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Event Details

Peace4theBigBend is very excited to host the 8th Annual Trauma-Informed Care Conference titled Instilling Hope! This conference is a to help the community learn about the prevalence of trauma to raise awareness and building resilience within our community.

Conference Agenda

8:15-8:45 am Registration

8:45-9:00 am Vendor Tables

9:00-9:15 am Welcome (Auditorium) from DCF's SAMH Office

Mylisa Lee, Regional Substance Abuse and Mental Health Director, Department of Children and Families

9:15-10:15 am Morning Keynote Speaker

Peaceful Warriors for Hope

Description: The address will focus of the strength of families and the power of promoting protective factors in our communities through dialogue, reflection, trauma understanding and response, and social equality.

Biography: Dixie Morgese is the Executive Director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Flagler-Volusia Counties. She has over twenty five years experience developing and implementing systems of care to serve communities in the areas of maternal child health, health equity, family risk and resiliency, HIV and addictions. Prior to her work with Healthy Start, Ms. Morgese provided technical consulting, quality monitoring, and staff development for Health and Family Service entities throughout the state of Florida. Since 1993, she has participated in Healthy Start service delivery planning and program implementation whose primary aim is to reduce infant mortality and low birth weight and leverage resources to support maternal and child health initiatives. Dixie has worked with partners on a national level to address Social Determinants of Health with the Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the Prevention Institute. These initiatives have provided technical assistance focused on developing readiness and capacity related to action planning and systems change to improve outcomes for women, babies and families in the areas of substance use, housing, place based supports and interventions and health equity.


10:15-10:30 am Break


10:30-11:30 am Breakout Session 1:


1. Trauma Informed Innovations in Our Community

Description: Trauma science shows that by addressing early adversity and building resiliency, many problems can be prevented or averted including delinquency, school failure, child maltreatment and court involvement. This session will showcase innovative trauma initiatives in our community that have infused trauma awareness, knowledge and skills into their organizational culture, practices and policies including a trauma informed school, trauma informed home visiting for court involved and trafficked teen mothers, trauma informed baby courts and trauma informed criminal justice system.

Biographies: Dr. Rhonda Blackwell-Flanagan and Mary Jo Peltier, Hartsfield Elementary School, Eric Trombley, Assistant State Attorney, Leon County, Valerie Dallas, FSU Young Parents Program, Dr. Mimi Graham, FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy

2. Category 5 Resiliency

Description: Survival rates are skyrocketing upward as we grow more physically resilient and ready to handle the next fire, flood, storm, heat wave, freeze, hurricane or tornado; but are we mentally resilient and ready? The goal of this workshop is to grow your mental readiness and resiliency by learning to: Apply the Five Key Concepts of Recovery to improve your quality of life, understand the foundations of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan®, and connect and share inspirational stories to grow your wellness toolbox! This workshop will highlight resiliency tips for life’s ups, downs and in-betweens, helping you get through the dull moments to the all too exciting hurricane moments.

Biographies: While Lisa Ullven started out coaching organizations in crisis and natural disaster planning and resiliency and Tanisha Keith coached individuals facing trauma; they united on a mission to empower each of us with key resiliency tools when they saw peer ‘helpers’ (health care providers) in need of dire assistance after recent hurricanes.

3. Building Recovery Capital in Your Community

Description: The entire state of Florida has made huge strides in becoming more Recovery Oriented in their approach to building their system of care. This shift has allowed us to look closely at the way services are delivered as well as when services are offered to make sure recovery is sustainable. A major component to a fully functional Recovery Oriented System of Care is the recovery capital or resources that are available in the community.Through this workshop we will explore creative ways to increase your community's recovery capital so that someone entering and walking through recovery has the natural and systemic supports they need to be successful in recovery. We will be focusing on the use of peers as a vital component to increased recovery capital.

Biographies: Denise Barber and Amanda Wander both have a background in working with vulnerable populations specializing in mental health and substance use disorders. Making community connections and improving our overall system for delivering service and supports with regard to mental health and substance has been their focus. They believe recovery and whole health wellness happen best in our communities and work across systems to facilitate better communication and streamlined policies to promote overall wellness and stability amongst our neighbors affected by mental illness and addiction.

4. Challenging the Epidemic of Power Based Violence

Description: Experts agree that violence is a serious public health issue; its wide reach includes immediate to lifelong physical, cognitive, and emotional consequences. Fortunately, research indicates that to truly reduce the traumatic impacts of violence, we can engage in quality intervention and prevention approaches that shift social norms to ultimately reduce perpetration and protect vulnerable populations. This training offers tools and techniques to engage in immediate, protective social change, instilling hope for the future of our community.

