Breakout Sessions

Below you will find the complete list of all sessions listed by each day of the in-person offerings on January 26 & 27, 2023.

January 26, 2023

Breakout Session A

10:15 AM - 11:45 AM

Frank Shannon

A Journey to Indigenous Cultural Understanding in Alberta

ALIGN is pleased to share a Journey to Indigenous Cultural Understanding in Alberta. This tool has been developed with consultation and guidance from elders, ALIGN members, youth, and members of the Indigenous Cultural Understanding Advisory group. We understand that this is a journey, and this tool is intended to be a living document, changing, flowing, and moving over time. Available in both oral and written form, this learning has been purposely created to support agencies to walk together with First Nations and to create a principle-based place for individuals to begin conversations that will become a foundation for moving forward in parallel.

Stream: Indigenous

Level: Introductory

From: ALIGN

This session is FULL. We will have more opportunities for you to hear Frank speak on this topic throughout the year.

Isolde Schmid

Intercultural Awareness; a tool to strengthen communication across cultures

In this presentation, we explain the importance of cultural competency in the work with newcomer families. Participants will reflect on how to become more culturally competent dealing with cultural differences.

Stream: Diversity & Inclusion

Level: General

From: CSS

Salon 7

Amanda McMillan, BA, CPS

Secrets Parents Keep: Let's Talk about Postpartum Scary Thoughts

The focus of this presentation will be on discussing a specific struggle that can occur during the Perinatal Period, called Scary Thoughts. I will be breaking down how to recognize them, cope with them and when to access other supports.

Stream: Health & Wellness

Level: General

From: Families Matter

Salon 9

Linda Crockett, MSW, RSW, SEP, CCPA

What is Workplace Bullying and Harassment and What is it Not?

Definitions, Tactics, Profiles, Impact, Costs, Risk Factors, Early Warning Signs, and the Impact. This is prevention and early intervention.

Stream: Health & Wellness

Level: Introductory

From: Psychological Safety First

Salon 12

Penny Gagnon

What's Next? - Creating an Employee Centred Culture

The importance of people and culture will be showcased through ten foundational themes with a message that organizations need to seek for a future that holds employee-centered cultures in high regard.

Stream: Leadership

Level: General

From: CARF Canada

Salon 5

Heather M. Boyton & Benedicta Asante

Exploring the Lived Experience of Alberta Children's Services' Social Workers during COVID-19

This presentation will discuss results of a qualitative participatory action research study with interviews and focus groups with Alberta Children's Services Workers. Both challenges and innovations were identified in response to pandemic mandates.

Stream: Child Wellness Practice

Level: General

From: University of Calgary

Salon 10

Breakout Session b

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Dr. Emily Wang & Denise Masterson

Pathways to Prevention - A Workd Without Trauma

Pathways to Prevention will build the capacity of professionals, communities, and systems to work toward its goal of eradicating developmental trauma, through our learnings and work with the Neurosequential Model (NM) over the past 10 years.

Stream: Child Wellness Practice

Level: Introductory

From: Hull Services

Salon 6

Erin Jamieson

Advocacy 101

Advocacy 101 – a session for professionals who want to increase their knowledge and skills in advocacy. You'll learn more about the work of the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, the importance children's rights, and the practice of advocacy.

Stream: Child Wellness Practice

Level: Introductory

From: Office of the Child and Youth Advocate

Salon 7

LINDA CROCKETT, MSW, RSW, SEP, CCPA

What to do about Workplace Bullying and Harassment.

Know your rights, resources, policies, procedures, and a few tips for self protection, self recovery, and overall repair. This is about prevention, intervention, repair and/or recovery options.

Stream: Health & Wellness

Level: Introductory

From: Psychological Safety First

Salon 12

Jim Pritchard, MSW, RSW

Elements of Effectiveness: Exploring a Framework of the Human Service Organization

The Human Service Organization is a unique form, faced with many complex challenges. This workshop will explore a framework of key elements, including culture, purpose, along with core tasks and operating principles. Come share and learn together!

Stream: Leadership

Level: Intermediate

Salon 9

Michael MacDonell & Bjorn Johansson, MSW, RSW

Vulnerable Youth, Vulnerable Staff - Recognizing Staff Safety as essential to quality Client Care

Agency front line staff are the primary victims of growing workplace violence, and it needs to stop. Operationalizing this focus is key to supporting a sector wide culture shift to ensure staff safety and provide sustainable quality client care.

Stream: OHS

Level: Intermediate

From: Wood's Homes

Salon 5

Sandra Cicman

Better Together: Creating Caring Communities Through Disability Inclusion Awareness

Despite efforts to build inclusiveness, one aspect of DEI is all too often neglected: disability.

In this interactive session we'll explore a new digital disability inclusion awareness resource that will increase knowledge, comfort and confidence.

Stream: Disabilities / Special Needs

Level: General

From: Children's Link Society

Salon 10

January 27, 2023

Breakout Session C

10:15 AM - 11:45 AM

Shelley Cardinal

Walking the Prevention Pathway

Over the past 30 years, the Canadian Red Cross has been working alongside Indigenous communities to support prevention and protection education that amplifies safe environments in communities. In partnership with Indigenous communities, we’ve worked to better understand what the community needs to move from the challenges of violence to a healthier place, rooted in Indigenous cultures and practices. The process of building safety systems in community is a multi-faceted process. In the Walking the prevention Pathway workshop we go through the steps to building a safer system.
Creating a cohesive team that wants to work together for safety, protection and prevention is a great place to begin in community. The next steps focus on education about understanding historical harm and understanding pathways to wellness. This workshop will cover content in moving away from the challenges that are rooted in historical harm, the risks that violence creates in community and the power of traditional teachings.

Stream: Indigenous

Level: Introductory

From: Red Cross

Salon 5

Angela Kemble

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD, Foundations: Reducing the Stigma

FASD Foundations: Reducing the Stigma will explore the disability of FASD, the diagnosis, the signs and symptoms, as well as strategies for working with those on the spectrum and ways you can help reduce the stigma.

Stream: Disabilities / Special Needs

Level: General

From: Northwest Central Alberta FASD Services Network

Salon 7

Chris Mahoney & Deridre Gerro

Accreditation and Best Practice Leadership

Ensuring that the process of accreditation is embraced by everyone in an organization starts with the leadership, who set the tone for how the process is seen. This session will cover:

• What is accreditation and why should your organization be accredited?
• How does accreditation help your organization?
• What is your role in accreditation as a leader and how you build a culture best practice leadership?
• How can you help your team to be successful for accreditation?

Accreditation is a process that benefits all those involved and helps your clients get the best services you can offer. Let us show you how to make the most of your accreditation!

Stream: Leadership

Level: Intermediate

From: Canadian Accreditation Council

Salon 12

Donna Ormstrup

Brain Games!

This workshop uses interactive Brain Games! for understanding those children, youth and their families who seem to require more intervention than most!

Stream: Health & Wellness

Level: General

From: Foothills Fetal Alcohol Society

Salon 9

Laura Camacho

System Navigation Services: Equitable access to mental healthcare for all Alberta families

Eastside Community Mental Health Services is strengthening its support for youth and families by developing a client-based System Navigation framework. We will share our experience promoting interagency collaboration to battle system fragmentation.

Stream: Health & Wellness

Level: Introductory

From: Wood's Homes

Salon 10

Makarand Gulawani

Social Marketing for Building the Healthy Tomorrow

This presentation is designed for human services employees, supervisors, board members, and senior leaders who are responsible for influencing the behaviour of specific individuals or a group.

Stream: Leadership

Level: Intermediate

From: MacEwan University

Salon 6