Dr. John Damon, MS, PhD, is the CEO of Canopy Children’s Solutions, Mississippi’s largest and most comprehensive non-profit provider of children’s behavioral health, education, and family support solutions. 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 (NACBH), the Behavioral Health Society of the Mississippi Hospital Association, and the Mississippi Association of Child Caring Agencies. John continues to serve in Board leadership for NACBH and the Children’s Home Society of America. He is a member of the Mississippi Early Child Investment Council.
John is currently appointed by the Mississippi Legislature to serve on the Mississippi K-12 and Postsecondary Mental Health Task Force and by the Mississippi Supreme Court to serve on the Children’s Justice Commission.
He was formerly appointed by the Mississippi Legislature to the Mississippi Autism Advisory Committee and has served on other appointed task forces, including the Governor’s Healthcare Task Force (chair, Mental Health), the Mississippi Children’s Mental Health Task Force, and the Governor’s Human Trafficking Taskforce. He was selected to the Magnolia Tribune’s 2024 class of the Mississippi Top 50. 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 and 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 the 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.