Keynote Speakers

Dr. Margie Balfour

Chief of Quality and Clinical Inovation Connections Health Solutions

Dr. Margie Balfour is a psychiatrist and national leader in crisis care, quality improvement, and law enforcement responses to behavioral health emergencies. She is Chief of Quality & Clinical Innovation at Connections Health Solutions and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. Dr. Balfour was named Doctor of the Year by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing for her leadership at the Crisis Response Center in Tucson, Arizona, and CIT International Practitioner of the Year for her work to help law enforcement better serve people with mental health and substance use needs. She co-authored Roadmap to the Ideal Crisis System: Essential Elements, Measurable Standards, and Best Practices, and her pioneering work on crisis outcome measurement has been identified as a national best practice. Dr. Balfour is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and serves on the APA Council on Quality of Care. She has also served on the boards of the American Association for Community Psychiatry, American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, and numerous expert panels for SAMHSA, the DOJ, and others. A native of Monroe, Louisiana, Dr. Balfour received a BA in Biology at Johns Hopkins University and then her MD and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati. She completed residency and fellowship in Community Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Paul Galdys, MBA. CPRP

Deputy CEO, RI International

Implementing SAMHSA’s Best Practice Crisis Care Model and Alignment with CIT Efforts

Paul Galdys has been a CIT instructor for the past 19 years; regularly facilitating sessions for three different programs in Maricopa County Arizona while also supporting sessions in rural Arizona and Ohio when called on. Prior to joining Recovery Innovations (RI International) in 2017, he served as an Assistant Director in Arizona Medicaid in support of $12 billion in health care service delivery annually. Paul was the lead writer of the National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care published by SAMHSA in February 2020 and led the development of the Crisis Resource Need Calculator being used throughout the nation to support the design of crisis systems. His commitment to partner with law enforcement to advance true CIT systems of care can be seen in RI operations in nine states last year as well as his crisis system design efforts that consistently include an expectation of partnering with law enforcement to offer no-wrong-door access to care for all brought in through dedicated first responder entrances.

Steve Miccio

Chief Executive Officer, People USA

People USA’s Chief Executive Officer is a pioneer, visionary, and expert in the field of mental health, substance use, criminal justice, and crisis response. Inspired and driven by his personal lived experience, Steve has spent over two decades creating, providing, and advocating for innovative behavioral health services that transform systems of care across the United States and internationally. He is proud to promote services that are trauma-informed and person-centered with positive expectations for recovery and wellness outcomes. Steve shares his expertise through delivering keynotes, participating on panels, and publishing articles. Steve’s unique models and approaches significantly reduce hospital utilization, incarceration rates, and overall healthcare spending. Because of this success, People USA’s program models have been studied and replicated across the United States and Europe. Steve earned his BA in psychology from SUNY Plattsburgh.

Some of Steve’s innovative programs include:

• the Rose House model of peer-operated crisis respites
• the first peer-run Crisis Stabilization Center in the world
• the first in the United States to embed peers in a hospital psych. ER.
• the first peer-run criminal justice-focused mobile team in the United States

Steve is active with the following groups:

• Chair of the National Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA)
• Former Board member of CIT International
• Subject matter expert for the Re-entry Policy Academy headed by the SAMHSA GAINS Center and Policy Research Associates; Member of the International Crisis Now coalition
• Member of the Crisis Residential Association
• Member of New York State Suicide Prevention Council
• Executive member of the Dutchess County Criminal Justice Council (DCCJC)
• Chair of the Dutchess County Criminal Justice Council Diversion Committee (DCCJC)
• Member of the Dutchess County Police Reform and Modernization Collaborative
• Advisory Board member of the Northeast Caribbean Mental Health Technology Transfer Center
• Curriculum writer for the New York State Academy of Peer Services

Publications:

• Developed OMH White Paper, “Infusing Recovery-Based Principles into Mental Health Services”(2004) with input from over 40,000 New Yorkers.
• Chapter Author, History of the Consumer Movement in the USA; Community Mental Health Challenges for the 21st Century, Routledge Publishing (2006)
• Author, Hospital Diversion Services: A manual in the Development of a Respite/Diversion Service in Your Area, OptumHealth | Optimizing Health and Well-Being | www.optumhealth.com/publicsector (2011)
• Contributor to SAMHSA National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care, 2020

Awards:

• New York Association Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) Marty Smith Memorial Award (2)
• New York State Assembly Certificate of Merit
• Member of Congress Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition
• Harry Hall Memorial Award by the Mental Health Association in Ulster County, Inc.
• Senator Greg Ball Certificate of Merit
• Dutchess County Employer of the Year Award
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention- In grateful recognition of his leadership and his vision for suicide prevention
• Mental Health News Education - Behavioral Health Advocacy Award