Symposium on trauma-informed care scheduled for March 21-22

Professionals, educators, students and other community advocates for children are invited to attend “Hope, Healing & the Human Spirit,” a two-day conference and symposium on trauma-informed care March 21-22 in Syracuse. The conference begins
with a free screening of the film, “Healing Neen,” the transcendent story of Tonier “Neen” Cain’s emergence from drug
addiction, multiple incarcerations and two decades of homelessness to become a tireless advocate and educator on the devastating impact of childhood abuse. The film will be shown on March 21, 7 p.m., at the Palace Theater, 2384 James St.

Cain, who currently works for the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and presents nationally as a voice for those lost and silent due to trauma, will be on hand to moderate a question-and-answer session following the film. On Friday, March 22, the full-day symposium at Bethany Baptist Church, 149 Beattie St., begins at 9 a.m. with a keynote presentation by Cain entitled, “Where There’s Breath There’s Hope.” For two decades, Cain fed an insatiable crack addiction, racking up 83 arrests. Rapes and beatings were a routine part of her life. Home was underneath a bridge or inside the locked cage of a prison. In 2004, pregnant and incarcerated for violation of parole, she was offered the opportunity to complete a community trauma and mental health and addictions program. Today she travels the country giving speeches and working one-on-one with women in prisons and hospitals to help them deal with the consequences of untreated trauma.

Giovan Emmanuel Bazan, a national advocate for youth in foster care and juvenile justice custody will speak to the audience later in the morning on his experience in the system and how he overcame it. During the first 21 years of his life, Bazan persevered through one of the most unusually adverse environments and circumstances imaginable while
growing up in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Currently, he is a consultant at the Department of Family and Children Services and Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice and has served as a liaison with the White House Council for Community Solutions.

The event will include lunch and networking, with panel discussions and breakout sessions planned for the afternoon. Additional information on registration rates is available at www.trauma.eventzilla.net, where participants can register online. For more information about the conference, contact Michael Gilbert, 315-382-0541 or mgilbert@iacaf.org. Certificates of Attendance will be available.

The event is sponsored by It’s About Childhood & Family, in collaboration with the Onondaga Community Sexual Trauma Task Force, Syracuse University’s Department of Marriage and Family Therapy and the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Cazenovia College, CONTACT Community Services, the McMahon-Ryan Child Advocacy Center and Vera House.

Website: falk.syr.edu

Contact Person: For conference questions, contact 315-382-0541.