EyesOpenIowa 2017 Annual Conference 

 

You are invited to attend the 2017 EyesOpenIowa Annual Conference, Respond. Relate. Resonate. November 1-2, 2017 at Hilton Garden Inn in Urbandale, Iowa.

This engaging sexual health education conference brings together teachers, nurses, college students, professors, health educators, and youth serving professionals from across the Midwest!

Professionals can choose from a variety of exciting and interactive workshops in the adolescent sexual health field. Along with dynamic keynote speakers, roundtable discussions, exhibitors with professional resources, and plenty of time for networking with other professionals, this conference is your key to effective and fun professional development.

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We are thrilled to announce this year's keynote speakers:

Elizabeth Schroeder EdD, MSW 

Opening Keynote Address: "But, I Didn't Order a Pizza..." What Young People Are Learning from Online Porn, and Why We Should Care

Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD, MSW, is an award-winning educator, trainer, and author in the areas of sexuality education pedagogy, LGBTQ-affirming best practices, and working with adolescent boys. She has provided consultation to and direct education and training for schools, parent groups, and youth-serving organizations in countries around the world for nearly 25 years. Recently, Dr.Schroeder served as lead author of the Advocates for Youth curriculum Rights, Respect, Responsiblity the first ever k-12 sexuality education curriculum completely mapped to the National Sexuality Education Standards.She also worked with UNFPA and UNESCO to develop the first online teacher training course in sexuality education for teachers in East and Southern Africa. The former executive director of Answer, Dr.Schroeder has also served as the vice president of education and training at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She was a co-founding editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education, and has authored or edited numerous publications, including Sexuality Education: Theory and Practice and the four-part book series, Sexuality Education: Past, Present and Future. Learn more about her work at www.drschroe.com.

Vanessa McNeal

Morning Keynote Address, Day 2: Trauma and Sexual Risk Behaviors

Vanessa McNeal is an accomplished and acknowledged public speaker and storyteller. She is also the film producer of the internationally recognized documentary, "The Voiceless." Through her work in speaking and film production, she informs and transforms audiences with her passion and veracity. Vanessa is a survivor of child abuse and sexual violence, but she uses her past as a vehicle to empower, educate, and inspire others. She is an expert a sharing her experiences in a way that is thought provoking and enlightening. Having presented at countless conferences, campuses, and fundraising events, Vanessa is on a mission to spread her message and raise awareness about sexual violence.

Lisa Olcese, MS, NLP

Conference Closing Keynote Address: From Reactive to Responsive: Reconnecting with Each Other in Times of Deep Distress

Lisa Olcese, MS- Organizational Leadership, has served as a leader, trainer, mentor, and network-builder in Colorado's nonprofit sector for over 25 years. After going through her own journey, filled with reward and also burnout, she left her role in executive leadership to support others in leading with their strengths, (re)connecting with their life's purpose, and developing skills to more effectively and elegantly motivate their teams, communities families and, ultimately, themselves.                                                 Lisa graduated from Smith College, and holds a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from Regis University. A certified Executive Coach and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), she has held a range of change-management, coalition-building, and executive leadership roles in the nonprofit and profit sectors. 

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Conference Logistics:

Wednesday November 1st, 2017, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Thursday November 2nd, 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Hotel Information:

Hilton Garden Inn - Urbandale/Des Moines

8600 Northpark Dr.

Johnston, IA 50131

The Hilton Garden Inn has been gracious enough to set aside a block of rooms for your convienence on the nights of October 31st and November 1st for $129/night. To reserve, please call 515-270-8890 and ask to make the reservation under the EyesOpenIowa block for these dates. Rooms are limited and will no longer be on hold after October 10th, so to ensure your spot please make your reservation as soon as possible.

Register Now! 

Check out the 2017 Breakout Sessions!

Wednesday, November 1st  
 
Breakout Session #1 (10:15am – 11-45 pm)
 
A. Moving Beyond “Opposite Sex”: Best Practices for Gender-Affirming Sexuality Education              Presenter: Dr. Elizabeth Schroeder
 
The U.S., like much of the world, still tends to view gender as binary: there are boys and girls; men and women. Even the most well-intentioned professionals who know there are more than two sexes and genders can inadvertently perpetuate stereotypes and commit microaggressions in a learning environment by using outdated language and educational practices. This workshop will provide concrete suggestions for providing sexuality education programming and resources that affirm all genders – while recognizing the range of political beliefs and values within individual communities.
 
