Alliance Conference Alert: There’s still time to register for this week’s Alliance Annual Conference, Our Movement, Our Moment, to be held from September 23-25 in Albany
Register for the Conference HERE
Full Conference Program
This year’s conference site at the Wolf Road Marriott is full.
Here’s a list of available nearby hotels:
- Hampton Inn Albany-Wolf Road 518-438-2822
- Home2 Suites by Hilton Albany Wolf Road 518-482-4045
- Fairfield Inn & Suites -168 Wolf Road 518-482-8800
- Homewood Suites – 216 Wolf Road 518-438-4300
- Courtyard by Marriott – 227 Wolf Road 518-319-8700
- Residence Inn -227 Wolf Road 518-319-8900
- Staybridge Suites -39 Wolf Road 518-438-3300
- Hotel Trilogy Albany Airport – 254 Wolf Road 518-869-9100
FEATURED PRESENTATIONS: TRANSFORMING LOCAL SERVICE SYSTEMS
We want to distinguish 2 presentations that we believe are particularly relevant for local leaders who are thinking about how to strengthen their service continuums, reduce reliance on coercive interventions, and respond to the recent “AOT study” recommendations.
- Hollywood 2.0 as a Model for System Redesign: Hollywood offers a practical example of redesigning services around engagement rather than compliance, particularly for people cycling through homelessness, crisis services, hospitals, law enforcement, and other high-cost systems. It shows what can happen when outreach, street-based services, housing, peer support, and clinical care are organized around reaching and staying connected to people who have not been well served by traditional approaches.
- Applying those lessons locally: For counties, the Hollywood discussion can help move beyond the question of adding another program and toward thinking about how the broader system needs to change for people who repeatedly fall through the cracks.
- INSET as diversion rather than simply step-down: The INSET workshop can look specifically at how INSET can be used earlier as an intensive voluntary alternative, and not as a stepdown service that people receive after AOT. This panel has the opportunity to talk about what works, what gets in the way, and what counties need to consider around referrals, outreach, peer roles, staffing, hospital relationships, and maintaining fidelity to voluntary engagement.
- Connecting these to the AOT study: Together, Hollywood and INSET give counties a way to think concretely about the study recommendations. What needs to exist upstream of AOT? Who might be diverted from court involvement if more robust voluntary options were available? How do we build a continuum capable of staying engaged with people who have historically declined or disengaged from traditional services?
- How what a comprehensive voluntary system could look: The larger conversation is not about identifying a single replacement for AOT. It is about combining intensive voluntary engagement, peers, flexible community-based support, housing, street outreach/street medicine, rapid response, and sustained relationship-building into a credible alternative for people with complex needs.
These aren’t simply workshops about two innovative programs. They give local leaders practical examples and strategies for redesigning their continuum around earlier engagement, intensive voluntary support, and alternatives to coercion and for beginning to translate the AOT study recommendations into county-level action.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24 11:30AM KEYNOTE
Hollywood 2.0: Reimagining Mental Ballroom Health Through Community and Connection
Sapna Mendon, Plasek Rand Corporation, Kerry Morrison, Heart Forward Founder and Project Director, Hollywood 2.0. Department of Mental Health, LA County and Panel, Jillian Santoro, Fountain House Hollywood, Karla Bennett, Hollywood 2.0 Program Manager, LA County, and Carolyn Kanecko, Hollywood Mental Health Clinic and Hollywood 2.0 Leadership, LA County
One of the nation’s most groundbreaking behavioral health initiatives, Hollywood 2.0 is transforming mental health by adapting principles from the internationally acclaimed Trieste model and bringing them to life in Los Angeles County. This keynote panel will feature the leaders, innovators, and evaluators behind the initiative as they share how community-based, peer-inclusive, recovery-oriented services are reducing reliance on traditional systems while expanding opportunities for healing, belonging, and full community participation. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the design, implementation, challenges, outcomes, and future potential of this bold approach to system transformation, and what it could mean for communities across the country.
FRIDAY September 25, 2026 8:30 am
INSET: Reimagining Engagement Through Choice, Trust, and Connection
Intensive and Sustained Engagement Teams (INSET) offers an alternative approach for supporting people with complex needs who are disconnected from traditional services and systems of care. Grounded in voluntary participation, relationship-building, choice, and persistence, INSET starts with the person rather than requiring the person to engage on the system’s terms. Teams focus on building trust over time, remaining present through periods of disengagement, and creating opportunities for connection without coercion.
This panel will bring together leaders from INSET programs across New York State to share how this approach is being put into practice. Panelists will discuss emerging outcomes, lessons learned, and the opportunities and challenges of delivering a truly voluntary model. The conversation will explore what INSET is teaching us about engagement, recovery, and new ways of supporting people who have not found a meaningful connection to traditional services.