Conference 2012

Concurrent Workshops – Friday 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.

Note: Workshop placement is subject to change. Check the web site for updates as we get closer to the conference.

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Youth Track
West African Dance, Drumming and Costuming – VIVA VOX – Session III

Diadié Bathily from the Ivory Coast/Viva Vox, St Louis, MO

High energy and fun filled taught by professional dancer and instructor Diadié Bathily, this workshop series will have three activities:

1. Introduction for students to the basic movement of West African dance. Through African dance, participants will develop coordination and concentration, and build an understanding of African culture. Participants will learn authentic African dance, gain an understanding of West Africa, and learn some of the languages and customs of Mali and the Ivory Coast. The history and cultural importance of the dance is taught to participants as they are learning the steps.
2. Students will learn basic drum rhythms with taught by Caph Guei; the musical director of Afriky Lolo. A native of Ivory Coast, West Africa, Caph holds the distinct title “Master Drummer,” having mastered several indigenous drum styles and rhythms including the djembe drum
3. Students will create their own authentic West African masks and costumes! These costumes and masks will be the participants’ to keep.

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Everyone can go to college: The Better Futures Project

Lee Ann Phillips, MSW; Richard DeMarko Brown; Portland State University, Portland OR

This presentation focuses on the transition experiences of foster youth with mental health challenges. We will share information about the Better Futures Project, which focuses on a self-determination approach with peer coaches, Summer Institute and mentoring workshops. Participants will gain a better understanding of the challenging context foster youth with serious mental health conditions typically face as they plan for their futures, as well as strategies for meeting their transition needs and goals around higher education.

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Evaluating Keys for Networking’s Efforts to Build Parent Capacity to Drive Services – Part II

Jane Adams, Keys for Networking, Topeka KS; Mary Tierney, MD, Senior Research Analyst, American Institute for Research, Washington DC

Keys for Networking uses a nationally demonstrated effective family strengthening parent engagement model, Targeted Parent Assistance (TPA), which builds parent skills in seven core areas: persistence, articulation of needs, resourcefulness, as well as being expectant, well networked, transparent and strategic.. In 2002 and again in 2009-2010, the American Institutes for Research confirmed TPA as effective. This pre-conference workshop will demonstrate the process of data collection and evaluation used to inform this peer-to-peer parent assistance. Keys has demonstrated that increased family engagement through peer-to-peer assistance improves school performance and enrollment in health insurance, and decreases recidivism for youth involved with the juvenile justice system.

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Family Voice: Building Community Capacity by Using a Continuum of Leadership From Informal to Parent Peer-to-Peer Supports

Theresa Varos, MS; Heather Stanley, MPS; Dawn Davis; Bonnie Verhine, WIN Georgia, Fort Oglethorpe GA

Family voice is an integral piece of an effective system of care, and the use of family members as helpers in the wraparound process is quickly emerging as an essential component in a family’s wraparound team. These family members serve as empathetic “parent peers,” working with families from a lived experience while assisting them in connecting to their communities. This process helps families remain engaged in wraparound process and ensuring the recognition of voice and choice. This interactive workshop will provide tangible ideas and tools for recruiting, training, managing and sustaining family involvement.

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Addressing Trauma Impacts on Children, Families, Protective Caregivers and Child Welfare Workers

Frank Rider, MS; Eric Lulow, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Rockville MD

For more than 40 years the United States has codified laws prohibiting maltreatment of children, and every state, territory and Indian Tribe has child protective services in place to investigate child abuse and neglect and to protect vulnerable children.  Maltreatment causes serious psychic wounds in children, and child protection rightly aims to ensure that all children can experience safety, stability and well-being.  Unfortunately child trauma is often unintentionally compounded when vulnerable children are removed from unsafe family situations into foster care. This workshop will explain salient trauma impacts of both child maltreatment and removal on children, their families, their protective caregivers, and the child welfare workers charged with child protection.  Positive strategies to prevent, treat and heal trauma for all four sets of victims will be described and documented.

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Creating partnerships with families: “How do we get there and what will we see?”

Kathleen Ferreira, Ph.D., University of South Florida, Tampa FL, Elaine Slaton, MSA, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Rockville MD

Although there is increased emphasis on partnering with families in decision-making at all levels of mental health service planning and delivery, many organizations and systems have difficulty making partnerships with families a reality. This workshop will describe research and work group results, including a proposed framework for implementing family-driven care and indicators of what family-driven care “looks like” in mental health service systems. Discussion will include audience feedback and plans for developing a guidebook for communities.

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Project Fatherhood- Men in Relationships Group (MIRG)

Alan-Michael Graves, MSPA; Ronald Banks, PsyD Children’s Institute, Inc, Los Angeles CA

This workshop will provide outcome data that highlight the effectiveness of MIRGs in achieving these goals:  increased father involvement, decreased child welfare system involvement, decreased parenting stress, and strengthened fathering skills.

This parent-to-parent support group addresses matters such as: appropriate discipline, substance abuse, child abuse neglect, domestic abuse and communicating needs.

Over the years, MIRGs have proved useful for not only bio-fathers but other men in caregiving roles such as stepfathers, foster parents and relative caregivers such as uncles and grandfathers.