B. Lessons from the Field – So What Happens Next?                                                                         Presenters: Mary Ann McLeod, Director of Community Services, Bethany for Children and Families and Patti Sorensen, Wise Guys Coordinator, Bethany for Children and Families
 
An interactive and informative workshop designed to provide sexuality and health educators with tools and techniques to address the following areas:  Working with resistant administrators and parents, as well as excited instructors who may overshare their information;  Securing school personnel and parent buy-in to programming;  Learning how to match curriculums to school philosophy;  Recruiting and retaining youth participants; and  Developing additional opportunities to promote responsible sexual health.
 
Come and learn new ideas and share your success stories!
 
C. Intercultural Competency – Exploring Diversity Model                                                                 Presenters: Vicki Gassman, Community Health Education Manager, Hillcrest Family Services, and Paula  Paider Licht.
 
During this workshop, the participant will discuss diversity, culture, and perceptions. Participants
will use a diversity model to be able to adapt to any situation in order to relate to clients, coworkers, and community in non-biased ways.
 
Breakout Session #2 (1:00 – 2:30 p.m.)
 
D. My Mom’s a Cat: Discussing LGBT Families in the Classroom                                                           Presenters: Kristen Lilla, Director of Sex Education, Girls, Inc. Omaha, and Christian Hoeger, Director of Counseling, Girls Inc. of Omaha.
 
Seeking a way to talk about same-sex families with elementary age students? This workshop will offer a tangible lesson, discussion questions, and an interactive worksheet for sex educators to be able to engage with students in grades K-5. In an effort to make the lesson applicable to youth of all backgrounds, the workshop encourages educators to discuss non-traditional families as a means of recognizing various household infrastructures.
 
E. Connecting Teen Pregnancy and Child Abuse                                                                         Presenter: Abby Patterson, ICAPP Manager, Prevent Child Abuse Iowa
 
This workshop will cover how child sexual abuse prevention and teen pregnancy prevention fit into a broader continuum of skill development related to healthy relationships. .

F. Clinic Closed: What This Means for Our Rural Teens                                                                            Presenter: Courtney Adam, Health Programs Coordinator, NEICAC Health Programs 

 Rural areas already tend to see a higher teen birth rate compared to urban communities. We will discuss the impact of recent Title X clinic closures in rural communities and what that means for teens’ access to reproductive health services and contraceptive use. Will this necessitate a shift in how we teach sex ed in these areas? We will discuss LARCs, parent/teen communication skills and much more! Group brainstorming and discussions will allow for idea sharing and strategizing!
 
Breakout Session #3 (2:45 - 4:15 p.m.)
 
G. Is Iowa Making the Grade? An Assessment of K-12 Health Education Programs in Public Schools                                                                                                                                           Presenter: Jamie Sebring, Health Teacher, Cedar Rapids Community School District
 
The focus of this workshop is to explore the challenges faced in teaching and supporting health education in Iowa public schools. It is the intent to further understand what Iowa health education teachers and district administrators perceive as barriers to successfully facilitating a robust health education program.
 
H. Teen Parents: What We Are Seeing – Challenges and Resources  
Presenter: Elizabeth Fry, Health Educator and Young Parents Together Coordinator, Together for Youth

This session will provide an overview of Young Parents Together, how YPT has evolved and challenges we've faced. We will also discuss what we are seeing with our teen parents and the challenges they face and what we have in place to help them succeed. Discussion will cover teen parent rights in the school system and Iowa laws that apply to teen parents.
 
I. “B” Visible                                                                                                                                        Presenter: Emily Miller, Training and Education Coordinator, EyesOpenIowa  

In the wide spectrum of sexual orientations, sexual health education often finds its focus on the ends of the spectrum. But, in doing so identities in the middle are often forgotten. This session will highlight the “B” in LGBTQ. We will define what bisexuality is, what it isn’t, and its relation to other sexual orientations—including pansexuality. We’ll unpack research, discuss bi erasure, and understand why bi visibility is essential. And most importantly, we will discuss how to be inclusive and affirming educators to bisexual, pansexual, or similarly-identifying students.  
 
 
Thursday- November 2nd 
 
Breakout Session #4 (10:15-11:15 am)
 
J. Polyamory/Ethical Non-Monogamy 101                                                                                               Presenters: Samantha Carwyn, Community Education Liaison, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and Megan Smith-Sallans, Psychotherapist, Megan Smith Psychotherapy, PC.

