The 2023 Reimagine Conference will take place in-person on October 12 and 13, 2023 at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. The keynote speaker will be Donna Jackson Nakazawa, award-winning journalist and internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion. Her mission is to translate emerging science in ways that help foster healing.

The goals of the conference include:

1. Making the science of toxic stress, trauma, and resilience accessible to the wider community
2. Helping attendees recognize and take steps to address their own experiences of trauma and toxic stress
3. Helping attendees provide effective support to family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors who have experienced trauma or toxic stress
4. Providing opportunities to enhance self-care and resilience skills
5. Catalyzing collaborative efforts to build the trauma-responsiveness of organizations and communities

The theme of the 2023 conference is “Celebrating Resilience.” Our days are full of reminders that life is hard. Being alive means encountering trouble, adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, loss, and stress.  Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of these experiences. We want to recognize and celebrate the strength and grit it takes to adapt, grow, and thrive!

Audiences for the conference include professionals in the fields of mental health, healthcare, social and human services, education, business, human resources, and community building/community development. We invite potential speakers with expertise in the areas of toxic stress, trauma, and/or resilience to share their knowledge with attendees.

We are seeking engaging and interactive workshop proposals that will provide our attendees with skills, tools, and strategies to recognize, care for, and support survivors of trauma and toxic stress. We welcome proposals addressing any topic pertinent to the conference audiences, theme, and goals. We are particularly interested in sessions addressing trauma responsive care and the aging population;  resilience at personal, interpersonal, organizational, neighborhood, and community levels; developing trauma-responsive schools and organizations; the intersection of trauma with other social justice issues; self-care practices; as well as introductory level presentations about ACEs, trauma, and toxic stress.

Sessions should be non-promotional, 75 minutes in length, and can take a variety of formats, such as lecture, hands-on, or case-study. Continuing education credits will be available for attendees. Session proposals are welcome to have more than one speaker from more than one organization. Speakers will receive a complimentary conference registration and are welcome to participate in all conference sessions and activities.

To submit a proposal, please visit https://www.nwi-ca.com/reimagi...rence-2023-sessions/. Proposals should be received by 5pm Central Time on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Potential speakers will be notified by June 20, 2023 about the acceptance status of their proposals.  Selected speakers will be required to submit additional information necessary for session promotion and for CEU approval.

If you need more information, please contact 20reimagine@nwi-ca.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reimagine@nwi-ca.org.