{"id":79222,"date":"2026-09-11T00:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=79222"},"modified":"2026-09-11T00:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:38:07","slug":"peace-river-center-professionals-earn-statewide-recognition-at-florida-behavioral-health-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/09\/11\/peace-river-center-professionals-earn-statewide-recognition-at-florida-behavioral-health-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace River Center Professionals Earn Statewide Recognition at Florida Behavioral Health Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Peace River Center, a licensed and nationally accredited nonprofit regional provider of behavioral health care and victim services, is celebrating the statewide recognition of Patricia Clark, APRN, who was named Medical Professional of the Year at the Florida Behavioral Health Association\u2019s Awards of Excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Awards of Excellence celebrate outstanding achievements in Florida\u2019s behavioral health workforce through a distinguished annual recognition program. The awards honor exceptional contributions from staff and peers within Florida Behavioral Health Association (FBHA) member organizations, recognizing their dedication and impact on their communities, colleagues, and clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark was first honored as Peace River Center\u2019s 2026 Medical Professional of the Year during the organization\u2019s Annual Awards of Excellence. Her nomination was then submitted to FBHA, where she was chosen from many professionals nominated from across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award was presented during the FBHA\u2019s annual conference, held August 26-28, 2026, in Orlando. The conference attracted approximately 1,800 attendees and is the largest behavioral health conference in the Southeast. The annual gathering brings together community providers, treatment professionals, and industry leaders to explore emerging trends, effective practices, and critical challenges in mental health and substance use care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to celebrating Clark\u2019s achievement, Peace River Center was represented at the conference by Donna Rininger, LMHC, MCAP, Director of Specialty Services, who presented “The Role of Epigenetics in the Counseling Field.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rininger\u2019s presentation explored the growing field of epigenetics and its implications for behavioral health and counseling. Epigenetics examines how external factors, including environmental experiences and lifestyle, can influence gene expression. Drawing on advances in epigenetic research, Rininger highlighted the complex relationship among genetics, environment, lifestyle, and mental health. The presentation built on her original FBHA presentation, \u201cTracing Trauma through the Generations,\u201d delivered in August 2023, and featured new research and applications in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was genuinely excited by the new research in epigenetics and the possibilities it presents for counseling. The more we learn about how our experiences and environment can influence gene expression, the better we can understand their impact on mental health. I\u2019m excited about finding practical ways to apply this emerging research to benefit our clients and strengthen the work we do as counselors,\u201d said Rininger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, Clark\u2019s statewide recognition and Rininger\u2019s conference presentation reflect Peace River Center\u2019s commitment to both exceptional care and continued professional development within the behavioral health field for the communities of Polk, Hardee, and Highlands Counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peace River Center, a licensed and nationally accredited nonprofit regional provider of behavioral health care and victim services, is celebrating the statewide recognition of Patricia Clark, APRN, who was named… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDlcL2ltYWdlcy03LTEud2VicD9maXQ9MzUwJTJDMjAwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUGVhY2UgUml2ZXIgQ2VudGVyIFByb2Zlc3Npb25hbHMgRWFybiBTdGF0ZXdpZGUgUmVjb2duaXRpb24gYXQgRmxvcmlkYSBCZWhhdmlvcmFsIEhlYWx0aCBDb25mZXJlbmNlIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.OnF7FNa54Soi4KZCrFx4GGnPxkVst8ftGi37YWFsOWEMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA5XC9pbWFnZXMtNy0xLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJQZWFjZSBSaXZlciBDZW50ZXIgUHJvZmVzc2lvbmFscyBFYXJuIFN0YXRld2lkZSBSZWNvZ25pdGlvbiBhdCBGbG9yaWRhIEJlaGF2aW9yYWwgSGVhbHRoIENvbmZlcmVuY2UiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.frX_P3UismoMaRPAGrdwOU87LM49pP_s8EcSkIRlFXUMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[990,17028],"class_list":["post-79222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-peace-river-center","tag-statewide-recognition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79225,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79222\/revisions\/79225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}