2016 • 7th Annual ECMH Conference
September 22-24, 2016
Crowne Plaza Hotel, San Diego, CA
Where Nature and Nurture Meet
The 7th Annual ECMH “We Can’t Wait” Conference featured international experts speaking about the intersection of “nature” and “nurture” as they relate to child development in the first 5 years of life. Old debate about which is more important will be replaced with how the two factors influence each other with respect to epigenetics, children who present with complex concerns (developmental, mental health, and medical illnesses), and how different conditions can present with similar problems and whether this changes the recommended treatment.
Topics will also include the role chaos and trauma has on later delinquency, the role biology and experience have on early childhood learning, caregiver advice and support and its impact on a child’s development, and examples of how the Early Childhood System of Care is changing to meet the needs of young children and their families.
Workshops sessions will address the various therapeutic interventions for young children and how experience impacts biology (and vice versa). These workshops are purposely designed to be lively, interactive, and experiential.
During each breakout session, attendees will choose from eight different breakout workshops where they will have the opportunity to develop technical and scientific knowledge, clinical skills, and discover resources and programs to increase resiliency and protective factors in this population.
Distinguished Keynote Speakers:
Pat R. Levitt, PhD – On Thursday, Sept 22, 2016 attendees heard from Pat R. Levitt, PhD about the basic ingredients of healthy brain and child development, the brain mechanisms that underlie executive functioning, and the relationship between executive functioning and resilience. Attendees will leave with a solid grasp of the strategies for communicating the science of brain and child Development to colleagues and families. Dr. Levitt directs the Developmental Neurogenetics Program in the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and serves as Director of the USC Neuroscience Graduate Program. He a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Dr. Levitt has over 250 publications.
James Garbarino, PhD – James Garbarino, Ph.D. holds the Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology and was founding Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and has served as consultant or advisor to a wide range of organizations, including the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, the National Institute for Mental Health, the American Medical Association, the National Black Child Development Institute, the National Science Foundation, the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the FBI.
He has authored and edited many books including:
• Children and the Dark Side of Human Experience
• See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It
• Words Can Hurt Forever: How to Protect Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and Emotional Violence
• Parents Under Siege: Why You Are the Solution, Not the Problem, in Your Child’s Life
• Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
• Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment; The Positive Psychology of Personal Transformation
Click here for 2016 Faculty List
