If you’ve been following our recent national annual conference promotion, you might be wondering, “What is a learning add-on?” We’re SO glad you asked! Every conference, we thoughtfully curate a lineup of presenters for, what we now call, Learning Add-Ons. These are full-day and half-day sessions on specific topics meant for you to dig deeper and build skills so you can reimagine your work in adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Through many conference planning meetings and feedback from attendees, we decided to rebrand “Pre-Conference Training Institutes” or “Pre-Cons.” Don’t worry! Learning Add-Ons and Pre-Cons are the exact same thing, except we hope this new language will be more accessible for people working at all levels across our field.

This year at Rise, Reimagine, and Reinvent, we have four different Learning Add-Ons happening on Monday, November 18, 2024.

Topics include reimagining youth engagement, advancing sex ed in your communities, using improv as a tool to connect with young people, and putting trauma-informed and healing-based approaches into practice.

Topics include reimagining youth engagement, advancing sex ed in your communities, using improv as a tool to connect with young people, and putting trauma-informed and healing-based approaches into practice. Check out the full Learning Add-On descriptions below and get ready to learn by attending a full-day or half-day session before our main conference kicks off later in the afternoon.

Applying the Science of Trauma-Informed Care (6-hour, full-day training)

Brought to you by the Thrivology collaborative, Terrinieka W. Powell, PhD (she/her), Thrivology Research Alliance Chair; Bloomberg Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism and Equity at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, and Mackenzie Piper, MPH, CHES (she/her), Manager of Training and Instructional Design at Healthy Teen Network, are leading a full-day session for youth-supporting professionals who work directly with young people and who want to move beyond the basics about trauma to learn how to put trauma-informed and healing-based approaches into practice.

No one can deny that everyone, regardless of age, geography, or identity, has faced trauma over the last few years. Between the pandemic, political and racial unrest, and a crippling mental health crisis, new hurt has emerged, and historical inequities have worsened.

As youth-supporting professionals, we have a responsibility to create safe, inclusive, and healing spaces for young people. And we, the adults, must also take care of ourselves and heal from our own trauma, so we don’t transpose our wounds on those we teach, guide, and mentor. Being familiar with what trauma is not enough. We must understand what it is born of, who it impacts, and most of all, how we can respond.

Youth Are Ready, Are You? Reimagining Youth Engagement to Include Peer Leaders and Near-Peer Staff Members (6-hour, full-day training)

We have a group of 5 rockstar presenters leading this full-day session. Adolescent health program staff responsible for hiring and supervising peer leaders and near peers need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to support positive youth development (PYD) and provide age-appropriate professional development for the young people with whom they work. These investments in young people make programs richer and create an important, mutually beneficial dynamic.

For staff, it also means being open to seeing the value these young people add and changing (or adjusting) their approach to their work. During this Learning Add-On, Lisa Aslan, MPH (she/her), Lola Akintobi, MPH (she/her), Lauren Bard, MS, LSW (she/her), Anthony Betori, MPH (he/him), Sophia Montemayor (she/her), will provide a PYD refresher, introduce strategies for hiring and supervising peer leaders and near peers, and share free online tools that participants can take back to their organizations to assess and improve their work with young people.

Applied Improv: FUNdamental Skills for Supporting the Ever-Changing Needs of Young People (3-hour half-day training)

In this interactive session, participants will learn first-hand how improvisation skills and exercises can apply to their professional and personal lives. Supported by decades of research, applied improvisation is a highly effective tool for embracing change and failure (the cornerstone of an innovation mindset), honing active listening skills, and staying curious and motivated. Jesse Greenfield, MPH, CHES (they/them), Founder, Director of Programming, and Facilitator in Chief at Kaleidoscope Training Center will share groundbreaking research connecting these activities with enhanced resilience, communication skills, and flexibility.

Ready to play? That’s right! You are going to play improv games to practice thinking quickly on your feet, working as a team to enhance connections, building new worlds that center the well-being of young people, and collaborating to address challenges in a fun, low-stakes environment. No improv experience necessary; just bring your lived experience, growth mindset, and desire to learn!

The Co-Conspirator Next Door: Advancing Sex Ed in Your Community (3-hour half-day training)

In a post-Dobbs America, with the Regressive Minority consistently waging war on LGBTQ+ young people and young people’s right to information, their bodily autonomy, racial justice, and more, it is more vital than ever that we all become co-conspirators and sex ed allies.

Brought to you by SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change and led by Alison Macklin, MSW, Policy and Advocacy Director, and Miranda Estes (she/her) State Policy and Action Manager, this workshop will supply you with everything you need to become a community advocate—messaging, community engagement how-to’s, and policy advocacy 101—and make a change right in your back yard. Calling all sex ed advocates: this session is for you!

This is only a sneak peak of the amazing lineup of our conference sessions. You’ll have to join us in Phoenix for #HealthyTeen24 for the full experience! Remember, you can easily “add-on” any of these sessions to your general conference ticket during registration check-out for an additional cost. Learning Add-Ons tend to fill up quickly and have limited capacity, so reserve your spot soon!