Youth Track!The National Federation youth leadership track provides diverse training opportunities for youth leaders and advocates. A committee of youth has carefully selected workshops to meet the unique training needs of young people. Presentations will focus on introductionary information for youth who are new to the youth movement and interested in becoming more engaged; other workshops will focus on information targeting current youth advocates and/or coordinators and those already engaged in system transformation.
Public speaking training, creating and advocating using comics, impacting policies, how youth can play a role in evaluation are just a few of the awesome topics that will be hosted on the youth track. Don't miss out cuz it's gonna be rockin!
is back again!The Viva Vox Imagine Arts program is quickly becoming a highlight of the youth track. This three part arts learning and performance extravaganza is specifically tailored to youth attending the conference. Get ready for an exciting experience where all of your senses will be captivated and channeled through visual, self expression and performing arts. The IMAGINE Arts Mentoring provides arts mentoring services to youth in order to promote self discovery, positive personal growth and to impact social change. Participants attending these sessions will have the opportunity to interact and learn from pottery, dance and open expression theater artists and to showcase their new skills on the final day of the conference. Don’t miss it!
Stigma Busting
Marvin Alexander, Youth M.O.V.E. National Board, Lorrin Gehring, National FFCMH
What is stigma and how does it affect young people? This high energy workshop will focus on the truths and myths that exist about youth and mental illness. Together we will identify and break down the myths and stigma surrounding young people and their abilities to succeed! No matter what their diagnosis youth have the ability to thrive in their lives! We will identify and define what success is and how we can all achieve it. Youth will walk away from this workshop feeling empowered and ready to accomplish anything!! This workshop will get you moving and keep you on your toes. Be prepared to walk away with a charge to become a change agent in your community!
Put Some Hip in Your Hop! – VIVA VOX
Ashley L. Tate, Viva Vox, St. Louis, MO
Participants will first experience a performance from Ashley. Then the group will learn about balancing presentation, clean choreography, and proper execution of movement. As the group comes together as a team input such as naming the dance group will be encouraged from all youth participating. Then all will have an opportunity to show off their skills in a culminating dance performance at the closing ceremony. Most importantly, this workshop will be fun! So come and get your groove on! No dance experience necessary so all youth are welcome!!
Ashley Tate is Dance Instructor, Founder, Artistic Director and Head Choreographer of Ashleyliane Dance Company; a full service dance organization based in the Greater St. Louis area. She specializes in hip hop, street jazz, modern, contemporary and lyrical jazz styles.
Ashley has been dancing for 21 years, both as a soloist and as a member of several dance teams. She studied dance at Pelagie Green Wren's Academy of Dance, Ray Parks Academy of Dance, Dallas Powerhouse Dance Studio, The Elite Dance Studio, and Broadway Dance Center. Ashley has been an instructor for National Dance Alliance, a cast member in a Sony Dreamworks motion picture, and a kinesthetics intelligence presenter for St. Louis Arches (an all youth circus acrobatics group base in St. Louis, MO).
Accomplishments include:
• Adjunct Professor of Dance at Washington University in St. Louis
• 2008 Recipient of the Emerging Artist Visionary Award, presented by Grand Center Inc.
• Dancer for Cirque Du Soleil
• St. Louis Rams Football Cheerleader, Line Captain, and Choreographer (2005-2008)
• Choreographer for NFL and NCAA basketball and football halftime shows, dance studio recitals, national and regional dance competitions, and theatre productions.
• Adjudicator, Applause Talent Competitions
• Choreographer and Master Instructor of Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Contemporary and Street Jazz
MY LIFE & MY Fest - Youth involvement for prevention, recovery and stigma reduction
Greg Dicharry, Antonio Wilson, MY LIFE - Magellan Health Services, Phoenix, AZ
MY LIFE, Magellan Youth Leaders Inspiring Future Empowerment, youth leadership group will explain how youth involvement and youth-led events benefit mental health and substance abuse prevention, recovery and stigma reduction. An overview of MY LIFE and MY Fest, a youth involvement festival held June 7, 2008, including outcomes and video highlights will be presented. Attendees will receive information on how to establish youth leadership groups and how to produce youth lead events such as MY Fest.
Raw Expressions: Poetry and Spoken Word!
