HSU’s Social Work Department Contributes to Conference

On Friday and Saturday, March 24-25, the 18th Annual Champion for Children Conference will be hosted at the Abilene Civic Center to kickoff April as Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.

Melissa Milliorn, associate professor of social work and head of the Social Work Program at HSU, is the co-chair of the conference planning committee.

“It takes a full year of planning and a lot of man hours to make the conference happen, to produce a quality educational experience for those working the conference, presenting at conference, and attending the conference,” Milliorn said. “So I’m looking forward to seeing it come to fruition, assessing the quality of our committee’s work, and seeking evaluation and feedback from participants so we can begin planning for next year.”

The conference is geared especially towards members of the community who work with children and families, including social workers, case workers, law enforcement, medical professionals, child welfare workers, students interested in working in the field, child care providers, foster parents, educators, counselors, therapists and other professionals. There are typically around 300 participants.

“The theme this year is ‘Putting It All Together’,” Milliorn said. “We are focusing on the strengths and resources of the Abilene/Big Country area in serving children and families.”

The conference features five or six simultaneous session tracks with a variety of different learning objectives. Over fifty presenters will be participating.

“My responsibilities include identifying topics, locating presenters, developing the schedule, certifying continuing education units for professionals attending the conference, assisting with registration onsite and coordinating all conference volunteers,” Milliorn said.

The HSU Social Work Department has been involved with this conference for the past thirteen years, and HSU social work students will be volunteering in several different areas.

“About twenty or twenty-five of our students will be working the conference behind the scenes, as a proxy in the sessions to assist the presenters, and attending sessions when they are not working,” Milliorn said.

Aaron Nunn, Visiting Instructor of Social Work at HSU, will be presenting a session at the conference. Nunn is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the ability to supervise others in clinical training (LCSW-S).

“As a clinician, one treatment modality is EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,” Milliorn said, in reference to Nunn’s presentation. “As a trauma-informed psychotherapy treatment method, EMDR is utilized to assist persons in overcoming distress related to traumatic or adverse life events or traumatic memories.”

The title of Nunn’s session is “Responses to Juvenile Trauma”, which aims to give the audience an opportunity to explore juvenile trauma and learn more about how to identify trauma and the impact of trauma on brain development, as well as become familiar with various evidence-based treatment methods for youth, and how to access those resources.

“My favorite part about the conference is the community coming together in one place,” Milliorn said. “I enjoy spending a few days doing something different than my usual day to day with colleagues and other professionals from our community, as well as watching the HSU social work students as they network with others, develop professional connections, seek volunteer, employment, and future career opportunities.”

There is a discounted student rate available and students are encouraged to attend the conference. Registration is available on the website at www.championforchildren.net .