About Event

Breakout #1: Bay 1A & 1B

Adolescent Substance Use in Today’s Society: Implications for leadership, practice, and care
Presenter: Danielle Treiber, PhD; Head of Science Department – Spring Ridge Academy

Synopsis:

The purpose of this presentation is to share research on how adolescents with substance use disorders achieve identity formation and construct self-concept in the midst of today’s drug culture and society. The research provides empirical evidence that adolescents in this situation form a pseudo-identity to achieve a sense of belonging that has pervaded their existence due to familial, social, and cultural factors. This pseudo-identity is reinforced by acceptance into drug-seeking and substance-using groups, as well as by leadership and practices in treatment, therapy, healthcare, criminal justice, and other macro forces. Working together in a collaborative way across sectors to create allyship with youth and true democratic relationships between adults and child are essential in the overall well-being and future success of young people in transition. Participants will leave with practical applications for leadership, practice, and care.

Learning Objectives:
1. Receive a systemic understanding of the conditions that reinforce the use of the druggie identity as an adaptation to the world around the youth and how transitory periods are especially difficult to navigate with this pseudo-identity.
2. Understand the role of belonging and impact of relationships on the ability for youth to find autonomy, agency, and a consolidated sense of self.
3. Discover the process of identity formation in the midst of development of substance dependent youth and practices to promote navigation of self and a fully recovered self.

Breakout #2: Bay 2

Climate Anxiety/Grief in Emerging Adults

Co-Presenter: Tomas Amodio, MBA, Executive Director – College Excel
Co-Presenter: Nathaniel Millard, PhD, Assessment Coordinator – First-Year Experience Program,
California State University Chico

Synopsis:

Climate change is a reality with harsh consequences for our emerging adults looking to the future, trying to make decisions about their careers, thinking about their long-term dreams, families, homes, travel, and retirement, and wondering what the future might hold. We are beginning to enter a place where the younger generation will have a more difficult time than the previous generation. More large-scale climate disasters are upon us, wildfires with huge disastrous consequences, increased hurricane activity, long term droughts, sea level rise, and more. We are watching, with fear and anxiety, an earth in peril and leaders not willing, or unable, to make decisions to change the course. As we already know, large scale social movement are led by the youth. Are we preparing our youth for this future? Do they feel empowered? Are they frozen with anxiety, stricken with grief, depressed about the future? Our presentation will show our findings of our students, and present some ideas of how we are trying to move forward and empower students to action. With examples from both public and private educational institutions, we will highlight current research about climate grief, look at trends around the world, and then look at how people are coping, healing, and empowering people into action.

Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will be leave with a working knowledge of what is Climate Anxiety/Grief.
2. Participants will have the opportunity to learn non-clinical approaches to addressing Climate Anxiety/Greif in young adults, with the primary focus on coaching methods.
3. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the research in Climate Anxiety/Grief, participate in and compare their responses to that of a research sample, and understand the emerging/forecasted trends within the topic of study.

Breakout #3: Casco Bay/Kidd Island Bay

Improving College Readiness:
The need to move beyond GPA, SAT’s, and the boring college application essay

Co-Presenter: Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC; Therapeutic Consultant
Co-Presenter: Chris Blankenship, LCSW; Clinical Therapist – Open Sky Wilderness Therapy

Synopsis:

State Legislation around high school graduation requirements are still driving hard the notion of college and career readiness. Meanwhile the emotional readiness of our young people, or lack thereof, is what is leading them to guaranteed failure during their initial exposure to higher education. In a world where students are focused on re-taking SAT scores, applying to elite institutions in the double digits, tagging on additional cultural immersive activities that will hopefully have them stand out in their college application, we have gaping holes in their development and readiness towards adulthood. Gone are the days of Home Economics and teaching life skills that we know will provide a baseline for independence once they’re living on their own. Gone are the days where adolescents have ample opportunity to fall and get back up again. We have a generation of individuals with little-to-no resilience, problem-solving capabilities, and yet on paper they are the most book smart generation we have even seen. In this presentation we’ll chat about these young adults we’re seeing show up in our programs. We’ll discuss the intention behind programming to help raise up the emotional, mental, and social deficits of our academically talented clients. This presentation will not be without humor, candid language, and sobering statistics around this struggling population who we are serving. Through audience engagement, we’ll discuss and digest the geographic, and socioeconomic differences in our young adults as well. Bring your anecdotes and let’s get down to business!
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Learning Objectives:
1. Session attendees will walk away having learned about statewide high school graduation requirements in an effort to understand the depth of the academic pressures Generation Z is up against before even stepping foot on a college campus.
2. Session attendees will walk away having learned that there are significant differences in academic pressures depending on geography, which in turn will also help program staff prepare themselves for the anticipated family expectations and communication around success in treatment.
3. Session attendees will walk away having learned about what other programs may be doing to intentionally grow the emotional and mental health of our young adults, while having the opportunity to share details about their own program as well.
4. Session attendees will walk away having learned that Chris and Joanna are badasses when it comes to understanding the development of this emerging adult population and you can call on us as a resource.

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