Research shows that one in four children will experience a traumatic event or experience before age 16. With such alarming statistics it’s no wonder the Hogg Foundation’s second conference on children’s mental health was so well attended.
Young Minds Matter: Addressing Trauma’s Impact on Children, Youth and Communities was a free conference that sparked the interest of over 400 participants from Houston and around Texas. Attendees, eager to learn about trauma and its connection to emotional disturbance in youth, included parents and foster parents; staff from schools, residential treatment facilities and shelters, child protective services, juvenile justice, private and public mental health professionals and faith-based representatives.
Opening remarks by Vicky Coffee-Fletcher
We all come into contact, some of us daily, with children and youth who have experienced trauma in both our personal and professional lives. It is not just the responsibility of mental health professionals to understand how to be more supportive when interacting with these youth. As a community we all need to be aware of the impact trauma has on the lives of our children and youth and to be able to prevent, recognize, respond to and assist individuals and families who have experienced trauma.
If you missed out on this great training and networking opportunity, the speakers’ presentations are now online. Here you will find the PowerPoint presentations from all of our outstanding speakers, including keynote presenter Dr. Jeffrey Wherry from Texas Tech University, as well as the closing plenary presented by David Conrad from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine.
Conference breakout session
If you attended the conference, tell us what you thought about the event, the impact of trauma in your community and the foundation’s efforts to increase the awareness about trauma and its impact on children, youth and communities.