National Crisis Lead
Beacon Health Options
Peachtree City, Georgia
Wendy Martinez Farmer, LPC from Beacon Health Options is Licensed Professional Counselor with over 23 years of crisis experience in the public and private sectors, Wendy holds a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from Marquette University and a MBA from Georgia Southern University. Since 2020, she has served as a national crisis lead for Beacon helping to develop crisis capabilities, which include building and overseeing statewide and community crisis systems. She is currently the CEO of the Georgia Collaborative ASO program, which includes administration of the statewide Georgia Crisis and Access Line. Prior to joining the Beacon team, Wendy was the President and CEO of Behavioral Health Link in Atlanta, where she oversaw daily operations of the statewide line as well as 24/7 mobile crisis response services in 104 Georgia counties. She has played a foundational role in building electronic capacity to coordinate crisis care in real time and continues that work today.
A suicide prevention leader, she sat on the Standards Training and Practice Committee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from 2016 to 2019. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for NAMI Georgia and was elected to the Board of Directors for the International Council for Helplines (ICL) in January of this year.
A member of the 2015 Crisis Now work group, Wendy is passionate about ensuring individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis receive the same predictable care individuals with medical emergencies receive. As a heart attack survivor, she has become even more dedicated to building crisis systems that prevent individuals in crisis from falling through the cracks. After her health scare, she became more and more interested in what her experience may have been if instead of chest pain, she was in a behavioral health crisis. “The response to chest pain is predictable no matter where you live. We demand it. This is not the case for behavioral health emergencies which can also be fatal. Unlike the bystanders and first responders who knew exactly what to do for me, our family, friends coworkers and even medical professionals are much less likely to know what to do when the emergency is related to mental health or substance use.” She is very invested in the successful launch of 988 and believes that community collaboration and the connection between key crisis services are key to ensuring individuals receive life-saving behavioral health care in their moment of need.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Monday, May 1, 2023
12:30 PM – 12:50 PM
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