Conference 2012

Sunday Concurrent Workshops

How to Develop a Social Media Strategy

Brittany Smith; Corey Brown, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Rockville MD

This workshop will walk participants through the development of a social media strategy (or community management strategy) using the POST methodology. POST stands for P – people; O – objectives; S – strategies; T – technology

Participants will walk away with a worksheet that maps out a social media strategy based on this methodology. They will also get a resource sheet that includes links to websites and books that will help them to learn more about social media and how to use it effectively. Additionally, participants will receive a tip sheet for how to engage youth and family members in the development of a social media strategy.

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YOUTH TRACK

Kareem’s Triumph: At Risk Youth, or At Risk Environment?

Randy Alexander; Kyshon Johnson; Kareen Jamal, DBHIDS, Philadelphia PA

This interactive workshop performed by Youth M.O.V.E. Philadelphia will immediately grab the audience’s attention with dramatic displays of trauma, trauma-informed care and youth resilience. Also, our youth members will describe how they actively participate in the system-wide transformation of Philadelphia’s behavioral health system – promoting resilience, recovery and self-determination. Youth M.O.V.E. Philly operates under Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services’ “Strategic Planning Division – Community Based Services Development Unit”. We are youth advocates for children’s behavioral health.

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Living in So Many Worlds: Lesson Learned from the Joys and Challenges of Youth and Families Living in Overlapping Cultural Identities- In Their Own Words

Tessa Cayce; Carlos Garcia; Gloria Hamlett; Julia Deberry, Eva Viamis, Trenton, NJ; John Cruz, NJ Alliance of Family Support Organizations, Neptune NJ

We already live in a complex world, and it becomes even more complex when we come from or identify with multiple cultural identities, for example, a gay youth of color or a Muslim mother struggling with addiction.  This multimedia workshop will feature youth and family members and their personal expressions about the journey dealing with mental health and substance abuse challenges while experiencing the world from a blended, or not so blended, cultural perspective.

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Psychotropic medications with children and youth:  what do you know?

Pat Hunt, Magellan Health Services, Turner ME

The use of psychotropic medication with children and youth is a big deal.  What does research say?  What do you know?  This interactive discussion about medication decisions, what influences you, and medication’s effects on health is an opportunity for you to share your personal experiences and outcomes.  Youth and families have a lot to say – we want to hear it!

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Meaningful Involvement of Parents in Trauma Training

Dalia Smith; Lula Haynes, Association for Children’s Mental Health, Saginaw MI, Shareen McBride-Wicklund; Leann Brow, Association for Children’s Mental Health, Muskegon MI

Learn how Resource Parent Training (RPT), a component of trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), has been established in two Michigan communities.  We will share information on how to recruit, train and support parents as co-trainers.  Parents are an integral part of RPT and are valuable in helping with development, coordination and implementation of this training.  We will also share information on how we have partnered with clinicians, other child serving systems, and community and faith based organizations for consultation, contribution, and to co-train RPT to diverse audiences including parents/caregivers, service providers, and the community at large.  Through these partnerships we have successfully run quality trainings at minimal cost.  We will share ideas on how to sustain RPT as a part of the service continuum offered to families in treatment, and how to use this training as a prevention strategy by bringing it into community and faith based centers as an ongoing workshop offered to the community.  We have been able to incorporate RPT as part of parent support services by training families one on one in conjunction with TF-CBT as a Medicaid billable service, as well as in a support group setting (non-billable).  We will include a demonstration by training part of one of the eight training modules.

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The Next Generation of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists: Promoting Youth and Family Empowerment

Gordon Hodas, MD, PA Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; Justine Larson, MD, Arlington County Psychiatric Services, Tacoma Park MD; Eunice Peterson, MD, University of South Carolina,Columbia SC; ; Jake Vandall, Family Services of Western PA, New Kensington PA

Child and adolescent psychiatrists need to embrace youth and family empowerment.  The System of Care Committee within the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has developed a “Toolkit for System-Based Practice” for child and adolescent resident training programs.  These modules uphold “family-driven, youth-guided care” at the practice and policy levels.

