The University Counseling Center (UCC) at Southeastern Louisiana University will sponsor the second annual Terrell Conference for Mental Health Practitioners Jan. 10 - Jan. 11, in the university’s Student Union.

Annette Baldwin, outreach liaison for the Southeastern UCC, said conference highlights include a keynote speaker and reception Thursday evening. Friday includes a full day of continuing education opportunities for counseling and other mental health professionals in the areas of supervision, ethics and diagnosis, as well as the expo and networking lunch.

“Participants will have the opportunity for one-on-one conversations with local mental health practitioners, faculty, staff and counseling students,” Baldwin said. “The Conference Expo will showcase area mental health partners dedicated to various aspects of mental health treatment and recovery.”

Keynote speaker Nicholas Hayes will present “Recovery Research Outcomes – Past, Present and Future.” The presentation will address how current recovery science initiatives could impact the future of healthcare, how technology can assist with increasing recovery access throughout communities, and highlight how everyone can support emerging recovery science initiatives in their communities, said Baldwin.

Director of Clinical Research and Outcomes for the Cumberland Heights Foundation in Nashville, Hayes is enrolled as a doctoral student in the Couples, Marriage, and Family Therapy Graduate Program at Texas Tech University. He holds dual licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, as well as a Chemical Dependency Counselor.

Registration costs, which include special rates for students, and other details can be found on the website southeastern.edu/terrellconference.

The conference honors Tom Terrell, former director for the UCC, for his work with students, faculty and staff at Southeastern, as well as the leadership roles he played with the Louisiana Professional Counseling Association. Terrell was instrumental in developing the Louisiana licensure law for mental health professionals and played a key role in achieving accreditation of the Southeastern UCC with the International Association of Counseling Services.

“The UCC has worked with our university and mental health community partners to bring another great conference for professionals, faculty, staff and graduate students,” said Baldwin. “We listened to feedback from last year’s conference and are providing more opportunities for networking with added time to our expo and a networking lunch.”