Representatives from West Virginia were among the over 2,000 individuals attending the 2024 Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health in Orlando, Florida, December 5-7.
West Virginia professionals attended a variety of sessions bringing back multiple free resources and trainings, shared on the WV ESMH website current events page and in the ESMH newsletter. Via the conference, Tiffany Pittman, School Health Coordinator at the Marshall University School Health Technical Assistance Center, School of Medicine, Division of Community Health, was invited to represent WV on the national Mental Health Literacy Collaborative (MHLC) and looks forward to taking part in 2025.
Tiffany and Allyson Kangisser, School Counselor at Woodsdale Elementary School in Ohio County, took advantage of time outside of sessions to build friendships, spend time with family, and explore Orlando.
Since 1996, the Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health has been the premier interdisciplinary conference focused on school mental health. The conference brings together educators, counselors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, physicians, mental health leaders, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, family members, advocates, and other partners in the school mental health field to share the latest research and best practices. The conference emphasizes a shared school-family-community agenda to promote mental health, prevention, and provide interventions for students and families as part of a multi-tiered system of support.
