Missouri Family to Family (MOF2F) is a statewide resource center staffed by experts with lived experience that provide tools, resources, training and guidance to help people with disabilities or special healthcare needs, their families and supporters navigate formal and informal systems.

Grounded in disability studies, public health, family support and community-based advocacy, MOF2F uses plain language education, peer-to-peer support and community engagement strategies to increase understanding of Medicaid, strengthen self-advocacy and family advocacy, and build a more informed cross-disability network across Missouri.

Everyday Inclusion shares a family perspective on navigating community life when a child communicates, behaves, or experiences the world differently. This conversation invites participants to recognize the small, ordinary moments when their actions can make belonging easier and help families feel less alone.

Topic focus: The F2F story of success

Conversation host: Colette Cox

When a pregnant woman contracts a threatening disease, medical professionals rally to support the health and well-being of both lives at risk. When the disease is substance use disorder, the mother and child experiences are dramatically different.

IHD’s Maternal Health Action Network (MHAN) and Peer Recovery Innovations and Systems Mobilization (PRISM) technical assistance center bridge scientific evidence with the accepting care of someone who has been in the same position. This blended model improves a mother’s chance of successful recovery.

See how we can all support best outcomes for mother and child with our understanding of this unique condition.

Topic focus: Addressing maternal health challenges and improving outcomes through peer support

Conversation host: Danielle Chiang

Drug and alcohol use continues to exact a serious toll on communities across the nation. Approximately 1 in 3 Americans will have an alcohol use disorder in their lifetime, and 1 in 10 Americans will have a drug use disorder. This public health crisis of substance use challenges is compounded by a workforce crisis.

The dedicated, specialized workforce of behavioral health professionals in this field require high-quality, relevant and timely support to continue providing invaluable addiction treatment and recovery services. The Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTC) are a longstanding, tightly coordinated network of regional centers that directly address these crises. Through training, technical assistance and implementation support, ATTCs have an unparalleled ability to respond nimbly to emergent regional and national needs.

Hear the story of how the ATTCs build the capacity of the addiction treatment and recovery workforce by ensuring that professionals and organizations have the tools needed to deliver services that lead to long-term recovery.

Topic focus: (coming soon)

Conversation host: Maxine Henry

Strong social connections, meaningful engagement, and opportunities to participate in community life are important to well-being at every stage of life. For some older adults and people with developmental disabilities, barriers such as limited social opportunities, changes in life circumstances, or reduced access to meaningful interactions can make it more difficult to build and maintain those connections.

The Health and Aging team aims to bridge the gap between aging and disabilities fields through community-based research and evaluation, training, education and capacity building. 

Research shows that interactions with animals can promote social, physiological, and psychological well-being. While caring for a live support animal is not always practical or accessible, robotic pets offer a low-cost, low-tech, person-centered option that can foster comfort, companionship, engagement, and emotional well-being. By expanding access to supportive tools, robotic pets provide another meaningful way to promote connection and enhance quality of life.

Topic focus: Robotic pets and well-being

Conversation host: Kelli Zerr

Positive early childhood mental health sows well-being throughout life. Early education environments not only care for a child’s learning and physical development, but today’s centers also offer mental health interventions. In some cultures, this kind of support is not accepted and getting children the help they need can be difficult.

As a partner to University of Missouri Extension programs and IHD, Alianzas aims to strengthen trust, collaboration and intercultural understanding between Latino communities and our partners throughout Missouri — like the Early Childhood Mental Health Collective (ECMHC). Alianzas believes that building stronger Latino communities starts by investing in children and equipping families, educators and caregivers with the knowledge and resources they need to support healthy development from the earliest years.

In collaboration with the ECMHC, a community-based model was developed to strengthen the social and emotional well-being of young children — semillitas, our little seeds, while honoring the cultural and linguistic strengths of immigrant families.

Topic Focus: Trust building and mental health services for youth

Conversation host: Gerardo Martinez

For very young children, tattling seems like problem-solving. But is it?

Young children often understand the world in the black-and-white terms we lay out in rules. Tattling feels like a path to praise and approval. Helping sort through the reasons a child tattles will offer more productive ways to respond and develop these lifelong problem-solving skills. 

Topic focus: Three types of tattling in early childhood and how to diffuse them

Conversation host: Melissa Newkirk

Families experience transformation in many ways and many people need support to explore, plan, and problem-solve for good lives. When the Williams Family faced a huge shift in the way they do life together, they turned to one of IHD’s most notable programs.

Grounded in real-world experience, LifeCourse Nexus is a national center advancing person-centered transformation by bringing people together to promote and use Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) — a framework that empowers people to live good lives.

For one staff member, what started simply as a job, became a lifeline that provided a direction and purpose that helped the entire family pivot towards a better future and living their good lives during unexpected challenges.

Topic focus: Personal impact of big-decision making using Charting the LifeCourse framework.

Conversation host: Stacie Williams

While the ADA has specific guidelines and requirements to support students with disabilities, barriers and systemic gaps in education remain, leaving students with disabilities feeling disconnected or left out.

The WeSaid at the UCEDD training and technical assistance center supports people with lived experience and their families, professionals and educators in developmental disabilities by reinforcing self-determination, advocacy, authority and rights. 

Hear one person’s story of overcoming challenges to educational attainment and how these experiences have shaped her outlook on today’s schools.

Topic focus: Identifying barriers in education through lived experience and storytelling

Conversation host: Skye VanLanduyt