Conference tracks are indicated at the end of workshop descriptions.

Advanced workshops for experienced professionals are also identified in workshop descriptions.

Monday, April 16
Workshop Series A, 1:00 - 2:45 pm
Workshop Series B, 3:15 - 5:00 pm

Tuesday, April 17
Workshop Series C, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm
Workshop Series D, 2:15 - 4:00 pm

Wednesday, April 18
Workshop Series E, 8:30 - 10:15 am
Workshop Series F, 10:45 am - 12:30 pm


Workshop Series C
Tuesday, April 17
10:15 am - 12:00 pm

C1 Supporting Family Strengths: Identifying Goals and Developing Social Networks. Alice McAdam, Family Resource Centers of Crestwood Children’s Center

Participants in this interactive workshop will engage in the activity of reflecting strengths to family members. We will explore strategies for rekindling hope that provide a pathway to identifying goals. The Family Circles Assessment tool will be introduced as a means for helping families develop a social network. Participants will: Identify and practice strength-based language; learn how to help family members think about and identify reachable goals; practice Assessment WITH a family member to identify social support. Family Needs & Support

C2 When A Child Discloses: Interview Techniques for Children. Kate Reece and Rona Lane, Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP)

The workshop presents a portion of the CAPP Child Safety Workshop as a basis for discussion to assist professionals in reporting child abuse, as well as interviewing children and relating to parents. The presentation explores interview methods, focusing on age-specific considerations, minimal facts, interview procedures, and non-leading interview techniques. In addition, the presenters cover strategies for reporting abuse to the New York State Child Abuse Hotline and suggestions for connecting to parents after a child has disclosed. Victimized Children

C3 Boys Will Be Boys, or Will They? Kim Mansueto, SNAP LI

Boys report that they feel pressure to have sex for many reasons: sexually aggressive girls, the belief that “everyone is doing it,” and to prove their manhood, among other things. While the sources of sexual pressure for boys may differ from girls, the pressure they report is real and requires careful attention from the adults in their lives. This workshop will explore how differently young males in our society are socialized and ways to combat this “male conditioning,” increasing their involvement in pregnancy prevention and fatherhood. Middle Years/Adolescence

C5 Nurturing Healthy Sexual Development. Courtney Gandee, Prevent Child Abuse Vermont

The Nurturing Healthy Sexual Development training helps participants better understand the sexual development of children and how to respond to children’s sexual behaviors and questions in ways that promote healthy development. This training also recognizes that a crucial component of nurturing healthy sexual development is protecting children from sexual abuse. Participants will gain an understanding of the scope of child sexual abuse and the relationship between healthy sexuality and child sexual abuse prevention; identify normal sexual behaviors of young children; respond to young children’s sexual interactions; respond to young children’s questions about sexuality; identify and report suspected child abuse. Early Childhood

C6 How to Start and Run a Successful Community-based Mentoring Program for Teens. Carol McNally, Partners Against Crime Team Mentoring Program, Jean Lahage Cohen, Mentoring Partnership of Long Island

Ten years ago the Suffolk County Probation Department decided that it made sense to act to prevent Family Court involved youth from falling deeper into the justice system. Today, the Partners Against Crime Team mentoring program (PACT) continues to prevent youth from joining gangs, dropping out of school, getting arrested or placed. Participants in this workshop will learn, from those who were there from PACT’s beginning, how you too can start and successfully operate a community based volunteer mentoring program for teens, the key elements needed to build a successful program, and how to implement the design process in your own community, with guidelines of where to find resources and assistance. Middle Years/Adolescence

C7 Psychoeducation: What it Looks Like, Why it Works, and How to Do it in Parenting Education Groups. Judy Nordstrom, T.E.P.E. Training Institute

Psychoeducation is the least defined, yet may be the most beneficial, teaching methodology used in the group parenting education setting. Comprised of three easy-to-capture functions, psychoeducation has proven itself to be highly effective, yet relatively simple to construct. It is a tool that can be used to augment any curricula and is effective in helping the instructor counter parents’ resistance to any content area, regardless of their learning style or challenges. Come “experience” psychoeducation and learn how it does what it does. Through didactic presentation and breakout sessions, participants will learn about and experience psychoeducation. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how this method benefits parents, as well as how to use the methodology back in your own agencies. This technique is quite useful in primary prevention settings, but is of even greater value with secondary or tertiary interventions. Family Needs & Support. Advanced Level: Experienced Professionals

C8 The New York City Child Permanency Mediation Program. Stephen Forrester, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC)

Child Permanency Mediation (CPM), a valuable alternative to adversarial court proceedings, offers a forum where parents, attorneys, agency staff, foster parents, and others who can provide useful support, can work together to resolve problems that pose barriers to permanency for the child. The NYSPCC, partnering with the New York City Family Court, is piloting New York City’s first CPM program, which is also operating in nine upstate counties. As CPM becomes an integral part of the Family Court and child welfare systems, local communities and the professionals need to understand what it is, what it is not and how it can be a powerful tool in the struggle to expedite permanency for the tens of thousands of New York’s children in foster care. Using the New York City Family Court program as a model, the workshop will explain the development of the program, mediation theory, how it can be used in family court child permanency cases, and its benefits. Family Issues & Crises. Advanced Level: Experienced Professionals

