Welcome to the MSSA 127th Annual Training Conference & Expo online training schedule, your best resource for the most up-to-date training session information. You can toggle between the current list view and the calendar view using the buttons on the top right. Please note that the conference calendar is subject to change.

Please direct any questions to info@mnssa.org or stop by registration during the conference, March 11-13, 2020 on the 3rd floor of the Hilton Minneapolis.

  • N. YOUNG

139 - In Our Own Voice (ID 378)

Presenters
  • N. YOUNG
Session Description
Naomi Gaines-Young's In Our Own Voice presentation is about her heartbreaking and triumphant personal story of her journey from untreated post-postpartum psychosis that led to the death of her son and her subsequent incarceration for 15 years. She is now a marketing assistant for NAMI Minnesota which provides her with a base for her social activism. Naomi is also a published author of the novel, Illegal: a Hip-hop tale. She uses various mediums (song, poetry, and spoken word) to share her story thus making it more palpable to persons of all backgrounds. Naomi’s passion for her work at NAMI comes from a deeply personal place. This drives Naomi to help raise awareness about mental health issues within her community, specifically mothers with young children.
Room
Orchestra AB
Date
03/13/2020
Time
03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
  • K. LEWIS
  • T. THOMPSON

52 - Enterprise Risk Management: Why This Macro-Practice Might Be for You (ID 386)

Presenters
  • K. LEWIS
  • T. THOMPSON
Session Description
Enterprise Risk Management involves using a systems approach to managing risk across organizations. Risk is the possible impact of threats and opportunities on accomplishing goals for yourself, your clients, or your agency. As such, social workers are well positioned to thrive in this environment, both as risk managers and for helping to create a risk-aware environment. In order to be creative and take the risks necessary for our organizations to move forward in a changing world, we need to understand risk and manage it effectively. Participants will learn how to consider risk more effectively in their current work and how a focus on risk management may open new career opportunities. You may not have the skill set to become a CIO, CISO, COO, or CFO but you might have what it takes to be a CRO (Chief Risk Officer).
Room
Conrad BC
Date
03/12/2020
Time
08:30 AM - 10:00 AM
  • R. KRUEGER

111 - Building Resiliency in Your Clients with Mental Health, Cognitive and Substance Use Disorders (ID 387)

Presenters
  • R. KRUEGER
Session Description
This presentation demonstrates how clinicians can best work with individuals facing various mental health, cognitive, and substance use disorders in order to improve their chances for more successfully learning to handle life’s stressors, while simultaneously lowering the possibility of relapse. Resiliency is defined as a person’s ability to ‘bounce back’ during and following stressful life events. During this presentation, Rick will address the interaction of symptoms of co-occurring disorders and share ways to increase clients’ internal and external protective factors. This presentation will also include ways to help lower the demands clients have in their lives, and help increase their available resources along with their ability to become more resilient.
Room
Orchestra AB
Date
03/13/2020
Time
08:30 AM - 10:00 AM
  • A. CAREY

68 - What Does "Trauma-Informed" Mean, and Is It Sufficient? (ID 388)

Presenters
  • A. CAREY
Session Description
Over the past 20 or so years, social workers, other social service professionals, and other mental health professionals have developed a much greater awareness that trauma impacts many of our clients. The greater awareness reflects the findings of countless research investigations. “Trauma-informed” has become a popular badge to append to resumes, promotional material, psychotherapy practices, service programs, higher education programs, organizations, and the like. This presentation begins with a review of the importance of trauma-informed approaches in our work and institutions. Next, the common meaning of and substance behind general usage of the “trauma-informed” label is explored. Finally, a discussion ensues about how the “trauma-informed” approaches and applications can be made more meaningful, substantive, and effective. Time is reserved for audience sharing and discussion at the end of the presentation.
Room
Orchestra AB
Date
03/12/2020
Time
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • C. HEIMANN
  • E. BAILEY
  • S. RASMUSSON
  • N. SHEPPARD

60 - Lifting Our Voices: The Experiences of Adoptees in the Field of Adoption (ID 397)

Presenters
  • C. HEIMANN
  • E. BAILEY
  • S. RASMUSSON
  • N. SHEPPARD
Session Description
Minnesota has the highest concentration of Korean adoptees of any state, with over 10,000 Korean adoptees having been placed in Minnesota since the 1960s. The importance of representation in the field of adoption and post adoption is vital in this work as adoptees have lived and breathed the adoption experience. How do we balance our personal experiences with our profession? This presentation will offer an insight into four Korean adoptees experiences as adoption and post adoption professionals who have worked in public, private, and non-profit agency and organization settings providing adoption, post adoption, and mental health services to all members of the adoption constellation.
Room
Mpls Convention Center - Room 2 Auditorium
Date
03/12/2020
Time
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • K. OSMONSON

79 - Youth Firesetting: A Burning Issue (ID 402)

Presenters
  • K. OSMONSON
Session Description
Kids and fire: Curiosity is normal, starting fires is not. The power of fire is a mystery to most people. With their first birthday candle we introduce children to the world of fire, and the misconception that small fires are easily controlled. All fires start small and can be deadly. Fire is used inappropriately in advertising, movies, and television programming as well as by kids on YouTube. Children have escalating access to these media which, in part, contribute to the higher than you might think incidence of youth set fires. Arson is a leading cause of fire in Minnesota. In 2018 alone, intentionally set fires caused over $7 million in damages. (Fire in Minnesota 2018) Twenty percent of the 2018 arson arrests were juveniles between 10 and 18 years old. (Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)
Room
Duluth
Date
03/12/2020
Time
01:30 PM - 05:00 PM
  • T. ALLEN
  • B. AMEDEE

