Wisconsin Family Based Services Association
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Revive and Connect: Maintaining Wellness in an Ever Changing World
Wednesday, April 26th
Mark Yarbrough
Suffer From Burnout?
Give'em The F.I.N.G.E.R
Thursday, April 27th
Brooks Griffin
The Value of Youth
Friday, April 28th
Tom Farley
Substance Abuse Prevention
Wednesday April 26th
Keynote 10am-12pm
Mark Yarbrough: Suffer From Burnout? Give'em The F.I.N.G.E.R
Burnout affects millions of Americans each year and has been called “the disease of our civilization.” The unhappiness and detachment burnout causes can threaten your job, your relationships, and your health. But there’s good news -- burnout can be healed. Former 20-year elected District Attorney, Mark Yarbrough, from Littlefield, Texas (hometown of Waylon Jennings), personally experienced burnout, learned how to successfully overcome it, and went from “Burnout” to “On Fire!” He has since become a “burnout expert” and has written and published on the subject. Mark is a very entertaining, motivating and inspiring speaker. He has taught thousands of people how to overcome Burnout -- from companies like Blue Bell Ice Cream and Xcel Energy, to teachers and doctors/nurses, to a variety of government workers (police officers, CPS workers, attorneys, victim’s rights advocates, counselors, mental health professionals, etc.). Audience members will learn the definition of Burnout and the symptoms thereof. But more importantly, attendees will be laughing, and at the same time learning how to apply Mark’s F.I.N.G.E.R. philosophy to help themselves or their co-workers avoid and/or recover from Burnout. This is a training that you won’t want to miss!
Workshops 1pm-3pm
Option 1: Crista Dawson, BSW, Certified Equine Gestaltist, "Horses Helping Hearts Heal"
This session will focus on learning about Equine Gestalt Connection. Learn about how horses can help heal human hearts with an up close experience with Crista's horses.
Option 2: Fred Garcia, "Social Justice and Diversity"
This workshop will focus on practicing social justice through policy practice, the meaning of social justice in social work, community and common good, human dignity, and ways to use these practices in your agency.
Option 3: Dr. Melissa Westendorf, "Ethics and Boundaries"
Dr. Melissa Westendorf is a clinical and forensic psychologist and founder of the Technology Wellness Center. She is a proactive psychologist and educator dedicated to assisting parents, children, adolescents, and adults navigate and understand the complexities of technology use and the impact of technology use on our brains, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Westendorf is a frequent speaker at schools, parent organizations, professional organizations, and business and community groups, offering preventative tools and resources that teach others how to manage their technology use in a healthy manner. Dr. Westendorf routinely presents on the ethical use of technology in mental health care. She draws on her own experiences in practicing telepsychology while teaching social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals about the ethical and legal ramifications of a telemental health practice. Dr. Westendorf also provides forensic psychological services to courts, lawyers, and families. She has expertise in answering various psycho-legal questions that arise in adult and juvenile, criminal and civil courts, including risk assessments, competence in a variety of contexts, sentencing evaluations, and mental health commitments. Dr. Westendorf has been appointed as an expert in legal criminal cases that feature the psychological ramifications of technology use. Her expertise has been relied upon by a wide variety of articles, podcasts, radio segments, and television programming. She has been featured on NPR, ABC’s 20/20, and several documentaries. She was regular contributor to The Morning Blend.
Workshops 3-5
Option 1: Crista Dawson, BSW, Certified Equine Gestaltist, "Horses Helping Hearts Heal"
This session will focus on learning about Equine Gestalt Connection. Learn about how horses can help heal human hearts with an up close experience with Crista's horses.
Option 2: Brooks Griffen, "The I.N.S.P.I.R.E.D Approach to Leadership"
This workshop is designed to walk participants through a hands-on, methodological approach to personal & professional development for leaders serving marginalized communities. Participants will be encouraged to prioritize self-care, center their values in their work, build healthy relationships and improve their ability to remain resilient in the face of crisis.
