Event Calendar

Join us for the 2025 Western Nebraska School Mental Health Conference!

Breakout Sessions Include:
Alcohol: The History and Effects on Our Native People by Edison Red Nest III
We will approach the not too often talked about issue of Alcohol use. There are not a lot of presenters on the dangers of alcohol and there are definitely not alot of adults talking about alcohol to our youth. We will talk about factors that led up to the 1933 Indian Prohibition Act, which prohibited Natives from buying or possessing alcohol. We will also talk about the repeal of the Act in 1953 and the devastating effects it has caused in the 72 years since repeal.

Objectives:
1. To educate our youth on the dangers of alcohol.
2. To educate the professionals, teachers, adults, etc., about the dangers of alcohol.
3. To help students identify the people in their life that truly want change versus those who only say they do.

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Counseling Students, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Parent's, Social Workers (Tier 1)

Behind the Behavior: Calming the Storm Before it Peaks by Nicole Berosek and Michelle Keszler
Children and teens don’t always have the words to express distress—sometimes, their behavior speaks for them. This session will explore the escalation cycle, from early triggers to peak crisis moments, and offer practical strategies for de-escalation. Learn how to recognize warning signs, respond with confidence, and create a supportive environment that helps students regulate and recover. Whether you’re an educator or a parent, these insights will empower you to turn moments of crisis into opportunities for connection and growth.

Objectives:
1. Identify the stages of the escalation cycle and recognize early warning signs of distress.
2. Understand how trauma influences student behavior and emotional responses.
3. Apply practical, trauma-informed strategies to de-escalate challenging situations and support regulation.

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Parents (Tier 2)

Brain-Wise Calm: Using NMT to De-Escalate with Compassion and Precision by Dan Fox and Dr. Katie Carrizales
This session explores how the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) can inform effective, trauma-sensitive de-escalation strategies. Participants will learn how brain development and regulation patterns impact behavior, and how to respond in ways that promote safety, connection, and healing. Through real-world examples and practical tools, this training empowers professionals to “decode” dysregulation and intervene in a way that’s both brain-wise and relationship-centered.

Objectives:
1. Identify the core principles of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) and explain how they relate to stress response and behavioral escalation.
2. Recognize the signs of dysregulation in children and youth, and match them with appropriate, developmentally-informed de-escalation strategies.
3. Apply real world/ NMT-informed techniques to real-life scenarios in order to respond to escalated behavior with greater effectiveness and empathy.

Target Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Counseling Students, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Parents (Tier 1)

CloseGap by Sarah Lewis
Use of the website Close Gap to monitor student needs on a daily basis. Closegap is a wellbeing app designed to help students cope with life, using daily strategies. The app is aimed at use by teachers, school counselors, social workers, and admins to be worked on with students. The app was created for K-12 students primarily as a way to support mental health through good practices and offer early crisis intervention.

Objectives:
1. To showcase the use of CloseGap.
2. Learn how to better meet student needs using this app.
3. To learn how the CloseGap data can help with SEL and the tiered approach.

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Counseling Students, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Social Workers (Tier 1)

Foundational Restorative Practices: Building Belonging by Kirsten Kastens and Sara Gentry
Discover the "why" behind Restorative Practices and explore the powerful impact it can have on school culture. In this session, participants will learn the benefits of restorative approaches and experience the connection and inclusion that come from participating in a restorative circle. Come ready to reflect, share, and build community.

Objectives:
1. Understand the rationale for implementing restorative practices in schools, including how they support a positive and inclusive school climate.
2. Identify key benefits of foundational restorative practices for students, educators, and the broader school community.
3. Engage in a restorative circle experience to gain insight into the process and feel the impact of belonging and shared voice.

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators (Tier 1)

Internet Safety in Schools by Nathan Favaloro
This presentation will delve into the importance of Internet safety (including social media). This includes information on netiquette and other online behaviors that occur when online. This also includes the positives and negatives of social media. Resources will also be included in this presentation.

Objectives:
1. Provide information for Internet safety
2. Explore the use of the Internet.
3. Discuss the positives and negatives of social media

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Parents (Tier I)

Medical Marijuana’s Impact on a School Community by Jay Martin
What does medical marijuana look like in a school setting? Students and school staff may have a medical marijuana card; however, this is not medicine from a pharmacy or growing naturally. It is produced in a warehouse with an extract component of high potency THC. Youth use concerns with these high concentrates of THC includes the content in vape cartridges, edibles products, and the misinformation digital media platforms provide to young minds. Awareness with tobacco, alcohol, opioids, fentanyl, and other substances affecting youth mental health also will be addressed. What can be done to change youth substance use?

