This year’s In My Mind (IMM24) Conference, with the title, "Moving To Thriving and Belonging" with the theme, Migrant Communities’ Healing Journeys, will be held on Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12 in partnership with and at The New School, NYC. The planning team’s collective efforts for this one-and-a-half-day conference will focus on LGBTQIA+ Black and People of Color migrants, asylum seekers and refugees’ experiences and reasons for leaving their countries of origin – for some, trauma, mental health challenges and even violence, but somehow finding hope, strength, support, and community throughout their journey. The collective strengths and wisdom from clinicians, consumers, academics, and advocates will examine the many aspects of overcoming and creating.

Commemorating the Conference’s 10th Anniversary, we will host, “Together We Are” Awards Reception on Wednesday, October 9, from 6:00pm to 9:30pm, to celebrate and honor individuals, organizations, and companies whose support for In My Mind over the past 10 years significantly contributed to its continuing relevance and success.

The Conference’s planning team welcomes you and recognizes Same-Gender Loving (SGL) and Two-Spirit (2S) community members who are Indigenous, Black and Peoples of Color. The Program is divided into two distinct areas: Speakers (invited Speakers will address aspects of the conference Theme and Tracks) and Presentations (Workshops, Panel Discussions, and Stand-Alone Presentations conforming to the Conference Tracks). Abstract submitters are encouraged to complete the requirements for Continuing Education Units/Credits (CEUs) to ensure that LCSW and LMSW attendees to their presentations can receive credit toward their licenses.
Click here to learn more about the theme.

MM24 will take place on Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12, 2024, with check-in/registration on both days at 8:00am, the formal program beginning at 9:00am, continuing through the first day, concluding at 5:30pm, and half day on the second day, concluding at 2:00pm. This forum is for clinicians, academics, advocates, activists, community members with lived experience, and students.

The Conference will feature 45-minute Speaker presentations to establish common starting points, which will be followed by 75-minute concurrent single/stand-alone, small group webinars – some geared for clinicians and others for community members.

Program

Abstract Submission and Tracks:
The Conference theme sets the tone for selected presentations from our abstract submission process, conforming to four tracks (see Submission Guidelines)
• Track A – Advocacy
• Track B – Community
• Track C – Education, and
• Track D – Research.
The call for abstracts will be in two phases:
Phase I for community members who submitted and presented at IMM over the past nine years, begins on April 1 and ends on April 30, and
Phase II for the wider global community from May 1 to May 31
- submit abstracts HERE

Submitted abstracts will be reviewed and selected by an independent panel, and a draft program will be made available in the first week of July, when early registration will commence.

The intended audience for this conference will include LGBTQIA+ Black and Peoples of Color migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, high school seniors and college students, faculty and administration, community stakeholders, local municipalities, county and state wide governments’ Departments of Health, K-12 administrators, teachers and social workers/counselors, private practice and public therapists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors, and case managers; and all interested parties from the surrounding New York Tri State area, the country, and internationally.

The Conference’s format will be Breakout Presentations (Workshops, Panel Discussions, and Stand-Alone Presentations) in at least three Session Blocks consisting of five/six concurrent presentations, and are organized around four tracks, Advocacy, Community, Education and Research. Presentations in each track are intended to address the conference’s overall theme, "Moving To Thriving and Belonging" with the theme, Migrant Communities’ Healing Journeys. Presentations will focus on overcoming challenges and difficulties experienced by LGBTQIA+ Black and Persons of Color who have left their countries of origin; those seeking asylum due to anti-LGBTQIA+ laws; those who have experienced violence due to homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in their homelands; the trauma and the effects on one's mental health caused by the migration experience; and how LGBTQIA+ Black and persons of color migrants have found hope, strength, support and community throughout their journey.

The Conference seeks to create a learning experience in which there is an exchange of knowledge, social resources (including immigration services, housing, and benefits), language access, workforce development, linkage to mental health care and treatment, HIV, sexual health, social networking, and care-giving relationships - considering dependence and independence. In their presentations, abstracts will demonstrate how and in what ways opportunities were created, if not for the presenters, but for their respective communities. Presentations along the four tracks should examine the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of LGBTQIA+ Black and Peoples of Color migrant communities and their healing journeys ultimately moving to thriving and belonging.

The Conference features two distinct formats: a 45-minute Speaker presentation(s) to establish common starting points, and set the tone for the day and 75-minute Breakout Presentations (Workshops, Panel Discussions, Stand-Alone, and Virtual Poster Presentations). These reflect on the conference’s theme –Migrant Communities’ Healing Journeys – and explore in-depth many issues impacting our communities’ mental health. These will examine the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of LGBTQIA+ Black and Peoples of Color, as well as treatments, methodologies and modalities of various states of illness, emotional /social dysfunction and disease facing these communities. These 75-minute concurrent single/stand-alone sessions, some geared for clinicians, others for community members, and others combined for both groups.

In the Conference Program, an abstract submission satisfying the NY State Department of Education requirements may qualify and be eligible for Continuing Education Credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Licensed Master’s in Social Work. On the Conference Program, a presentation marked CE indicates that a person attending for the duration and completing the evaluation can earn one-credit hour toward their license.

Abstract Submissions are organized around four tracks: Advocacy, Community, Education and Research.

Click here to learn more about this.

IMM24 will be held at The New School, NYC.