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.

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.