and strategies best suited to capitalize on nearly a quarter century of forward progress. Our aim must be to ensure that our best approaches will no longer stand out as exceptional examples, but will instead be embraced as the new foundation on which an ever brighter future will be built.

The National Federation’s 2012 conference will focus participant learning on two questions:

• What are elements of genuine Excellence in children’s mental health in 2012?
• What creative, promising and proven strategies and approaches can we rely on to expand Excellence to children, youth and families in all corners of our nation beyond 2012?

We will also be featuring our keynote speaker, Elizabeth Smart as she tells her story of resilience after being abducted at an early age.

More information about the keynote, conference and registration can be found on our conference website: http://conference.ffcmh.org [2]