ACRC’s International Direct Care Summit 2025

November 5th

Access to login will be available starting at 3pm CST on November 4th

Agenda

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To view a presenter bio, click on their name.

 

Agenda

time iconNovember 5, 2025 07:30 am

Opening Keynote - Global Perspectives in Therapeutic Residential Care

speaker headshot James K. Whittaker
The University of Washington
speaker headshot Sigrid James
University of Kassel, Germany
speaker headshot Patricia McNamara
Department of Social Work - University of Melbourne
speaker headshot Jim Anglin
University of Victoria, Canada
speaker headshot Lisa Holmes
School of Education and Social Work - University of Sussex, UK
time iconNovember 5, 2025 08:30 am

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 09:00 am

Keynote - Fostering Relational Safety in an Unsafe World: Hope, Belonging, and the Power of Connection

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


In a world increasingly marked by instability, divisive politics and climate harm, children are absorbing the emotional weight of uncertainty. This keynote explores how relational safety can serve as a stabilising force amidst chaos, offering young people a sense of rootedness, connection and hope. 

 

Drawing on trauma-informed principles, Lisa's research on belonging for those with care experience and practice, we’ll examine how professionals in child and family services can intentionally cultivate environments of trust and belonging.


Through exploring belonging, mattering and liminality, attendees of this keynote will be invited to consider:

 

• How do we recognise and respond to the relational needs of children living in chronic uncertainty?
• What does it mean to model hope?
• How can we embed relational safety into our language, systems and daily interactions to accelerate optimism and agency?


This session is both a call to action and a space for renewal for those who hold hope on behalf of others. 

speaker headshot Lisa Cherry
Author, Researcher, Leading International Trainer and Consultant
time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:00 am

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 am

WORKSHOP SESSION A

Workshop Session A has 4 options to choose from. Choose 1 to watch LIVE and view the recordings of the others at a later time. All recordings will be available for the next 30 days.

time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 am

Workshop Session A - Substance Use and Mental Health: How it Affects the Entire Family

This workshop explores the profound impact that substance use disorders and mental health challenges have—not only on the individual—but on the entire family unit. The emotional, relational, and systemic effects can disrupt family dynamics, cause long-term trauma, and create isolation and fear. By centering the voice of lived experience, this session will highlight how family peer advocates play a critical role in empowering families, reducing stigma, and promoting healing and resilience.

speaker headshot Denise Delio
SCO Family of Services
time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 am

Workshop Session A - Supporting Neurodiversity with Staff: Building Inclusive and Resilient Care Teams

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


This 60-minute interactive workshop will equip leaders and supervisors to better support neurodiverse staff within direct care environments. Through guided discussion and the sharing of practical strategies, participants will explore the strengths and challenges neurodiverse individuals may experience at work, and learn how to foster belonging, psychological safety, and resilience on their teams. The session will include real-world examples, tools for inclusive supervision, and time for Q&A to help participants apply new insights to their own settings.

speaker headshot Deborah Getz
IU School of Public Health
speaker headshot Emma Harding
Tanager Place
speaker headshot Katrina Edmon
MCHS Family of Services
time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 am

Workshop Session A - Honoring the Impact: Strengthening Residential Support Workers through Cultural Humility and Self-Reflective Training

Residential Support Workers (RSWs) are essential in residential treatment, ensuring clients’ safety and well-being. Despite their importance, they often face inadequate training, limited recognition, and systemic neglect, leading to burnout, vicarious trauma, and high turnover. Nearly half of healthcare workers report burnout (CDC, 2024), with emotional exhaustion increasing risks of client re-traumatization and recidivism. A trauma-responsive approach emphasizing skill development, self-awareness, and professional respect can address these challenges. Through education, reflection, and experiential learning, RSWs build capacity for trauma-responsive, antiracist, whole-person care while redefining their value within historically inequitable systems.

speaker headshot Katie-Maureen McCoog
Embark Behavioral Health
time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 am

Workshop Session A - Compassion Culture: It's a Vibe!

