NAMI Indiana State Conference

Friday, October 2, 2026 | 9 am - 4 pm

2026 Registration

ABOUT

Each year, hundreds of Hoosiers gather for the annual NAMI Indiana State Conference seeking new and better ways to manage and live with serious mental illnesses and how they can help others.

NAMI Indiana works to bring together the latest in research, training, recovery models, mental health experts, and information on the new policies that will affect the lives of children and adults living with serious mental illnesses.

Indianapolis Marriott North
3645 River Crossing Parkway Indianapolis, Indiana 46240

Rooms are available for the evening of October 1st at a group rate. This discount is available through September 10. If you would like to book a room, please contact the hotel directly at 800-228-9290 and let the hotel staff know that you are attending the NAMI Indiana State Conference.

2026 Keynote Presentations

Morning Keynote: Dr. Glenda Wrenn Gordon

Glenda Wrenn Gordon, MD, MSHP, DFAPA is a board-certified psychiatrist, mental health equity leader, and Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She serves as Chief of Clinical Strategy at Mindoula Health and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, where she has trained the next generation of psychiatrists for over a decade. A graduate of West Point, Jefferson Medical College, and the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Wrenn Gordon has dedicated her career to advancing integrated care, reducing health disparities, and building resilience in underserved communities. She serves on the NAMI National Board and chairs the APA Council on Quality. She is also a mother, advocate, and keynote speaker whose personal journey through her family's experience with mental illness and recovery informs her most meaningful work.

Afternoon Keynote: Randye Kaye

Randye Kaye is the co-creator and host of the popular podcast, Schizophrenia: 3 Moms in the Trenches. She is the Connecticut State Trainer for NAMI’s Family-to-Family Course, and is the author of Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey From the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope (Rowman & Littlefield,), and Happier Made Simple: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life (Front Porch Press, 2022). She's also an actor, voice talent, radio broadcaster, audiobook narrator, teacher and speaker. She has spoken at CIT International, American Psychiatric Association, APNA, Johns Hopkins, and The Missouri Behavioral Health Council. She also hosts the NPR/WSHU podcast Good at Heart: conversations with people who quietly make the world better. Her son, Ben, has been hospitalized over ten times for schizophrenia.

Workshops Presentations

Speakers include leading mental health physicians, researchers, and advocates who are empowering people living with mental illnesses to find recovery.

2026 Workshop Topics Include:

Beyond the Student: Engaging Families to Strengthen Youth Mental Health
Caring for Chronic and Acute Mental Illness in Corrections
Beyond the Launch: How Indiana 988 Is Building a More Connected 988 Crisis Response System
Know Your Rights: Empower Your Mental Health Journey
Answering the Individual, Not the Call: A Compassion Driven Policing Concept
Occupation is Mental Health: Expanding Recovery Through Occupational Therapy
Understanding Medicaid Work Requirements

Resource Fair

The NAMI Indiana State Conference Resource Fair features dozens of exhibitors providing resources from around the state and region. Exhibitors include housing support services, supportive employment, in-patient and out-patient services, medicaid and medicare entities, community support and more.

If you are interested in being an exhibitor, please contact Caroline Chastain at cchastain@namiindiana.org.

CEUs & Scholarships

Up to 5.5 Category 1 CEUs for social workers, addiction counselors, marriage & family therapists and mental health counselors through the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency
ILEA credits for law enforcement

All continuing education credits are included with registration and are offered at no additional cost. It is up to the individual to properly record CEUs.

Scholarships are available for eligible applicants at no cost to them, thanks to generosity from sponsors and the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction. To be considered for an application, please submit an online or paper application. Applications open at the same time as registration.

Apply for a Scholarship Here

NAMI Indiana Annual Awards

Do you know someone who is an advocate for mental health in their community? Take a moment to nominate them for the annual NAMI Indiana Awards to recognize the impact they are making.

Award Categories Include:

Media and Public Awareness Award: Presented to a person who informs or educates the public about mental illnesses and/or the lives of people living with mental illness.
Gloria Goeglein Public Policy Award: Presented to a judge, legislator, or law enforcement person who meets the needs of people living with mental illnesses in an exemplary fashion.
Outstanding Professional Award: Presented to a professional who influences the mental health community or directly improves the life and well-being of people living with mental illnesses.
Patricia Wheaton Award: Presented to a person living with a mental illness who displays exemplary courage in recovery, education, and helping others to understand and to overcome mental illness.
Affiliate of the Year Award: Presented to a NAMI Indiana affiliate whose special projects have enhanced the goals and purpose of our shared vision.
Member of the Year Award: Presented to members of NAMI Indiana who serve others in ways that reflect NAMI's mission and goals.