Upcoming Events

I am leaving tomorrow for Hawaii. I will be working there with Child and Family Service. It is an exciting visit because we have created the first draft of an adaptation of Risking Connection using native Hawaiian values. CFS received a grant to consult local Hawaiian cultural experts and map the training to traditional methods and values. I have also transposed these adaptations to the curriculum for foster parents. So while I am there I will be co-teaching an RC Basic, teaching some CFS trainers to become foster parent trainers, teaching group home staff about the Restorative Approach, and doing a Recertification of CFS trainers. I am also looking forward to connecting with old friend Howard Garval and new friend Leslie Slavin.

The following week I will be back in Connecticut teaching an RC Basic with some co-trainers from the ACCESS agency in Willimantic.

After that I am departing for a complex trip. First I will travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I will do a Recertification of trainers from the Lad Lake treatment center. I look forward to also spending time with our good friend and advocate Elizabeth Hudson.

From Milwaukee I will fly to Bismark, North Dakota. I have the privilege there of presenting a day long professional training on using trauma theory to help foster families on Friday, October 4th . The next day, Saturday, I am delivering a keynote and two work shops to the North Dakota Foster Family Association annual conference.

The week after that (we are in mid-October now) we are delighted to host some visitors from Australia who are coming to learn about our work. My meeting with them will be at the airport, other colleagues led by Steve Brown will take over from there. Meanwhile I will be returning to Mississippi, where I will be training/consulting with two agencies, Southern Christian Youth Services and Mississippi Children's Home.

That, thankfully will be the end of the marathon. I will still have upcoming before the holidays a conference on trauma informed foster care in Providence, RI, a trip with Steve Brown to the Yukon Territory in Canada the first week in November, a presentation at a conference entitled "Relational Healing-A Pathway to Trauma Recovery" in Philadelphia on November 15th, and an NACBH conference in Florida about trauma informed care in early Dec.

And perhaps most importantly I look forward to our Ana Grace Project Symposium on December 2nd at the University of Hartford. This conference features Dr. Bruce Perry and is about creating connected communities and increasing hope. It honors Ana Grace Marquez Greene, the daughter of our beloved Klingberg employee Nelba Marquez Greene and her husband Jimmy Greene, who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. It promises to be a truly moving and inspiring event.

I hope you can attend one or more of these events. Please say hello if you do!