18^th Annual System of Care Academy Conference

Empower ~ Engage ~ Elevate

June 25- 27, 2025 | Stone Mountain, GA

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Conference registration will  be available in Spring 2025

2025 SOCA Call for Workshop Proposals

 Timeline:

 October 31, 2024 November 7, 2024: Submission Deadline

December: Committee Review

Week of December 16^th: Proposal Decision Notifications Begin

January 2025: Detailed Acceptance Notifications Begin

The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Office of Children, Young Adults, and Families and the Georgia Interagency Directors Team are pleased to announce this Call for Workshop Proposals for the 2025 Georgia System of Care Academy (SOCA). The 18^th Annual Georgia SOCA conference is scheduled for June 25-27, 2025, at the Atlanta Evergreen Lakeside Resort in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The theme this year is Empower ~ Engage ~ Elevate.

Each year, SOCA invites a robust group of workshop presenters to share their extensive knowledge and experience with our attendees. The SOCA planning committee is always seeking ways to improve our attendees’ experience. We are seeking specific workshop topics for our three tracks EMPOWER Clinical Development Track (Clinical Development), ENGAGE System Principles (GA SOC Foundations), and ELEVATE Professional Development (Professional Development).

Below you will find further details on the 18th Annual System of Care Academy, workshop proposal requirements, intended audience, topics, tracks, and the presentation review and selection process.

If you have additional questions or need technical assistance submitting your proposal, contact DBHDDLearning@dbhdd.ga.gov

For general information about DBHDD, please go to http://dbhdd.georgia.gov.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Carefully read and review all the submission information provided in each section below before starting your submission.  You can also download the submission information to your computer by clicking the link below. The file will open in a new window/tab in your browser.

SOCA Proposal Submission Information Download

Workshop Tracks and Topics

Whether attendees are relatively new to GASOC or a GASOC veteran seeking to learn more, 2025 SOCA strives to provide a valuable learning experience.

Below is a list of preferred workshop topics per track.  However, we are not limited to just these topics. We encourage you to submit your proposal if you feel it will be relevant to our conference attendees.

EMPOWER Clinical Development  Track (Clinical Interventions)

All workshops in this track will focus on clinical interventions and frameworks, innovative mental health practices, and evidence-based practices. This track was designed with our systems’ licensed professionals in mind.

• Accelerated resolution therapy
• Autism interventions
• Best practices and interventions for virtual delivery of services for youth & young adults
• Co-Occurring Disorders Interventions
• Cognitive processing therapy
• Crisis interventions
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment for anxiety and depression in youth and young adults
• Family systems therapy
• Grief and loss related to COVID-19
• Practical tools on behavioral interventions
• Psychopharmacology
• Schema therapy
• Resources and interventions for providing care in rural communities and/or areas
• Treatment planning
• Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
• Other clinical interventions and frameworks
  

ENGAGE System Principles Track (GA SOC Foundations)

This track will include the System of Care (SOC) foundational info and specific program workshops, care coordination, interventions for co-occurring disorders, peer supervision. This track would be great for anyone who is new to Georgia’s system of care rather you are a professional, a caregiver, or a season SOC professional seeking more information about the current happenings in our system. 

• High Fidelity Wraparound
• SOC foundations 
• SOC programs (inclusive of Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Education, Department of Public Health, community providers)
• Federation of Families
• Youth Move
• Youth Track (topics relevant to the young adult population we serve and that are attending the conference)

ELEVATE Professional Development Track (Professional Development)

All workshops in this track will focus on the professional development of all professionals within our system from executive leadership to direct care professionals, including but not limited to: How to align with strategic priorities, use data to inform their work, how to acquire and retain talent, work/life balance, and strategies to enhance leadership skills

• Acquiring and retaining employees 
• Conflict resolution in the workplace 
• Diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging
• Cultural awareness, competency, & sensitivity 
• Data-informed decisions 
• IEPs and PBIS education (i.e., Process, terminology, tips, etc.)
• Leadership skills 
• Managing and/or working with multi-generational teams 
• Self-care (physical, mental, emotional, mindfulness, etc.) 
• Time management and productivity
• Work/life balance

Selection Criteria

Proposal selection will be based on:

• Topic of relevance and/or relates to the core values of the system of care philosophy and/or conference theme (click here for SOC Philosophy)
• Interactive educational experience (polls, voting, video, group activities, etc.)
• Objectives that include providing tangible tips and tools for attendees to implement immediately (click here for APA Writing Learning Objectives Requirements)
• All workshops must answer this question for attendees, “What next steps can I take to get the benefit of this information?”

