NBA Holds 2nd Annual Hybrid Mental Health Professionals Conference

Last month, NBA’s Mental Health & Wellness Program hosted the second annual hybrid Mental Health Professionals Conference in New Orleans, LA. The conference aimed to provide connection, care, and rest for mental health professionals and chaplains.   

NBA Director of Mental Health and Wellness Initiative, Joselyn Spence, opened the conference with a welcome focused on the importance of mental health professionals caring for themselves in the midst of all the traumas they attend to with their clients, emphasizing that this conference is not a conference, but a gathering for their connection and care. “In a world where the need to provide mental health care continues to increase, chaplains, therapists, and other mental health professions should be lifted up for the work they are doing to provide care for the mental and spiritual health of those around them,” she remarked. “Many are experiencing compassion fatigue, moral injuries and so many feelings of distress that they cannot solve everything they and others are experiencing. So, it’s important to gather together and know that you all are supported, too.”  

The first day of the conference featured powerful speakers. Rev. Dr. Zachary Moon, author and Professor of Theology and Psychology at Chicago Theological Seminary, led our first keynote session on moral injury and how we can better serve those experiencing it. Our second keynote speaker, Lauren Jenkins, LCPC, CCTP, C-DBT, founder of the mental health and wellness training company Journey2Well, LLC, talked about the prevalence of individuals experiencing suicide in the United States, especially in African American communities, and how we can assist them in treatment and finding healing.   

The conference’s Wellness Equity Workshop opened with NBA Executive Vice President, Rev. Rebecca Hale, who shared the history of NBA’s equity journey, then our wellness equity speaker and member of NBA’s 2023-2025 Mental Health Equity Cohort, Wes Parks, M.S., LPC-S, NCC, owner of boutique private practice Metroplex Mental Health, led a Wellness Equity Workshop exploring trauma in the LGBTQIA+ community and offering a model to help with debriefing LGBTQIA+ clients and patients dealing with trauma. There were also small group sessions for therapist and chaplains led respectively by 2023-2025 Mental Health Equity Cohort members Carolina Fuentes, LCSW and Lee Ivey III, LMCHA, to share professional experiences through meaningful conversation. The day finished with fellowship over dinner which featured conference attendees sharing songs and poetry during Open Mic Night, as well as a candlelight yoga session led by Director of Mental Health and Wellness, Joselyn Spence.   

Day two offered a theme of Remembering and Embodying Care. Joselyn Spence led virtual and in-person participants through the Remembering Care session with contemplative questions, evaluating their place on the feelings wheel, completing a “body scan,” and a rest meditation to help them remember to care for themselves amid their work helping others. Following the session, attendees could embrace Embodying Care through several relaxing options such as a chair massage from Divine Moments massage therapists, painting in the creativity corner, going for a walk or run, or taking a nap. The conference concluded with a sacred circle ritual where attendees shared breath prayers and affirmations as they prepared to depart. One attendee shared that this conference is “their church” when they feel seen and understood!   

The Mental Health Professionals Conference will return in October 2025. Stay tuned to NBA’s social media accounts for details and a Save the Date in early 2025. Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2024 Mental Health Professionals Conference online or in-person!