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4th Annual Native Youth
School and Community Wellness Conference

March 9-10, 2023

About

The Native American Youth Mental Health Conference brings together leaders, educators, mental health practitioners, researchers, Native American youth, and other stakeholders in fields related to Native American mental health and wellness to share up-to-date research and best practices on youth mental health & wellness.

The 2023 virtual conference discussed ways to empower Native American Youth and Families to thrive during difficult times.

Attendees discovered culturally relevant and science-based strategies to improve the mental health and wellness of Native American youth and families and better understand the importance of neuroscience when working with Native youth, learn trauma-informed best practices to engage youth during crisis; and learn how to use indigenous values and teachings to empower schools and communities.

Topics

Healing the Soul Wound: Working with Native American communities from a Postcolonial Perspective
Learning and Thriving with an Emotional Brain
Conceptual Strategies for Improving Mental Health interventions with Native Youth
Exploring Two Spirit Identity
Gendered Violence: The Silent Epidemic
Healing, Empowerment & the Arts

Audience

Educators, school administrators, Native American community members, and professionals working with Native American youth.

Keynote Speakers

Fabian Debora
Homeboy Industries Art Academy

Bio

Fabian Debora was born in El Paso, Texas and began his career in 1995 as a member of the East Los Angeles Streetscapers. He was mentored by many Chicano artists and muralists, and was introduced to creative expressions of all forms, from graffiti and murals to sketching and fine art painting.

Fabian’s work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, including Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Brooklyn, and throughout Latin America.

Fabian served as a counselor and the Director of Substance Abuses Services & Programming as well as a mentor at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles for a decade. He then moved on to worked as Community Connection Director at Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, He is also a teaching artist for ACTA Alliance of traditional Arts, bringing arts to adult correctional facilities. He also works in collaboration with Latino Producers Action Network (LPAN) as the Art Director, and is an instructor for community artists and students throughout Boyle Heights, He has now returned to Homeboy Industries as the Executive Director of Homeboy art Academy perusing and developing his vision to continue to serve greater Los Angeles area, and abroad.

Joseph P. Gone, PhD
Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine
Faculty Director, Harvard University Native American Program

Bio

Joseph P. Gone is an international expert in the psychology and mental health of American Indians and other Indigenous peoples. A professor at Harvard University, Dr. Gone has collaborated with tribal communities for over 25 years to critique conventional mental health services and harness traditional culture and spirituality for advancing Indigenous well-being. He has published over 100 scientific articles and chapters, and received recognition in his fields through several fellowships and career awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014 and election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021. An enrolled member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Tribal Nation of Montana, he also served briefly as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Fort Belknap Indian reservation.

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD
Neuroscientist
USC

Bio

Director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE); Professor of Education, USC Rossier School of Education; Professor of Psychology, Brain, and Creativity Institute; Faculty, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California; Member of the Council of Distinguished Scientists at the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, Aspen Institute; Past President, IMBES (International Mind, Brain and Education Society); Recipient of the 2008 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award from Learning & the Brain Foundation and IMBES; Author, Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience (2015); Co-Author, “Understanding Emotional Thought Can Transform Educators’ Understanding of How Students Learn” (2020, Educational Neuroscience), “Building Meaning Builds Teens’ Brains” (2020, Educational Leadership), "An Evolving Understanding of Social Emotions from a Mind, Brain, and Education Perspective" (2018, Research in Mind, Brain, and Education), and “The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development” (2018, Aspen Institute)

Harlen Pruden
Two Spirit Lab

Bio

Harlan Pruden (Nēhiyo/First Nations Cree), works with and for the Two-Spirit community locally, nationally and internationally. Currently, Harlan is an Indigenous Knowledge Translation Lead at Chee Mamuk, an Indigenous health program at BC Centre for Disease Control and is also a co-founder of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, Turtle Island’s first research group that exclusively focuses on Two-Spirit people, communities and/or experiences. Harlan is also the Managing Editor of the TwoSpiritJournal.com and an Advisory Member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Gender and Health. Before relocating to Vancouver in 2015, Harlan was co-founder and a Director of New York City community-based organization, the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society and was a President Obama appointee to the United States Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and provided advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health & Human Services and the White House.

Amanda Young, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Two Feathers-NAFS

Bio

Dr. Young is Hidatsa of MHA Nation as well as an Anishinaabe of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, both reservations of North Dakota. Amanda received her Phd in Counseling Psychologist form Oklahoma State in 2022. Her current research embraces the stories of Native women who are leaders within the MMIW Movement in what’s colonially known as the U.S. She is hopeful this research will help rewrite the narrative of Native women, as we are more than a statistic. Currently, Dr. Young is completing her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Two Feathers Native American Family Services in Humboldt County, CA.

Katie M. Edwards, PhD
Associate Professor
Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

Bio

Katie M. Edwards’ interdisciplinary research focuses broadly on better understanding the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence, primarily intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) among adolescents and emerging adults. Her current research focuses on risk and protective factors for IPV and SA perpetration and victimization, and factors that facilitate or hinder bystander action in situations of IPV and SA; disclosure, leaving and recovery processes among survivors of IPV and SA; and individuals' reactions to participating in IPV and SA research.

