Demonstrate aspects of effective peer support within community services mental health and substance use recovery, enhance individual skills to provide more effective personal support, and explore innovative applications of peer support in communities.
Who Should Attend
This event is highly recommended for Certified Peer Specialists (CPS) and Certified Parent Peer Specialists (CPPS) who are looking to deepen their skills, expand their knowledge, and strengthen their network within the field of peer support. Whether you are an experienced professional or new to the role, this conference offers valuable insights tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by CPS and CPPS.
In addition to peer specialists, the event is also ideal for:
- Mental health and substance use professionals
- Community advocates
- Social workers
- Counselors
- Healthcare providers
- Educators and school support staff
- Anyone involved in the mental health and wellness space
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Kristina Padilla is world-renowned as a national speaker and educator, advocating the principle of “living out loud.” They foster safer environments nationwide by conducting 2S/LGBTQIA+ educational talks and training sessions globally. They are a motivational speaker and author of Kristina with a K: A Rainbow Person’s Journey from Addiction to Recovery, an explosive expose into the lives of LGBTQ people experiencing addiction. Kristina is a leader with CCAPP, where they serve as the organization's Vice President of Education and Strategic Development.
Mx. Padilla led California’s innovative criminal justice program, serving as the Offender Mentor Certification Program Director for three years. There, they managed 12 in-prison programs for training counselors. For the duration of the contract, they worked closely with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in California prisons, bringing innovation and growth to the state’s in-custody treatment programming.
Mx. Padilla sat on SAMHSA’s Technical Expert Panel on Peer Support certification and helped SAMHSA develop National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification. They also Facilitated the First SAMHSA LGBTQIA2+ Office of Recovery Meeting at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco in May 2024.
Mx. Padilla was also the previous Program Director/Adjunct Faculty of the Peer Support Training and Placement Program, which trained peers in Recovery/mental health to become certified and how to work with other peers in recovery, such as self-direction, advocacy, ethics, person-centered approach, personalization, empowerment, strength base, goal setting, respect, cultural sensitivity, and competency, responsibility, hope and at the very core of the program.
Mx. Padilla has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, emphasizing Marriage and Family Therapy. Mx. Padilla is a Licensed Advanced Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (LAADC) and an International Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (ICAADC). They are also a Certified Gang Specialists of the National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) and a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist Candidate (C-SAT).
Mx. Padilla is on the Board of Directors as the Vice president of the National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Addiction Professionals and their Allies (NALGAP). Mx. Padilla is the Chief Academic Officer for the CCAPP Academy at CCAPP and is a past Board member of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Sacramento chapter.
Mx. Padilla sits on the board of (NATI) Native American Institute in New Mexico and is Treasure and a consultant for Faces and Voices NRI (National Recovery Institute) & on their DEI Committee. Mx. Padilla graduated from the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) in 2023 and is the Chair of the (DEI) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at the California Society of Association Executives (CALSAE).
Mx. Padilla is on multiple DEI and LGBTQIA2+ boards nationwide and is deeply impacting the provision of Training, Advocacy, and Education to all professionals. They are also independent consultants on LGBTQIA2+ Program Development and design/issues/services/Counseling/Mentoring/Training and Coaching and travel the Nation providing training and lectures at conferences and in-service training for non-profits, for-profits, county, and state workers.
Mx. Padilla is also an Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Trainer and "Equality California" Leadership Academy fellow. Mx. Padilla obtained their "Higher Education Teaching Certificate '' at Harvard, The Derek Bok Center For Teaching and Learning in July 2020, and their Women Leadership Program (WLP) Certificate from Yale University School of Management in 2022.
In their spare time (lol), Mx. Padilla owns two businesses, Rainbow Global Collective and Native American 2-spirit Sacred Circle. Both businesses provide consulting and training worldwide and have a podcast inviting monthly guests to discuss topics such as Recovery, Addiction, LGBTQIA2+, Advocacy, Allyship, peer support, Harm reduction, and therapy on all levels.
In closing, Mx. Padilla is a parent to a beautiful 8-year-old girl named Karisma. They are also part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ (Rainbow) Community and identify as indigenous, Western Apache, Cherokee, Aztec, 2Spirit-Transgender, Gender-Fluid, non-binary, same-gender loving, biologically born Women. Kristina’s pronouns are They/Them and goes by the prefix Mx. Padilla.
Vikki Reynolds (PhD RCC) is an activist/ therapist and community organizer who works to bridge the worlds of social justice activism with community work and therapy. Vikki is a white settler on the territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations. Vikki's people are Irish and English folks, and she is a heterosexual woman with cisgender privilege. Her experience includes supervision and therapy with People with Lived/Living Experience and other workers responding to the drug poisoning catastrophe, refugees and survivors of torture - including Indigenous people who have survived residential schools and other state violence, sexualized violence counsellors, mental health and substance misuse counsellors, housing and shelter workers, activists and working alongside gender and sexually diverse communities. Vikki is an Adjunct Professor and has written and presented internationally. Articles & speaks free at: www.vikkireynolds.ca

L
isa Clemons is a retired Minneapolis Police Sergeant and the founder of A Mother’s Love Initiative, a boots-on-the-ground grassroots organization. One of seven children born into poverty in Chicago and raised by a strong single mom, Lisa was inspired as a child to pursue a career in law enforcement after witnessing an act of kindness toward her and her mother by ChicagoPolice. She later moved to Minneapolis with her family when she was 15 years old and became a Minneapolis Police Officer nearly a decade later. Lisa has stated that her time as a Minneapolis Police Officer further ignited her belief that it is vital to create a safe space for African American women and their families. Throughout her 13-year career, she served as a Patrol
Officer, Patrol Sergeant, and Investigator before retiring in 2000 due to a diagnosis of Lupus. Lisa is a single mother of five and currently serves as Executive Director of A Mothers Love Initiative, an organization she founded in 2014 to uplift and empower African American mothers and daughters, two groups she believes are often forgotten. A Mother’s Love’s grassroots outreach work looks at both the causes and effects of violence against women as well as the correlation between violence against African American women and poverty. The AMLI team of Black mothers and fathers offer tutoring, mentorship and employment to local residents, including those making unsafe choices. Because of her work with A Mother’s Love, Lisa was recently appointed as a representative of the Missing and Murdered African American Women Task Force. In partnership with the Office of Violence Prevention and the Minneapolis Police Department, the AMLI team of mothers and fathers, ranging from ages 18-62, responds to both shooting scenes and homicide scenes to offer grief and trauma assistance to families and youth. The team also holds personal success training classes for mothers and women of color as well as offers mentoring and tutoring services for kids
ranging from kindergarten through third grade. The A Mothers Love Team, under Lisa’s leadership, works with Hennepin County on a program called “Sisters Helping Sisters-From Probation to Prosperity” to keep Black mothers, women and girls out of the
prison system. Lisa is state-certified in Peer Recovery and trained in Harm Reduction and Forensic Peer Support. From
all that she saw in her life, including growing up in the projects in Chicago and the years she served in the Minneapolis Police Department, Lisa witnessed how easily a child can slip through the cracks without direct, culturally specific intervention during the formative years. However, Lisa believes it's never too late to build a village that can keep children and families whole.
A Mothers Love's motto is:
Save the mother, you save the child.
Save the father, you save the family.
Save the family, you save the communit