Fall Conference 2025

 Date: September 11, 2025 9am to 5pm in person and September 26, 2025 9am to 12pm online
*must attend Day 1 in person to attend Day 2 online.
 Location for Day 1: Earle Brown Heritage Center  Location for Day 2: Online

Title: Rooted & Rising: Reimagining Mental Health Through Healing, Courage, and Joy

In a world where mental health care is evolving, we ask the deeper questions: What are we healing? What are we afraid of? What future are we creating? Rooted & Rising is a transformative gathering designed for mental health professionals, advocates, and community leaders ready to explore what it means to be deeply grounded in purpose, identity, and vision. When our roots are deep—culturally, emotionally, and spiritually—we can withstand the winds of fear, change, and burnout.

Agenda:

• Day 1
  8:30 -9:00 Registration /Continental Breakfast
  9:00-9:30 Welcome and Speaker Introduction
  9:30-12:00 Presenter: Vanessa Jackson
  12:00-1:00 Lunch reflect and community building
  1:00-4:45 Presenter: Vanessa Jackson
  4:45-5:00 Closing remarks/End

• Day 2 Virtual
  8:30-9:00 Check-in
  9:00-9:15 Welcome
  9:15-10:15 Creating Space to Build Community: Larry G. Tucker, LMFT
  10:15-11:50 Presenter: Vanessa Jackson
  11:50-12:00 Closing and Evaluations

Objectives:

1. Deepen Insight into Personal and Collective Healing
   Participants will examine the roots of emotional and cultural trauma, identifying
   what needs healing within themselves and their communities to support more
   sustainable and transformative mental health care.
2. Cultivate Courage and Challenge Limiting Beliefs
   Through storytelling, reflection, and group dialogue, attendees will explore how
   fear may be limiting their personal and professional growth, and will develop
   strategies to move forward with clarity and courage.
3. Reimagine the Future of Mental Health Through Joy, Culture, and Connection
   Participants will engage in practices and conversations that uplift joy, cultural
   wisdom, and community care as revolutionary tools for building a liberated,
   equitable future in mental health.

Speaker Bios

Vanessa Jackson

Vanessa Jackson is a Soul Doula, writer, activist and social worker based in Atlanta. Her work
focuses on power, social and economic liberation, African American psychiatric history and
reclaiming traditional practices to support individual and community healing. Vanessa is the
owner of Dudley’s Apothecary which offers healing sprays in the traditions of her root worker
ancestors.
Vanessa is the author of In Our Own Voice: African-American Stories of Oppression, Survival
and Recovery in Mental Health Systems and Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racially
Segregated Psychiatric Hospitals, monographs on the history of African-American psychiatric
experiences and Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Feminist Reflections on Therapy with Low-wage
Earning Women in Psychotherapy with Women: Exploring Diverse Contexts and
Identities (Marsha P. Mirkin, et al ,Eds.). She is co-editor of Understanding Power: A Human
Services Imperative with Elaine Pinderhughes, MSW and Patricia Romney, Ph.D. Vanessa is a
nationally recognized speaker on mental health issues, with a focus on culturally conscious
therapy and therapy with marginalized populations. She has developed a concept, “fiscal
trauma”, which served as the foundation for an economic empowerment recovery program for
survivors of domestic violence.  Ms. Jackson’s passion is supporting activists in creating healthy
and balanced lives. She offers an Activists Assistance Program to provide politically conscious
coaching and healing workshops to Atlanta-area feminist non-profit organizations. She serves as
a Senior Facilitator for Black Emotional And Mental Health Collective (BEAM). Vanessa is a
member of the Radical Optimist Collective which facilitates racial healing conversations in
Montgomery, AL and beyond.

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Larry G. Tucker, LMFT, Owner

Larry is the owner and co-founder of Kente Circle. He is also the Executive Director
ad and founder of KCTI since 2015. Larry identifies as a relational therapist. “I believe
that isolation is a major cause of mental illness and the cure for this disease lies
within relationships.” Larry enjoys helping individuals, couples and families navigate life’s
challenges. He believes that everyone has strength that can aid them at their
lowest moments in life. His approach is grounded in focusing on each person’s
strengths. He also feels “it is important that each of us learn to embrace our
weakness and areas of growth by acknowledging where we have difficulties. True
healing occurs only when people are brave enough to embrace that pain is a normal
part of life and acknowledge that suffering is a choice.”
Larry has nearly 25 years of experience in the social service field. He is an AAMFT
Approved Supervisor, Minnesota MFT and LPC Board Approved Supervisor. Larry is
also a trainer and consultant to agencies who are interested in enhancing their
cultural knowledge and experiences with their staff and clients. As a trainer and
consultant his goal is to inspire people to resist giving into the fear that comes with
the unknown. Fear has a way of immobilizing people and their dreams. Larry hopes to
encourage clients to lean into their fears and difficult conversations by being curious
about what they don’t understand.