The AFCC held its regional conference in Pittsburgh, PA last week focusing on Integrating Research into Practice and Policy: The Impact on Families and Children. One of the great benefits of chapter membership is the ability to attend their conferences at a discounted rate. This was another great one. Pictured are Kevin Dorsey, Chapter President Jim Street and Matt Havrevold. Kevin and Matt were answering questions at the Our Family Wizard booth.
In the other photo are incoming President Jennifer Joseph and national board member, Mindy Mitnick with current Chapter President Jim Street discussing serious matters at Primanti Brothers sandwich shop in Market Square in Pittsburgh. Primati Brothers are famous for their “cholesterol free” sandwiches with deli meat, French fries and coleslaw crammed into a sandwich. Jill Greenhagen from Ramsey County’s Self-Help Center also attended because the Ramsey County court system wanted to learn about the latest innovations happening around the world, although she is not pictured.
Jennifer and Jim attended a leadership training with other chapter leaders around the country and Canada where they picked up many ideas of how to improve our chapter. The sessions included training on creating trauma-informed practice from the perspectives of therapists, attorneys and courts, programs focusing on parent education, developing co-parenting skills, parent coaching, parent consulting, addressing parent resistance cases, strategies for cases involving intimate family violence, how to ensure procedural justice in courts, and an opportunity to tour Pittsburgh’s revamped family and domestic abuse (Children’s) Court after they received a court wide “trauma audit” in 2014, as well as many other topics. Most break-out sessions discussed the research behind the innovative practices being discussed. This type of training is not widely available elsewhere.
The next opportunity will be in boring New Orleans on May 27-30 where the conference will focus on the subject of resistance cases. The title of the conference is When a Child Rejects a Parent: Are We Part of the Problem or the Solution? This should be a great (and fun) conference and great opportunity to improve your knowledge and skills to help families. You should arrange your schedule so you can attend.
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