Biography: Taylor Novak is the Community Education and Training Program Director at Refuge House. She has spent four years serving diverse primary and secondary survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, stalking and bullying. Her professional interests surround leveraging power imbalances for social good, perpetrator accountability, empowering support for survivors, and effective prevention strategies.

5. Substance Use Disorders (Co-Occurring with Trauma)

Description: Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) and trauma are often tied together. This presentation will review the disease model of SUDs and how it effects the brain. We will then look at how substance use can be used to self medicate against trauma and how this can often lead to more trauma. We will close by discussing trauma informed care and how to incorporate awareness in interactions with those who might have trauma.

Biography: Walter Castle has over 20 years as a social worker. He has worked as a subject matter expert for Substance Use Disorders at both state and federal levels. He currently has a private practice that includes counseling and consulting services in Tallahassee, FL.


11:30 am-12:30 pm Lunch will be provided

12:30 – 12:45 pm Peace4theBigBend

12:45 – 1:45 pm Afternoon Keynote Speaker


Bringing Healing and Hope to Children and Families with Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)


Description: Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is a holistic approach that is multi-disciplinary, flexible, and attachment-centered. It is an evidence-based, trauma-informed intervention that is specifically designed for children who have adverse childhood experiences. TBRI consists of three sets of principles: connecting, empowering, and correcting. We will explore the risk factors for trauma that influence the way children think, trust, and connect with others. A discussion of how trauma risk factors can change children’s brain development will be included. Strategies and tools to help children and families along the path to healthy connection and functioning will be shared.

Biography: Dr. Martie Gillen is an associate professor in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Family Studies at the University of Kentucky. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics from the University of Kentucky. Martie earned a MBA from Sullivan University. She is a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner and a Financial Social Work Educator.

Prior to her position, Martie served as assistance dean for finance and center administration in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. She served as the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on sponsored projects from the KY Cabinet for Health and Family Services totaling over $3.6 million; many of which had a child welfare focus including working with foster parents, adoptive parents, and college students who were also welfare recipients. In addition, she also taught courses in financial social work, social work research methods, introduction to family science, family resource management, and personal finance.

Martie has been a foster mom for over four years and has welcomed 11 children in to her home, some for a few days, some for months, some for years, and two for forever through adoption.


1:45 – 2:00 pm Break


2:00 – 3:00 pm Breakout Session 2:


1. Sexual Abuse as a Risk Factor in Developing an Eating Disorder

Description: This course will provide education into the causal factors for developing an eating disorder. There is a high correlation between experiencing sexual abuse and developing an eating disorder. This connection will be explored and treatment considerations provided.

Biography: Rosemary Gamin has been working in the mental health field for the past 25 years, involved in providing outpatient counseling since 1997. For the past 5 years, she has been working at Canopy Cove serving as primary therapist providing individual and family therapy.

2. Vicarious Trauma

Description: Engaging with clients who have experienced trauma can be rewarding and yet cumulative exposure can take a toll on providers and helpers. This interactive session will explore risk factors, signs and symptoms, and ways to address vicarious trauma. Finally, participants will examine protective strategies and self-care.

Biography: Pam Mezzina, LCSW currently serves as the director/counselor of Capstone Center, a subsidiary of Big Bend Hospice that provides counseling, education, and employee wellness services.

3. Raising Awareness and Preventing Human Trafficking

Description: Over 100,000 US children are trafficked every year. Bring it closer to home in Florida more than 300 people have been identified which is estimated to be 10% of victims. During this session, you will learn signs of what to look for in potential victims. Prevention and awareness are two key factors to eradicate this trauma.

Biography: Sandra Shin knows what it is like to be used as a payment. As a child growing up in Jamacia, her own mother traded her to pay for her a house. She knows the pain of lost relationships and understands the powerlessness of being used and abused. She is now an advocate and wants to raise awareness about Human Trafficking. She is a part of Hope for Freedom.

4. The Impact of Trauma- Overcoming a Drug Addiction to Obtaining a Master’s Degree

Description: This session will help providers and front-line staff understand the depth of addiction and trauma and how it can impact a person's choices, which could lead to a criminal lifestyle and addiction. As a former consumer, she will discuss the battle of a twenty plus years of addiction and severe trauma, the difficulties of being involved with the criminal justice system, the stigma a person encounters and the lack of support when dealing with providers. Additionally, participants will learn how to efficiently and effectively help their consumers cope with trauma and addiction in a healthy manner.

