We are about 2 months away from heading to Portland for our annual conference. We are excited to see new faces and familiar ones, but most of all we are ready to dig in this year and immerse ourselves in what #HealthyTeen23 has to offer. We’d like to introduce you to our featured speakers, so you can get to know a little more about them and the journey they plan to take us on.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 2

We’ll open #HealthyTeen23 Monday afternoon with keynote speakers Jillene Joseph and Shalene Joseph from the Native Wellness Institute. Jillene and Shalene are national experts and believe it is unethical to discuss trauma without healing.

For the past 35 years, Jillene has traveled throughout North America providing wellness and healing training and technical assistance to tribes, First Nations, and aboriginal organizations. Traveling extensively, Shalene values every opportunity to learn from each community she visits. Witnessing Indigenous people rise and become the healthy individuals and communities we strive to be strengthens her passion to contribute to the work.

Witnessing Indigenous people rise and become the healthy individuals and communities we strive to be strengthens her passion to contribute to the work.

Jillene and Shalene will engage you in an interactive “being trauma- and healing-informed” experience that connects healing to wisdom and community. With their decades of experience working in workplace wellness, healthy relationships, youth leadership development, film, and the arts with people across the nation—youth, professionals, Native Communities, and allies—Jillene and Shalene will share strategies we can act on now for ourselves and those with whom we work—across all ages—and within the communities we inhabit. Practitioners, social workers, educators, and trusted adults, through restorative approaches and practice, we shall heal.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3

Tuesday morning, we will gather to hear a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Tanya Bass, who is an award-winning sexuality educator and subject matter expert in sexual and reproductive health, health equity, and mental health advocacy. We are excited to welcome four panelists to this session who will share personal stories of their lived experiences—challenges, strategies, triumphs, and failures—that will inspire us as we work towards a more just, healed, and pleasure-forward world.

We are excited to welcome four panelists to this session who will share personal stories of their lived experiences—challenges, strategies, triumphs, and failures—that will inspire us as we work towards a more just, healed, and pleasure-forward world.

Asha Mohan, who is a high school senior and a member of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette’s Teen Council, a peer-led sex education group bringing comprehensive sex ed lessons to Oregon schools.

Jason Scott is an eighth grader who enjoys educating his peers and started working with a group called The Health Crew at his former elementary school. There they created lessons and activities to help students discuss topics like bullying, puberty, and gender identity.

Bex Heimbrock is an award-winning activist and journalist. Currently a Junior at Whitman College and fellow with Advocates for Youth, Bex most recently testified in front of the FDA to help make oral birth control pills available over-the-counter.

liliana cabrera currently works in Central Oregon as an Education and Training Program Coordinator with Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. As an educator, facilitator, and trainer for over 15 years, liliana has coordinated and implemented programs working with youth, Latinx, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, young parents, and parenting and youth-serving adults.

Dr. Bass will guide the discussion between our panel of sexual and reproductive health experts that will include conversation about sexuality, justice, and rights, and how they use collaboration and education as a pathway to healing.

Join the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Tuesday evening to discuss ways that BIPOC sexuality professionals can cultivate support for one another as while navigate the field.

Join the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Tuesday evening to discuss ways that BIPOC sexuality professionals can cultivate support for one another as while navigate the field. This caucus will be led by Mariotta Gary-Smith, our closing session speaker, who will create a space for networking and discussion about sex ed professionals. Additionally, this time will be used for collaborative discussion of any time-sensitive sexuality topics impacting Black and Brown communities. Please note: this space is specifically for attendees of color.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4

Join Mariotta Gary-Smith for the closing session on Wednesday afternoon, as she shares her journey from being a young agitator and peer educator to co-founding the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WoCSHN) and using her passion to engage in the work of sexual and reproductive health education, care, and justice.

Using life experience, social and reproductive justice movement wins, reflections, and lessons learned, you will learn how Mariotta puts C.A.R.E.—Consistency; Accessibility; Rest as a practice of Resistance; and Energy, Empathy, and Exit—in motion.

Using life experience, social and reproductive justice movement wins, reflections, and lessons learned, you will learn how Mariotta puts C.A.R.E.—Consistency; Accessibility; Rest as a practice of Resistance; and Energy, Empathy, and Exit—in motion. When you leave this session, we know you will show up and take C.A.R.E. of the young people in your work and life.

Are you ready to join us in Portland for #HealthyTeen23? Don’t miss out on the opportunity to engage with inspiring keynote speakers, participate in thought-provoking panel discussions, and learn actionable strategies for fostering healing in your life and work.