The Pacific Southwest MHTTC is pleased to partner with the Black Emotional & Mental Health Collective (BEAM) to offer a seminar series of three intensive learning sessions for the school-based mental health workforce of Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau).
 
This seminar series aims to support school advocates, educators, administrators, and other school systems leaders in managing stress and trauma in their organizations, especially in the context of COVID-19. Participants will learn to adopt the necessary tools to incorporate emotional justice, equity, and wellness into their approach to leadership, as well as their organization’s practices and processes.
 
By the end of this seminar series, Region 9 school mental health leaders will be more able to:

  1. Gain fundamental concepts in relation to emotional justice, equity, and wellness;
  2. Discover tools for implementing emotionally intelligent school mental health leadership; and
  3. Identify strategies to promote emotionally intelligent organizational practices (such as restorative justice practices) to help navigate their school communities during pandemic times.
Topics and sequencing are subject to change
Registration Notes:
  • Availability is on a first-come, first-served basis and will be limited to 100 participants.
  • Participation is required for all three sessions; please only register if you are committed for the entire seminar series.
  • By registering, you are committing to participating in the seminars and the reflective homework in between seminar sessions (1-2 hours additionally a week).
  • Registration is limited to school mental health staff and leadership in Region 9.
  • Registration is due by June 8, 2020.
Meet the Trainers:
Yolo Akili Robinson
Yolo Akili Robinson is a writer, a yoga teacher and the Executive Director and founder of BEAM. For over ten years, Yolo has been on the forefront of progressive wellness work. Yolo began his career in public health supporting Black communities as an HIV/AIDS counselor. He then branched into violence prevention, working as a family intervention counselor with Black men and boys for Men Stopping Violence. Feeling strongly about the need for more feminist work with men, Yolo co-founded Sweet Tea: Southern Queer Men’s Collective, a collective of gay and queer men who came together to address sexism and misogyny in LGBT communities. In 2015, he was recruited by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to lead a 10 million dollar National Institutes of Health research initiative focusing on improving health outcomes for young Black and Latino men, the Healthy Young Men’s study (HYM). Robinson’s commitment to increasing the accessibility and visibility of health and wellness issues also has opened the door for many speaking engagements. At the core of Yolo’s work is a commitment to wellness informed by social justice. His interests are the practical embodiment of theory into systems and practices that help heal, transform, and support Black communities. He makes his home in Los Angeles, CA. 
Melissa Merin, M.Ed
Restorative Justice Practitioner & Trainer
Melissa brings more than 15 years consulting and training with community organizations, school staff, and administrators in effective curricular and behavioral strategies in primary and secondary school settings. In addition, Melissa has extensive experience training teachers, staff, and administrators in research-based positive behavior interventions and multi-tiered systems of support at the elementary level, with an emphasis on cultural competency and developmentally appropriate content.  
 
Contact the Pacific Southwest MHTTC
 
Toll-Free: 1-844-856-1749  Email:  pacificsouthwest@mhttcnetwork.org