51 - A Partnership: The Story of a Therapeutic Teaching Model (ID 403)

Presenters
  • T. ALLEN
  • B. AMEDEE
Session Description
Imagine if you could “dream up” the perfect classroom for our most challenged students. North Education Center and Amherst H. Wilder Foundation reimagined what education should look like for students with intensive and complex needs. The Therapeutic Teaching Model supports the growth and healing of children through educators, therapists, and family resource navigators who work together to support students and families. Early signs of success: 71% of students had fewer restrictive procedures than the prior year, no school removals or suspensions, and 100% of families felt their child’s behavior improved at school.
Room
Conrad A
Date
03/12/2020
Time
08:30 AM - 10:00 AM
  • C. DAHL
  • K. PASS

122 - PORN: Let's Talk About It (ID 405)

Presenters
  • C. DAHL
  • K. PASS
Session Description
As a generation raised on technology, kids today are turning to the internet to fill in the gaps their sex education has left open. Kids are exposed to pornography at high rates due to free and accessible porn websites. On these websites, children can easily confuse violent, misogynistic, and degrading themes as normal sexual behavior, and most of the accessible content does not convey a culture that requires consent. In this session, we will discuss the various reasons, and prevalence at which children and adolescents access pornography and what impact this has on them. We will also provide tools to start age-appropriate conversations about pornography, as well as internet and personal safety.
Room
Marquette 1-3
Date
03/13/2020
Time
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • L. BATTUELLO
  • H. ANDERSON

39 - Beyond ACEs: Promoting Client Resiliency in the Treatment of Trauma and Co-Occurring Disorders (ID 407)

Presenters
  • L. BATTUELLO
  • H. ANDERSON
Session Description
Seventy-five percent of individuals in substance use treatment report abuse and trauma histories. Data collected from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study has provided information regarding childhood experiences and current health status and behaviors. In the mental health and substance use fields, much focus is placed on an individual’s symptoms. By utilizing an approach that promotes resiliency and wellness versus placing focus on the past, professionals can help promote positive client outcomes. This presentation will provide an overview of trauma and stressor related disorders and co-occurring substance use disorder followed by strategies to target strengths and external resources to strengthen an individual’s ability to address life’s challenges. The target audience includes clinicians directly delivering trauma focused care and any agency staff involved in the development of trauma informed care environments.
Room
Marquette 4-7
Date
03/11/2020
Time
03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
  • E. BERGMAN
  • A. MELIUS

6 - When Talking isn’t Enough: Body-Centered Therapies for Sexual Abuse (ID 410)

Presenters
  • E. BERGMAN
  • A. MELIUS
Session Description
The trauma of sexual abuse changes the brain and movement can heal neural pathways making recovery from trauma possible. The body can be used as a main entry point for accessing and processing trauma as part of the therapeutic process. Increasing a child’s awareness of their emotions through awaking the experience of their physiological state can assist a child to create new neural pathways leading to improved emotional regulation. In addition, the use of creative movement allows youth the freedom to make new discoveries about their patterned responses in relationships and behaviors. This workshop will offer hands on skill development in the four following areas as part of the treatment of trauma among youth: Enhancing Emotional Regulation, Increasing Awareness of Interpersonal and Thematic Issues, Developing a Positive Attachment, and Processing and Resolution of Trauma. The presenters will offer theoretical information and case discussion. There will be opportunities for clinicians to try several strategies and experience them with hands on activities. There will be video case presentations as well.
Room
Conrad BC
Date
03/11/2020
Time
08:30 AM - 10:00 AM
  • M. VIMONT

59 - Staff Wellness: How to Build This Critical Piece of Your Organizational Success (ID 411)

Presenters
  • M. VIMONT
Session Description
Success in our field comes from committed and sustained attention to three elements in equal measure: the effectiveness of our services to others, fiscal sustainability, and staff well-being. Only a balanced commitment to all three components allows agencies to achieve their potential. This session will explore how to chart a path from intention to action plan within highly strained work environments. Successful plans target strategies that truly make a difference and can be implemented even within the current pressures on agencies. We will learn about this path and the critical elements needed to develop strategies designed to each participant's agency context.
Room
Mpls Convention Center - Room 1 Auditorium
Date
03/12/2020
Time
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • V. NGUYEN-FENG
  • S. LEE

44 - Stories Told to Children: Shifting Emotionally-Destructive, Other-Constructed Identity Narratives (ID 412)

Presenters
  • V. NGUYEN-FENG
  • S. LEE
Session Description
Children learn about their sense of self from others in their lives. Adults play quite a role in this self-understanding, as children tend to spend more time with significant adults at home than elsewhere with their peers. Intentionally or unintentionally, these adults send messages that impact a child’s self-schema and identity, for better or for worse. This is particularly important, as a child’s sense of self begins to develop at a young age. With children as “blank slates” in the world, their behaviors, emotions, and identity are easily shaped by what others tell them. Thus, other-constructed stories and labels that children hear about themselves may strongly define their narrative identity. From negative experiences and interactions, children may in turn internalize an identity that results in poor self-worth and decreased psychological well-being. Children impacted by disorderly changes in their lives (e.g., international adoption, psychological maltreatment in the home) may develop unhealthy self-schemas (e.g., uncertainty about in-group belonging, low self-esteem, lack of agency). This workshop discusses the evolving nature of one’s identity narrative; through understanding its malleability, we explore how social service providers may help shift these negative narratives to become stories of resilience, compassion, and growth.
Room
Mpls Convention Center - Room 1 Auditorium
Date
03/12/2020
Time
08:30 AM - 10:00 AM