#HelpingKidsThrive
Mentoring and supporting them as they navigate
the challenges and transitions to adulthood
Roads to Respect™ Invitational Conference
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Sponsored by the Rape Treatment Center
UCLA–Santa Monica Medical Center
Why the Rape Treatment Center
is sponsoring this conference
The work of the Rape Treatment Center illuminates the many
challenges and stresses kids experience in their everyday lives, as
well as their need for mentoring and support from caring adults.
Our conference is dedicated to disseminating information about
how to help children thrive – by guiding them in dealing with
adversity and fostering the development of skills, values, empathy,
and respect for others that will enable them to have healthy, safe,
meaningful relationships (online and offline); be socially responsible
citizens in their peer groups, schools, and larger communities; and
fulfill their own unique sense of purpose in life.
Advancements in science have documented the biology of stress
and trauma in childhood, and the harmful, potentially lasting
effects of early adversity on children’s physical, mental, and
behavioral health into adulthood.
Emerging research also informs us about the many opportunities
and unique challenges kids have coming of age in a digital world
and a youth culture immersed in social media. They have unlimited
access to images, experiences, and relationships (Facebook friends
and strangers) for which their parents are not the gatekeepers.
What was once considered “private” and what now takes place in
“public” has changed dramatically. Pornography is easily accessible.
And, many kids now experience or witness online forms of peer
mistreatment and cruelty.
This conference is about how the adults in children’s lives can help
them safely navigate these challenges. Our presenters are nationally
recognized experts who bring invaluable information and practical
strategies for mentoring and supporting young people in these
critical aspects of their social and emotional development, learning,
overall health and well-being.
8:30 – 9:00: BREAKFAST AND REGISTRATION
9:00 – 12:00: MORNING SESSION
Welcome and Introductions
Gail Abarbanel, Founder/Executive Director, Rape Treatment Center
Looking at Youth Through a Gender Lens
Jane Fonda, gifted actor, activist, educator, ardent advocate for the empowerment
and health of adolescents, author of The New York Times Best Seller, Being a Teen:
Everything Teen Girls and Boys Should Know About Relationships, Sex, Love,
Health, Identity and More.
Jane Fonda has been dedicated to giving young people (girls and boys) the information and
tools they need to navigate the transitions to adulthood safely and healthily for decades.
She is the founder of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, and the
Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University School of
Medicine, created to advance scientific knowledge about adolescence. Her timeless book,
Being a Teen, is one of the most comprehensive resources for and about teens ever
written. She tells it like it is, covering changes in the brain and body; thoughts, feelings,
and identity; sex and sexuality; the impact of culture and media; healthy relationships;
adverse/traumatic experiences; when and how to get help and support from others;
empowerment and more. She speaks to adolescents about the many transitions they
experience in their teen years, including the increasing role of their peers in shaping
their identity and impacting their decision-making. She will give an overview of youth
development, from childhood through adolescence, and the ways in which the adolescent
development of girls is different from the development of boys. Her knowledge, optimism
and commitment to young people are extraordinary.
Helping Children Thrive: How We Can Recognize, Prevent, and Heal the
Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Nadine Burke-Harris, MD, MPH, FAAP, Pediatrician, Founder/CEO of the
Center for Youth Wellness, San Francisco, California; Advisory Committee,
American Academy of Pediatrics’ Resilience Project.
Nadine Burke-Harris is an internationally recognized, trailblazing pediatrician, researcher,
and passionate advocate for enhancing children’s health and well-being. Her groundbreaking
work on “ACEs” (Adverse Childhood Experiences) illuminates how certain early life stressors
and trauma experiences can profoundly impact children’s brain development as well as
their health and learning. ACEs are very common – 2 out of 3 children have at least one. If
undetected and untreated, the effects of these experiences may continue into adulthood
and be reflected in physical, mental, and behavioral health problems, including serious
and chronic illnesses. She has developed screening tools to foster early identification
of these stressors in children’s lives, as well as effective interventions to help prevent
life-long adverse health outcomes and, ultimately, to help these children thrive. Her
Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco and its partners are spearheading a national
campaign to disseminate these findings and tools nationally to those who can make a
difference in children’s long-term health and well-being – parents, pediatricians, educators,
and policy makers. Her contributions are profiled in the film, Resilience: The Biology of
Stress and the Science of Hope.
The Struggle for Status and the Importance of Quality Friendships
Robert Faris, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California,
Davis; Editorial Board, American Sociological Review; Deputy Editor, Journal
of Health and Social Behavior; author of extensive research publications
advancing knowledge about youth culture and developmental challenges.
Robert Faris has devoted his research to figuring out why teens engage in behaviors that
hurt themselves and/or others. He pioneered a new line of research using kids’ social
networks to explore the fundamental drivers of various forms of peer mistreatment
(e.g., online bullying, school bullying, dating violence, exclusion), as well as substance
abuse and other adolescent health risk behaviors. His work has received widespread
recognition, including “#Being13” (2015) and “Bullying: It Stops Here” (2011),
Emmy-winning televised special reports he collaborated on with Anderson Cooper 360°.