Audience

SOCA attracts individuals at all stages of their professional and recovery journeys.
Our mission is to meet them where they are and provide actionable and practical information to assist them in moving forward. Attendees include professionals from multiple child-serving agencies in Georgia both licensed clinicians (LPC, LAPC, LSW, LCSW, and MFT) and non-licensed direct care professionals working with youth, young adults (18-26) and caregivers (parents, grandparents, guardians, foster parents).

Attendees are seeking a combination of thought leadership, innovation, and ‘how to’ sessions. All workshops must answer this question for attendees, “What next steps can I take to get the benefit of this information?”

Workshop Duration

Workshop Duration

SOCA workshops are 90 minutes.

• 2 min intro
• 60 min interactive instruction
• 20 min  discussion + question and answer segment
• 8 min feedback survey completion

Benefits of Presenting

Speakers at SOCA benefit in a variety of ways:

• Recognition and reputation as a leader in the field.
• Access to a prospective audience of 400+ leaders, professionals, decision makers, and caregivers within Georgia’s System of Care.
• Opportunity to build new relationships and collaboration opportunities.
• Feedback from attendees through evaluation summaries

Travel & Registration Responsibility of Presenter

REGISTRATION RESPONSIBILITY OF PRESENTER

Attendance to the conference is free.  However, each presenter, co-presenter, and panelist are required to complete online registration.

TRAVEL REGISTRATION RESPONSIBILITY OF PRESENTER

Lodging, mileage and per diem will not be provided or reimbursed.

Notification of Selection

The proposal’s lead contact will be informed of the final selection status of their presentation proposal and the date(s) and time(s) that the presentation will be scheduled within the agenda.

 Please ensure that the proposal clearly identifies an email address and phone number for the lead contact that will be valid for the next six months. 

 Please note, it is the lead contact’s responsibility to distribute all communication sent from DBHDD to their co-presenters/co-panelists

Submission Guidelines

Enter all your submission details following the on-screen guidelines. Please follow the guidelines carefully to ensure there are no problems with your submission. Be sure to SAVE each page of your submission before continuing to the next section.

 All correspondence from the review committee regarding your submission will be via email, so please ensure you enter a valid email address and check your spam or junk mail folder in case our correspondence is diverted there.

Once you submit your workshop presentation proposal, you will receive an automatic confirmation email message. In most cases, this confirmation email will be sent within a few seconds of your submission. This email message is your receipt to show your submission has been received and entered in the database for review. Please keep a copy of this message in case of any queries or problems related to your submission.

 If you DO NOT receive a confirmation message, even after checking your spam or junk mail folder, it means there was probably an error with your submission. In this case, please contact DBHDDLearning@dbhdd.ga.gov to check on the status of your submission. In most cases, failure to receive a confirmation message means the presentation details were not submitted correctly. If you have any doubts about whether or not your submission was received, please contact us for technical assistance at DBHDDLearning@dbhdd.ga.gov.

 We will begin submission results notifications the week of December 16^th. It is important you check your email around this time as those who do not confirm their intention to present within a month of the notification being sent may be removed from the schedule.

 It is your responsibility to confirm your presentation even if you are away from home or work. 

 Be sure to notify us of any changes in your contact address. If we cannot contact you via email, your submission will be dropped.

Submission Section

NOTE: THIS SECTION HAS SEVERAL PAGES. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ‘SUBMIT’ AT THE END OF THIS PROCESS. A PAGE WILL APPEAR WITH A CONFIRMATION NUMBER, THAT WILL LET YOU KNOW YOU HAVE SUCESSFULLY SUBMITTED YOUR PROPOSAL

Checklist for Submitting Proposals

☑ Name and contact information for all presenters

☑ Identify a lead presenter. This individual will be responsible for getting all communication to co-presenters if your proposal is accepted.  This individual will be someone who is responsive and checks their email regularly.

☑ Resumes for all presenters

☑ Workshop Proposal Title, Topic, and Description. The workshop description has a 500-character limit. 

☑ A developed idea of how the 60-minutes of instruction will be structured (NOTE: Keep in mind you will be allotted an additional 20 minutes for discussion an Q&A.  The total session time is 90 minutes.)

☑ Three learning objectives for the workshop

☑ All presenters’ availability for June 25^th, June 26^th, and June 27^th, 2025.

 You can save your submission as a draft and log back into the application before the October 31, 2024 deadline if you find there is information needed that is not readily available.

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING DISTRIBUTION:

Please distribute the link below to others who may be interested in submitting a presentation proposal.

 SOCA Workshop Proposal Website URL : 

http://www.cvent.com/c/abstracts/5c902f2c-b4ac-4902-bd0b-a67c9d0dd206