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Annie Foncannon

Annie began working in the mental health field as a paraprofessional at Crider Center in 2000. Shortly after she became a part of the Marketing and Development team working on a grass-roots effort to create a Children’s Services Fund for St. Charles County. She was named the Social Marketing Liaison for the St. Charles County SAMSHA cooperative agreement to create a System of Care in that community. She went on to be the campaign manager for Lincoln and then Franklin County’s efforts to create Childrens Services Funds. All three counties successfully passed. During that time she worked on strengthening the System of Care in these communities earning her many recognitions including a gold and silver award in the national Excellence in Communications and Community Outreach for her work in System of Care Social Marketing. Due to her experience, she served as faculty/presenter at several national System of Care academies and meetings. In June of 2009 Annie was hired by the Franklin County Community Resource Board (FCCRB) to be the Executive Director of the Franklin County Putting Kids First Children’s Services Fund. In this capacity she serves as a member of the Franklin County System of Care. During her career she has served in statewide capacities to strengthen the System of Care in Missouri. In addition, she has been a contract consultant to the first St. Louis System of Care federal grant and the System of Care Grant that worked in Joplin, Jefferson City, and Springfield known as the SOC-CESS. Annie continues to believe in the power of System of Care to strengthen children, families, and communities.
 

Presentation(s): 

System of Care in Missouri

 

By

Cla Stearns, PhD

Dr. Stearns is Children’s Services Director for the Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH) and a partner with Kinmundy Consultant Group. He is a Licensed Psychologist and holds Doctorate and Masters degrees from the University of Missouri. His over 30 years of professional experience includes: providing private practice psychological services for individuals, families, schools and governmental agencies; psychological and neuropsychological assessment, utilization review in managed Medicaid; and vocational assessment and rehabilitation. He has more than 13 years experience with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) in a variety of roles, beginning as the state director for assessment, eligibility and utilization review for DMHs Division of Developmental Disabilities, promotion to Assistant Division Director, and further promotion to his current position. He lives with his wife in Prairie Home, MO.
 

Presentation(s): 

System of Care in Missouri

 

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JJ Gossrau, MSW, LCSW

JJ Gossrau, MSW, LCSW, is the Director of the Early Psychosis Care (EPC) Center and the Director of Young Adult Services at the Department of Mental Health. Her responsibilities include supervision and development of the EPC Center and connecting with key stakeholders including state government offices, private and nonprofit community service agencies, universities, and community behavioral health provider agencies. She is passionate about outreaching, educating, and supporting young people, transforming psychosis care, and ensuring timely access to effective early intervention services. More recently, JJ has worked to expand System of Care (SOC) across Missouri. JJ strongly believes in SOC and the positive impact of involving families and youth with lived experience in decisions about care, treatment, and support. JJ received her Master of Social Work from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. In her free time, she enjoys walking her dogs Jessie and Fredy and spending time with her husband and 2 boys.
 

Presentation(s): 

System of Care in Missouri

 

By

Kathleen Murray, BA, MS

For more than 30 years, Kathleen Murray has dedicated her career to community outreach, mental health advocacy, and the development of compassionate, effective systems of care for marginalized populations. Her work has centered on creating meaningful connection with individuals who are often the hardest to engage-those navigating complex trauma, unstable environments, or multiple barriers to traditional services. Kathleen is widely recognized for her advanced skills in empathy, rapport-building, and deep engagement, bringing people into support systems when others could not.
Kathleen’s practice is grounded in integrity, persistence, and a “no wrong door” philosophy, ensuring that every individual receives support regardless of how they enter the system. A champion of collaboration and long-term commitment, Kathleen has consistently remained engaged when others moved on, often becoming the steady presence clients rely on most. Her leadership, dedication, and heart-centered approach continue to influence programs, practitioners, and communities working toward equitable, accessible, and person-centered care.
 

Presentation(s): 

Improving Care for People with Complex Needs: Real Solutions That Make a Difference

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Dana Silverblatt, MA

Dana Silverblatt has served as Director of Community Programs at Behavioral Health Network of Greater St. Louis since 2019. In that role, she helps to shape strategic priorities and guide cross-department initiatives related to behavioral health and community integration. She collaborates with internal and external partners including health systems, state agencies, providers, and community organizations to drive consensus, troubleshoot challenges, and strengthen service delivery. Prior to BHN, Dana dedicated more than a decade of her work to Community Mental Health Centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers in Chicago and the St. Louis region. Through her collective experience, Dana brings an extensive background in project management and program implementation within a safety net in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Dana earned a Masters of Arts in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelors in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Presentation(s): 

Improving Care for People with Complex Needs: Real Solutions That Make a Difference

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System of Care in Missouri

Room: Paradise A

Speaker(s): 