This workshop describes the toolkit and the experience of one young adult.  We then pose the following question: how can families and committed child and adolescent psychiatrists together promote effective collaboration and partnerships?

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Resiliency Training Via the Web (See How it Works!)

Terre Garner, Ohio Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Cincinnati OH

The Resiliency Model developed by youth with serious emotional challenges and their families in Ohio will soon be available to all across the country through a web-based training. Video clips featuring youth and family stories to illustrate the 12 components will reinforce that they know what works for them.

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Building Community Capacity to Enhance Informal Supports in the Wraparound Process

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

The WIN Georgia Community Engagement Team assists families in identifying and developing appropriate social, emotional and behavioral supports within their communities. By connecting our families to these informal supports, we have discovered that families are later able to identify resources for themselves, thus establishing sustainability. In addition, when our families become independently involved with these supports, they have a higher level of success and graduate wraparound.  In many cases these informal supports have helped families in developing a sense of connection and a desire to “pay it forward” by becoming the next level of peer-to-peer supports. This light hearted and interactive workshop will provide concrete examples of ways to assist families in connecting to each other and their communities.

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Empowerment and Recovery Through Trauma Treatment and Parent Partnership

Alison Hendricks;Pamela Toohey, Chadwick Center of Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego CA

This workshop will tell a true survivor’s story about trauma, substance abuse, child welfare involvement and recovery. Presenters will discuss the link between trauma and addiction and the importance of trauma-focused treatment in child welfare. Evidence-supported treatment models will be shared as well as parent mentoring programs.

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Attachment – Trauma – What is this all about?

Diane Kopitowsky, Families Together in New York State, Albany NY

Presenters will provide a PowerPoint and DVD concerning the relationship between attachment-trauma and the emotional needs of children and families. While this is often thought of as an issue in foster care and adoption, this issue falls in the trauma realm for all.

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Examining Factors Contributing to Resilience Among Children and Youth With Serious Emotional Disturbance

Russell Carlton; Tesfayi Gebreselassie, ICF Macro, Atlanta GA

Despite their mental health challenges, many children and youth in systems of care are able to cope well and exhibit positive outcomes.  Findings from a special study examine resiliency and discuss different trajectories of resilient adaptation among groups of children and youth with severe mental health problems. Risk factors that inhibit positive adjustment and protective factors that promote positive development will be discussed. Families will share strategies that foster resilience to manage the impact of adversity.

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North Carolina Family Driven Sustainability From Cradle to Career

Gail Cormier, MS,  North Carolina Families United, Greensboro NC

Family organizations often struggle independently for the crumbs of funding to sustain themselves. The family organizations throughout the state have torn down the silos that become barriers and have collaborated with each other in the process of developing a sustainable Family Partnership in all areas of the state that also includes non funded grant sites in North Carolina. The diversified method to sustain these positions and supports family voice on policy making boards and state committees is the key to North Carolina success. North Carolina leads the way in sustained family driven initiatives that includes family organizations and Family Partners as Peer Support and Care Coordinators that include over 100 such positions across the state. These positions include various methods of funding that use braided funding, administration annual budget funding, contracts, block grant funding and insurance coverage.

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Self Advocates with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders In Action (The SAFA Network)

Rob Wybrecht, Jasmine Suarez- O’Connor and Leigh Ann Davis, The Arc of the United States, Washington DC

FASD is an umbrella term describing the wide range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, behavioral, mental, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. The Arc received a contract from SAMHSA/Northrop Grumman to begin a formal project called SAFA (Self-Advocates with FASD in Action), which is developing a national network of people with an FASD ages 18 years or older who want to learn how to become better advocates for themselves and for others who have an FASD. Come learn how you can get involved!

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