Harvest of Hope 2024

16th ANNUAL WELLNESS CONFERENCE
October 5, 2024
The Conference Center at Mercer
MCCC West Windsor Campus

Special Guest: Elizabeth Vargas

Why Elizabeth Vargas Captivates Audiences

With her signature candor and insight, Elizabeth Vargas gives audiences a behind-the-scenes look at today’s live news reporting and ever-evolving media. She shares her experiences breaking some of the biggest stories of the last several decades and reporting from the front lines around the world, from Hurricane Katrina to the war in Iraq, the crisis in Beslan, Russia to political crises in Washington. Vargas also bravely discusses how alcoholism and an anxiety disorder have affected her life and career, and why she chose to publicly share her struggle with the disease and her ongoing recovery.

More About Elizabeth Vargas

Emmy Award winning journalist Elizabeth Vargas has traveled the world covering breaking news stories, reporting on- depth investigations and conducting news maker interviews. She is the host of America’s Most Wanted on Fox TV, as well as the nationally syndicated iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas. She hosted the hit newsmagazine show 20/20 on ABC for 15 years, and was Co-Anchor of World News Tonight, and news anchor and frequent host of Good Morning America. She hosted A&E Investigates, doing a series of documentaries that still air on Hulu.

During the historic Iraqi elections in December 2005, she reported extensively for World News Tonight from Baghdad on both civilian life in Iraq and American military involvement there. She has interviewed leaders from around the world, including President Bush from the Oval Office in the White House. Vargas has also anchored ABC News coverage of live, breaking stories, including the deaths of President Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Hurricane Katrina’s devastation from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Vargas won an Emmy in 2000 for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a News Story for anchoring live coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case.

Vargas has also interviewed a wide range of celebrities, from actors and musicians to business leaders and authors, including: Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Skoll, Sheryl Crow, Madonna, Johnny Depp, Hugh Hefner, Jessica Simpson, Mick Jagger, Drew Barrymore, Dan Brown, Alanis Morissette, and Cat Stevens.

In 2016, Vargas released her memoir, Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction. The book details her lifelong struggle with anxiety and how she self medicated with alcohol, and tells a powerful story of healing and coping. The book spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and won numerous awards. Vargas is a member of the board of directors for the non-profit Partnership to End Addiction. She hosts a podcast, Heart of the Matter, about addiction, recovery, and the stigma so many face in their effort to heal.

Harvest of Hope, NAMI Mercer's wellness conference, is held annually in conjunction with National Mental Illness Awareness Week. Launched in 2009. this event brings people together to learn strategies and resources that promote mental wellbeing and to expand knowledge and understanding of mental illness. Harvest of Hope includes: a keynote featuring an inspirational mental health advocate; practical, interactive workshops; thoughtful conversations rooted in personal experience; an uplifting performance; and plenty of opportunities for community-building.

Directions to The Conference Center at Mercer County College are available here

Workshops

Maximize Your Greatest Wealth; Invest in Your Mental Health
Social Wellness and Mental Health
Using the Mind to Manage the Mind
Tune in to Your Senses: How Your Environment Affects Mental Wellness
Spirituality and Awe in Mental Wellbeing

Compelling Conversations

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to engage in Compelling Conversations, a NAMI Mercer anti-stigma program developed to normalize conversations about mental health and challenge negative, discriminatory perceptions of mental illness. The program creates safe space for those with "lived experience" (called “communicators”) to engage in open, honest dialogue about a variety of mental health topics with those who are interested in learning and understanding "more." The intimate, small group setting facilitates conversations intended to be personal and confidential.