Adolescent Relationships, Violence and Health:  Implications for Prevention and Intervention
Dr. Elizabeth Miller
Assistant Professor in Pediatrics
UC Davis School of Medicine

Want to discuss more after the plenary session?  This session will review adolescent dating violence research (both qualitative and quantitative), relationship to sexual and mental health among adolescents, and discuss the implications of these findings for prevention and intervention.

Big Picture, Simple Solutions-Building Partnerships between Youth and Community
Lisa Borrego
Stephanie Pereira 
Pandect Consulting

Inspire action and encourage change through straight forward, solution focused and strategy based approaches in your community.  This session will explore strategies and samples of successful projects that integrate youth and community.

Saving Lives:  Preventing Teen Suicide
Elaine Leader, PhD, Executive Director
TEEN LINE

When dealing with a suicidal youth many fear they’ll say something that might upset the suicidal person and precipitate their suicide.   Parents, mental health, other professionals and peers aren’t immune from this anxiety.    This workshop addresses warning signs and what works and what doesn’t when dealing with a suicidal adolescent.

Facilitating Dialogues on Difference
Cherylynn Sara Hoff, M.A., Senior Intergroup Relations Specialist
Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations

This workshop will educate on the “isms” that underlie discrimination, harassment, bullying and hate crimes; cover the federal, state and local laws that protect against discrimination and harassment; and teach, utilizing role play, specific techniques and skills to facilitate dialogues on differences that are often the target of discrimination and harassment including race, religion, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation and ability.  Participants will learn active listening, communication and facilitation skills and techniques. 

Providing effective Chlamydia screening to adolescents – on their turf!
Jackie Provost
Program Manager, Los Angeles County Infertility Prevention Project
California Family Health Council

Jan Marquard
Director, School Health Services
Northeast Valley Health Corporation

Dominic Koh
Director of Nursing
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, Inc

Due to the high prevalence of Chlamydia among adolescents and the multiple barriers adolescents face when accessing health care services, there is a need to provide easily accessible, comprehensive reproductive health care for adolescents that integrates Chlamydia screening and treatment.  This session will provide a successful model that improves reproductive health care access and outcomes for youth through the utilization of the school-based health center.  Come learn how several school-based health centers have designed, implemented and evaluated Chlamydia prevention outreach and education programs in Los Angeles County.  Download handout.

Pharmacy ‘n Me: Building community-pharmacy partnerships for teen pregnancy prevention education
Nicole Monastersky Maderas, MPH - Program Administrator
Ingrid Dries-Daffner, MPH - Public Relations and Marketing Specialist
Pharmacy Access Partnership

Cío Hernandez, MFT - Licensed Mental Health Practitioner
Katie Monahan - Intern                                      
Youth panelists
Manica Serafin, Jessica St. Louis, Sheila Clermenco, Mayra Ochoa          
Marin County Department of Health and Human Services, Huckleberry Youth Programs

Go, Go, Go – Teen Friendly Pharmacies!
Pharmacies are an invaluable resource for teens because, in most communities, pharmacies are easily accessible and provide an additional point of access to respond to critical health needs arising from unprotected intercourse. Come to this session to hear about lessons learned (from youth and youth program coordinators) about developing this new initiative to improve access to youth-friendly reproductive health services in pharmacies.  We also welcome your suggestions on ways to further engage a wide audience of youth and pharmacists to promote these services in pharmacies.
Download handout.
Download PowerPoint.

Youth Track
HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Teen Peer Education
Wendy Arnold, President
2 peer educators
1 speaker with HIV/AIDS
Peer Education Program of Los Angeles (PEP/LA)

Learn the highlights of HIV/AID prevention through peer education!  PEP/LA youth peer educators will provide specific techniques for you to set up a program in HIV/AIDS prevention in your school, youth organization or club. Download session outline. Download handout.

