“The agenda for the third annual “Creating a Resilient Community Conference (Virtual Event)” reads like an all-star cast of trauma-informed experts coming together to share the best of what they know, and offers myriad opportunities for communities at all stages of becoming trauma-informed to learn about best practices, in many instances, by people who created landmark trauma-informed programs,” said Rachel C. Allen, PJI Director.

The two-day conference, which starts April 20th, features Best-selling author Donna Jackson Nakazawa, Safe Baby Courts expert Dr. Mimi Graham Director, Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy, and the creator of the widely used Handle with Care law, Andrea Darr, Director, West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice, among the many other subject matter experts presenting on best trauma-informed practices.

To register for the conference, please click here.

After opening ceremonies the conference kicks off with the keynote by Nakazawa, an award-winning science journalist and the author of six books. Nakazawa is internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion. Her newest book, The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine was named one of the best books of 2020 by Wired. Donna’s other books include Childhood Disrupted and The Last Best Cure. Her writing has appeared in Wired, The Boston Globe, Stat, The Washington Post and Health Affairs. She has appeared on The Today Show and NPR and is a regular speaker at universities, including the 2020 Harvard Division of Science Library Series.

Afternoon breakout workshops the first day of the conference feature:

Your Healing Narrative: Write-to-Heal With Neural Re-Narrating for Individuals and Healing Professionals

Presented By: Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Families Thrive Overview: Protective and Promotive Factors to Enhance THRIVING for all Children, Youth, & Families

Presented By: Maria A. Long, B.A., M.Ed, Consultant/Trainer, Child & Family Strengthening Families Consulting Services, LLC.

Service Navigation Across State Child-Serving Systems

Presented By: Joelle Aboytes, Circuit 5 Community Development Administrator, Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, and Hernando Counties Department of Children & Families, Zackary Gibson, Chief Child Advocate and Director, Office of Adoption and Child Protection, Executive Office of the Governor (Moderator), and Tina Morgan, Circuit 9 Community Development Administrator, Orange and Osceola Counties Department of Children and Families.

Epigenetics, PACEs, and Salutogenesis – DNA is not our destiny, and health is in our hands!

Presented By: Asim Jani, MD MPH FACP, Medical Director, Division of Disease Control and Health Protection, Florida Department of Health, Candice Jones, MD FAAP, Board Certified Pediatrician (Moderator), and, Leslie Sue Lieberman, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Central Florida

Summary: Participants will walk away from this workshop with an improved understanding of 1) the complex relationships between Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs), toxic stress and epigenetic changes; 2) the influence of implicit bias and structural and social determinants of health; and 3) the healing role of taking a salutogenic approach to health at the individual and community levels.

Promoting Resilience Across the Lifespan

Presented By: Susan Damico, Director, Devereux Center for Resilient Children; Lindsey Phillips, Director of External Affairs, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health (Moderator); Diamond Whitley, Communications Intern, One Voice IMPAACT, and Elizabeth Wynter, EdD, LMHC, Executive Director, Selfless Love Foundation.

Summary: Participants will gain an understanding of how promoting resilience has applicability and accommodations to make a positive impact for all ages. Fundamental strategies will be shared to relate to the early childhood, adolescent, young adult, and adult phases of life.

Day two of the conference features opening remarks by City of Orlando Mayor, Buddy Dyer; Flaviane Carvalho Mrs. Potato Restaurant Manager; Marie Martinez, CEO Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families at Orlando Health, and Karen Willis, CEO, Early Learning Coalition of Orange County.

9:00 - 9:45: The morning sessions (A): include Emerging and Best Practices Workshops as listed below:

Session 1A: The Continuum of Care through Our Faith Communities

Presented By: Betsey Bell, Co-Founder, Commission 127, Zackary Gibson, Chief Child Advocate and Director, Office of Adoption and Child Protection, Executive Office of the Governor (Moderator), and Danielle Wright, Florida Area Director, CarePortal.

Summary: Learn about what is happening at the state and local level to serve families in need in partnership with faith communities. Highlights will be the Governor’s Faith and Community Based Initiative, the MyFloridaMyFamily website, and the local initiative, Commission 127, which is a group of 15 churches using CarePortal to create a continuum of care for children and families in need.

