At a time when inspiration, innovation, determination and community action has never been more needed, this fall’s Alliance for Rights and Recovery Annual Conference brings together an extraordinary long lineup of many of the state’s and nation’s most influential leaders in our community, field and movement! You can click on their names to learn more about them.
Look for next week’s release of the full program schedule and daily profiles of these and the other powerful presenters who will be with us at the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center on September 29-October 1.
REGISTER TODAY HERE or click on the image below. See you in September!

Unbreakable! Harnessing Our Power, Building Our Resilience, Inspiring Hope and Courage
Alliance for Rights and Recovery 43rd Annual Conference
Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center September 29-October 1, 2025
Register Today Here!
· Pat Deegan, Founder, Pat Deegan & Associates
· Congressman Paul Tonko
· Ann Sullivan, Commissioner, NYS Office of Mental Health
· Rob Kent, Kent Strategic Advisors
· Paolo del Vecchio, Independent Consultant
· Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Director Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
· Vesper Moore, COO, Kiva Centers
· Laura van Tosh, Global Mental Health Peer Network
· Mark Salzer, Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences at Temple University College of Public Health
· Leah Harris, Founder and CEO, Shifa Consulting
· Dana Foglesong, National Senior Director of Recovery and Resiliency Services for Magellan Healthcare
· Ruth Lowenkron, Director of the Disability Justice Program, New York Lawyers
· Phyllis Vine, author of “Fighting for Recovery: An Activists’ History of Mental Health Reform”
· Helen “Skip” Skipper Executive Director, NYC Justice Peer Initiative
· Amy Brinkley, Executive Director/Founder, Paul’s Plan Ministries
· Nev Jones, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburg Social of Social Work
· Chacku Mathai, Principal Investigator/Director for CRESTNY Institute, Center for Practice Innovations
· Gayle Bluebird, Bluebird Consultants
· Angelia Smith-Wilson, Executive Director, FOR-NY, Faces and Voices of Recovery leader
· Matthew Federici, CEO, Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery
· Steve Miccio, CEO, People USA
· Vanessa Ramos, Senior Advisor, Disability Rights California
· Laura Prescott, President, Sister Witness International
· Cherene Caraco, CEO, of Promise Resource Network
· Michael Skinner, Director, Surviving Spirit
