D1 - “Navigating the Nexus: Supporting Transitional Aged Youth”

Brittany Watson, CRSS, MHP, President of SWSA, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, School of Social Work

"Navigating the Nexus” explores critical strategies for aiding youth in their transition to adulthood. The presentation includes a personal vignette and timeline based on lived experiences featuring work from my published manuscript. We will also examine comprehensive data on trauma experiences and complex trauma in youth aged 14-25, and consider several supportive methods to enhance our approach and systems of care when serving youth of this demographic.

D2 - “Addressing Children's Grief within a "Circle of Care”

Nancy Phillips, Program Coordinator, Illinois Family Resource Center

With the escalation of drug overdoses and opioid issues, along with an increase in children being removed from the home due to substance misuse, a sense of grief is increasing for our young children and teens. As a result, the Family Resource Center is working on a year-long project, the Circle of Care, for children. Learn about Circle of Care within organizations, communities, schools, and faith-based groups. Be a part of the statewide efforts to build grief management for youth within a Circle of Care!

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D3 - “LGBTQ+ Inclusion: Where do I even begin?”

Shannon Green, Healthy Families Program Coordinator, Shawnee Health

This workshop will review basic concepts and terminology related to LGBTQ+ issues in early childhood and home-visiting settings. Participants will have the opportunity to think together, ask questions, explore ideas, reflect on concerns and fears, and foster optimism for creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ people in all aspects of our work.

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◊◊ D4 -“Family Human Trafficking and the Connection to Drug Endangered Children”

Liesl Wingert, BS, MHA, Program Coordinator, East Region - SIU School of Medicine-Center for Rural Health and Social Service Department

Family human trafficking is the hidden process of exchanging a family member for goods, substances, rent, services, money, or status within the community. Roughly 90% of trafficking actually begins in the home, with over 80% of family trafficking revolving around illegal drugs. Familial trafficking is more easily hidden, especially in rural areas, and often begins with the smallest of children in the home, thus causing a unique psychological crisis of trauma that extends into adulthood. This workshop will delve into this topic in detail.

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++ D5 - “Parent Engagement & Addressing Disparities in
Home Visiting”

Abby Snow, LSW, Center for Prevention Research and Development

Tuyen Bui, Ph.D., MSW, Center for Prevention Research and Development

The workshop will cover ideas from the 2023 IDHS-DEC Home Visiting Staff survey completed by the home-visiting workforce. The survey results will be used to share home visitors’ tools for parent engagement and learn elements of addressing disparities. The audience will also have the opportunity to collaborate with staff in the room to discuss practical steps at the agency level.

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++ D6 - “The Impact of Doula Home Visiting on Maternal
and Infant Health”

Chastity Mays, M.S.Ed., CD(DONA), Hathor Doula Services and The Little Resource Center Carbondale

The workshop will discuss a home-visiting model that incorporates doulas into the intervention team and demonstrates improvements in childbirth preparation, breastfeeding initiation, safe sleep practices, and early car-seat use. Growing evidence shows that childhood home-visiting programs for socially and economically vulnerable families can have impacts in multiple areas, including maternal and child health, parenting, child development, and family economic self-sufficiency.