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Engaging and Supporting Military Families

Gloria Klinefelter, RN, University of Iowa;Joseph Hickey, BS, Dubuque IA

Military families living in areas without a large military installation are often isolated from their peers.  Providing opportunities for military families to gather socially is the first step in providing essential support.  We offer fun activities for the families to connect and then begin building the type of relationship that is critical in addressing trauma induced distress.  Support is provided through facilitated support groups, clinical services, individual peer support and youth activities utilizing artistic self-expression and group discussion.

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What’s Your Story?  The Power to Influence Change Through Personal Stories

Cathy Imburgia;Janet Taylor-McDowell, Delaware’s B.E.S.T. Newark DE

Sharing personal stories is a powerful tool that is helping communities across the nation transform attitudes and take action to meet children’s mental heath needs for all ages.

Learn from family members and professionals how Delaware’s B.E.S.T., a federally funded initiative to establish effective treatments and support for children birth to five and their families, is using stories through family voice to educate, advocate and influence change in Delaware through speaking engagements and other media.

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Challenging but Not Impossible:  A Latino Father and Son’s Story of Healing

John Cruz, NJ Alliance of Family Support Organizations, Neptune NJ; Carlos Garcia, NJ Alliance of Family Support Organizations, Long Branch NJ

John Cruz was just a teenager when his first son, Carlos, was born. Struggling in poverty and navigating the streets seemed impossible especially with system involvement.  Carlos spent most of his childhood years without John until one day they reunited in difficult circumstances.  Join John and Carlos as they share their story of resiliency and work together to unite families and communities. By replicating the strengths and strategies used to develop their own relationship, they help others by demonstrating youth and adult partnerships, youth and family empowerment, and overall, culturally competent systemic reform.

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Fostering the Engagement of Young People of Transition-Age Who Have Experienced Trauma

Nathan Gawlik, Youth MOVE National, Grand Forks ND

This presentation will focus on how to engage young people who have experienced trauma aging out of the foster care system in a strengths-based and culturally appropriate manner. Information about trauma and developmental needs of this population will be combined with foster care alumni personal experiences. Collaboration barriers and strategies to engage systems partners will be discussed.

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Art Expression Room: Create art work that showcases what inspires you during times of difficulty.
This room is setup to provide our more artistic participants the opportunity to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions through art! Participants 18 and under will have the opportunity to submit their art work for the 2011 Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day poster contest.  For more details on this option, please visit the poster contest section of our website.

Note: This session continues from 5:45 pm – 7:15 pm

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Trauma-informed System Transformation: A rural county’s child welfare transformation journey

Brenda Konradi , M.S.;Kim Linkel One Community One Family; Jennifer Tackitt, Indiana Dept. of Child Services; Angel Schiering, United Families

How do you get your community to not only be willing to become but also be excited about becoming trauma-informed? Trauma-informed system transformation moves beyond simply implementing services to a paradigm shift in how organizations interact with children and families. This workshop will detail the steps and strategies utilized by a local System of Care in working with child welfare to become trauma-informed by utilizing the Niatx Process Improvement Model. This presentation will be from a rural perspective and details the use of training, consultation, social marketing, evaluation and ongoing technical assistance in not only implementing but also sustaining trauma-informed changes. Presenters will also offer various perspectives on this system transformation from their own experiences as a project director, child welfare regional manager, parent with experience in child welfare system, and training and social marketing coordinator.

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Basic Understanding of Healthcare Reform – The Affordable Care Act

Teresa King, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Rockville, MD; Jim Wotring, MSW;Gary Macbeth,MSW, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

This workshop will explain healthcare reform  in language that any layperson can understand. Participants will be able to illustrate the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Participants will also learn what actions they can take right now in their states to ensure that implementation of the Act provides for the behavioral health needs of children and youth.. This workshop will cover three primary sections of the Act. Attendees will be introduced to the language and concepts found within the general provisions of the Act that affect child and family behavioral health and developmental disability services. Key terms found in health insurance exchanges will be explained. The ABC’s of the expansion of Medicaid and reauthorization of CHIP will be explored.  Critical opportunities will be discussed for families to advocate with state decision makers as they decide what healthcare reform will cover in our states.

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Broadening Our Box

Brenda Donaldson, BS; Kashonda Babb, MS, TN Voices for Children, Nashville TN

Transitioning to a different environment for a Hispanic family can be a traumatic experience with numerous barriers. The engagement of community providers that are not on the mental/behavior health radar provides for diverse opportunities to empower parents and youth to invest and take ownership of their communities. Through these unique relationships with those providers, families and youth are not put into our boxes, but allowed to broaden our box to support and empower the families and youth.

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Youth Track

Train the Trainers: Youth teach professionals how to partner…with…uh, youth.

Martin Rafferty;Ariana Archer, Youth M.O.V.E. Oregon, Eugene OR

Warning: This workshop is actually a jam-packed training for young adult leadersthat can change everything.

This training is made especially for young adults,but is also professional and family member friendly. It will teach participants how to train professionals how to partner with young adults at both the local and regional level to become full, participating members on their local mental health advisory committees, quality improvement boards, and other children’s mental health committees.

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Take me back to the agenda!