help Will attend ABCT!

Hi, my name is Emily and I am a mental health researcher. I work with communities to identify ways to improve public mental health care for people with serious mental illness. Members of my team have been planning to present at the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT) this November in Seattle, funded by a federal grant. Unfortunately, that grant money is currently frozen because the federal budget's continuing resolution ends right at the beginning of ABCT. I am self-funding to attend ABCT and present, but three of my team members won't be able to go without funding.

I am raising money for Will Hagans, a Veteran with lived experience and expertise in DEI. Will is a member of our lab, focused on improving quality of VA mental health care, especially for Black Veterans. He is a presenter on a symposium about patient preferences for care at ABCT, and is planning on discussing three studies about patient preferences (two focused on Veterans). Who better than a Veteran to discuss these studies?

Will can't attend ABCT without funding. He is already registered for ABCT. We will spend the money on flights, hotel, ground travel, and food while he is at the conference. If we raise additional money, we will spend it on one or both of our other research assistants who were unable to attend the conference and present their posters due to this budget freeze.