It is their hard work and strong local affiliations which has brought this historic financial support to PSI’s conference!
This support represents the largest lump sum financial investment PSI has ever received from any single entity. The money is to be designated entirely for conference expenses. The Texas Children’s Hospital was presented with many options for supporting this year’s conference, but Deborah tells me they were particularly interested in providing local scholarships to the conference and underwriting travel expenses for speakers. This is a fantastic use of funds which will help area professionals and consumers learn what they need to know - and what is new - about our issue! And the support will allow this year’s conference committee to offer some financial support to the speakers who so generously agreed to present - and pay their own registrations - just to share their knowledge with our participants.
The partnership with Texas Children’s Hospital creates a fine collaboration as they are building a new Maternity Center that will be located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston next year. Deborah Sorenson and Sherry Duson have both been involved with TCH Maternity Center leadership as advocates for maternal mental health as an important program inclusion for healthy mother/baby outcomes. Deborah and Sherry believe this contribution further underscores the TCH commitment to this mission and to their specialty in children’s healthcare. By building mental health services in their maternity center, TCH will be the first such facility in Houston (and perhaps, in all of Texas) to do so. TCH is a well respected facility with great community support. Offering conference scholarship will help bring those who most need to learn about our issue to the conference, our annual networking banquet and create additional local and national momentum for PSI’s most important annual event.
Please join me in congratulating Deborah and Sherry on this huge achievement!!
ONLINE REGISTRATION is now up and running and early bird discounts are available until the end of this week. We have sold out half of our available registration currently at 150, and encourage you to come to Houston! We have two tracks this year, several advanced offerings for clinicians and social support attendees and a program which includes speakers involved in the most innovative programs and services in our country! Dr. Margaret Howard will present the unique programs of the Women and Infants Hospital - our nation’s only facility which admits infants with their mothers who need inpatient care. We hope to see this program replicated across the country. George Parnham, Andrea Yates attorney, will speak about the legal recourse of women suffering from perinatal mood disorders who enter the criminal justice system, and Valerie Plame Wilson, our banquet keynote speaker, will talk about her own experiences with postpartum depression. These and other equally compelling presentations make this conference truly novel in its offerings and timely in its delivery of this information. Please see the conference brochure (available on PSI’s website) for other excellent presentations/speakers.
Hoping to see all of you there!!
Warmly, Susan