JJ Gossrau, LCSW

Cla Stearns, PhD

Annie Foncannon

Presentation: System of Care (SOC) is a comprehensive spectrum of effective services and supports for children, youth, and young adults with or at risk for mental health or other challenges and their families that is organized into a coordinated network of care. SOC Teams include a diverse array of community providers and partners, including family members and youth. All SOC Teams across Missouri work towards achieving the SOC core values and guiding principles. This presentation will provide an in-depth look at SOC, describe Missouri’s expansion efforts, identify key resources, and provide examples of why SOC is necessary. This presntation is interactive and will give audience members an opportunity to ask questions, have dialog with presenters, and other audience members. As a result, audience members will have a better understanding of how they can get involved and why they would want to connect with their local SOC team.

Objectives:

  • Discuss rates of mental health challenges for children are increasing
  • Review SOC core values and guiding principles
  • Describe why and how to get involved in local SOC team efforts

Slides and Handouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finding Joy in the Workplace: Ethical Considerations in Addressing Trauma-Related Employment Stress (TRES) Part 2

Room: Paradise B

Speaker(s): 

Terri Cooley-Bennett, DSW

Presentation: Vicarious trauma can negatively impact practitioners, clients, colleagues, supervisors, and entire organizations. In recent years, the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) have updated their professional codes of ethics to include self-care as an ethical responsibility. The Missouri Credentialing Board (MCB) addresses self-care and impairment within its ethical codes. Vicarious trauma is termed by Van der Merwe as trauma related employment stress (TRES).

This workshop will examine Vicarious Trauma and what the research indicates. Causes, prevalence, consequences, and prevention will be discussed with an emphasis on self-care practices. Part 1 will focus on the research, causes, prevalence, and consequences, while Part 2 will focus on prevention and self-
care.

Objectives:

  • Examine the research and enhance understanding of the different aspects of Vicarious Trauma
  • Describe ethical approaches for managing Vicarious Trauma
  • Identify prevention techniques and evidence-based self-care practices

Slides and Handouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trauma Informed Care for Supervisors

Room: Paradise C

Speaker(s): 

Le’Anne Schlotzhauer, BS

Presentation: This presentation provides a structured overview of trauma-informed care principles tailored for supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It explains what trauma is, how it uniquely impacts people with IDD, and practical ways staff can apply these principles in daily care.

Objectives:

  • Describe the core principles of Trauma Informed Care
  • Define Trauma in the IDD context
  • Discuss Trauma Informed Supervision Principles

Slides and Handouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Improving Care for People with Complex Needs: Real Solutions That Make a Difference

Room: Nautical Wheeler

Speaker(s): 

Dana Silverblatt, MA

Kathleen Murray, MS

Presentation: Millions of Americans are living with complex health-related and social needs, characterized by combinations of chronic illness, functional impairments, mental illness, housing instability, and inadequate social support. As these individuals experience impairments that are cyclical, they often endure further chronic issues, such as food insecurity or ongoing homelessness. This makes receiving adequate support especially challenging, and they frequently enter multiple systems such as health care, social service, behavioral health, law enforcement, courts, housing, and others. Many of these individuals turn toward hospital emergency departments (EDs), which are intended to address acute physical health concerns episodically. Due to the long-lasting and progressive nature of the needs of patients with complex needs, they often leave EDs without having their needs fully met. People with complex needs who frequently utilize hospitals and other systems experience fragmented care and poorer outcomes due to a lack of coordinated, integrated services within their regions. In the St. Louis region, organizations and leaders in healthcare coordination have begun to address this issue in our own community. During this presentation, you will learn about the complexity of this populations needs and solutions with proven results. You will get an in-depth look into two local programs, Hospital to Housing (H2H) and Building Engagement to Address Complex Needs (BEACN), that are using national best practices to improve outcomes for individuals and reduce preventable and costly hospital utilization. You will also learn about the planning and coordination for a complex care model underway that aims to draw lessons learned from the existing programs for a regionwide approach, including opportunities for local and state systems, behavioral health providers, housing supports, advocacy groups, and funders.

Objectives:

  • Identify best practice components of a complex care model
  • Identify at least 3 outcomes/metrics core to St. Louis area complex care programs
  • Describe challenges and opportunities for improving lives of people living with complex health and behavioral health conditions

Slides and Handouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Integrated Support: Serving the Whole Person

Room: Windgate 62-63

Speaker(s): 

Amber Stockreef, DHS

Presentation: Participants will learn of Missouri history with the BHIDD efforts, current best practices and future efforts in supporting the dual behavioral health and developmental disability population.

Objectives:

  • Discuss MO BHIDD history
  • Describe current best practices
  • Review current and future BHIDD efforts in Missouri

Slides and Handouts: