2027 START National Training Institute

A painting of two hands reaching out and clasping together in front of a bridge

Bridging Knowledge to Action: Connecting People, Practice, and Possibility 

May 11-13, 2027 | Virtual 

Registration to open in January 2027 

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Coming Soon: Call for Presentations

Everyone is invited to submit presentation ideas for SNTI 2027. More information will be posted soon. 


Theme and Objectives

Bridging Knowledge to Action: Connecting People, Practice, and Possibility

We know more about the mental health aspects of intellectual and developmental disabilities than ever before. However, knowledge alone does not improve people’s lives. Our challenge at the 2027 SNTI is to build the bridge between what we know and what we do.

Knowledge comes from many places - research, lived experience, family knowledge, professional expertise, and community. No one person or single source has all the answers. Moving knowledge into action requires us to listen to one another, question what we think we know, and use what we know to make a meaningful difference in the world.

Building the Bridge Together

At SNTI 2027, we are asking not only “What do we know?” but “How does what we know become what we do?”

Each SNTI presentation will help build that bridge. Together, we will challenge ourselves to think about how ideas can be shared, understood, adapted, and put into practice.  We will explore what helps knowledge lead to change, what gets in the way, and what we can do differently. Each session adds another piece to the bridge connecting people, practice, and possibility.

SNTI 2027 invites us all to be both teachers and learners: bring what you know, stay curious about what you don’t, put learning into action, and keep building what is possible.

2027 Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of SNTI 2027, participants will be able to:

  • Examine different sources of knowledge including research, lived experience, professional expertise, and community wisdom, and explore how these strengthen IDD-MH practice.
  • Identify what helps or gets in the way of putting knowledge into practice across people, organizations, communities, and systems.
  • Identify ways to make knowledge useful and actionable for different people, roles, cultures, communities, and settings.