In Case You Missed It – The 5th Annual CARE Coalition Conference

Greeting readers! 

In case you missed it, this blog is dedicated to recapping the events from the 5th annual CARE Coalition Conference: Empowering Communities and Inspiring Youth. Like last year, the conference occurred on March 1st at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa. The day’s excitement started from the first participant checking in at registration and meeting with various vendors, to participating in the keynote and breakout sessions, to finishing the day with a final raffle and send off until next year’s conference! 

With the excitement from last year’s theme, the coalition decided to continue with the same theme: Empowering Communities and Inspiring Youth. This will be the continued focus with each passing year, rebuilding lost connections and how community members can help youth thrive and build resilience. There were a total of 26 vendors, 6 breakout sessions, 1 keynote speaker, 3 youth panelists, and over 250 participants! With the outstanding number of participants meant a great opportunity for networking, building relationships, and learning new skills to better serve communities. 

Participants were allowed to network with vendors, where multiple connections for future collaboration were taking place. The keynote speaker, Gaelin Elmore, provided a motivating and empowering speech regarding his life and how people can make a difference in a youth’s life today. Gaelin provided an insight into belonging and how individuals can help youth feel belonging, even with the adversity they face. His passion and energy for his work stems from his heart for justice and his own lived experience. His journey of belonging has led Gaelin to the NFL, and now stages, board rooms, and organizations across the country. To learn more about Gaelin and his work, check out his website at https://www.gaelinspeaks.com/.

*Trigger warning: Some of the following information below contains sensitive information that may be difficult to read. Please do what you need to take care of yourself or reach out to supports.

The morning breakout sessions included:

This workshop focused on the impact suicide has on family, friends, and the community. Postvention refers to the actions a community takes after a death by suicide. Participants learned how to best to response to the death of a student, staff, or school community member. The support provided to the school community after suicide is crucial to preventing future deaths. This support includes crisis response, disseminating information, media relations, and mitigating memorializations. Participants also learned about best practices set by experts, walked through real-world examples, and felt more prepared to navigate these challenging times of crisis by learning to create policies that support healing.

Agua Fria Union High School District staff shared how they began a student-centered approach to the delivery of youth mental health services and grew with a variety of supports year by year. Participants were invited to share their own experiences and challenges with implementing youth mental health programs at every juncture as well. Facilitators shared information about barriers to initiating and sustaining wellness interventions and offer an opportunity to collaborate among other school sites and agencies about valuable student intervention programs.

This interactive workshop engaged the audience by asking them their perceptions associated with marijuana use: Participants were asked to complete the following statement: “I have heard marijuana ________”. It was then discussed throughout the presentation and determined if they were fact or fiction statements. Dr. Libby Stuyt shared what she has learned about the implications of marijuana use on the developing brain from 20+ years of experience as an Addiction Psychiatrist in Colorado (the first state to legalize marijuana). Participants were also equipped with a short Train the Trainer session using an interactive video created by Rise Up! Glendale to support educating youth about the dangers of marijuana use with an emphasis on healthy alternatives when struggling with stress, anxiety, or any other mental health struggle. During the session, participants were able to send in questions, which were answered at the end by the facilitators.

Once the first breakout sessions concluded, participants attended the youth panel. The CARE Coalition collaborated with Bring Change to Mind and their youth, who provided an inspiring Q&A during this time. Facilitated by Touchstone Health Services’ Sabrina Arreola, the 3 youth panelists answered insightful questions on topics such as their motivation and impact since joining Bring Change to Mind, what the most pressing issue youth face today, and how communities can empower youth to make a change in their community. After this panel, participants then provided lunch and an opportunity to network with other attendees to learn more about one another and a round of raffles!

The afternoon breakout sessions included:

Research overwhelmingly demonstrates that involving families in educational partnerships is essential to student success. Approaching this work through a holistic lens is critical for creating and sustaining positive relationships between schools and families. This workshop focused on the benefits of these partnerships, the challenges of engaging families, and strategies to facilitate family engagement. A holistic approach encompassing a culturally responsive and trauma-informed framework will serve as the foundation for this work.

During this workshop, participants explored what it means to create LGBTQ-inclusive education and family environments by exploring why language matters, identifying evidence-based strategies, and examining model policies and practices, all within an anti-racist and universal design/disability justice framework.

This workshop focused on empowering students to initiate student-led and developed activities, peer-to-peer programs can provide increased access to mental health information and positively impact attitudes around the topic of mental health. The objectives of implementing peer-to-peer programming are to promote active discussions (thereby reducing shame and silence), to provide examples of successful individuals with mental health challenges, and to enhance adolescents’ natural empathy and tendencies toward social action by promoting engagement in activities to reduce stigmatization and promote acceptance. By hosting events that increase awareness, sharing information about the services available on campus, advocating for policy or procedure changes on campus, and sharing student voices in spaces where students need representation, individuals can work together to reduce stigmatization and discrimination. Participants walked away with ideas on how to move forward on their home campus and how to engage students to become change-makers.

This workshop was a train the trainer to highlight the dangers of fentanyl and fake pills. This training provided participants the tools to teach students about fentanyl, resiliency strategies, substance misuse warning signs, resistance strategies. and naloxone training, and more. It is an interactive training that uses real-life youth overdose stories to highlight the severity of this epidemic. A review of case studies discussed how individuals can work together to prevent this from happening to youth in the future. Participants were given resources, training on Narcan, and the Good Samaritan Law.

After the breakout session, and wonderful sweets, the day concluded with acknowledgements for the keynote speaker, youth panelists, vendors, and breakout presenters. Congratulations to the raffle winners! Finally, thank you to Maria Navarrete, Touchstone’s Prevention Supervisor, and her hardworking and dedication to the conference. She always finds a way to exceed the expectations of the coalition and participants of the conference. Thanks for all you do!

On behalf of the CARE Coalition, THANK YOU to the speakers, youth panelists, vendors, Touchstone’s Prevention Team, and participants for making this another successful conference!

To learn more about last year’s conference, check out last year’s blog here: https://carecoalitionaz.org/in-case-you-missed-it-care-coalition-conference/