The 2023 National Dialogues on Behavioral Health’s annual conference, entitled “Dialogues to Action: Responses to Address Trauma and Violence,” aims to dispel myths to identify appropriate and meaningful preventive, treatment, and recovery responses to the causes and needs of the people who perpetrate interpersonal violence and violence to self, or who are victimized by violence. The conference is slated for Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Renaissance Arts Hotel in New Orleans.
The NDBH preconference, to be held Oct. 29, will focus on informing participants of the current understanding of the causes of violence, those who commit violent acts, and the impact of increasing violence on the behavioral health workforce, first responders, and the community. Additionally, it will provide guidance on how these professionals can respond safely and effectively to both deescalate and manage the aftermath of violent acts. There will be a focus on working collaboratively across multiple sectors and settings, and on when to engage with the crisis response system.
The sessions will focus on the increasing frequency and impact of escalating violence within home, school, healthcare settings, and the broader community. Speakers will present what is known about the causes of violence, and approaches that are currently being implemented, to help prevent violent acts and how to best respond when these troubling and traumatic events occur. Sessions will cover what traditional and non-traditional behavioral health providers and systems can do to reduce the incidence and impact of violence, by and on, youth and adults, with a focus on research backed interventions to address aggressive behavior, paranoia, domestic violence, conduct disorder, trauma, and substance misuse. Public health approaches to be presented include treating violence as a preventable health issue and strengthening communities to prevent violence and foster recovery if a community wide violent event should occur.
Additional topics to be covered include identification, prevention, and interventions for violence to self, self-harming behaviors, and suicide across the lifespan; the role of mass media and social media to both help and harm individuals; the impact of violence on the health of the behavioral health workforce and how to retain and expand the roles and pools of potential providers with varying levels of experience. The conference will conclude with a discussion of the need for policies and laws based on known facts about perpetrators, to stem the tide of violence, as well as laws and legislation that have been implemented in some jurisdictions.
National Dialogues on Behavioral Health provides an intimate setting in which conference participants have an opportunity to dialogue with the experts presenting at the conference.
The conference agenda, conference registration and hotel booking information is posted on the National Dialogues on Behavioral Health website, https://nationaldialoguesbh.org.