Registration is closed. 

We hope to see you next year! 

The International IPS Learning Community Annual Meeting 

Covington, KY

Meeting Agenda

Note: This is a draft agenda and schedule times/speakers may change.

April 28, 2026

7:00 – 8:00                 Breakfast and Registration

8:15 – 8:30                  Sarah Swanson, Welcome

8:30 – 9:00                 Back to Work Story, Drew Bartram

9:00 – 9:45                 Zero Exclusion, Richard Bell

9:45 – 10:00               Break

10:00 – 11:15               Discussion Groups

11:25 – Noon              IPS Research Update, Ana Carolina Florence, Ph.D.

Noon – 1:30               Lunch

1:30 – 2:00                 Will McGuire, Ph.D., Outcome Data to Support Fidelity Reviews

2:00 – 2:30                Tim Kautz, Mathematica, Next Gen Study for Individuals with Justice Involvement

2:30 – 2:45                Break

2:45 – 3:50                Discussion Groups

4:00 – 4:30                MDRC: Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Study

5:30                            Reception (cash bar)

6:30                            Conference Dinner and Awards

April 29, 2026

7:00 – 8:00                Breakfast

8:15 – 9:00                 Back to work story

9:00 – 9:45                Holly Synder, Trauma Informed Care and IPS

9:45 – 10:00              Break

10:00 – 11:30             Discussion Groups

11:30 – 11:45            Family/Lived Experience Committee

Noon                        Meeting Wrap

Richard Brethour-Bell, MHA

Richard Brethour-Bell was born in Chicago, ILL., and was raised in Los Angeles. He now lives in White Rock, New Mexico, with his husband, James Brethour, PhD., a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Richard is a staff manager for the Health Care Authority in Santa Fe, NM. He oversees special populations, which include the LGBTQ community, Sexual Assault Survivors, Veterans, and women’s substance use disorder agencies. Richard is also the Program Director of the NM SUCCESS SAMHSA grant for supportive employment. He is also an instructor for New Mexico State University’s EDGE program, helping students to achieve their Certified Public Manager certification.

Richard earned a master’s degree in health care administration from the University of New Mexico, a Special Education Teaching License from Northern New Mexico College, and is a Leadership in Education for Neurological Disabilities and Disorders (LEND) fellow. Richard is the former president of the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance in Santa Fe, NM, the organization that produces Pride, where he started an LGBT+ scholarship at Santa Fe Community College.

Ana Florence, PhD

Dr. Florence studies how people living with serious mental illness and autism can flourish and build the kinds of lives they choose—lives that include work, connection, and the ordinary hopes that make communities whole. She leads national and international research on Individual Placement and Support (IPS), the evidence-based approach that helps people with psychiatric disabilities return to competitive employment and community life. Her projects range widely. In Kentucky, she leads a randomized controlled trial funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, testing how IPS can open pathways to work for adults on the autism spectrum. In California, she serves as Principal Investigator for the Data Infrastructure Development within the IPS Center of Excellence, part of the BH-CONNECT initiative. Her team applies a learning healthcare system framework to build a statewide data platform that supports continuous quality improvement and strengthens the implementation of evidence-based practices so Californians receive the care they need to flourish.

Tim Kautz, Ph.D.

Tim Kautz, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher at Mathematica, where he specializes in designing and conducting studies in education and labor. He serves as Deputy Project Director for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project and as Principal Investigator for the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Related Populations & Long-Term Follow-Up Study. His research focuses on programs that support populations with low incomes and on methods for evaluating interventions aimed at improving education and employment outcomes, including design-based and Bayesian approaches.

Outside of Mathematica, Dr. Kautz is a network leader of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group and a Senior Fellow at the Behavior Change for Good Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published articles in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature, Journal of the American Statistical Association, and The British Medical Journal. He is also a coauthor of The Myth of Achievement Tests: The GED and the Role of Character in American Life, a book examining the importance of skills not fully captured by achievement tests. He previously served on the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development’s Council of Distinguished Scientists. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Will McGuire

Will McGuire is a data and database manager supporting OnTrackNY and the IPS Employment Center’s implementation of IPS in California. His expertise is in data analysis and visualization with a special emphasis on fidelity evaluation. Before joining these programs, he was a research scientist in the NYS Office of Mental Health’s Office of Population Health and Evaluation, and an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Washington Tacoma before that. His research portfolio focuses on the use statistical methods of causal inference to policy-relevant questions using secondary data

Holly Snyder

Holly Snyder is an experienced Clinical Social Worker based in Lodi, California. She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from California State University, Chico.  Holly began her career 13 years ago as a service coordinator in a supportive employment program for adults with disabilities and co-occurring psychiatric conditions. During this time, she played an integral role in transitioning from sheltered workshop environments to sustainable, community-based employment opportunities for individuals eager to work.

With extensive experience in career development, Holly has facilitated job readiness programs in Yolo County, helping individuals build skills and confidence to achieve their vocational goals. Today, she serves as a Mental Health Clinician with Solano County Behavioral Health, where she is passionate about supporting individuals on their recovery journeys. Holly focuses on enhancing key life domains which include self-sufficiency and employment to empower clients and promote long-term well-being.

Bethany Yeiser

Bethany Yeiser is the President of the CURESZ Foundation which she co-founded with Dr. Henry Nasrallah in 2016. CURESZ stands for Comprehensive Understanding via Research and Education into SchiZophrenia. She is a motivational speaker and the author of Mind Estranged: My Journey from Schizophrenia and Homelessness to Recovery (released May 31, 2014). Bethany was a scholarship winner, researcher and violinist before she became severely mentally ill and homeless her senior year of college in 2003. She has maintained a high level of recovery for 17 years. Bethany also publishes a blog called “Recovery Road” on PsychologyToday.com. Her second book, Awakenings: Stories of Recovery and Emergence from Schizophrenia was released in February 2024, and authored jointly with Henry Nasrallah, MD.