Confidentiality Laws and Interdisciplinary Collaboration:  Strategies to encourage cross disciplinary communication
Rebecca Gudeman, Senior Attorney
National Center for Youth Law

Health providers, educators, social workers and many other professionals who serve adolescents operate within defined sets of confidentiality laws.  In many cases, these laws serve to protect the privacy of adolescents in order to encourage them to access care.  In others, they assure parents are involved in their teen's lives. However, these laws can pose challenges to communication efforts when professionals seek to work in an interdisciplinary fashion.
In this workshop, we will review the confidentiality laws that apply to health providers, educators and many others.  We will clarify what can and can't be shared, dispelling some myths, work through several case studies, and identify strategies to foster collaboration.

Society of Adolescent Medicine Meeting
Hot Topics in Adolescent Reproductive Healthcare
Meera S. Beharry, MD, FAAP
Southern California SAM Regional Chapter President
Adolescent Medicine Fellow
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

The group will be discussing use of long-term contraceptives (Mirena and Implanon) in the adolescent population, the proposition regarding parental notification for minors seeking abortion in addition to other issues in adolescent reproductive health and plans for the future of SoCAL SAM.
Download Emergency Contraception handout.
Download Long Acting Contraception handout.

My Voice, My Life” a teen pregnancy prevention curriculum
Elodia Villaseñor
Healthy Passages Coordinator, MPH (c)
Consultant to the Public Health Institute

In “My Voice, My Life” teens learn skills like assertive communication and informed decision making, which will help in negotiating sexual situations. Get involved! 

Youth Track
“Tranny Rockstars” (Transgender Youth and Their Lives)
Bamby Salcedo, Project Coordinator
Youth
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

This session will help you understand some of the issues transgender youth face in their transitioning process.  Hear how they overcome obstacles and become productive members of society.

Youth Track
Where Do I Get My Five?
Aurora Flores, Project Coordinator
Sharlene Gozalians, Youth Coordinator
Healthy Eating Active Communities

Mike Blockstein, Principal
Reanne Estrada, Associate
Public Matters Group
Youth

"Where Do I Get My Five?" portrays five distinct stories about the challenges of healthy food access in South LA.  Student written, shot and acted, these videos aren’t simple documentaries; they are part of an integrated project that resulted in direct community impact and benefits.

Free Food!  Now that I have your attention…..
Martin Tolosa, Project Coordinator
Asian Pacific Health care Venture, Inc.

Having trouble engaging youth?  Learn effective youth development models that can fit your agency’s needs.

The Changing Face of Addiction – What Parents & Practitioners Need to Know
David Cantu, M.A., C.C.D.C.                                                                                   
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Juvenile Justice Camps Aftercare Program

Use Data to Support Responsive Program and Policy
Shobana Raghupathy, Senior Research Associate
Sociometrics Corporation

Discuss emerging strategies to collect youth related data.  Explore how you can use these strategies to impact your needs. Download handout.

School and Community Collaborations: Working from the Inside Out
Sheila Lamb, Project Coordinator, Healthy Start Student Support Center
Carnegie Middle School, Los Angeles Unified

Anisha Patel, Pediatrician and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar
UCLA/RAND

Learn how to bring schools and communities together to promote health and healthy choices.
Collaborators share experiences and successful strategies to help you build partnerships.

Paul Chung, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UCLA
Senior Natural Scientist, RAND
Director, UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion

Guadalupe Valdivia         
Part-time Instructor, Education for Successful Parenting
Youth – Student at CSU San Bernardino

Experience an innovative program that prepares youth for healthy family formation: a pre-parenting education program. Tackling the three greatest threats to children’s health at their preconception source, this program educates youth about how to avoid teen parenting, prenatal health risks, and child maltreatment. Learn how well this student-centered, interactive program is being received by youth and schools.  Consider ways this program can serve as a model for your organization and community. Download handout.

Youth Track
Not Happy With Your School Environment?  Start a YHAB!!!
Katy Atkiss, MPH
Noha Gracia; Jeniy Aroche
MAHS Student Youth Health Action Board representatives
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Manual Arts High School Health Center

Come hear what makes a youth health project successful in the voice of the participants themselves! Through presentation, photos, videos and activities, students and staff of the Youth Health Action Board at Manual Arts High School will teach you how to create fun and effective health projects on your campus or in your community.