Objectives: (Educational Level: Intermediate) - 1 CE CREDIT AVAILABLE
1. Describe the difference between ditch weed marijuana and high potency marijuana and how youth use impacts mental health and well-being.
2. Identify the impact of high potency THC use on an adolescent's brain as compared to an adult's brain.
3. Discuss the potential of high potency THC and its impact on youth mental health, physical health, and overall well-being.
4. Prepare school communities with identifiable concerns and to create a plan to combat potential issues.

Target Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Counseling Students, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Parents (Tier 1)

Teach, Support, Thrive: Tiered Tools for Addressing Student Anxiety by Dr. Erika Franta, Dr. Kaitlyn Young, and Dr. Mindy Chadwell

Anxiety is diagnosed in 9.4% of youth aged 3-17 (Bitsko et al., 2022 ). More specifically, an estimated 31.9% of adolescents aged 13-18 have an anxiety disorder (Kessler et al., 2005). Since the beginning of the pandemic, however, youth report of anxiety symptoms has shown a statistically significant increase (Magson et al., 2021 ). Media exposure (e.g., social media, television, newspapers) and social connectedness, in particular, moderate the symptoms of anxiety between pre-pandemic anxiety scores and during-pandemic anxiety scores for 13-16-year-olds (Magson et al., 2021). Importantly, it has been identified that higher levels of anxiety in elementary, middle, and high school youth negatively impacts school performance (Mazzone et al., 2007 ). These data demonstrate the growing need for schools to support children and adolescents in managing symptoms of anxiety.

Anxiety symptoms affect a significant portion of Nebraska’s youth, with rates mirroring national trends. Since the pandemic, anxiety symptoms have increased, negatively impacting academic performance. Given that nearly 75% of youth receiving mental health support do so in schools, Nebraska educators play a critical role in early identification and intervention. However, staffing shortages and limited access to licensed mental health professionals hinder effective support. There is a growing need to build educators ‘and other school professional’s knowledge and skills in addressing symptoms of anxiety. The purpose of this session is to promote and build the knowledge and capacity among participants to assess anxiety, as well as implement strategies across all three tiers of support to aid youth who are experiencing symptoms of anxiety.

This session aims to equip Nebraska school professionals with practical skills to assess and address anxiety across elementary, middle, and high school settings. This session will provide a function-based and developmentally specific understanding of anxiety symptoms as they manifest in school environments. Participants will gain insight into how anxiety presents at different ages and how targeted approaches can improve student outcomes will also be provided. Participants will also explore accessible screening tools, evidence-based interventions, and multi-tiered strategies tailored to Nebraska’s educational landscape. Additionally, they will receive a curated list of resources designed for school psychologists, teachers, social workers, and counselors to ensure effective implementation.

Objectives:
1. Participants will build an understanding of the function of anxiety.
2. Participants will build capacity in recognizing anxiety symptoms as they present in the educational setting.
3. Participants will identify appropriate universal, selected, and indicated interventions for anxiety.

Target Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Teachers and Para Educators, Social Workers (Tier 1)

Understanding and Supporting Adoption/Guardianship Children for Educators by Sarah Birnie
Youth who have been adopted or have permanency through guardianship often face unique challenges inside of the classroom and beyond. Challenges can range from emotional and behavioral issues as well as identity and coping struggles. It is crucial for educators to understand the challenges as well as some tools to support youth who have been adopted or provided permanency of another sort. This proposal aims to outline training designed to help teachers, counselors and other school staff to promote an inclusive learning environment.

Objectives:
1. Understand challenges faced by youth who are adopted or in a guardianship.
2. Learn strategies for creating inclusion in the classroom.
3. Understand how to foster positive relationships with adopted students.
4. Identify resources and support systems available to help adopted youth thrive

Intended Audience: School Counselors, Mental Health Counselors, Counseling Students, Teachers and Para Educators, Administrators, Social Workers, Any staff working with children. (Tier 2)

Jefco Hotel in Gordon for $83.63 (including tax). Call 308-282-2935
A block of rooms are reserved for the conference.