His findings challenge prevailing conceptions of aggressive behaviors as arising primarily
from psychological deficiencies or emotional maladjustment. He demonstrates how
some adolescents use cruelty for instrumental purposes, specifically, social climbing.
Aggressive youth are often relatively popular among their peers, as are their targets.
And aggressive behavior, sadly, is one way teenagers can ascend their schools’ social
pyramids. His current work focuses on friendship networks and underscores the critical
role of long-standing friendships among adolescents for preventing aggression, cruelty,
and violence in American secondary schools, as well as for fostering individual resilience
and well-being throughout the lifespan. For all kids (and adults), five close, life-long friends
are far more valuable than 500 Facebook friends. The adults in children’s lives have a
critical role in helping them develop these meaningful relationships.
12:00 – 12:45: LUNCH
12:45 – 2:30: AFTERNOON SESSION
Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Ask.fm, Tinder and More: Social Media
and the Secret Lives of Teenagers
Nancy Jo Sales, M.F.A., Award-Winning Journalist, writer for Vanity Fair,
New York, Harper’s Bazaar; author, The New York Times Best Seller, American
Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers.
Nancy Jo Sales has been researching and writing about kids and youth culture for 20 years.
For her most recent book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers,
she interviewed over 200 adolescents across the country between the ages of 13 and 19
about their experiences online and off, their fears, and the new social and sexual norms
that dominate their lives. She identified a “new kind of adolescence” being experienced by
teens coming of age today, shaped by the increasingly pervasive role of social media. Their
immersion in this electronic environment exposes them to a hyper-sexualized online culture
and subjects them to instantaneous judgment and “public” critiques and censure by peers.
These experiences can have profound effects on their self-esteem. Her research also suggests
that spending so much time on technology and social media may be interfering with teens’
ability to develop other basic communication skills. Her work highlights an urgent need for
the adults in their lives to help them successfully negotiate these unprecedented challenges.
Helping Kids Thrive and Survive in Their Digital World
Devorah Heitner, Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from
Northwestern University; founder of Raising Digital Natives; author of
SCREENWISE: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World.
Devorah Heitner provides practical tools and strategies to help parents and educators support
and guide kids of the touch screen generation as they navigate the rapidly changing landscape
of communication technology. She defines a new task in child development: helping kids learn
to be “screenwise,” in addition to being “streetwise.” She founded the organization Raising
Digital Natives to help build and nurture a culture of responsible, thoughtful digital citizenship
in schools and other youth-serving organizations. Her belief is that “screen wisdom is not about
technical skills, such as how to keyboard or code… true screen wisdom is about relationships…
about the kinds of connections we can have with one another… about trust and balance.” She
pinpoints new skills kids need to become good digital citizens, such as how to compensate for
the absence of visual cues in their online communications, the norms and etiquette for various
digital platforms, and time management. She is an advocate for mentoring and guiding kids vs.
monitoring and spying on them. She has wise and valuable advice for parents and educators
about how to effectively help young people navigate the challenges of a connected life.
#HelpingKidsThrive
Mentoring and supporting them as they navigate
the challenges and transitions to adulthood
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 9, 2017
8:30 am – 2:30 pm
Admission is Free
Reservations are Required
(breakfast, lunch and parking provided)
To register online, please visit
roadstorespect.org
Location:
The California Endowment
1000 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
For more information, call 424-259-7205
or email [email protected]
We expect the conference to fill to capacity.
Mentoring and supporting them as they navigate
the challenges and transitions to adulthood
#HelpingKidsThrive
Rape Treatment Center
UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center
1250 16th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PRESORTED
FIRST CLASS MAIL
US POSTAGE PAID
LOS ANGELES, CA
SMI
Topics to be covered
Learn from nationally recognized experts...
n C
hild/adolescent
development through a gendered lens – how
it’s different for girls and for boys.
n I nstagram, Vine, YouTube,
Ask.fm, Tinder, and more – how the
pervasive role of social media in adolescents’ lives is impacting
their relationships, communication skills, and self-esteem.
n W
hy it’s important
to talk with kids about Internet pornography,
and how to have age-appropriate conversations.
n H
ow
adverse childhood experiences (“ACEs”), often undetected
and untreated, can harm children’s brain development, learning,
and lifelong health, and how we can prevent these outcomes.
n T
he
“drivers” of peer mistreatment online and offline, how kids
use aggression and cruelty, and the impacts.
n M
entoring
vs. monitoring and many other practical strategies
for giving kids the knowledge, skills, and guidance they need to
thrive and survive online and be good “digital citizens.”
n F
ostering
resilience: nurturing empathy and compassion and
cultivating the skills and values that help kids make good
decisions and have healthy relationships.