Making Change from Scratch: A Recipe for Citizen Action
Libby Benedict, Bay Area Assistant Director, BAOP
Sonnet Seeborg Gabbard, Community Organizer, BAOP
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health

The Revolutionary War, Women’s Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, labor laws, and the Underground Railroad- all of these milestones in American history came from grassroots organizing. This fast-paced, interactive session will teach you the skills to make change in your own community through grassroots organizing and citizen action. Using Prop.4, the current Parental Notification Initiative campaign as a template, learn how to act - and engage others - to effect real change. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead).

From the Playground to the Streets – Underage Prostitution in Oakland
Idabelle Fosse, MSW, Program Coordinator
Economic Justice & Human Rights
Women of Color Resource Center

Members, TEMPO (Technological Empowerment and Media Project)

Economic inequality determines women’s options and impacts women’s lives. Young women in Oakland face high rates of sexual exploitation, involvement in the drug trade, and homelessness. Additionally, many young women in Oakland are stuck in the continuum of abuse. “The most prevalent risk factor for entry into the street economy (survival sex, organized theft, and drug trade) is a history of child sexual abuse; the second risk factor is homelessness.”   Listen to this audio documentary and explore questions such as why exploitation of minors is one of the least recognized local and national epidemics, what factors contribute to the rising rates of underage prostitution, how the sexual exploitation of minors has taken hold and what needs of these sexually exploited minors are not being met?   The documentary is produced by TEMPO, a program by the Women of Color Resource Center, specifically designed for the needs of low income women of color who face the greatest burdens of racism and sexism.  The program seeks to empower low income women of color through skill development and media production training.

Photovoice: The Art of Youth Engagement
Suzanne Bogert, MS, RD
Project Director, Network for a Healthy California, Los Angeles Region
Lauren Neel, MPH, CHES
Coordinator, Los Angeles Collaborative for Healthy Active Children

Merge art with reality. This workshop is designed to expand youth empowerment techniques using Photovoice as an educational tool. Photovoice is a social action methodology using photography as a way to engage decision makers. The session highlights successful youth Photovoice projects, especially in efforts around nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention. Receive a template full of tips and guidelines of how to recreate the Photovoice experience in your area to create youth Champions for Change.

Using Data to Improve Services and Systems for Homeless Youth: A Community Participatory Research Approach
Susan Rabinovitz, RN, MPH
Associate Director, Division of Adolescent Medicine
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Mona Desai, MPH
Manager, Research and Evaluation
Division of Adolescent Medicine
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Learn how to design and implement a comprehensive needs assessment in partnership with other agencies and use the results to support more responsive programs and policies

Creating Safe and Inclusive Schools
Cherylynn Sara Hoff, M.A., Senior Intergroup Relations Specialist
Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations

Although youth violence overall is on the decline, headlines decrying large scale intergroupviolence on school campuses over the past few years tell a different story. While making the grade on test scores and bridging the achievement gap are mandates driving schools’ priorities, studies show that students who do not feel safe and included on campus cannot focus on their studies. Participants will be exposed to model practices in creating safe and inclusive schools. Topics covered include best practices in reducing bias-related violence and harassment, implementing school-based human relations programs, empowering youth leaders to resolve conflicts and create inclusive school climates, and establishing school-community collaborations that involve parents and community-based services as key resources to improve school safety and student success.

Coordinating Reproductive Health Services for Teens via MySpace.com
Alexis Moreno, Community Outreach Education Services Manager 
Vivian Partida, MPH, Youth Outreach Educator and Parenting Facilitator
East Valley Community Health Center.

Jamie Alvarez, Teen Peer Educator, certified Family Planning Counselor
Gladstone High School, Azusa, California

Increasing adolescent access to reproductive health services requires that services are delivered in a way that acknowledges and addresses adolescent feelings of embarrassment, fear of parental discipline, anxiety over social disapproval, and a general lack of knowledge.  Myspace, a social networking site used by teens, allows them to communicate sensitive questions and concerns to trained health educators from the safety of their own environment.  Online dialogue between trained health educators and teens facilitates relationships based on trust and confidentiality.  This workshop will teach you how to use online networking sites to improve access to reproductive health services for teens.

