2025 Fall Members’ and Affiliates’ Conference
October 1-2, 2025 Lakefront Hotel Anchorage, 4800 Spenard Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99517
The Alaska Behavioral Health Association is excited to host its annual Fall Conference in Anchorage this October 1-2, 2025.
This year’s Conference will be held at the Lakefront Hotel Anchorage and feature sessions on field innovations, exciting keynote addresses, and panel discussions with State officials. We will post a full agenda at the end of August, so return to this site to review all the exciting events planned during our two days together.
As with the last two Conferences, ABHA will offer free CEs for select sessions. Please indicate on your registration form if you will be requiring these Units.
Our keynote speakers this year are Vera Starbard, a Tlingit and Dena'ina, Emmy-nominated writer, and Tonie “Miss Tonie” Dreher, mental health counselor at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in New York and featured in Sen. Patrick Kennedy’s latest book, “Profiles in Mental Health Courage”. Please scroll down for more biographical information.
The full Conference agenda is posted here. ABHA will be using an app from Guidebook this year to provide you a more interactive experience with the Conference Program and each other while at the event. When available, you will be able to download the app from here.
Registration is now open here. This year, the Association will charge a fee of $50 per member and $100 for non-members. Morning and afternoon breaks will be provided as well as lunches both days.
Lodging is available at the Lakefront Hotel here. Rooms are offered at a special, discounted Conference rate and are limited.
If you are interested in sponsoring the Conference or participating as a vendor, you can find a sponsorship application here.
If you have any questions, please contact Lance Johnson at Lance@akbha.org.
We are grateful for all YOU do and look forward to spending meaningful and impactful time with you October 1-2, 2025.
John Solomon, CEO; Lance E. Johnson, COO; and Dr. Victoria Kildal, CLO
CONFERENCE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
T’set Kwei yóo x̱at duwasáakw. Vera Starbard áyá ax̱ saayí. Dleit ḵáa x̱’éináx̱ Vera Marlene Bedard yóo x̱at duwasáakw. Leeneidi naax̱ x̱at sitee. T’akdeintaan yádi. Wooshkeetaan dachx̱án. Dena’ina dachx̱án. Takjik’ ḵwáan áwé uháan. Shaan Seetxʼ yéi x̱at ḵoowdiztee. Xʼáatʼ Tʼáakx’ ḵux̱aa.óo.
Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, is an editor, author, and playwright. She is a Tlingit Raven of the Leeneidi (Dog Salmon clan) after her mother, and a Child of T’akdeintaan. Her paternal grandfather is of the Wooshkeetaan Clan, and her maternal grandfather is Dena’ina Athabascan. Vera’s ancestors are from the village of Tuxecan on Prince of Wales Island, she was born in Shaan Seet (Craig,) and she’s lived in many communities throughout Alaska. She now makes her home on Xʼáatʼ Tʼáak – Douglas Island, Alaska - with her husband Joseph Bedard of the Inupiaq, Yup’ik, and Cree people, as well as an adopted Chookaneidi.
Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, is Tlingit and Dena’ina, and was appointed to be the Alaska State Writer Laureate in 2024. She is a three-time Emmy-nominee as a writer and story editor for the PBS Kids children’s program “Molly of Denali”. Vera was Playwright-in-Residence at Perseverance Theatre through the Andrew W. Mellon National Playwright Residency Program for six years, and editor of First Alaskans Magazine for over a decade. In 2022-23 she was staffed as a writer on the ABC show “Alaska Daily” and is currently working on projects as varied as stage opera, children’s literature, and live action television.
Vera has won numerous individual local, statewide and national writing and editing awards, including the Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, Alaska Literary Award, and Governor’s Award for Arts and Humanities.
To learn more about Vera, visit her webpage at www.verastarbard.com.
Tonie Dreher currently serves as a Women's Specialist with CASES, the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services in New York, where she counsels recently arrested New Yorkers diverted to psychiatric care instead of jail and those needing care after prison. She does this so successfully by drawing on her own experience of decades struggling with substance use disorder, which she did not realize was tied to mental illness.
Tonie holds credentials as a Certified Peer Specialist, a Recovery Coach, a CASAC-T certification, and is currently working towards a full CASAC certification. Tonie also dedicates her time as a student and is currently working towards obtaining her bachelor's degree in social work.
Tonie is featured in Chapter Four of former Sen. Patrick Kennedy’s latest book, Profiles in Mental Health Courage, and she and her story have been featured on CBS Saturday Morning, the Living Ageless and Bold podcast, and many other media outlets where she continues to encourage and change.
ABHA will have a limited number of Sen. Patrick Kennedy’s books available for purchase at the Conference.
