B-Con 2026 -- Be Connected. Learn Together. Create Workforce Solutions.

B-Con 2026 graphic.

The 2026 Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) Annual Conference -- B-CON -- is a statewide, interprofessional learning convening designed to strengthen Nebraska’s behavioral health workforce through connection, collaboration, and applied learning. The conference brings together providers, educators, students, administrators, policymakers, and community partners to explore emerging challenges and innovative strategies across behavioral health systems.

Programming emphasizes timely and practice-relevant topics including crisis intervention for youth, suicide prevention in rural and school-based settings, justice-involved behavioral health care, workforce development, and the evolving role of technology and artificial intelligence in behavioral health practice and education. Through keynote presentations, interactive breakout sessions, and structured stakeholder meetings, participants will engage in dialogue that bridges clinical practice, systems change, and workforce sustainability.

The conference is grounded in Nebraska’s unique geographic, workforce, and community contexts, with intentional attention to rural access, cross-sector collaboration, and interprofessional learning. By fostering shared understanding and collective problem-solving, the 2026 BHECN Conference aims to equip participants with actionable insights and strengthened professional networks to advance behavioral health care and education across the state.

Target Audience

This accredited continuing education activity was designed for behavioral health providers (APPs, licensed mental health providers, and social workers), educators, students, administrators, policymakers, and community partners.

Global Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, the participants should be better able to:

Analyze emerging behavioral health challenges and workforce trends affecting Nebraska communities, including rural access, youth mental health needs, crisis response, justice involvement, and suicide prevention.
Apply evidence-informed strategies and models for crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and systems-level behavioral health care across diverse settings, including emergency, school-based, rural, and justice-involved environments.
Evaluate opportunities for interprofessional and cross-sector collaboration to strengthen behavioral health education, service delivery, and workforce pipelines statewide.
Explore the implications of innovation and technology, including artificial intelligence, for behavioral health practice, education, and workforce development while considering ethical, equity, and implementation considerations.
Identify actionable approaches to building connection and shared learning across stakeholders to improve behavioral health outcomes and support a resilient, well-prepared workforce in Nebraska.

General Information

In support of improving patient care, University of Nebraska Medical Center is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center designates this activity for 5.25 ANCC contact hours. Nurses should only claim credit for the actual time spent participating in the activity.

University of Nebraska Medical Center has been authorized by the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 5.25 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

As a Jointly Accredited Organization, University of Nebraska Medical Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 5.25 continuing education credits. See agenda for credit type and education level per session.

Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs. This activity has been approved for 5.25 credit hours of continuing education credit.

This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 5.25 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.

Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided.

There is no cost to attend, but space is limited.

Conference Agenda

8 a.m. -- Registration and Breakfast
8:45 a.m. -- Welcome & Introductions
9 a.m. -- AI Enabled Mental Health Care: Navigating Opportunities, Risks, and Responsibilities - Leanna Fortunato, PhD (Social work: General/Basic)
10:30 a.m. --Transition Break
10:45 a.m. -- Breakout Session #1

Breakout Session 1

See what's in store for the morning!

Breakout Session 1
Session	Speaker	Title	Social Work Credit
A	Michael Everhart, MD	Single Session Crisis Interventions for Youth in Emergency Settings	Clinical Intermediate
B	Kehinde Obikoya, MD, and Temitope Adedolapo, MD	All is Not Lost: Jail Division and a Road Map Back from Criminalizing Mental Illness	General/Basic
C	Mario Scalora, PhD	Suicide Prevention in Rural Communities	Clinical Intermediate

Lunch and Breakout Session 2

Help us honor our annual awardees at lunch then enjoy another set of breakout sessions.

Noon -- Lunch and annual awards presentation
1:30 p.m. -- Transition break
1:45 p.m. -- Breakout Session 2 begins

Lunch and Breakout Session 2
Session	Speaker	Title	Social work
A	Michaelyn Everhart, MD	Single Session Crisis Interventions for Youth in Emergency Settings	Clinical/Intermediate
B	Mario Scalora, PhD	Suicide Prevention in Rural Communities	Clinical/Intermediate
C	The Kim Foundation (Molly Verble, M.Ed. & Ashlee Zaragoza)	School-based suicide prevention work	General/Basic

Breakout Session 3

Wrap up the day with our final set of breakout sessions.

3 p.m. -- Transition break
3:15 p.m. -- Breakout Session 3 begins
4:30 p.m. -- Conference concludes

Breakout Session 3
Session	Speaker	Title	Social work
A	Kehinde Obikoya, MD, and Temitope Adedolapo, MD	All is Not Lost: Jail Division and a Road Map Back from Criminalizing Mental Illness	General/Basic
B	Jed Hansen, PhD, APRN, FNP-C	From Frontier to Future: Rural Health in Nebraska	General/Basic
C	The Kim Foundation (Milly Verble, M.Ed, and Ashlee Zaragoza)	School-based suicide prevention work	General/Basic

Our Main Speaker

Dr. Leann Fortunado Leanna Fortunato, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Director of Quality and Health Care Innovation at the American Psychological Association. Dr. Fortunato’s work centers on harnessing technology to expand access to high-quality mental health care, with a focus on advancing psychological practice innovation in digital mental health and measurement-based care. Prior to her role at APA, she has worked as a clinical administrator, practitioner, and consultant across a variety of settings including university-based mental health care, private practice, and digital mental health.