Thursday, May 1st, 2025
Hilton Garden Inn Fargo, Grand Ballroom
Doors open at 8am
Event: 8:30am-10am
FirstLink's 16th Annual Breakfast will focus on
the recent accomplishments of our Care & Support Program!
Join us to learn more about the value of this service and others provided by FirstLink.
Proceeds from the Annual Breakfast increase our capacity to grow the Care & Support Program while also sustaining various information and crisis services.
We are proud to announce this year's keynote speaker:
Dr. John Draper
Dr. John Draper has over 35 years of experience in crisis intervention and suicide prevention work and is considered an international expert in behavioral health crisis services (phone support, online chat, text services, etc.)
Dr. Draper's experience includes working on a Brooklyn Mobile Crisis Team for 7 years, establishing and overseeing New York City's first 24/7 crisis hotline for 8 years (NYC Well, formerly LifeNet,) and founding and leading the SAMHSA-funded 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) as it's Executive Director for 18 years at Vibrant Emotional Health. He has been a primary author of several book chapters and journal articles related to suicide hotlines and crisis intervention, and has worked with print, broadcast, and social media as both a spokesperson and consultant to promote crisis care and suicide prevention for over 20 years.
Dr. Draper departed Vibrant Emotional Health shortly after launching the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, joining Behavioral Health Link, Inc. (BHL) in October 2022. As BHL's President of Research and Development, he is continuing his long history of applying research, data, and technologies to improve the quality of crisis care systems in communities across the country.
