After finishing up in Kingston, New York, I made the small trek to Kalamazoo Michigan for the NASW Conference. Michigan seems to be the most progressive state concerning mental health, behavioral health and substance use disorder. You have probably heard me mention that recently after my blog from the Detroit conference. It was good to be back in Michigan so quickly and it was awesome to work with such a genuine group of people who decided on me as their speaker.
The weather in Michigan tends to take a turn towards winter quicker than other parts of the country. It was already cold in Michigan and their cold is usually next level cold. It wasn’t that cold yet, but I still don’t know how they do the winters they do out there. This was a much smaller conference than the one in Detroit, but I would say equally as impactful.
I was scheduled to just give a keynote but afterward I was given time to answers questions from the audience. I’m grateful they gave me that time because I honestly think that the real insight to mental health, substance use disorders and recovery can be achieved during this time. I feel like if I just speak there is so many people that have these, “how did he”, thoughts that occur. I hate to leave people wanting more, I try my best to make sure everyone gets what they need from me to leave the events inspired and equipped.
One cool testimony from that event a person from the audience reached out to me afterwards and let me know they were working on stopping their drinking and wanted to dive more into the work of helping those struggling with addiction! I literally love that kind of stuff because honestly if I didn’t hear anything like this I would never know If my story is doing its work on the listeners and providing the inspiration for them to tackle their struggles and overcome them. Thank you everyone at NASW Michigan. It was an honor to speak at the conference this year!