Option 3: Dr. Melissa Westendorf, "Ethics and Boundaries"
Dr. Melissa Westendorf is a clinical and forensic psychologist and founder of the Technology Wellness Center. She is a proactive psychologist and educator dedicated to assisting parents, children, adolescents, and adults navigate and understand the complexities of technology use and the impact of technology use on our brains, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Westendorf is a frequent speaker at schools, parent organizations, professional organizations, and business and community groups, offering preventative tools and resources that teach others how to manage their technology use in a healthy manner. Dr. Westendorf routinely presents on the ethical use of technology in mental health care. She draws on her own experiences in practicing telepsychology while teaching social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals about the ethical and legal ramifications of a telemental health practice. Dr. Westendorf also provides forensic psychological services to courts, lawyers, and families. She has expertise in answering various psycho-legal questions that arise in adult and juvenile, criminal and civil courts, including risk assessments, competence in a variety of contexts, sentencing evaluations, and mental health commitments. Dr. Westendorf has been appointed as an expert in legal criminal cases that feature the psychological ramifications of technology use. Her expertise has been relied upon by a wide variety of articles, podcasts, radio segments, and television programming. She has been featured on NPR, ABC’s 20/20, and several documentaries. She was regular contributor to The Morning Blend.
Thursday April 27th
Keynote 10am-12pm
Brooks Griffen: The Value of Youth
Brooks Griffin is a Motivational Speaker, Youth Advocate & Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator with the 2021 NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks. In his current role, Brooks coordinates a team dedicated to addressing racial injustice and social inequities in Wisconsin, especially as they impact Black and Brown communities. Brooks helps youth, families and youth-serving professionals to achieve whatever they put their mind to by healing from their past, to grow into their purpose, in order to lead our world with love. After being admitted to a mental health complex as a teenager, to achieving his lifelong dream of winning a NBA championship, Brooks inspires leaders how to achieve success in the face of stress & burnout. As the President of The INSPIRED Network, Brooks delivers empowering keynotes, workshops and training on youth success, overcoming adversity and mental health awareness. He has delivered hundreds of presentations and has inspired over 10,000 young leaders in Wisconsin and across the world.
While engaging with young leaders and inspiring students, families and professionals, he also enjoys spending his time traveling with his two beautiful daughters, Harmonee & Brylee. That's right! He’s a #GirlDad!
Workshops 1pm-3pm
Option 1: Hanna Maechtle, "Up To Me"
At the core of stigma reduction is the ability to share your lived experience with mental health. Beyond that, to speak for your needs and ask for support is a skill that comes with practice. The Up To Me curriculum allows participants to explore and practice sharing their story using different types of disclosure to suit the situational needs, practice asking for support, and own the story they are telling themselves. This curriculum can be run as a group based discussion, an individual workbook, and has a version to support family's sharing. By completing this session, providers will get an overview of the curriculum and learn ways that it can support their current work.
Option 2: Heather Hainz, "Assessing Suicide: Risk Factors"
It can be scary and overwhelming when someone shares with you that they are having thoughts of suicide. In this session we will review emergency mental health services in Wisconsin along with specific assessment considerations when working with children and adolescents. During the afternoon breakout session, “Assessing Suicide: Protective Factors and Safety Planning” we will build further on this information presented. It is recommended, but not required, that you attend both sessions.
Option 3: Dr. Sarah Hessenauer, "Religion & Spirituality in Social Work"
The topics of religion and spirituality can be difficult for social workers. Social workers are sometimes afraid of addressing religion and spirituality with clients, worrying about issues such as facing boundary or ethical violations or worries about being oppressive. Religion is defined as an institutionalized pattern of values, beliefs, symbols, behaviors, and experiences that involves spirituality; a community of adherents; transmission of traditions over time; and community support functions that are directly or indirectly related to spirituality. Spirituality is defined as a process of human life and development which focuses on the search for a sense of meaning, purpose, morality, and wellbeing; orienting around centrally significant priorities; and engaging a sense of transcendence (experienced as deeply profound, sacred, or transpersonal). Spirituality has roots in social work. However, there has been some conflict in the social work field about addressing religion with clients. Some social workers worry that religion may discriminate against clients. Others believe social workers discriminate when they do not address religion with clients. More recently, religion has been increasingly addressed in the NASW Code of Ethics and the Council on Social Work Education Educational Program Standards. Data gathered from social workers and social work students on their religious and spiritual beliefs, engagement in religious and spiritual practices, and the use of religion and spirituality in social work practice will be shared with participants. The results and implications of the data will be discussed. Examples of spiritual and religious assessments and interventions will be presented.
Workshops 3-5
Option 1: Dr. Heidi Nelson, "What I Wish You Knew About Autism"
In an age where there is a significant amount of information about autism at our fingertips and diagnosis rates on the rise, many people consider themselves to be experts on autism. However, if you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism. Parents are inundated with information about what is best for their child and how they should parent. Instead of more information, what they need is a team who can put the label aside and consider their child’s needs. With a child’s needs, come parent needs that also must be supported in the process. This session will provide a personal, backed with professional research, approach on what parents want you to know to best support their family.