We Got This!

• Creating the Future That You Want to See: Using The YouthScan Project to Impact Real-World Solutions - Did you know as teens, you know the issues in your community 3 years before adults? Your perspective should be front and center in decision-making on issues affecting your life. When it comes to mental health, who knows better than youth what young people are dealing with, and what is needed for youth to thrive? In this workshop, participants share their unique perspective through The YouthScan Project. The real-time input creates an interactive dashboard featuring perspectives from young people, in their own words. Participants’ ideas to improve mental health will have an impact in their own community, and across Colorado!
• Soul Stories - Building community through games, storytelling and discussion. Join us for an afternoon of games, storytelling, and meaningful discussion as we explore our lives, relationships, and gifts in an exciting and constructive hour. You will get the chance to meet new people and connect in unique ways. Participants will share parts of their own stories as we facilitate self-reflection and build a supportive community. We look forward to seeing you at our breakout!
• You are Not Alone in Your Grief - Judi’s House is a grief counseling center for bereaved youth and families in metro Denver. We believe that grief is both universal and unique, and it is a natural and normal reaction to experiencing loss. Judi’s House provides supportive space for creative expression, building connections, and finding healing in your grief journey. In our workshop, we will utilize engaging activities, demonstrations, and internal processing to reflect on what “grief” means to you, explore healthy coping skills to support your healing, and contemplate how grief is not about letting go; it is learning how to hold on in a new way.
• Recognizing your creative Genius: Phoenix Rising with Art from Ashes - Art from Ashes provides youth aged 12-24 with creative empowerment workshops that utilize spoken word, poetry, and art as vehicles for expression, connection, transformation, and the amplification of young voices. You are invited to come express yourself, connect with one another, and transform your perceptions and narratives by harnessing the power of your own creativity and intuition in a brave and non-judgmental space.
• Find Your Source of Strength - Sources of Strength is a training program that brings peer leaders together in partnership with caring adults.  The program uses a fun-filled style of active learning to encourage open discussion about the very real problems that youth face and about the sources of strength that are often helpful for those problems. During this session, we will talk about what youth can do to identify and grow the positives in their lives and build a stronger and more resilient community.
• Understanding Self-Care and creating a Self-Care Plan - Self-care has become a buzzword in mental health spaces and popular media but what is it really? Together we will explore what self-care is and what it isn’t through using an eight-pillar strategy.  We will also learn various short-term and long-term Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills based coping strategies to support overall positive mental health. Lastly, we will create a self-care plan to better equip the participants to support their mental health.
• Creating Conversations for Improved Mental Health - This workshop will stress the legitimacy of mental health struggles and equip teens with strategies to advocate for themselves. Communication between teens and trusted adults about mental health and suicide will be emphasized. By the end of this workshop, teens will understand why communication with trusted adults about mental health and suicide is advantageous and will acquire the skills and knowledge to initiate and engage in such conversations. The Robbie’s Hope Adult Handbook: A Guide By Teens On How To Talk To Teens will be used to recognize the importance of communication about mental health and suicide.
• Aligning Perceptions with Reality - A key part of living a mentally and physically healthy life is aligning your perceptions with reality. We are constantly taking in information that informs our perceptions but it might not all be equally reliable. In this session, we will discuss how to sort through the constant flow of information and decipher what is reliable and accurate information. Understanding this process can change perceptions around substance use & misuse, healthcare rights, and lead to healthier habits overall. We will showcase the healthy choices you all make everyday through the Fill Your World With Good Campaign and raffle off prizes! 
• Crisis is a Policy Choice - This session will draw parallels between the ongoing rise of youth mental health struggles and the policy being made by state and local leaders, and frame mental health issues not only as individual struggles but as manifestations of policy. Then, it will involve youth in an interactive activity to identify the visible causes of mental health issues in their daily life and link that to a presence or absence of policy – then encourage youth to think of policy solutions to solve the identified issue. Finally, it will examine past and current youth policy being considered in Colorado and how it seeks to solve the youth mental health crisis.

• Educator/Parent Two-Part Session On Colorado Bullying Laws & Alternative Solutions- This is a two part session with part one focusing history of bullying prevention laws in Colorado; how current laws work at the school level; comapring Colorado bullying laws to other state laws across the country. Part two; what bullying is and what it is not; verbal, physical, relational (social), and cyber bullying violence and its effect on young people and tips, tools, strategies--especially restorative practices--to help break the cycle of violence and create a more deeply caring home and school community.

Be advised that this video contains discussion about suicide.