James Sawyer, Sarasota, FL
This workshop will focus on putting your raw thoughts and feelings on paper. Youth will go through relaxation and meditation exercises to quiet their minds and prepare themselves to open up. After listening to provocative instrumental music youth will have the opportunity to free write their thoughts, emotions and reactions to the experience. This interactive presentation uses poetry and spoken word to draw out instinctual thoughts and raw emotion. This is less of a workshop and more of an experience! Youth will also be given the opportunity to share their poetry to the entire conference during the closing session if they choose to! Don't miss out on this opportunity for reflection and expression!
PlayBack Theater – VIVA VOX
Jackie Masei, Viva Vox, St. Louis, MO
Playback offers audiences the opportunity to tell and watch their own true stories come to life. Playback Theater is an interactive improvisational performance in which audience members tell true stories from their lives and watch them be brought to artistic life through movement, music and theater. Playback performances focus on themes that reflect the needs, current issues and goals of the community served. Participants will be invited to engage in story telling among their peers and then get an opportunity to come up on stage, tell their stories and have them “Played Back” right before their eyes and the eyes and ears of the audience.
Art as Canvas I
James Sawyer, Sarasota, FL
Groups of 5-10 youth will work together to determine, develop, and prepare a message that the group wants to share with the general conference or other audiences and then each group will be given the opportunity and resources to put that message on the canvas and ultimately shared with the intended audience. This will be a facilitated process that will encourage group dynamics, self/group advocacy.
Youth Evaluators: How YOU Can Make a Difference in Programs for Youth
Naeemah Carter, Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Brianne Masselli,
Antonio Wilson, NFFCMH Board Member
The focus of this workshop is to guide youth participants through the basics of program evaluation through fun and engaging activities. Youth presenters will share real world examples of how being involved with program evaluation has made a difference in their community, agency, or program. They will also share how their involvement has benefited them personally. Each participant will leave this session with ideas for getting their voices heard in their community.
Your Point Is?
Lorrin Gehring, National FFCMH, Jane Tobler, Vanguard Communications, Washington, DC
Who is the best person to speak about a youth’s experience with mental illness? A youth, of course! To help youth’s voices be heard, youth need to be comfortable and strategic in telling their story. This fun and interactive workshop will help them think about their audience and effectively communicate their story and advocate for the services and supports that have helped them, and what else is needed. It will help them acknowledge their own culture and that of their audiences to deliver their "point."
PlayBack Theater – VIVA VOX – Part II
Jackie Masei, Viva Vox, St. Louis, MO
Playback offers audiences the opportunity to tell and watch their own true stories come to life. Playback Theater is an interactive improvisational performance in which audience members tell true stories from their lives and watch them be brought to artistic life through movement, music and theater. Playback performances focus on themes that reflect the needs, current issues and goals of the community served. Participants will be invited to engage in story telling among their peers and then get an opportunity to come up on stage, tell their stories and have them “Played Back” right before their eyes and the eyes and ears of the audience.
Art as Canvas – Part II
James Sawyer, Sarasota, FL
Groups of 5-10 youth will work together to determine, develop, and prepare a message that the group wants to share with the general conference or other audiences and then each group will be given the opportunity and resources to put that message on the canvas and ultimately shared with the intended audience. This will be a facilitated process that will encourage group dynamics, self/group advocacy.
Empowering Youth Through Political Action
Brian Lombrowski, Kathryn Whitehead, Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth, Brooklyn, NY
Members of the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY) will share how a small band of youth advocates took on powerful business interests and helped to pass legislation through the House of Representatives to stop abuse in residential treatment programs. Members will share how the advocacy process strengthened their own recovery and provided a template for future youth advocacy efforts.
Comic Books aren't Just for Kids
Carl Yonder, National FFCMH
Comic Books aren't just for kids anymore! In this workshop participants will look at different kinds of comics and the messages they convey. Comics can communicate a powerful message and can be used as a tool in advocacy. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own comics and have them on display for conference participants to view on Sunday (if they choose). This workshop will give young people the opportunity to express themselves in a unique and creative way and to develop new strategies to effectively market their message to their peers and others in their community.
Celebration of Youth!
Sandra Spencer, Executive Director NFFCMH, Youth Participants, Viva Vox Crew!
Get ready for an inspirational morning of music, art, poetry and passion. Sandra Spencer will deliver a charge to the membership as we move in to 2009. Then, youth who have been participating all weekend in the Viva Vox Youth Track will astound you with their many and varied talents, sharing their inspiration from a weekend of working together. This has become one of the most popular sessions of any Federation conference. Be sure to set your alarm - you won't want to miss a minute of this moving presentation.