SPOKANE, Wash. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the sold-out From Hope to Resilience conference offers members of the media an opportunity to meet with distinguished experts on complex trauma and its effects on academic success.
The conference takes place on April 7 and 8 at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park in Spokane and features the following keynote speakers:
John Medina will present “Brain Rules 3, 4 and 8: We Are All Wired Differently: We Don’t Pay Attention to Boring Things; and Stress Directly Impacts How We Learn.” Medina is the author of the book “Brain Rules” and a developmental biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders. He has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information.
Joseph Spinazzola will present “Building a Trauma-Informed System in School Settings: Application of the ARC Model.” Spinazzola is the executive director of the adult clinical program at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Boston. He specializes in the assessment and treatment of complex adaptation to childhood trauma in children and adults and has contributed broadly to literature on trauma, child abuse, and mental health.
Erin Jones will discuss “Resilience as a Tool to Address the Achievement Gap.” Jones is the assistant superintendent of student achievement at the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this role, she is the point person for the work around the achievement gap and dropout prevention in the state of Washington.
Chris Blodgett will present “Integrating Social Emotional Learning and Trauma Response.” Dr. Blodgett is a tenured faculty member in the Washington State University Department of Human Development, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the director of the Area Health Education Center of Eastern Washington (AHEC), WSU Extension. He has been the principal investigator on over two dozen federal, state, and national foundation grants addressing high-risk children and families.
Richard Thomas will discuss “Culturally Appropriate Practice in Responding to Problem Behaviors in Children.” Thomas is an educator and consultant who has spent more than 30 years working in the field of chemical addictions and habilitation and is the author of the Red Road approach to healing and recovery. A former chairman of the Santee Sioux Tribe and a highly decorated Vietnam Veteran, he has worked with school districts across the country on behalf of marginalized youth and has been formally recognized for his work by the governor of South Dakota.
Members of the media who are interested in attending these keynote lectures and meeting with the speakers should contact Kaarin Appel at 509-358-7509.
For a detailed schedule of events of the conference, please click here. More information on the conference is available at http://spokane.wsu.edu/researchoutreach/AHEC/2010/#HopeConf.