LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research
SILENT AUCTION GUIDELINES
Each item in the silent auction is a presentation (talk or workshop) by a LaMarsh faculty member
on topics in which they are experts.
You can bid on any of these talks, and have it presented to an audience of your choice. You can even
name “your” talk after your family, your organization, in honour of an individual, etc, etc..
The suggested minimum bid for a talk is $500.00 and bids are accepted in increments of $100.00
How to participate in the silent auction:
 BEFORE the event: View the descriptions of each talk below and send your bid to
[email protected] by February 25, 2015 at 4:30 p.m. (please use SILENT AUCTION BID
in the subject line).
 AT the event: A table will be set up at the Gala with a full description of each talk. There
will be one sheet for each talk that lists all previous bids. You can write your bid on this
sheet and the winner will be announced at the end of the night.
 AFTER the event: The bidding will remain open until March 6, 2015 at 12 noon. Please
contact Irene Backhouse at 416-736-5528 to place a bid, or you can bid electronically by
emailing [email protected] and place SILENT BID AUCTION in the subject line.
Successful Bidder Information:
 The successful bidders will be contacted directly and will also be posted on our web site.
 If you are the successful bidder, you will have the opportunity to name/dedicate “your” talk:
for example The Jane Doe talk on Building Confidence through Sports; the Cedarspring Public
School lecture on Healthy Relationships, the Shoppers Drug Mart workshop on Best Practices in
Parenting, etc..
 You and the presenting researcher will choose a mutually convenient date and time. Please
note: Your talk must be scheduled and completed by December 31, 2015.
 You and the researcher will also select the location. If you are in need of a venue, the
LaMarsh Centre is happy to host your talk at York University.
 This is a one-time talk. You are welcome to discuss scheduling multiple presentations by
the researcher at your organization, at a rate negotiated with the faculty member.
Summary of Talks for Silent Auction
1. Building Resilience: Healthy Development Depends on Healthy Relationships
Presenter: Dr. Debra Pepler
Format: talk or workshop
Length: 50min Audience: Professionals, parent or youth (8-18)
Summary: Healthy relationships are absolutely critical for the healthy development of
children and youth. These relationships start at home and extend to the school, peer group, and
community. Recent research is showing that the quality of children’s relationships is
important for healthy DNA and the expression of genes in cells, for healthy brain development,
healthy behaviour, healthy learning and for physical and mental health. In this talk, I will focus
on strategies to support children and youths’ healthy development. I will describe the work
being done within PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network) to
promote healthy development through healthy relationships in all the places where children
and youth live, learn, and play.
Learning Objectives: Knowledge of importance of relationships in healthy development;
Recognition of the relationship problems in bullying; understanding of strategies to promote
healthy relationships: self-awareness, building relationships, scaffolding, social architecture,
and systems change.
Presenter Bio:
for Aboriginal people.
Dr. Debra Pepler is a Distinguished Research Professor of
Psychology at York University and a Senior Adjunct Scientist at the
Hospital for Sick Children. Her research focuses on aggression and
victimization among children and adolescents. She also conducts
research on children in families at risk through Breaking the Cycle –
a program for substance using mothers and their young children.
Together with Dr. Wendy Craig, Dr. Pepler is leading a federally
funded national network, PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and
Eliminating Violence Network). PREVNet’s mission is to promote
safe and healthy relationships and prevent bullying for children
and youth (www.prevnet.ca). One of her major projects within
PREVNet is a study, funded by SSHRC, on Walking the Prevention
Circle, a Red Cross violence prevention program developed by and
2. Youth Sport: Laying the Foundation for Confidence, Character and Success
Presenter: Dr. Jessica Fraser-Thomas
Format: Presentation Length: 1 hour (45 minute presentation, 15 minutes
questions/discussion)
Audience: Parents of children involved in sport; coaches, practitioners, teachers,
programmers, and other stakeholders connected to youth
Summary: Given the increasingly competitive job market, parents feel growing pressure to
effectively facilitate their children’s healthy development and success. While involvement in
extra-curricular activities is consistently shown to be beneficial for children and youth, parents
often struggle to know how to best approach the most popular extra-curricular activity – sport.
Parents have many pressing questions:
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What is the appropriate age to start sport?
What should we look for in a youth sport program?
How many activities are optimal?
How can we assure “healthy” competition?
Should we be concerned about aggression and questionable social norms in sport?
How do we talk to children about tough losses, “bad” ref calls, or other complex sport
situations?
This presentation will address these and other questions by exploring some of the research
conducted through the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research at York University,
alongside broader youth sport research. Topics to be discussed include early sport
specialization, dropout, parental involvement and behaviours, aggression and morality,
preschooler sport, and positive development through sport.
Presenter Bio:
Jessica Fraser-Thomas is an Associate Professor in the School of
Kinesiology and Health Science at York University in Toronto, Canada.
Her research focuses on children and youths’ development through
sport, with a particular interest in positive youth development,
psychosocial influences (i.e., coaches, family, peers), and withdrawal.
Currently she is working on projects exploring children’s earliest
introductions to organized sport, characteristics of sport programs that
facilitate optimal youth development, and how youth sport models may
inform Masters athletes’ development; all projects are supported by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC) and Sport Canada’s Research Initiative (SCRI). Jessica is a
former high performance athlete; she now parents five young sport
participants and occasionally competes in Master’s sport.
3. Better Education Through Cognitive Science
Presenter: Dr. Melody Wiseheart
Format: Presentation Length: 1 hour
Audience: Parents and teachers, school board members, politicians who support better
education, and individuals who want better education for children and youth
Summary: Can collaboration between educators and cognitive psychologists improve learning
and memory? The process of moving from laboratory findings to implementation in
classrooms will be discussed, along with research study examples.