This workshop will provide attendees with terms, concepts, and definitions to gain a better understanding about polyamory/ethical non-monogamy. We will explore the intersectionality of race, sexual orientation and gender identity within non-monogamy. The information provided will assist attendees in building a foundation for inclusive language and having open conversations with individuals exploring non-monogamous relationships or those who are already members of this community.
 
K. Youth Resiliency Matters                                                                                                                         Presenter: Tamra Jurgemeyer, Program Director, Young Women’s Resource Center
 
In the past year, the Young Women’s Resource Center specifically focused on incorporating Trauma Informed Care principles into agency programming and in the local community, by researching and developing an inclusive and youth-tailored tool that could measure change in resiliency over time. Research focused on what key components and protective factors are the most important and integrated these findings into a survey that is being utilized agency-wide. Through the use of this survey, the YWRC is better able to address the needs of young women, ages 10-21, in both Empowerment and Young Moms programs. The YWRC will utilize this results with staff and board to be increasingly responsive in the development of  resiliency skill building components into program curriculum for continuous quality improvement. Through the research, it was determined that YWRC needed to also develop a separate youthtailored tool to capture a baseline for trauma history for the clients served. This ACEs-like tool specifically took into account youth mental and emotional capacity and was written at a fifth grade reading level. In addition to ensuring questions were age appropriate for youth, YWRC also included additional childhood trauma/stressors youth experience. YWRC recognizes that building protective factors for clients in key settings like schools and homes takes a community effort. The YWRC has begun sharing the results of research, survey tools and lessons learned with the community in an effort to further collaborate and improve tracking for other local organizations.
 
L. Young, Black and Female  
Presenters: Shinita Crawley, Health Educator, Together for Youth, Heather Roby, Health Educator, SuccessLink, and Asia Nash, SiHLE Near Peer.
 
Discuss and identify what it means to be young, black and female. We will be discussing black millennial culture, stigmas they face daily and their mental and sexual health. We will be taking an in depth visual examination into social media and culturally specific entertainment and its effects on young black females. We will also discuss how to deter providers from having a lasting negative emotional effect on participants that causes negative perceptions of programs and services into adulthood. Lastly, we discuss how to sincerely recruit African American youth in to various youth programs.
 
Breakout Session #5 (1:00 – 2:30 p.m.)
 
M. How to Build Rapport with (Just About) Anyone!  
Presenter: Lisa Olcese                                                                                                

Rapport means that we share attention and positive regard for the other person – even if we don’t agree. An ability to effectively establish rapport becomes the very foundation of civil conversation, as well as the ability of teams and organizations to effectively work together. 
 
Organizational effectiveness, healthy teamwork and any change process all rely on the selection of appropriate interventions that meet desired goals and outcomes. The success of any selected intervention, however, is dependent largely on the ability of all participants - not just the leader - to skillfully communicate their perspectives, and to motivate others and themselves to act in alignment with shared goals.
 
Rapport can be conveyed through how we communicate - our conscious nonverbal communication - as well as through the words we use. Participants will receive an overview of key nonverbal communication principles and have an opportunity to practice concrete strategies to build stronger organizational, collegial, community and personal rapport - with just about anyone!
 

N. Bayer IUS Training (with hands on training)
Presenter: Allison Barber, Pharm D, Bayer

This interactive workshop will focus on the Bayer Levonorgestrel-Releasing Intrauterine Device (LNG-IUS) in the Long Acting Reversible Contraceptive (LARC) Landscape. The time will include a presentation about the IUD as well as time for participants to become familiar with the insertion steps. The time will include an overview of:

-Unintended pregnancies

-Contraceptive methods women are using in the US

-An overview of LARC

-Agency/Society recommendations surrounding LARC

-The Contraceptive CHOICE Project

- the safety and efficacy of the 3 Bayer LNG-IUS (Mirena, Kyleena and Skyla).

 O. From Awareness to Action                                                                                                        Presenters: Samantha Carwyn, Community Education Liaison, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Alyssa Watts, Health Educator, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

 During this workshop attendees will engage in activities that explore their experiences with bias or stereotypes, feelings of conformity, communication habits, and learn how to address tough scenarios in regards to the LGBTIA community. Individuals will have the opportunity to assess their behaviors that break down gender bias.

Register Now!