Join us for a free and public conversation about mental health in Western North Carolina during the next Newsmakers forum, which will be held on Tuesday, July 26, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville.

This will be your chance to hear and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the region’s mental health services, and for those who need and/or are treated for mental health issues. While individual situations are important to understand, this forum will focus primarily on local, regional and statewide policies and on the trends, opportunities and challenges to providing mental health services statewide and in WNC.

Panelists include Christina Carter, chief operating officer of Smoky Mountain MCO, a regional agency coordinating mental healthcare for 23 western North Carolina counties; Sonya Greck, senior vice president for Behavioral Health, Safety Net, Community Benefit, and Project Re:DESIGN at Mission Health; and Jack Register, executive director and registered lobbyist for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in North Carolina.

The event, which is sponsored by Lenoir-Rhyne University, will be moderated by journalists with Carolina Public Press.

A light breakfast is included at the event, and RSVPs are required (tickets available below). Carolina Public Press will livestream the event for those who are unable to attend in person, so RSVP for details on how to connect remotely.

For more information, please call Carolina Public Press at 828-774-5290 or email us at tgeorge@carolinapublicpress.org.

Event sponsors:

What are Newsmakers?

The Newsmakers series from Carolina Public Press seeks to go beyond headlines and soundbites to provide in-depth conversations about top public policy issues facing Western North Carolina with business leaders, lawmakers, agency administrators and public policy influencers. Moderated by the expert journalists and contributors with Carolina Public Press, the series includes a light breakfast and question-and-answer time. For those unable to attend in person, we are now working to livestream each event. These sessions, as well as all programs and journalism done by Carolina Public Press, are supported through the generous contributions of foundations and readers like you.