Building Resilience in Real Time

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The world-wide health crisis surrounding COVID-19 has understandably brought on an abundance of caution, confusion and stress.  We know you're concerned about your children, your families and friends, your communities, and the world.

We are too.

This FREE virtual conference is designed to help rural families build resilience, to support educators and whole communities.

THE SCHEDULE

1:00 | Opening Keynote

Heal a Brain Thing with a Love Thing  - Rebecca Lewis Pankratz

1:45 | Breakout Sessions

ACES 101 - Rebecca Lewis Pankratz Are you new to this work of trauma-informed care? Are you still wondering about science? This is an informative session about The Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs study as well as the resilience research. How does all of this play out in behavior? How do we build resilience? Where are the best resources to learn more?

Brain Basics: Learning Brain Ready for Learning in a Crisis  –  Katie Perez The brain might be the most complex system within the known universe. In the past ten years, scientists have discovered more about the brain than in all of human history! A critical understanding that has been gained is that the brain has plasticity, and it can and wants to heal. In this session, we will take a look at the six centers of the brain related to developmental trauma to help us better understand what exactly going on up there when people are experiencing toxic stress. 

Connecting Deep Through Check-ins & Check-outs  –  Carmen Zeisler Our world has changed so much in the last few weeks. We are missing connecting with co-workers, friends, family, students, and the list goes on and on. Even with our endless zoom meetings and Google Meets Ups, we can still make connections a priority by adjusting how we start our conversations and how we end our conversations! Let’s learn how to do meaningful and simple check-ins and check-outs during this interactive session. 

Vagus Nerve and Central Nervous System Resets: Coming Back Online When We’re Deep In It  –  Ginger Lewman When we're deep in a Fight/Flight/Freeze reaction, we aren't able to make logical, cognitive choices. Caring adults talk about calming brains down with meditation, mindfulness, and other relaxation techniques, but we still have to cognitively choose to begin practicing those which can be tricky at best when we’re spun out. How do we make the leap between reaction and decision? How do we shorten the time it takes to get our brains back online? Enter the vagus nerve. This session will share what the function of the vagus nerve is and how we can use this awareness to shake up the Fight/Flight/Freeze reaction while it's in process.

2:25 | Trauma in the Middle of Nowhere: A Brief Q & A on Trauma in Rural Areas 

2:35 | Breakout Sessions

Enlightening the Witnesses  –  Rebecca Lewis Pankratz In this interactive session, we will get a personal understanding of where our personal resilience was built and how we are already actively building it in the lives of others. Resilience is an external experience that creates an internal ability to overcome hardships. We are all in this together and once we understand that we do not need any special skills or training to truly make a life-altering impact on one another, the science of resilience comes alive!

Promoting Safe Relationships  –  Katie Perez We know that resilience is built through caring, stable relationships and that resilience is the antidote to trauma. Yet, if it is was that simple there wouldn’t be such a need to become trauma-informed, resilience-building communities. In this session, we will talk about how attachment style can interfere with the development of strong relationships, and strategies that we can use to promote secure attachment within our community.

Regulation Strategies for All  –  Carmen Zeisler In this session, we explore regulation strategies in three areas: grounding, breathing, and reflection.  Session participants will learn about the science of the strategies and how and when to use them with kiddos and adults. Participants will actively practice the strategies during the session.

Co-Care “Caremittments” are the Self-Care We’ll Actually Do!  –  Ginger Lewman Rarely will we take the time for Regular Self-Care. In fact, we are more likely to help a colleague take care of themselves before we take care of ourselves. So let's leverage that truth and make a commitment to Co- Care. When our organization is practicing co-Care, strong relationship connections are being made and resilience is being built inside our worlds. Topics: Assertiveness, Avoiding compassion fatigue, Healthy eating, Mindfulness, Physical fitness & immunity, Reducing stress, Relaxation, Time management 

3:15 | Grieving and Gratitude 

3:25 | Breakout Sessions

Enlightening the Witnesses  –  Rebecca Lewis Pankratz In this interactive session, we will get a personal understanding of where our personal resilience was built and how we are already actively building it in the lives of others. Resilience is an external experience that creates an internal ability to overcome hardships. We are all in this together and once we understand that we do not need any special skills or training to truly make a life-altering impact on one another, the science of resilience comes alive!

Cost of Caring  – Katie Perez Compassion fatigue refers to the secondary or vicarious trauma that may develop in the lives of people in helping professions. Most helping professionals are never explicitly taught how to help others who have experienced trauma, let alone address the toll it takes on their own health and personal lives. In this session, we will explore coping strategies for dealing with vicarious trauma. How can we care, and not cost our own health and life satisfaction in the process.

Regulation Strategies for All  –  Carmen Zeisler In this session, we explore regulation strategies in three areas: grounding, breathing, and reflection.  Session participants will learn about the science of the strategies and how and when to use them with kiddos and adults. Participants will actively practice the strategies during the session.

Resourcing and Grounding: More Than Just a “Happy Place”  –  Ginger Lewman This session is about finding a quick way to calm ourselves when we’re feeling the shadow. But we can then extend that “happy place” to deeply connect with our colleagues and teams in new ways. Doing so allows us to give one another tools to help us each regulate in a deeper, more meaningful way, using body awareness and connection.

3:55 | Today’s Wins and Tomorrow’s Deeper Work 

This free event is made possible through grant funding and LiveWell Northwest Kansas, Kansas Health Foundation, Cheyenne County Health Department, Project EVERS, ESSDACK and NKESC.