Fostering a culture of acceptance and forgiveness is essential. By using child-centric language, we can shift staff perceptions, leading to positive behavioral changes in both our staff and the children we serve.

speaker headshot Ryan Lynn
Pathway Family Services
speaker headshot Sally Ryan Bosworth
Pathway Family Services
time iconNovember 5, 2025 11:30 am

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 12:00 pm

CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS

Critical Conversations have 4 options to choose from. Choose 1 to watch LIVE. Recordings and certificates will not be available for these conversations. 

time iconNovember 5, 2025 12:00 pm

Critical Conversation - Technology’s Role in Direct Care: Identifying tools that support and enhance relational care

time iconNovember 5, 2025 12:00 pm

Critical Conversation - From Leadership to Direct Care Professionals: Strengthening organizational culture for greatest impact

time iconNovember 5, 2025 12:00 pm

Critical Conversation - Social Media Strategies: Can we Build and Model Healthy use for Young Adults?

speaker headshot Amanda Pryor, MSW, LCSW, CSAYC
Advocacy and Training Alliance, LLC
speaker headshot Andrew Hernandez
Hillsides
time iconNovember 5, 2025 12:00 pm

Critical Conversation - Refraining from Restraining: Replacing coercive interventions with trauma informed practices

time iconNovember 5, 2025 01:00 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 01:30 pm

Keynote - Six Core What? Making the Core Strategies Real...

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


This presentation will include an overview of the Six Core Strategies which is an evidenced-based practice to prevent and reduce the use restraint/seclusion and coercive practices.  Each Core Strategy will be described, translated into day-to-day practice, and discussed thru the experience of youth, families, and staff.   Effective interventions to replace coercive interventions will be reviewed.  A highlight of the presentation will be the first-hand experience of a program leader, family leader, and youth-expert(s) in applying the Six Core Strategies to their service with recommendations on how to accelerate implementation of this important culture and practice change work.

speaker headshot Janice LeBel
Six Core Strategies©
speaker headshot Kim Stratton
Children's Home of Wyoming Conference (CHOWC)
speaker headshot Veronica Franklin
Children's Home of Wyoming Conference (CHOWC)
time iconNovember 5, 2025 02:30 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 03:00 pm

Keynote - A Relational Approach to Caring for Young People Impacted by Sexual Exploitation

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


This session explores the use of a clinical approach and concepts supporting young people who have been impacted by sexual exploitation. The approach explores the physical, relational and spiritual elements of wellbeing. Relational elements will be emphasized with accentuation on low control and high support. The session will highlight how mutuality in relationship produces a warm and inviting social environment, enhances learning, safety, and positive therapeutic outcomes. 

speaker headshot Jason Slemko
Clinical Director, Safe Directions/Hull Services
time iconNovember 5, 2025 04:00 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 04:30 pm

Keynote - Caring for our Caregivers: Peer Support for the Pediatric RTC Workforce

Pediatric behavioral health professionals often view their work as a calling, yet this calling is accompanied by long hours, significant emotional demands, and high levels of stress. In this session, we will examine how a structured employee peer support program can enhance workforce engagement, improve retention, and strengthen resilience. Peer support serves as a critical mechanism for reconnecting staff with their professional purpose while fostering a culture of mutual understanding. Supporting the well-being of the residential treatment center workforce is essential not only to sustaining their health and effectiveness, but also to ensuring the continued delivery of compassionate, evidence-based care.

speaker headshot David Huskey
THRIVE at Children's Nebraska
time iconNovember 5, 2025 05:30 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 06:00 pm

WORKSHOP SESSION B

Workshop Session B has 4 options to choose from. Choose 1 to watch LIVE and view the recordings of the others at a later time. All recordings will be available for the next 30 days.

time iconNovember 5, 2025 06:00 pm

Workshop Session B - Family Partners and Frontline Providers: The Power of Partnership

Interrogating our assumptions or myths about families and then "busting" those myths is a necessary step toward full partnership.  Family partners as part of the workforce can help in the "myth busting". In this workshop, you will hear feedback from providers who have experienced a shift in culture with more authentic relationships between staff and families. Frontline providers partnering with Family Partners on the healing journey for  youth and their families can be very powerful for all involved. 

speaker headshot Sherry Peters
ACRC
speaker headshot Nancy Pierce
ACRC
time iconNovember 5, 2025 06:00 pm

