Keynote Presentations

I. Personal Story Keynote Presentation: Kristina Anderson 

Safety is Personal: Lessons Learned as a Survivor of the Virginia Tech Tragedy

       

Kristina Anderson founded The Koshka Foundation for Safe Schools, a non-profit dedicated to helping local community and school stakeholders work together to prevent, respond and heal in the aftermath of school violence, after becoming one of the most critically injured survivors from the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy.

Shot 3 times, Ms. Anderson returned to graduate from Virginia Tech with a degree in International Studies and Foreign Languages, and is now a resource to school administrators, teachers and students within higher education and K-12 regarding violence prevention initiatives and ways to increase individual personal safety awareness. The Koshka Foundation also partners with law enforcement agencies and first responders to provide educational presentations on surviving an active shooter from a survivor’s perspective, and best practices in incorporating lessons learned.

.
 II.  Keynote Presentation: Frank Grijalva, MSPH, MSCC

Community-Group Interventions and Support After Acts of Terror, Violence, and Disaster

 

Frank Grijalva is the director of the Midwest Trauma Services Network and Senior Vice President of Programming for the International Trauma Center. Frank comes from a challenging childhood, first trained as a behaviorist in the US Navy’s Marine Mammal program then as a stay at home dad. Frank has an undergraduate degree in Disaster Psychology, a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on child mental health and a Clinical Master’s focused on traumatology. Frank has worked with kids and agencies all over the world and currently consults to multiple communities across the US negotiating systemic trauma as well as catastrophic community events

                                                                                                 

Workshop Descriptions:

 

A.      A Conversation with Kristina  

Come and hear more of Kristina's story of survival and healing as she has a one on one conversation with Anne Fine, LICSW, VP of Behavioral Health at YOU, Inc. 

B.      Frank Grijalva, MSPH, MSCC –  Trauma Recovery for Children Exposed to Disasters

Community group interventions and support after acts of terror, violence, and disaster; how to heal children from trauma exposures. This workshop will include safety guidelines for children in group interventions, how to shape involuntary threat responses, and an activity in resilience.

C.      SHINE Initiative – Promoting the mental health and wellness of young people through awareness and conversation.

The SHINE Initiative is known for classroom and school presentations, community forums, student wellness summits, and the creation of student-led advisory teams. By helping to create an environment where the topic of mental health is welcomed, they are providing the tools needed to maintain mental wellness, in addition to recognizing the warning signs of mental illness and knowing when to reach out.

D.     Animal Assisted Therapy – Use of Animals to Support Recovery, Jeff Fink and His Dog, Earl

Jeff will speak to the role animals can play in healing from loss and trauma. Jeff will present on how animals help with a range of mental health challenges, how to identify people that may respond well to the human-animal connection, and on what can be done to integrate animals into mental health treatment.

E. A Shared Discussion with Faith Leaders: A Community Response to Tragedy

A panel of our own faith community leaders, moderated by Eric Batista,  Chief of Operations and Project Management, Office of the City Manager.

 

Register Now!