Recordings and Slides:
July 25th
Opening Keynote
Journey to Wholeness by Jennifer Toon
Jennifer Toon aims to educate service providers and community members about how the criminal legal system inadvertently harms kids. Jennifer shares her own healing journey, highlighting the contrast between old behavior modification treatment and transformative care approaches. Her experience demonstrates the significance of the treatment framework and delivery in achieving positive outcomes.
Workshops
Family CARE Portfolio: A Tool to Coordinate, Advocate, Record and Empower Families in Texas by Andrea K. Rincones-Hernandez
The Family CARE Portfolio is a tool to help pregnant individuals and families with young children stay organized and advocate for themselves. It serves as a centralized place to record, organize, and showcase their efforts in caring for themselves and their children. Families can receive it from any provider they were working with. The tool enables them to demonstrate their strengths, needs, and accomplishments to their providers or child welfare workers. The presentation explained the purpose behind its creation and offered support through grant funding for interested parties.
Non-Educational Community Based Support Services Grant by Stephanie Koch
In the workshop, participants learned about the state’s Non-Educational Community Based Support Services grant. We walked through each subsection of the Texas Education Code Section 29 and learned how it directly applies to the grant. Participants will also learned how to access the funds at the local level, as well as how the funding flows from the legislature to the service providers.
Overview of Managed Care and Texas Health Steps by Judy Schoenfelder
Texas Health Steps program, provides essential benefits for children aged birth to 20 years, including transportation, case management, and assistance in scheduling well child checkups and dental appointments. Emphasizing early detection and the significance of a regular primary care provider and dentist, this presentation also outlined the responsibilities of Texas Health Steps Outreach and informing staff in educating Medicaid clients about benefits and preventive health care for children. Additionally, attendees learned about the STAR program, a Medicaid Managed Care Program aimed at enhancing access, improving quality, and reducing medical care costs. The presentation deliveres valuable insights on accessing medical and dental care services, equipping participants with knowledge to promote better health outcomes for children.
- Recording not available
- Presentation Slides
Youth Empowered by Sobriety (YES): A New Approach to Substance Use Disorder by Valarie McDonald & Jessica Alcala
Substance use disorder is a growing problem among young people, affecting their lives and the lives of those around them. This presentation introduces the concept of Youth Empowered by Sobriety, an Alternative Peer-Group aimed at empowering young people to overcome substance abuse and build positive, sober communities. This presentation explores the development of these programs, including creating supportive communities and practical programming.
Children’s Crisis Respite by Gabrielle Rogers & Melissa Ramirez
The Children’s Crisis Respite (CCR) program supports the provision of crisis respite services for children with a single diagnosis of serious emotional disturbance (SED) or a primary SED diagnosis and co-occurring diagnosis, including a substance use disorder or intellectual development disability. The goals of this program is to increase access to short-term, safe, and clinically appropriate placement for children who are in crisis, but do not meet inpatient criteria and provide transition planning services to the child’s legally authorized representative prior to exiting crisis respite. There will be an overview of the Children’s Crisis Respite program through HHSC, and Hill Country MHDD will provide information on their individual program, success, and lessons learned.
Creating Connections: The View from Upstream by Brooke King
All families need help at one point or another. Understanding that there is no “one size fits all” approach to supporting the well-being of all families it is essential that a community has a plethora of resources and that those resources intertwine to wrap around a family and promote their success. A connected community provides families an avenue to successfully meet their needs and thrive. During this interactive session we will discuss how, when communities come together with common prevention goals, they make thriving communities a reality.
Sound Healing and Self-Awareness Interactive Workshop by Jessica Neideffer
Sound Healing Meditations at a basic level allow us to release feelings of stress, anxiety, and physical pain from our bodies. In the bigger picture, the facilitator intentionally works with sound and vibration to create binaural frequencies to allow the mind to enter deeper brainwave states in order to experience true rest. We create a safe space for participants to tune into their Self in a new and different way and let go of the outside world. We return our focus inward and listen to the messages that the body is giving us. The sessions provide the opportunity to be aware of the internal dialogue in our mind, allowing us the chance to change it if we find the voices in our head to be unaligned with how we truly feel. These sessions offer a complete reset of the nervous system and energy of the body and mind.
Suicide Care in Texas: Connection and Hope by Jennifer Crutsinger
In 2021, 48,152 people in the United Stated died by suicide and over 1.2 million attempted suicide. In Texas, 4,191 died by suicide, more than that of California for the first time ever. What this means is that in Texas, we lost an individual to suicide every 2 hours. Suicide continues to be the 11 th leading cause of death in Texas, and the second leading cause of death for ages 10-34 (CDC, 2023). Suicide, therefore, affects each and every one of us. How we talk about suicide matters. We can make a difference in someone’s life through connection, support, and hope. An overview of risk factors, warning signs, and protective factors, and specific steps to take to help someone thinking about suicide will be discussed. Local and national resources will also be shared.