UofM Will Host Building Strong Brains Conference March 24-25

March 9, 2017 - The University of Memphis will host the Building Strong Brains Conference March 24-25 at the Fogelman Executive Center. Early childhood educators, program administrators, social workers, psychologists, infant mental health professionals, child and family advocates, students and researchers will be able to explore the latest research around ACEs (adverse childhood experiences).

Friday's topics will include: ACE Fundamentals and Solutions for Practitioners; Emergency Procedures and Disaster Response; Handling and Storage of Hazardous Materials and Disposal of Bio-contaminants; Pathways from ACEs to Post-Traumatic Growth; Understanding How Babies' Brains Develop; and "Kids and the Law...What Parents Need to Know." The Department of Human Services will also hold a discussion on the new federal child safety training regulations and transportation updates mandated by March 2017.

Presentations on Saturday are designed for early childhood educators who work with children daily in early childcare environments. Topics will include: Developmental Screenings, Social Emotional Care; Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma Prevention; the Stewards of Children: Child Abuse Prevention National Program; Promoting Early Relationships to Foster Long-Term Resiliency; Red Flags for Autism; and Diversity Training.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Eraina Schauss, an assistant professor of clinical mental health counseling at the UofM. She specializes in the translation of mental health research into evidence-based clinical practices with a focus on resilience. Schauss researches and trains clinicians in the areas of resilience, child, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and neurodevelopment, evidence-based clinical interventions and family systems therapy. In addition, she is part of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Interdisciplinary Working Group at the UofM that is focused on awareness, prevention, mitigation and policy development related to ACEs in Shelby County.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Gabrielle Maxey
901.678.2135
gmaxey@memphis.edu