NECBHN Annual Conference 2026

Tom lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. From 2002-2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). More recently (2015 – 2017), he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) in South San Francisco, CA. In 2017, he co-founded Mindstrong Health, a Silicon Valley start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness. 

Dr. Insel co-founded Vanna Health in 2022 and currently serves as Executive Chair. Vanna Health is focused on the needs of people with serious mental illness and works with community partners to provide the 3 Ps (people, place, and purpose) for recovery. In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery. Since May of 2019, Dr. Insel has been a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Chair of the Board of the Steinberg Institute in Sacramento, California. He is the author of the book Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, published by Penguin Random House. With journalist co-founders, he recently launched MindSite News (mindsitenews.org), a non-profit digital publication focused on mental health issues. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards, including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe.

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Conference Faciliator: Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH, CMHC, Chief Executive Officer, Unified Youth

Session 1 - Panel: What Do We Mean by Workforce?

This panel will provide an overview of the current children’s behavioral health workforce landscape across New England, highlighting data and priorities identified by behavioral health workforce centers throughout the region. The session will ground the day’s discussions in a shared understanding of what we know, what gaps remain in our knowledge, and what the workforce may need to look like to meet future behavioral health needs for children and families.

Speakers:

• ‍ Amy Doyle, MSW, MPH, Director, Behavioral Health Workforce Center, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission

• ‍ Aleece Kelly, MPP, Director of System Development Policy, Child Health and Development Institute

• ‍ ‍Mark Belanger, MBA (Advisor to Dartmouth Health, Founder and CEO of Integration Sciences)

• Moderator: Sarah Eagan, JD, Executive Director, Center for Children’s Advocacy

Session 2: - Big Ideas: Workforce Innovation

‍In this series of rapid-fire talks, leading thinkers on the behavioral health workforce share ideas for how we can deliver more care and meet children’s needs with the workforce we have.

‍Speakers:

• Laura Bond, PhD, MA, Program Director, Mental Health for All Lab, Harvard Medical School

• ‍Jennifer B Freeman, PhD, Director, Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC), Associate Director of Research, Bradley Hospital

• ‍Elizabeth Morrison, CEO & Co-Creator, Lay Counselor Academy

• Ashley Deckert, MSW, MA, Director, Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF)

• Moderator: Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH, CMHC, Chief Executive Officer, Unified Youth

Session 3 - Panel: How Is Technology Changing the Workforce?

‍This panel will explore how technology is changing how behavioral health care is delivered. Speakers will talk about the impact of technology, how we pay for technology-enabled care, and the impact on the existing workforce.

Speakers:

• Craig Lund, Co-Founder, CEO, Mightier

• Joshua Kemp, PhD, Clinical Psychologist & Innovation Officer, Bradley Hospital

• ‍Hafeezah Muhammad, CEO, Backpack Healthcare

• Moderator: Jason Lang, PhD, Chief Program Officer, Child Health and Development Institute

‍ Session 4 - Panel —Are We Changing Fast Enough?

‍This panel discussion will sum up the themes of the conference by bringing together leaders to discuss whether pediatric health care is changing quickly enough in response to dual financial and technological pressures.

Speakers:

• Heather M. Gates, MBA, President/CEO of Community Health Resources (CHR)

• Michelle Zabel, MSS, Executive Director, Innovations Institute, Associate Extension Professor, University of Connecticut School of Social Work

• Amber W. Childs, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine

• Adam Landman, MD, MS, MIS, MH, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer, Brown University Health

• Moderator: Javeed Sukhera, HBSc, MD, PhD, DABPN, FRCPC, Chair of Psychiatry, Institute of Living, Chief of Psychiatry, Hartford Hospital

We’re working with sponsors and community partners to support this conference and our work to strengthen children’s behavioral health systems and services. Details about our sponsorship packages are available here. To discuss options please contact us at info@necbhn.org

We are grateful to our sponsors for their support of the 2026 NECBHN Conference.