The 988 Region 1 Conference took place in Boston on September 17th and 18th. It provided our Crisis Line Manager and Coordinator the opportunity to connect with other centers in Massachusetts and the entire Northeast region.
Our keynote speaker, Toy Burton, kicked off the conference with an incredibly powerful speech. She spoke of her own struggles being both a suicide loss and attempt survivor, as well as her journey to creating DeeDee’s Cry, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention efforts, named for Toy’s sister who she lost to suicide. A powerful quote from her keynote address was, “The more we say it out loud; say ‘suicide’ out loud, the more we break the stigma.”
We heard from speakers on updates to georouting, the network agreement, and data analytics. There were presentations on how to better serve remote populations and the importance of cultural competency. We also participated in breakout discussions on effective hybrid and remote staffing, exploring funding opportunities, and why we chose to work in this field.