Inside This Year’s Behavioral Health and Public Safety Summit
Our 4th Annual Behavioral Health & Public Safety Summit brought together leaders, providers, first responders, advocates, and community partners who are shaping a safer, more recovery-ready Tampa Bay.
Congratulations to Captain Toni Roach of Pasco County Sheriff’s Office receiving the much-deserved Distinguished Service Award. Watch below:
Captain Roach was honored with the Distinguished Service Award for her transformative impact on behavioral health and public safety in Pasco County.
After more than 20 years with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office—serving in patrol, community policing, school resource work, and training—she took on the role of the agency’s mental health liaison in 2016. There, she led the Behavioral Health Intervention Team, connecting high utilizers of emergency services with resources that improved stability and reduced system strain.
Her most enduring legacy—and the central reason for her Distinguished Service Award—is her founding of the Behavioral Health and Public Safety Summit and the regional committee that guides it.
Over just four years, she built a space where first responders, behavioral health professionals, medical providers, and community leaders could learn from one another and coordinate their efforts in ways that had not previously existed.
Her leadership transformed the region’s approach to overdose response and community stabilization, strengthening interagency relationships and expanding the network of support available to individuals in crisis.
To the 95 agencies and organizations across 17 counties who participated in and attended the Summit: thank you for showing what regional collaboration truly looks like. Your presence, partnership, and shared commitment to improving behavioral health and public safety made this gathering not only possible, but impactful for every community represented.
To the members of the Behavioral Health and Public Safety Committee—led by Chair Captain Toni Roach of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and Co-Chair Captain Donald Nunnery of the Winter Haven Police Department—thank you for your unwavering commitment to collaboration. Your dedication, insight, and hard work are the backbone of this Summit, and your leadership continues to strengthen our region’s response to behavioral health and public safety challenges.
To our vendors, sponsors, partners, and speakers: thank you for helping make this year’s Summit a powerful step forward. Your collaboration is how real change takes root.
We’re already looking ahead and hope you’ll join us again next year on Wednesday, December 2, 2026.
Let’s keep learning and moving toward a region where recovery is possible for everyone.