Prioritizing Youth in Behavioral Health Conference Planning
- Dominique Freeman
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Disclosure: BHT Impact is a fiscally sponsored project of Moore Impact, a 501(c)(3) public charity. BHT Impact is collaborating with Behavioral Health Tech on youth-focused programming for the BHT 2026 Conference. BHT Impact does not own or operate the conference, and Moore Impact and Behavioral Health Tech are separate organizations.
Each year, Behavioral Health Tech brings together industry experts, innovators, and leaders for one of the largest convenings in mental health. At BHT Impact, we believe the voices and perspectives of young people and caregivers should be centered and uplifted in the design and implementation of behavioral health solutions. This year, at BHT 2026 in Nashville, TN, we have the opportunity to bring that belief into practice. I still remember my first industry conference as an advocate and the feeling of wanting to make a lasting impression, build connections, and learn as much as I could about the field I was passionate about! What I didn’t expect was how much of an outsider I would feel, or how quickly I would shrink in a space of adult experts. There’s probably a specific memory many of us can point to in our young adult careers when passion meets opportunity, and the only thing anyone in the room notices is your age. Our work supporting youth and young adult programming for the BHT 2026 Conference required this level of reflection. It was a moment to truly understand the needs of young people by remembering what it was like to be an emerging expert or professional holding both excitement and isolation.
Our Co-Design Approach:
Channeling our younger selves helped us build empathy for the young adult experience in historically adult spaces and positioned us to ask for and receive feedback from young people directly. Through our Creators Collective, we received survey responses from 25 Hear/SAY reviewers ages 13-26 and caregivers to understand how we can cultivate a space that is affirming, authentic, and inclusive of youth and young adults. Our approach to this process was grounded in 3 principles.
Involve youth early enough to shape strategy.
Design an engagement infrastructure that is flexible and matches your organizational capacity.
Always value and compensate for young people’s time and lived experience.
Their responses offered incredible clarity and depth. Below are a select few perspectives on recurring themes from the broader insights they shared, along with the intentional, concrete steps we are taking to translate their wisdom directly into the planning and programming for BHT 2026.
BHT2026 Event Design: Building a Purposeful and Youth-Centered Experience
Solving for Tokenism, Access, & Representation
“I've felt tokenized by being the only one who looks like me. Part of that has to do with making conferences more accessible financially, also has to do with selecting topics that would be of interest to people with varied experiences (religion, upbringing, etc.)
"I think the biggest thing is the lack of other youth attendees, so I hope that BHT would encourage youth participation through scholarships/supplemental travel funding.”
"Not being included in photography, being spoken over, not being included with adults in workshops”
How it shaped our event design:
"Simply treat youth attendees as equals from the outset: same access, same opportunities to contribute, and the same assumption of credibility.”
We're intentionally shifting away from bringing isolated voices and instead providing full-access scholarships and travel stipends to ensure that a critical mass of voices and young people can attend so no one has to carry the weight of being "the only one."
We are partnering with grassroots and local community organizations to help ensure that diverse young people who are doing incredible work or are interested in behavioral health can attend, speak on panels, participate in workshops, exhibit halls, and more.
Designing Roles & Spaces That Honor Expertise
"Including youth on several panels along with adults, a wide age range of youth and young adults present as opposed to just a few token high school students, networking opportunities, clear instructions, merch or swag that is appealing to youth, and a feedback form after the event.”
"Sessions facilitated by youth and those with lived experiences, interactive workshops - collaborative mindfulness, stress relief activities etc, topics should be focused on problems concerning youth”
How it shaped our event design:
Youth are seen as experts and positioned in a range of visible and diverse roles, from panel speakers and workshop participants to table hosts and Hear/SAY correspondents.
We are designing a Youth HQ, a dedicated space for youth attendees to decompress, build peer connection, and create.
We are compensating youth with honorariums as part of our commitment to treating their time, wisdom, and labor with the same professional respect as any industry speaker.
Proactive Prep & Intentional Support
"To feel well-prepared, I'd want a briefing in advance — ideally a short meeting, even just 30 minutes, with the organising team or moderator to get a feel for the flow of the session and the people involved”
"Having clear expectations and guidance on what to expect, what things to look for when facilitating a session (i.e. having an end goal in mind), and knowing who to contact when you need additional support or resources.”
"I would love to have a pre-conference meeting or orientation that introduces me to other young people and how to make the most of the conference beforehand.”
How it shaped our event design:
It is completely natural for emerging leaders, especially young people, to feel nervous or uncertain when stepping into industry-heavy environments. Alongside community partners, we are building and facilitating a structured, virtual and/or in-person preparation framework to ensure youth arrive feeling grounded, informed, and ready to contribute.
We created conference readiness guides and FAQ’s to ensure youth and young adult attendees feel prepared, confident, and supported throughout the event.
We're investing in adults' preparedness to share space and power with youth through inner-child reflections at BHT2026, practical informational guides, and prep calls and readiness conversations, particularly for panels and workshops.
What We Couldn't Do This Year (and Next Steps)
Co-design is an ongoing and iterative process. Some insights can shift our work immediately while others take time, capacity, and dedicated budget to build thoughtfully. There will always be real limitations on what you can and cannot accomplish in the co-design process, and in a moment of transparency, here is a look at what we could not fully implement this year, and on what's keeping us inspired for BHT2027 and beyond.
Co-Mentorship: Hear/SAY reviewers expressed a strong desire for structured 1:1 adult-to-youth co-mentorship. While this was always on our vision board, building a high-impact co-mentorship program requires time to establish matching frameworks, orientation guidelines, and clear safety and consent protocols. For BHT2027, the BHT Impact Team will focus on planning a program for individuals passionate about youth mental health, as well as for youth, young adults, and adults seeking co-mentorship in this field, so they can learn from and support one another.
Increasing Travel Stipend Demand: While we were able to provide a significant number of full-access scholarships and some travel stipends this year, we want to meet the demand fully without stretching our resources. For BHT 2027, we are diversifying our financial support to accommodate more young leaders.
Planning Committee of Youth: A truly youth-led conference means involving young people in a steering committee from day zero. While our survey, focus group, and feedback from youth involved in BHT allowed youth to directly shape BHT 2026, we were unable to establish a fully standing Youth Steering Committee due to time constraints during the initial planning phase. For BHT 2027, we are recruiting a dedicated Youth Planning Committee to co-design the event budget, speaker selection, and theme from the ground up.
Final Reflection
As I think about my first conference, and what it might have meant if someone had asked, ahead of time, what I would need to walk into a space that felt designed for me. If you are attending BHT 2026, or planning an event, we hope these insights can encourage you to begin your co-design process. We are grateful to be in a position to ask, listen, and co-design intentionally alongside young people.
We are grateful to be in a position to ask, listen, and co-design intentionally alongside young people. Thank you to every Hear/SAY reviewer and youth contributor. Thank you to the following Hear/SAY reviewers who took the time to answer honestly and share your insights: Amisha M., Ana A., Anika N., Hailey H., Harshita T., Idalis V., Ilana Drucker, Joan S., Jon’na B., Karrington H., Meenakshi K., Nancy J., Rei S., Srijani M., and 15 additional reviewers whose privacy we are respecting.