Session Descriptions

Discovering The Why Behind The What: Trauma Explains You, It Doesn't Define You

Cedric Dale Hoard

Uncover the power of empathy through hearing the stories of others. Gain a trauma informed approach, as we learn how “discussing before disgust,” “considering before condemning,” and “listening before labeling” can strengthen relationships and create a more compassionate world. We will unpack the mysteries of trauma, its impact on the mind and body, and how to find meaning from our trauma, transforming it from restriction to resilience.

Educator as Healer: Four Concepts that Embody Healing through Pedagogy and Praxis

Tony DelaRosa

In this talk, Tony talks about the power of healing pedagogies and praxis. He breaks this down into four components: 1) Education as healing, 2) Art as healing, 3) Mentorship as healing, and 4) Community as healing. This helps participants understand how these four tools help youth heal from a self and group level. Tony grounds this talk in the case study of founding and leading Pulse Poetry youth spoken word network as the CEO. Tony ends with charging participants to reflect on how to bring these components back to their own practice.

Pathways to Pride: Why Intersectionality Matters in 2SQT+ Youth and Young Adult Liberation

Dr. Laura Minero

The Trevor Project 2022 has shown that rates of suicide attempts were generally higher among 2-SQT youth of color, and particularly among Native/Indigenous 2-SQT youth. This session will focus on uplifting and centering the experiences and historical significance and contributions of BIPOC 2SQT+ folx. Participants will learn how intersectionality, 2SQT+ affirming, and anti-racist frameworks can be utilized to actively resist everyday aggression and abuse towards BIPOC 2SQT+ folx and create communities and environments where BIPOC 2SQT+ can fully thrive and reduce incidences of suicide among BIPOC 2SQT+ folx. Presenter will share from her own experiences as a queer and gender expansive Latinx immigrant muxer and engage audience in deepening their reflexivity and support for 2SQT youth/young adults. Drawing from extensive research, the presenter will define the LGBTQ+ Affirming model and highlight evidenced-based ways to support 2SQT+ communities.

Be YOUrself to free YOUrself

Christopher DeAngelo Gilbert

Description coming soon!

Differential Diagnosis: Sifting Through the Clues to Find Clarity

Dr. Steven Dykstra

Know what you think you know, know why you think you know it, and know that you could be wrong. Diagnostic work can be unclear at times leaving us uncertain, yet responsible to proceed anyway. Being good investigators positions us to gather information with a lens focused on what matters. When working with young people, we are offered clues that, when acknowledged as important, lead to greater clarity. Rarely do we have all the information we need, and new information always emerges. This presentation highlights how to sort through information to solve diagnostic questions because, when done well, diagnosis can matter and lead to help that helps.

Suicide in Cultural Minorities: Prevention Through Coherence

Aruna Jha, Ph.D., LCSW; Luka Schroeder, UWW-Student; Melissa Bleiler, MS, LMFT, LPC

Wisconsin is home to multiple cultural minority groups. Our neighbors are African Americans, Latinx, LGBTQ folx, Veterans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and many others. Do we know what it’s like to be a member of these communities? Can we possibly understand the impact of being marginalized? 

Suicide rates are rising in each of these groups, with African American youth showing the highest rate of increase in suicide. Now is the time to talk about it. In this session, we first review the scope of the problem and unique risk factors for suicide in these communities.  Next, we will present a theoretical model that helps understand the lived experience of minority individuals incorporating the role of acculturative stress and acculturation strategies as predictors, and sense of coherence as a mediator of depression and suicidal ideation in minority youth. We will also provide you with ways you can incorporate sense of coherence in your clinical practice and as a valuable tool for suicide prevention with cultural minority clients.

Now is the Time to Incorporate the Social Justice Model of Disability

Sara Vogt & Molly Grodey

This presentation will familiarize attendees with the social model of disability and disability justice, in which disability is conceived as part of human diversity. We will introduce the various models of disability and how the social justice model focuses on the political and cultural context of disability. We will focus on the discrepancies in power, privilege, and access experienced by individuals with disabilities who interact with service providers in the community. This is an interactive presentation in which participants will be able to reflect on the different models of disability, disability identity, and ableism, as well as share how it relates to their own work and lives. Participants will also be given the opportunity to examine and discuss their own values, perspectives, and biases related to the intersectionality of disability and other identities.

CHOICES & Dunn County Human Services

Piloting Coordinated Specialty Care [CSC] Services in Nine Western WI Counties

A panel of CSC providers will share their experiences of piloting a multidisciplinary team-based service with nine counties with those youth and young adults with first experiences of possible psychosis. The panelists will share each of their insights into what keeps them passionate about this type of service, individual role in the program, and dedicated to the individuals in this program.

Transformation through the 4 H's: Hello, Help, Healing, Hope

Leanne Delsart

Transformation through the 4 H's: Hello, help, healing, hope will provide an overview of the Wraparound principles, philosophy and process to highlight the value of transformative vs. transactional care for youth and families. The core principles of Wraparound serve as the bedrock of transformative work. Participants who appreciate the adage "what is not transformed, is transferred" will benefit from learning more about Wraparound as a framework for caring for others who have experienced trauma and adversity.

Building a Future

Kadeesha Duncan

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are key moral values that need to exist for youth of ethnic and minority backgrounds to effectively succeed in goal attainment. In the current world climate this is not always guaranteed. Throughout her professional and personal development, Kadeesha Duncan has strived to establish and maintain entities within communities whose mission is to advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has learned that when these organizations exist as we grow and develop, our mental health and wellbeing tend to be at a more optimal level for higher probability of goal attainment. Please join Kadeesha Duncan MSW, APSW, Coach Dyamond Jackson, and the UWW Warlette Dance Team to hear how organizations who advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion play a role in our development and create a sense of belonging in spaces it is not guaranteed.

Two Spirited: A Pathway to Understanding and the Role of Colonization

Dr. Heather Kind-Keppel

The term Two-Spirit is a direct translation of the Ojibwe term, Niizh manidoowag. “Two-Spirited” or “Two-Spirit” is usually used to indicate a person whose body simultaneously houses a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit. The term can also be used to indicate the presence of two contrasting human spirits (tribal-institute.org). Two-Spirit People is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nation Gay/Lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. The term describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations Indigenous groups (National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, 2011). In this presentation we will engage in dialogue about the impact colonization had on Two-Spirited individuals and tribal communities perceptions, foster a more in-depth understanding of Two-Spirited individuals, and ways to support both individuals and the community.

The Importance of Mentorship

Jasmine Johnikin & As I Am Mentoring guests

This session will highlight the importance of having a mentor and the impact mentorship can have on mentees with an emphasis on mental health. Jasmine will share her story of becoming a mentor and how she started her mentoring program. As I Am Mentoring, Inc. hopes to inspire others to seek out mentorship for themselves or become mentors. There will be teen representatives from the organization providing a youth voice on how mentorship has impacted them on their journeys.

The History and Importance of the Indian Child Welfare Act: Past and Present

Dr. Heather Kind-Keppel

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal law that seeks to keep Native children with Native families. It was passed in 1978 in response to compelling evidence of the high number of Native children that were being forcibly removed from their families by public and private agencies and placed in non-Native families and boarding schools. ICWA was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 15, 2023 after being challenged. It is imperative that we have historical context in order to understand the significance of ICWA and how that impacts contemporary policies and practices. This presentation will cover the historical atrocities that lead up to ICWA, the challenge that was brought before the Supreme Court, and why ICWA is so very important to Native children and families as well as sovereignty. Hopefully this allows us to examine our practices and policies from an indigenous lens and have rigorous discussion.