Youth Track
Afraid To Talk: Addressing Anti-LGBT Bias Among Youth
Amy Sharpf, PhD, Director of Educational Programs
Youth
The Respect For All Project

Through this workshop, participants will acquire and practice using tools, strategies, and vocabulary for addressing homophobic bullying among youth. They will better understand how anti-gay bias impacts all students and affects their healthy social development. After the session, participants will be able to facilitate discussions about anti-gay teasing with both their youth and other staff in age appropriate and sensitive ways.

Action, Advocacy, and Next Steps for the California Adolescent Health Collaborative (CAHC):
Sandi Goldstein and Robin Kirkpatrick,
Director and Associate Director of the California Adolescent Health Collaborative

Over the course of the two days together, a dialogue among participants will generate ideas for action, advocacy, and next steps for the California Adolescent Health Collaborative (CAHC). This session will harness that inspiration into concrete action steps.  The theme of our conference is “Transforming Services, Transforming Communities”:  in this session, we will explore ways to build on the transformational element of this convening and carry that inspiration forward in our work in specific and meaningful actions.  We are seeking input, inspiration, and ideas for the future activities of the CAHC. The Conference is a critical opportunity to bring together adolescent health advocates from across the state; we would like to hear from the members of our organization as to what opportunities make most sense for CAHC to pursue in the future, based on themes that have emerged from this gathering.  We will review current activities of the organization, and engage in a lively dialogue with our constituents on possibilities for the future that have emerged out of the Conference.  

On the Inside: Providing Comprehensive Sexual Health Education to Incarcerated Youth
Nisha Varghese, Program Manager
Jorge Castro, Senior Health Educator
Planned Parenthood of Pasadena, Inc

Incarcerated youth face numerous difficulties and unique challenges in their growth from adolescence into adulthood and many times these needs go often overlooked by a system that is not equipped to address the complexity of the issues facing these youth. This workshop provides participants with strategies on how to provide comprehensive sexual health and wellness education to youth in detention centers.

Teen Experience in Health Care
Shelley Rouillard, Deputy Director for benefits and Quality Monitoring
California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board

Teens enrolled in the Healthy Families Program access health care services at significantly lower rates than young children.  Learn how teens view their experience of he health care system based on results from surveys of over 6, 000 teens enrolled. Discuss your ideas for addressing teens’ unmet health care needs. Download handout.

Transforming A Network of Care for Homeless Youth:  A Community Approach to Improving Services and Training Providers
Arlene Schneir, MPH
Director, Planning and Development
Division of Adolescent Medicine
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Heather Carmichael, LCSW
Associate Executive Director
My Friend’s Place

Learn strategies used by one community to transform services for homeless youth and improve the knowledge and skills of providers.

The Condom Project
Katie Riemer, Health Educator II
La Clinica de La Raza

Alicia Ruiz, Amber Moore, Erick Nunez
Peer health educators at Fremont Federation

Come see our 15-minute video about safer sex and play our favorite icebreaker.  You will learn how students at Fremont Federation successfully lobbied for Oakland Unified School District to allow condom distribution in all the high schools and how we are implementing the condom distribution policy at Fremont Federation. We’ll help you strategize how you can make condoms and peer health education a reality at your high school.  Free condoms available!

Youth Track
Choose Your Own Adventure:  Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Activity
Rachel Kan, Peer Educator
Michael Majid, Peer Educator
Peers Advocating for Safety and Sexual Health Now! (PASSHEN!), City of Berkeley Public Health Department

Berkeley High School’s PASSHEN! presents their award-winning drunk and drugged driving prevention workshop.  Come and learn about alcohol and other drugs and safer decision-making, and get some ideas for your own peer education program!

Starve the Beast
Kim McGill, Director of Peer Education Programs
Members
Youth Justice Coalition

The best way to pull thousands of youth out of the system's jaws is to keep them from getting caught up
in the first place.  Get information you can pass on to other youth and the community about what to do when you are stopped by the police.  This workshop takes the law about the levels of a police stop - "general law right to inquire," stop and frisk, search and arrest - and breaks it down through four easy-to-remember real life stories that cover what the police can and can't do, and how to react to protect your safety and your freedom.