Session 2A: Reframing the Judicial System with Early Childhood Court

Presented By: Mimi Graham, Ed.D, Director, Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy (Moderator), Alicia L. Latimore, Judge, Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, and Leigh Merritt, Senior Court Analyst II, Office of Court Improvement Florida Supreme Court.

Summary: Early Childhood Court (ECC) addresses child welfare cases involving children under the age of three. The goal of Florida's ECC is to improve child safety and well-being, change the experience and outcomes of children in the child welfare system, heal trauma and repair the parent/child relationship, expedite permanency, and stop the intergenerational cycle of abuse/neglect/violence. In this workshop, you will hear from a judge with extensive experience with ECC. Additionally, a representative from the Office of Court Improvement will highlight the data and evidence behind the success of ECC and outline what we can do to continue to expand the initiative.

Session 3A: The Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families

Presented By: Marie Martinez, CEO, Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families at Orlando Health and Sara Osborne, Community Benefit Manager, External Affairs & Community Benefit, Orlando Health (Moderator).

Summary: The Howard Phillips Center provides children and families a support system and resources so they don’t have to face overwhelming challenges alone. This workshop will highlight evidence based programs hosted by the Howard Phillips Center, including Teen Xpress (delivering healthcare at local high schools for uninsured and underinsured teens), the Orange County Children’s Advocacy Center (helping heal and protect victims of the most serious child abuse cases), and The Healing Tree (serving children and families of child sexual abuse).

Session 4A: Wraparound Programs in Central Florida: Community Coordinated Mental Health Services

Presented By: Cheryl Clemens, LMHC, Program Manager, Mental Health and Homelessness, Orange County Government; Tina Morgan, Circuit 9 Community Development Administrator, Orange and Osceola Counties Department of Children and Families (Moderator); Gigi Salce, Lead Family Coordinator, Wraparound Osceola County, and Tricia Teal, Executive Director, Above and Beyond Children and Community Services, Wraparound Seminole County

Summary: Wraparound services provide a family-driven, youth-guided and culturally competent system of care for children with emotional health needs and their families. This workshop will highlight the vision, mission, long-range goals, and evidence based successes of the wraparound projects serving Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties.

Session 5A: Law Enforcement & Mental Health Partnerships to Promote Resilience in Central Florida

Presented By: Christin Edwards-Salinas, Program Manager, Behavioral Response Team (BRU), Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health; Dr. Jeff Goltz, Executive Dean, School of Public Safety at Valencia College (Moderator); Captain Lovetta Quinn-Henry, Captain, Community Relations Division, CISM Team Commander, City of Orlando Police Department; LaJuana Raines, Community Engagement Liaison, Orange County Sheriff’s Office (Community Resource Connection); Sgt. Bruce Vail, Sergeant, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and Erin Martin, Vice President of Patient Access, Aspire Health

Summary: In this workshop, you will learn about new mental health and law enforcement partnership programs currently active here in Central Florida. The first partnership is between Devereux’s Behavioral Response Unit and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and the second is the brand-new Community Response Team, which is a partnership between the Orlando Police Department and Aspire Health.

10:00 - 10:45: Morning Sessions (B): Emerging and Best Practices Workshops

Session 6B: Handle with Care: A Collaborative Program to Protect Children Who Experience Traumatic Events

Presented By: Andrea Darr, Director, West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice; Zackary Gibson, Chief Child Advocate and Director, Office of Adoption and Child Protection, Executive Office of the Governor (Moderator); Tina Morgan, Circuit 9 Community Development Administrator, Orange and Osceola Counties Department of Children and Families; Nathan Scott, Child Welfare Policy Coordinator, Sarasota County Government;  Connie Shingledecker, Retired Major from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, and Linda Thompson, Ph.D, LPC, LMFT, Executive Director/CEO, Manatee County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Handle with Care Florida.

Summary: Handle With Care (HWC) is designed to promote partnerships between law enforcement and schools to help provide a safe and supportive academic environment for children exposed to traumatic events. This workshop will share how HWC has been implemented in other states and counties and the key partners critical to the program’s success. We will also hear updates on what is currently happening with HWC at the local and state level.