Workshop Session B - Building Self-Awareness

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


Self-awareness can be thought of as the "will and skill to see ourselves clearly." In this training, participants will learn the two sides to self-awareness and why it matters in the workplace. Participants will learn about three strategies to build self-awareness with a chance to practice in small groups. 


speaker headshot Jacqueline Camacho
Hillsides
speaker headshot Samira Vishria
Hillsides
time iconNovember 5, 2025 06:00 pm

Workshop Session B - Rec Therapy

time iconNovember 5, 2025 06:00 pm

Workshop Session B - New Perspectives on Sustaining Helping Professionals

Pat will share new thinking about remaining hopeful and energetic. We will challenge myths of vicarious trauma, that work is entirely depleting, and that there is such a thing as work-life balance. We will include for specific techniques to sustain our workers, and thus reduce turnover.

speaker headshot Patricia Wilcox
Klingberg Family Centers
time iconNovember 5, 2025 07:00 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 07:30 pm

Keynote - The Disenfranchisement of Dads

1 NASW CE Available for this Workshop - Must Watch LIVE


This presentation explores the overlooked and often minimized role of fathers and positive male figures in the lives of children and youth, particularly those in foster care and out-of-home placements. Too often, systems unintentionally exclude or sideline dads through bias, policy, or practice—leaving young people without crucial connections that support their stability, identity, and long-term success. Drawing on research, real-world examples, and outcome data, we will examine how the absence of paternal involvement impacts youth, from educational attainment to emotional resilience. Participants will also gain practical strategies for recognizing and reducing systemic barriers, engaging fathers as partners, and broadening the definition of family support to include male mentors and role models. By reframing how we view and value dads, this session aims to inspire professionals to create more inclusive practices that strengthen family connections, promote equity, and improve outcomes for youth.

speaker headshot Kevin King
CEO/Empire Training and Consultation
time iconNovember 5, 2025 08:30 pm

Break

time iconNovember 5, 2025 09:00 pm

Closing Keynote - Reimagining Child Protection: The Rise of Lived Experience Support Workers in Australian NGO Services

A growing movement in Australia is reshaping child protection by integrating lived experience workers—parents, carers, and individuals who’ve navigated the system—into child and family services. Their empathy and credibility challenge traditional power imbalances, fostering safety, dignity, and trust in systems often marked by fear and disconnection. This presentation explores how organisations embed these roles through co-design, trauma-informed practice, and peer support while addressing challenges like boundaries and role clarity. Centring lived experience offers a compassionate, family-driven approach that transforms services and strengthens engagement, belonging, and hope for lasting systemic change.

speaker headshot Rachael Dean
Life Without Barriers
speaker headshot Clare Walker
Allambi Care
speaker headshot Tammy Prince-Doyle
Family Inclusion Strategies in the Hunter (FISH)
speaker headshot Jacinta Morey
Reily Foundation - South Australia
speaker headshot Sav Sfyrios
Reily Foundation - South Australia
speaker headshot Emily Keynes
Family Inclusion Network - Western Australia
time iconNovember 5, 2025 10:30 pm

Thank You! We hope you enjoyed our 5th Annual International Direct Care Summit.

Frequently Asked questions


Yes, you will need to register through ACRC. Register here: https://members.togetherthevoice.org/event-6316184
Access to login will be available starting at 3pm CST on November 4.
The information you provide upon registration will only be used to establish you as a user on the platform and to create your login credentials. It will not be used for any other purposes.
Yes, the vFairs platform is compatible with any computer or mobile device and any browser.
No, this event is not free. Please review the registration options here: https://members.togetherthevoice.org/event-6316184
The recordings will be available for 30 days after the event.
The ALL IN registration option allows for all staff, board members, foster parents and volunteers in your organization to register at no additional cost.
Yes, certificates are available for all presentations except the critical conversations. To receive any certificate all presentations must be viewed LIVE.
-NASW Certificates - Attendees can earn up to 6 NASW CE credits by attending the LIVE presentations noted in red.
-Attendance certificates will be available by attending the LIVE Keynotes & Workshops.
No certificates will be given out for viewing presentation recordings.