D1 Extra! Extra! Foster Care Youth Help New York State “Measure” Up! Michelle Ray, NYS Adolescent Services Resource Network, Professional Development Program, University at Albany, Stephen Opela, Northeast Parent and Child Society

Youth involvement, youth partnerships, and youth engagement are strategies that have proven to be effective when creating and evaluating foster care programs in NYS. Youth In Progress (YIP), New York State’s Foster Care Youth Leadership Advisory Team, has been involved in creating and evaluating the programs in which they and their peers participate as well as providing consultation to NYS about the policies that affect their lives. These youth and their mentors who work within the system will describe the effect that their input has had to improve the foster care system in NYS. “We are today’s youth, tomorrow’s leaders!”
Middle Years/Adolescence

D2 Parents and Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren: How to Navigate the Special Education System. Linda James, Family Resources Centers of Crestwood Children’s Center

Parents are the children’s first teacher, and in today’s society over six million grandparents are those “parents.” Many of the children/grandchildren have a hidden disability called a “learning disability.” In this workshop, parents and grandparents will learn how to access resources that will identify these disabilities and benefit from the special education system, to ensure the children receive the services they need, and to promote their success in school. Includes: 1) The process of special education, including how to write a child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP); 2) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); 3) Laws governing special education and how to access them. 4) Dialogue with the group about their experiences with the special education system. Family Needs & Support

D3 Children’s Therapy Groups: Where to Begin. Laura Lombardi and Jaime Schoeller, STEPS to End Family Violence

Children’s Therapy Groups are becoming a vital intervention for children exposed to domestic violence and other traumas. This interactive and experiential workshop will take participants through the beginning stages of creating and implementing a children’s therapy group in different settings (school, domestic violence agency, domestic violence shelters, and community centers). Groups are more in tune with the natural way children heal, learn, and cope, help reduce children’s self-blame by learning that others have been through similar situations, and also help reduce isolation as they begin to trust and interact with peers. Participants will learn group activities to address intense issues around safety, peers, family and self esteem. Be ready to experience some child friendly group rituals focusing on trust and group cohesion! Victimized Children. Advanced Level: Experienced Professionals

D4 An Introduction to the Touchpoints Approach: An Opportunity to Enhance Parenting and Support Groups. Rebecca Ruegger and Heather Kempczinski, Port Chester Carver Center

Pioneered by renowned pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, the Touchpoints Approach emphasizes building supportive alliances between parents and professionals around key points in the development of young children. “Touchpoints” are predictable periods in a child’s development that can disrupt family relations, but can also provide an opportunity for practitioners to connect with parents so they can collaborate on responses that will reduce or prevent stress in the family system. The workshop presenters will give an overview of the Touchpoints Approach, including developmental milestones and Touchpoints Principles. They will discuss the ways in which this model has been used to enhance parenting education and support groups in the Port Chester community with documented successful outcomes. Early Childhood

D5 Care For Kids: An Early Childhood Healthy Sexuality and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program.
Courtney Gandee, Prevent Child Abuse Vermont

In Vermont, child sexual abuse has been cut in half since 1992. This workshop is an introduction and overview of a program being used in Vermont and around the U.S. to engage early childhood educators, child care providers and parents in protecting young children through healthy sexuality education. It will also examine child-on-child sexual abuse; traditional child sexual abuse prevention strategies and how a focus on healthy sexuality enhances these strategies; the connection between healthy sexuality education and sexual abuse prevention; the importance of all parents/guardians, teachers, school administration, and allied professionals being involved in healthy sexuality education. Prevent Child Abuse New York will seek feedback from participants about their interest in a future Care for Kids train-the-trainer institute. Early Childhood

D6 Teen Dating—Powerful Choices. Cristine Nowak and Carole Fox, YWCA of Schenectady

This interactive workshop will cover the impact the media have on teen relationships, explore identifying boundaries and setting limits, and offer techniques for starting “the talk” about relationships and safety planning. Participants will: Acquire information and learn techniques transferable to their personal and professional lives; Understand how the media affect teen dating relationships; Explore techniques for discussing relationships; Understand the importance of positive role models; Learn techniques for developing healthy boundaries and setting limits; Understand the importance of safety planning and how to develop a safety plan; Investigate community resources for teens. You will leave the workshop with a new enthusiasm for helping teens develop healthy relationships. Middle Years/Adolescence

D7 Harm Reduction and Working with Families. Sobeira Guillen, Prevent Child Abuse New York

Harm Reduction is a theoretical framework that seeks to reduce harm on the individual, the family and the community. It is a framework that was embraced by public health professionals in the early 20th century. Yet, as a framework for working with families affected by substance use, domestic violence and other social issues, it has been received with great controversy in the 21st century. This workshop will explore the basic principles of harm reduction, how harm reduction embraces the social work principles of self-determinism and participant empowerment, how the principles are applied to working with families affected by substance use and domestic violence, and how harm reduction can be used in helping families ensure children’s safety and stability. Family Issues & Crises