Learning Objectives:
 Who participates in translation of education research?
 What are the stages of research?
 How can parents, policy makers, and other stakeholders become involved in research?
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Melody Wiseheart is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Psychology at York University and a Core Member of the LaMarsh
Centre for Child and Youth Research. She is the recipient of education
grants from Canada Foundation for Innovation, the U.S. Institute of
Education Sciences, and other agencies, and has published numerous
articles on the topic of educational psychology. Her research interests
focus on how executive function, learning, and long-term memory
change across the lifespan, from early childhood development through
aging. She is currently working on projects that interface between
cognitive psychology and education, arts, kinesiology, clinical
psychology, and other areas.
4. Growing Up, ADHD
Presenter: Dr. Maggie Toplak
Format: Presentation/Workshop
Length: 1.5 hours Audience: parents and teachers
Summary: ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is an important childhood
problem that is misunderstood and underserviced. At the same time, these kids have incredible
potential and are worth investing in! This talk will give an overview of these issues, explain
how ADHD is currently understood by scientists, how ADHD is being addressed by
practitioners and educators, and talk about the progress that has been made in understanding
and working with these individuals. There will be a special focus on childhood, adolescence,
and young adulthood/postsecondary.
Learning Objectives:
 What ADHD is and what ADHD isn’t based on research findings
 The complex issue of medication and ADHD
 Reasons to be optimistic and hopeful for these children and youth
 An overview of service and opportunities across Canada
Presenter Bio:
disabilities.
Dr. Maggie Toplak is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Psychology at York University and a Core Member of the LaMarsh
Centre for Child and Youth Research. Dr. Toplak received her Ph.D.
from the University of Toronto, and she completed a postdoctoral
fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is registered as a
psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. Her research
program involves using cognitive science approaches to understanding
decision-making and cognitive abilities, which is currently funded by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The
broad goal of this research program is to apply models of cognitive
science to developing explanatory models for developmental
psychopathology, including youth who have AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other developmental
5. Parenting Tune-Up: A Primer for the Confused Parent
Presenter: Dr. Yvonne Bohr
Format: Workshop
Length: 1 hour
Audience: parents, teachers, teaching assistants, child care workers
Summary: Parents and caregivers are confused by the many conflicting media messages they
receive about what constitutes “effective parenting”. This talk will review some of the most
current scientific research on positive parenting practices, including the effects of distinct
practices on outcomes for children’s development.
Learning Objectives:
 Participants will have reviewed 3 common dilemmas faced by parents and caregivers today
 Participants will have acquired a good understanding of current research findings in the
area of parental discipline, parental support, parental sensitivity and parent-child
attachment
 Participants will have learned about 3 ways of reducing parental stress
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Yvonne Bohr is a clinical child and family Psychologist, an Associate
Professor of Psychology at York University and the Head of the Infant and
Child Mental Health Team at Aisling Discoveries Child and Family Centre in
East Toronto. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters on
parenting young children in diverse contexts, and on the stresses associated
with being a caregiver in an ever-changing globalized environment. She has
presented her research findings at many national and international conferences. Dr. Bohr is
particularly interested in the effect that different types of stress have on family life, and how
stress can best be reduced to benefit parents and their children.
6. Understanding Perfectionism and its Emotional Costs for Children and Adolescents: Building
Resilience to the Stress and Distress of Needing to be Perfect
Presenter: Dr. Gordon Flett
Format: Talk
Length: 90 minutes
Audience: parents, teachers, mental health professionals
Summary: There is a growing need to understand perfectionism in young people due to its apparent
destructiveness and prevalence. Recent evidence suggests that perhaps as many as 3 in 10 children and
adolescents are characterized by some form of maladaptive perfectionism and this perfectionism is
associated with a host of emotional and performance difficulties, including potentially self-destructive
tendencies. This presentation will involve providing an overview of perfectionism as a multi-faceted
concept with the goal of heightening awareness of the potential destructiveness of perfectionism and
what can be done to combat it. The various problems associated with perfectionism will be outlined
through descriptions of research findings and case study accounts. Consistent with recent calls for the
prevention of perfectionism, practical suggestions for reducing levels of perfectionism and building
resilience among perfectionistic children and adolescents will be provided.
Learning Objectives:
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Enhance understanding of the different personal and interpersonal components of
perfectionism and how perfectionism is not the healthy striving for excellence.
Develop a greater awareness of the factors and processes that make perfectionism more or less
problematic for children, youth, and adolescents and how these factors and processes relate to
self-concept issues and difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
Obtain an overview of current research on the treatment of emotionally distressed
perfectionists along with practical suggestions and strategies designed jointly to reduce levels of
perfectionism and to build emotional and social resilience among perfectionistic children and
adolescents.
Presenter Bio:
Gordon L. Flett is a Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto
and the former Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education in
York University’s Faculty of Health. He is a Fellow of the Association for
Psychological Science and he holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in
Personality and Health in recognition of his research contributions. Dr.
Flett’s work at the community level resulted in him receiving the City of
Mississauga Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Commitment to
the Community in 1999. Also, in 2006, he was given the Community and
Leadership Award from Toastmasters International. Dr. Flett is most
recognized for his contributions to research and theory on the role of
perfectionism in psychopathology. His research has received extensive
national and international attention, and has been the subject of
numerous media stories, including coverage in Maclean’s and the New
York Times, and on CTV, CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio. His
recent activities include serving as a guest editor of a special journal issue on perfectionism in children
and adolescents in Psychology in the Schools, as well as a recent special issue of the Journal of RationalEmotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. Also, Dr. Flett is the lead researcher on a project funded by the
Ministry of Education and being conducted by the York Region District School Board. This unique
project involves developing and implementing a prevention program designed to increase resilience in
children and adolescents and in their school community.