Session 7B: A Circle of Security in Early Childcare Programs

Presented By: Teresa Boone, Director, Kids Avenue Learning Center, Cindy Jurie, Ph.D., Director of Research & Special Projects, Early Learning Coalition of Orange County (Moderator), Kimberly Renk, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Licensed Psychologist, Infant Mental Health Mentor, UCF.

Summary: The Circle of Security is an innovative intervention program designed to improve the developmental pathway of children and their parents. Attachment theory, through the Circle of Security, offers clear, individualized pathways for providing a secure relationship between parent and child.

Session 8B: Women in the Workplace: Their Importance to a Resilient Community and What Businesses Are Doing To Support Them

Presented By: Alfreda Clark, Director, AdventHealth, Central FL Division South Region West Lakes Early Learning Center; Nicci Bucher, District Vice-President, YMCA of Central Florida; Latria Graham, President, Graham Leak Branding; Leslie Hartog, Founder and Principal, Minga Advisors LLC, Founder K-Ready (Moderator); Deidre Keller, Dean and Professor, FAMU College of Law; Tracy Rebar, HR Business Advisor-South Division, JP Morgan Chase, Exclusive Workshop Sponsor, and Madeleine Thakur, President, Florida Children’s Movement.

Summary: A discussion sponsored by JP Morgan Chase and led by The K-Ready Community Project and the FL Children’s Movement Bosses for Babies Program.

Session 9B: Health, Wellness and Public Safety Partnerships in Seminole County - A Transformed Approach to the Opioid Epidemic

Presented By: Nicole Ayoub, Director of Nursing, Advent Health Altamonte Springs; Captain Sammy Gibson, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Opioid Unit; Scott Tucker, Ph.D., LMHC, Clinical Director of Operations, AdventHealth Hope and Healing Center; Donna Walsh, Seminole County Health Officer, Florida Department of Health in Seminole County (Moderator), and Kelly Welch, Program Administrator, Florida Department of Health in Seminole County

Summary: The Hope & Healing Center, located in Sanford, is part of a partnership between AdventHealth, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, Seminole County EMS/Fire Rescue, the Board of County Commissioners and Seminole County Health Department and Wal-Mart. The partnership is intended to transform the way people struggling with opioid addiction are treated by the health care and criminal justice systems.

Session 10B: Healthy Families & Nurse Family Partnership

Presented By: Shantell Callwood, Family Support Worker II, Graduate from Healthy Families Orange Program; Penny R. Smith, Senior Health Operations Manager, Department of Health, Orange/Healthy Start Program; Linda Sutherland, Executive Director, Healthy Start Coalition of Orange County Inc. (Moderator); Tracy Swanson, CEO, West Orange Healthcare District, and Anna Wilson, Manager of Healthy Families Osceola, Orlando Health.

Summary: How are we moving the needle in Central Florida? This workshop will look at successful, evidence-based home visitation programs in Central Florida.

10:45 - 11:00 BREAK: 15 min

11:00 - 11:45 Community Panel 1-  Shifting from “What is Wrong with You?” to “What Happened to You?”

Moderated By: Dr. Candice Jones, Pediatrician, CRC Network Member

Presented By: Mayor Jerry L. Demings, Mayor, Orange County Government; Sheriff Dennis Lemma, Sheriff, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office; Thomas Phelps, Deputy Superintendent Human Services, The School District of Osceola County, and a Representative, Orlando Health.

11:45 - 12:15 Community Panel 2 - Our Collective Impact: Regional Resilience Networks

Moderated By: Rachel Allen, Director, Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College

Presented By: Dr. Jeff Goltz, Executive Dean, School of Public Safety at Valencia College, Sandi Vidal, Vice President of Community Strategies & Initiatives, Central Florida Foundation, and Venise White, Community Programs Manager, Office of Health Promotion and Education, Florida Department of Health Seminole County

12:15 - 12:30: Conference Final Remarks:

PACEs Connection Update:

Presented By: Carey Sipp, Southeastern Regional Community Facilitator, PACEs Connection

• Performance by CFC Arts
• Appreciation & Invitations - Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College

12:30 - 1:30: Post Conference Networking/Exhibitor time

Special thanks to event sponsors, who include:

Title Sponsor: Orlando Health: Cary D’Ortona, Senior Vice President Orlando Health,President Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children

Karen Willis, CEO, Early Learning Coalition of Orange County

To register for the conference, please click here.