11th Annual Strengthening Youth & Families Conference

The 11th Annual Strengthening Youth & Families Conference, held in October at the San Marcos Embassy Suites Conference Center, was a collaborative educational and networking event that brought together helping professionals, advocates, educators, service recipients, and community volunteers.

Approximately 300 people attended the conference, featuring an array of high quality workshops, keynote presentations, and networking opportunities. Many topics regarding the delivery of high-quality services to vulnerable youth and their families was covered by the speakers, but recurring topics included fostering resiliency in children, trauma-informed practices, and the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES).

The conference featured three prominent keynote speakers – Bryan Samuels, who is the Executive Director of Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; Nan Henderson, who is an internationally recognized author, trainer, and consultant on fostering human resiliency; and Joe Barton, who is Deputy Chief of Behavioral Health for the Randall County Juvenile Probation Department. They motivated and inspired conference participants.

One of the exciting activities at the conference included an exclusive screening of the new film “Paper Tigers”, produced by James Redford and Karen Pritzker. “Paper Tigers” is a documentary that followed the lives of several students in an alternative school that specializes in educating traumatized youth. The film examines the approach of Trauma Informed Communities, a promising movement in healing youth struggling with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).

Representatives from the following agencies and organizations were present: Health and Human Services Commission and Texas System of Care, Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the State Volunteer Resource Council for Texas Youth, Texas Juvenile Justice Providers Association, Texas Education Agency, Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and Prairie View A&M University's Juvenile Crime Prevention Center.

Plans are already underway for the 2016 SYF Conference. For more information, contact Tammy Holland at 512-490-7090.

PHOTO: Conference participants were able to attend a variety of high-quality workshops taught by subject matter experts.

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