Biography: Carolyn "Freda" King is a Program Supervisor for the DISC Village-L.I.F.T. Program, a re-entry program that partners with the Leon County Detention Facility and she supervises substance abuse education classes in seven counties in the Big Bend Region. Additionally, she volunteers as a facilitator for a female substance abuse group at the Federal Correctional Institute for Women In Tallahassee. In addition, Freda is a motivational speaker and a leadership trainer who travels the state and shares her experiences to help others achieve their goals.

5. Moving Upstream: Preventing Trauma and Building Resilience

Description: There is a tie with the ACEs and child maltreatment specifically. When we’re preventing child maltreatment we’re “going upstream” and preventing future substance maltreatment as well.

Biography: Nydia Ntouda is the Training/Fundraising Specialist for Prevent Child Abuse Florida at the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida. With a background in Clinical Psychology, Nydia spent most of her career in intervention providing counseling and crisis services to some of Florida’s most disadvantaged communities. She is thrilled to be in “Preventionland”, as she likes to call it- Working upstream to Prevent the abuse and neglect of children very much like the ones she use to serve.


3:00 – 3:15 pm Break


3:15 – 4:15 pm Breakout Session 3:

1. Overcoming Racial Trauma in the Lives of Black Girls experience.

Description: Anti-black racism is a source of trauma that Black girls regularly experience. This presentation examines forms of anti-black racism including colorism, hair misorientation, and engendered racial myths and stereotypes. The impact of continued exposure to anti-black racism and strategies for helping Black girls to foster resistance and promote self-acceptance will be addressed.

Biography: Huberta Jackson-Lowman is a professor of psychology at Florida A&M University. She currently serves as the President of the national Association of Black Psychologists. One of her publications is an anthology entitled "Afrikan American Women: Living at the Crossroads of Race, Gender, Class, and Culture."

2. Resilience and Thriving- The Secret Power of Stress

Description: This presentation focuses on six dimensions of wellness in the context of stress, resilience, and thriving. We will focus on resilience and how to change stress from a negative to a positive. We will review negative and positive coping cycles and identify our own personal styles and strengths for transforming stress into a positive factor.

Biography: Jaymee Spannring, MBA is the Mental Health Prevention Coordinator at FSU. She is a certified trainer in Mental Health First Aid and Resilience and Thriving. Her current focus includes bringing more resilience based workshops to campus.

3. The Power of Thanks

Description: Come join an interactive presentation on the power of gratitude! We will discuss how to create a culture of appreciation within the workplace and how to be dominated by positivity in both our work and personal lives. Learn how to manage your emotional bank account and keep your glass half full- you will be thankful you did!

Biography: Kristyn "KT" Robinson works as a training specialist at Big Bend Community Based Care, the local lead child welfare agency. She is certified as a child welfare case manager through the Florida Certification Board as well as a certified trainer. Kristyn has earned her BSW as well as her MSW from Florida State University.

4. Con-Queer-ing Your Agency

Description: Not another LGBTQ+ 101. We mastered the alphabet soup now let’s talk about how to apply this knowledge to turning your agency into an affirming space. In this workshop we will talk about why it’s important to focus on LGBTQ+ inclusion and how to create change on a macro and micro level.

Biographies: Taylor Biro has organized and collaborated with countless grassroots projects such as community feasts, event preparation, teaching the community how to write grants and “robin hooding” their spaces. Taylor has advocated for under-served populations in the big bend area for the last decade and is currently managing a street outreach program for CCYS. Taylor’s main focus is creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and ending the cycle of homelessness for at risk youth.

Lucas Gauna is a queer and trans man who has been doing LGBTQ+ advocacy work in Tallahassee for the past 6 years. He currently works as a Street Outreach Advocate at Going Places where he provides resources and support to youth experiencing homelessness.

5. Embodiment Practices for your Self-Care

Description: This highly experiential session invites you to let go of your thoughts for a little while and drop into the healing powers of your own body. Though we will spend a little time talking, the goal of the session is to (re)introduce you to some simple somatic practices that you can incorporate into your life right away. No prior experience is needed and you will be offered all the benefits of a workout, without changing clothes or breaking a sweat.

Biography: Robin Dunn Bryant (MFA, CYT) is a Somatic Healer who has a Reiki level 2 attunement and is a Certified TRE Provider. She is the Women's Empowerment Coordinator at Oasis Center for Women and Girls and is the owner of a healing business called Whole Self Wellness, where she teaches simple to implement solutions to combat stress, tension and trauma.

Venue Information

Florida State Conference Center
555 West Pensacola Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1640
+1 (850) 644-3801

Organizer Information

Peace4theBigBend


1000 West Tharpe Street, Suite 14
Tallahassee, FL 32303

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