The 7th Annual Who is Jay? Mental Health Symposium was held on May 23, 2022 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach with record attendance. We thank everyone who came out, including attendees, vendors, and volunteers, as well as all the sponsors who supported the event.

Here are some highlights from the day.

Jeff Yalden presented Understanding Youth Mental Health and Youth Understanding Themselves. Feedback from attendees included:

“Jeff touched my heart and mind. He spoke to me. His heart is gold and he is a fabulous leader for advocacy for teens and EVERYONE!”

“Jeff was a great speaker. He kept me captivated with every single word that came out of his mouth. He was funny as well and I love to laugh so that was a plus!”

“Motivating, interesting, challenging, refreshing.”

Wellness, Wellplayed: Music for Mental Health and Well-being was presented by Jennifer Buchanan, MBA, MTA.

Attendees in Ms. Buchanan’s session enjoyed her energy. Here’s what they shared?

“Really liked the ‘homework’ assignments and ideas to take back to use in my own practice with clients. Thank You!”

“Outstanding presentation! Outstanding Presenter!”

“Best presenter I’ve experienced in a long time.”

“Insightful, thought provoking, informative.”

Symposium attendees were entertained and motivated by Anthony Poponi and his presentation Stopping Self-Sabotage. Along with asking us to bring him back, here are some of their comments:

“Very funny and a master at keeping the crowd’s attention. Interesting topic and information.”

“Thank you so much for a fun learning engaging session!”

“Loved his balance of humor and seriousness.”

“Great Session!”

Dr. Geoffrey Grammer’s presentation on Treatment Resistant Depression – Beyond Medications and Therapy was well received.

Here’s some of what his attendees had to say about it:

“Excellent speaker, rich perspective on his topic. Great look back PLUS great look forward. Incredibly bright man.”

“Super knowledgeable – good communicator”

“Best. Ever. Bravo!”

THIS IS MY BRAVE was a huge hit over lunch as they brought their personal stories to the stage and touched our hearts with their bravery and talent.

Johnny Crowder, Katie Donahue, Amy Eaton, Jasmin Rhia

“So great to hear from people with ‘lived experience,’ from a wonderfully wide variety of walks of life.”

“I love this! What a great organization. Thank you for sharing your stories through your art, music and poetry.”

“Very moving and insightful.”

The Team Approach to Successful Treatment of Mental Illness and Co-Occurring Disorders was presented by Dr. Yusef Canaan, the CMO at SMA Healthcare, along with a panel made of up Karen Duncan, APRN, FNP-C, MBA; Jennifer Stephenson, MA, LMFT; Melissa Eugley, LMHC, CBHCMS.

“The information on medication was helpful. It can help me explain more to clients in therapy sessions and understand what they report.”

“Very educative, good presentation.” – “Very informative session.”

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!