Summit speakers address a wide range of topics including:

• Life beyond mental illness; people’s power to rewrite their own stories (Wambui Bahati)
• An overview of the Stimulus Bill, President’s 2010 budget, and recent developments in Washington; implications for mental health advocacy and human services (Jane Porter)
• A national call for Medicaid reform to fund self-determination programs that lift people out of poverty; using cross-disability organizing to make Medicaid reform a reality (Tom Nerney)
• An overview of California’s Proposition 63 (the “millionaires’ tax”) and its effects on the state’s economy and mental health system; lessons learned for  considering the effects of the Stimulus Bill (David Pilon)
• A model for developing and supporting advocacy leaders among people in mental health recovery (Dan Fisher)
• The promise of microenterprise development for economic self-sufficiency and self-determination for people in mental health recovery (Can Truong)
• Using participatory action research to develop and implement self-directed care for people with psychiatric disabilities in Dallas (Sam Shore, Judith Cook)
• Cultural competency initiatives in peer-run programs; results of a national web survey of peer programs’ experiences in meeting the needs of diverse individuals (Stephen Kiosk; Judith Cook)
• Financial asset development for people with mental illnesses; successful models that support economic security (Peggy Swarbrick; Judith Cook)
• Initiatives to develop and support statewide consumer networks; implications for advocacy efforts under a new administration and Congress (Risa Fox, Kate Gaston, Stephen Kiosk, Jim McNulty, Joseph Rogers, Debbie Whittle)
• The evidence-base for peer-led education about mental illness, recovery, and service system accountability; future directions for the peer-led BRIDGES program (Sita Diehl, Joy Prater, Judith Cook, Sue Pickett)
• Growing challenges to implementing WRAP programs with fidelity to the evidence-base without losing its core values and principles which would lead to ever-evolving, ever-better practice; implications for similar evidence-based peer-developed programs (Stephen Pocklington)
• Transforming the workforce by infusing self-determination and recovery into the academic curricula of medical education programs (Lisa Razzano)
• Moving beyond supported employment; meaningful career development for people in mental health recovery during the next decade (Mark Salzer)
• Concepts of self-determination, social engagement, and apartness at the individual, community, and systems levels for people who may or may not experience marginalization and recovery (Russell Pierce)
• Successful certified peer specialist initiatives and their role in the future of self-determination (Joseph Rogers)
• Participatory action research to expand the evidence-base for mental illness self-management through WRAP; growth and development of WRAP tailored for different groups (Carol Bailey Floyd; Judith Cook)
• Working with police officers to promote fair and respectful treatment of people in crisis; involving people in recovery in the training process (Amy Watson)
• Eliminating disparities and reinforcing the hope of recovery for every individual regardless of his/her race, gender, ethnicity, language, age, or place of residence (Maria Restrepo-Toro)
• The fierce urgency of health and mortality among people in mental health recovery (Dori Hutchinson)