Dr. Randall Bell will discuss his book, Post-Traumatic Thriving, the Art, Science and Stories of Resilience. Today we see crime, abuse, alcoholism, drugs, anger, and anxiety everywhere. Jails and prisons are crammed on an industrial scale.

Fires are devastating to communities and to the children, teens and adults grappling to survive and to recover.

Meet Me At the Shore: Tracking the Tide of Posttraumatic Growth After Human Trafficking and Trauma K Thomas, a trained trauma therapist and a survivor of sexual and relationship violence.

How do we fund innovative reforms to make mental health services that are trauma-informed and resiliency-focused more accessible? Two leaders in the field, Carey Smith Sipp and Jesse Kohler, advocates for reform in communities and in our legislature, will share their views and the importance of community members working together and using their voice to create change. They will help us understand the American Rescue Plan Act, three new pieces of legislation that can help our communities organize and fund mental health practices fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion. They will discuss how accessing the funds of the American Rescue Act Plan can help in protecting our most precious resources, our children, the children to come, and our earth. Carey and Jesse will also share about themselves and what inspired them to be invested in this work. Carey Smith Sipp is a community facilitator for PACEs Connection from PACEs, a social network that supports communities to accelerate the global positive & adverse childhood experiences (PACEs) movement in shaping adult behavior and health. Jesse Kohler is the Executive Director from the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), an organization committed to inform and advocate for public policies and programs at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels that incorporate scientific findings regarding the relationship between trauma and related social and health challenges across the lifespan

Drs. Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe-Ward will address how we are all as a world community are impacted by Racism and how we can heal from the traumas that arise from Racism. Dr.

New Hanover County faces many natural crises due to their location on the coast of North Carolina and the numerous hurricanes that have occurred over the last few years.

Heidi Williams-Cooper and Lindy Settevendemie began working together just prior to the pandemic with Emory University’s Social, Emotional, and Ethical (SEE) Learning program.

This month is PTSD Awareness Month. Kate Wheeler and Elaine Miller-Karas will dialogue about the treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and how through two treatment methods, EMDR and the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), healing is possible.

The internet and social media are often perceived as the bad guys as they have unfortunately been abused by perpetrators to target children, teens, and adults for bullying, sexual harassment, predatory grooming and sex-trafficking.

During a two-year period in Santa Maria, California -a city of 103,000- there were 23 murders within 17 months. This epidemic had many contributing factors, including gun violence.