About
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Dr. John Damon, MS, PhD, is the CEO for Canopy Children’s Solutions, Mississippi’s largest and most comprehensive non-profit provider of children’s behavioral health, education, and social services. John works with all three branches of government, business thought leaders, and community stakeholders to develop public policy, clinical best practices, and catalytic partnerships aimed at helping every child and family reach their full potential. He has served as president of the National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health, president of the Behavioral Health Society of the Mississippi Hospital Association, and president of the Mississippi Association of Child Caring Agencies. He is currently appointed by the Mississippi Legislature to serve on the Mississippi Autism Advisory Committee and by the Mississippi Supreme Court to serve on the Children’s Justice Commission. He has also served on other appointed task forces, including the Governor’s Healthcare Task Force (chair, Mental Health), the Mississippi’s Children’s Mental Health Task Force, and the Governor’s Human Trafficking Taskforce. John has served as adjunct faculty in undergraduate and graduate academic institutions, and he’s been the featured presenter at many state and national conferences as well as the US Senate Caucus Committee on foster care, mental health, and substance abuse. He has co-authored book chapters and Congressional white papers on best practices in children’s behavioral health and has published in multiple peer reviewed journals. John’s undergraduate degree is in psychology, he has a master’s in marriage and family therapy, and his PhD is in clinical psychology. He completed his residency in Child Psychology at University of Mississippi Medical Center. He and his wife, Helaina, are the proud parents of five children and live in Madison, Mississippi. John is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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