Edwards uses this research data to develop, implement, and evaluate IPV and SA prevention, intervention and policy efforts. She is especially interested in understanding and preventing IPV and SA among historically marginalized populations, such as sexual minority youth and Native American youth. Edwards’ work has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Health, the Department of Justice and the National Science Foundation. She deeply values community partnerships grounded in participatory action principles, strong researcher and practitioner collaborations, and student engagement in all phases of the research.

Edwards holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and a graduate certificate in women and gender studies from Ohio University.

Melodie George Moore
Hoopa High School Teacher

Bio

Natalie Maria Scott
Hoopa High School Teacher

Bio

Mac Hall, MA
Project Venture Founder

Bio

Mac Hall is of Cherokee descent and was a former teacher and principal of tribal schools. He founded the National Indian Youth Leadership Development Project over 30 years ago, including developing its signature program, Program Venture, the only Native American-developed program in the US to attain the highest level of evidence standards.

Mac is internationally recognized as a leader in advancing Native youth development and has served and lead numerous expert panels on suicide prevention. He is frequently sought after as a consultant and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Kurt Hahn Award, the Spirit of Crazy Horse Award, the Alec Dickson Servant Award and the Indian Health Service Director’s Behavioral Health Achievement Award.

Mac is a graduate of the Native Teacher Education Program at University of Washington and holds a Master’s in Education from Arizona State University.

Rohan Radhakrishna, MD, MPH
Deputy Director- California Department of Public Health

Ramona Herrington
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Bio

Ramona Herrington is a cultural outreach manager at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln based in Rapid City, SD. Mona has led multiple projects focused on reducing violence and other health disparities among Indigenous relatives in Rapid City and on nearby Reservations. She has led program development, research evaluation, and published over 10 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is Oglala Lakota from the He Sapa/Black Hills of South Dakota. Mona is also a veteran of the U.S. Army and Navy and co-founder of the nonprofit One Rapid City. Mona is mother to four children, grandmother to 12 children, and relative to many others in the community for who she serves through tireless volunteer work and advocacy.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Time	Speaker	Topic
1:30 - 1:35	Dr. Virgil Moorehead & Dr. Steven Adelsheim	Welcome
1:35 - 2:00	Rohan Radhakrishna, MD, MPH	Mental Health Equity in California
2:00 - 2:50	Mac Hall, MA	Positive Youth Framework with Native Youth
3:00 - 3:10	Toby Ewing	Welcome from the Mental Health Services Oversight Accountability Commission
3:10 - 4:00	Katie Edwards, PhD & Ramona Herrington	Participatory action research to prevent sexual and related forms of violence among Indigenous youth
4:00 - 4:05		Break
4:05 - 5:00	Natalie Maria Scott & Melodie George Moore	A Conversation on Education and Wellness on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation
5:00 - 5:15		Closing Remarks

Friday, March 10, 2023

Time	Speaker	Topic
9:00 - 9:10	Emily Williams, LCSW-PIP, BCD	Welcome
9:10 - 10:30	Joseph P. Gone, PhD	Re/Counting Coup: Communicating Indigenous Vitality in the Age of Historical Trauma
10:30 - 12:00	Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD	Learning and Thriving with an Emotional Brain
12:00 - 1:00		Lunch
1:00 - 1:50	Fabian Debora	Healing, Empowerment & the Arts
2:00 - 2:50	Harlen Pruden & Ryan Stillwagon & Teddy Consolacion	Exploring Two Spirit Identities
3:00 - 3:45	Amanda Young, PhD	Uplifting Native Mental Health Professionals
3:45 - 4:05	Two Feathers Native American Family Services Youth	Youth Panel Presentation
4:05 - 4:15	Dr. Virgil Moorehead & Dr. Steven Adelsheim	Closing Remarks

Recordings are shared with the public by speaker permission.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

"Welcome"
Dr. Virgil Moorehead & Dr. Steven Adelsheim

"Mental Health Equity in California"
Rohan Radhakrishna, MD, MPH

"Positive Youth Framework with Native Youth"
Mac Hall, MA

"Welcome from the Mental Health Services Oversight Accountability Commission"
Toby Ewing

"Participatory action research to prevent sexual and related forms of violence among Indigenous youth"
Katie Edwards, PhD & Ramona Herrington

"A Conversation on Education and Wellness on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation"
Natalie Maria Scott & Melodie George Moore

Friday, March 10, 2023

"Re/Counting Coup: Communicating Indigenous Vitality in the Age of Historical Trauma"
Joseph P. Gone, PhD

"Learning and Thriving with an Emotional Brain"
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD

"Exploring Two Spirit Identities"
Harlen Pruden & Ryan Stillwagon & Teddy Consolacion

"Uplifting Native Mental Health Professionals"
Amanda Young, PhD

Information for this conference has also been provided by the Indian Health Service

Questions?

Please contact Judith Dauberman, Ph.D., at jdauberm@stanford.edu

4th Annual Native Youth School and Community Wellness Conference

About

Topics

Audience

Keynote Speakers

Conference Agenda & Recordings

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Time

Speaker

Topic

Friday, March 10, 2023

Time

Speaker

Topic

Questions?

4th Annual Native Youth
School and Community Wellness Conference