2025 JEDI Conference

We are delighted to welcome you to our third JEDI Conference to create a brave space for mental health professionals & social service providers to reflect upon our work, uplift our clients and communities, and further develop our cultural competence with humility. Whether you are a social worker, mental health professional, advocate, activist, or student, you will find this a day of energizing and thoughtful learning and community building.

Join us on January 31, 2025 from 8:45am - 4:45pm at the Grappone Conference Center (in the Courtyard by Marriott) in Concord, NH. Connect with social workers in New Hampshire, learn from carefully selected presenters, and attend workshops that address professional development needs, all while earning up to 6.0 CEs.

Register Here
Please note, for the NASW Member discounted price, you must be an NASW Member at the time of registration and the time of the conference. Click here if you would like information on becoming an NASW member. If you have questions about the conference that aren't addressed here or on the website, please email Lynn - lynncstanley@gmail.com

2025 JEDI Conference Brochure Text

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NASW NH
2025 JEDI Conference
justice, equity, diversity & inclusion
January 31, 2025 8:45 am - 4:45 pm
Grappone Center, Concord NH

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Welcome

We are delighted to welcome you to our third JEDI Conference. Whether you are a social worker, mental health professional, advocate, activist, or student, you will find this a day of energizing and thoughtful learning and community building.

Creating a brave space for mental health professionals & social service providers to reflect upon our work, uplift our clients and communities, and further develop our cultural competence with humility.

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Schedule

8:00 – Registration & Breakfast
8:45 – Welcome & Keynote “I Believe” facilitated by Sherri Simmons-Horton,Ph.D., MSW.
10:00 – Break – check out our poster presentations
10:30 – Concurrent Workshops
Noon – Lunch & Speakers Keeping Commitments with Jim Schacter & Angela Menendez NHPR
2:00 – Concurrent Workshops
3:30 – Break
3:45 – Closing Speaker Revolutionary Social Work At The End of the World with Lutze (loot-see) Segu, MSW
4:45 - 5:00 – Wrap-up & Conference end

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Opening Presentation

“I Believe”

[Image of presenter, Sherri Simmons-Horton]

Sherri Simmons-Horton, PhD, MSW will be facilitating this dynamic presentation and panel. Four social work students will be speaking on their social justice passion and the ways they are advocating and being an activist. Presentations will be followed up these students on Sherri’s panel for further discussion and questions.

What do you believe?

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Plenary

Keeping Commitments

[Images of presenters, Angela Menendez and Jim Schachter]

New Hampshire Public Radio made a set of public pledges about DEI in its journalism and its operations as a nonprofit media organization in the summer of 2020. President & CEO Jim Schachter and Director of People & Culture Angela Menendez will share insights on how NHPR’s DEI strategy and tactics are evolving and how the organization continues to hold itself accountable to its culture, values, and community.

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Closing

Revolutionary Social Work At The End of the World

[Image of presenter, Lutze (Loot-See) Segu, MSW, captioned with her name and The Social Justice Doula]

As social workers, our profession is held together and governed by a code of ethics that mandates that we embody and practice social justice. How do we as a profession resist not colluding with white supremacy while becoming more revolutionary and radical in our social work practice? What kind of social work does the world need in times of great calamity and precarity? We are living in a time that our social work ancestors never experienced, a time filled with significant climate crises, multiple global genocides, rising deaths of despair among white people, and queer and trans antagonism. The world has ended many times for our Indigenous kin and Black American siblings whose ancestors were stolen and trafficked across the Americas. How can social workers remain emergent and adaptable to ensure we meet this moment with rigor, clarity, and integrity and become more grounded and revolutionary? How will social workers respond to these and other acute crises while holding firm to what makes us different and unique from other mental health and caring professionals? This talk is for professionals who want to be transformed by their work and who desire to do their work in a more transformative and revolutionary way, no matter where you find yourself practicing social work.

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Morning workshops - 10:30 am

Beyond Binaries: Navigating Gender Identity and Inclusive Practices

Kalyn DaSilva, MSW, LICSW

In this workshop, participants will gain essential skills and knowledge for effectively supporting transgender and non-binary clients. This workshop will delve into fundamental concepts and practical strategies aimed at fostering inclusive and affirming practices in social work settings and beyond, and will address critical areas including terminology, inclusive language practices, legislative considerations, and suggestions for creating inclusive spaces.

Cultural Humility in Neurodiversity Affirming Care: Fostering Inclusive Practices

Dr. Sara Rodrigues, LICSW

Delve into the dynamic intersection of cultural humility and neurodiversity affirming care. Explore diverse cultural backgrounds within neurodivergent populations through engaging case studies, reflective exercises, and practical strategies. Enhance your skills in effective communication and navigate ethical considerations to provide inclusive, respectful care for neurodivergent individuals and their families.

Disability stigma: Injustice, and Exclusion

John W, Richards, MSW, LICSW, MBA and Jenn Williams

In this workshop, the presenters will explore the numerous subtle and not-so-subtle ways that people with presumed disabilities are discriminated against, stigmatized, and assumed to have cognitive deficits, absent any evidence to that effect. People with real or presumed disabilities are often given short shrift to societal benefits, some of which can have significantly deleterious effects on people's lives.

What Does it Mean to Be an Anti-Oppressive Social Worker?

Sherri Simmons-Horton, Ph.D., MSW, AA

Being an anti-oppressive social worker is not just a sexy term to say. It is a social worker making a conscious and reflexive choice to engage in liberatory and emancipatory practice. It is who you are in and outside of practice. But what does this really mean? This session will provide participants with a foundation of what it means to be anti-oppressive in micro and macro social work practice. Principles of anti-oppressive practice will be provided, along with common language and terminology associated with AOP. Participants will be provided with how to incorporate AOP in micro and macro practice, using examples/scenarios across various practice areas including direct service, clinical, advocacy, and activism.

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Afternoon workshops - 2:00 pm

Menstrual Health Equity and Period Poverty: A Call to Action for Social Workers

Kaleigh Knapp

This workshop will focus on education and raising awareness about the realities of period poverty and menstrual health equity for American menstruators through the lens of social justice. Attendees will learn about the impacts of period poverty on the physical, mental, and financial health of menstruators in America, the barriers to comprehensive menstrual health equity policy, and how social workers can bring these issues to the consciousness of their organizations.

Helping Caregivers Develop Affirmative Understandings of Their LGBTQIA+ Youth

Harvey Feldman, LCMHC and Kelly Smith, LICSW

This workshop is for clinicians who are working with caregivers of LGBTQIA+ youth. LGBTQIA+ youth face significant health disparities, but family support is the most critical protective factor that allows LGBTQIA+ youth to thrive. Caregivers can struggle to understand youth's journey immediately, and as mental health providers, our role is to help caregivers develop affirmative understandings and behaviors that can protect and uplift youth.

Culturally Responsive Care in NH: Celebrating and Uplifting Resources to Support Equitable Access to Behavioral Health among Diverse Communities

Talmira Hill, EdM and Anna Adachi-Mejia, PhD

The purpose of this project was to better understand how the children’s behavioral health system in New Hampshire might become more culturally responsive. Through interviews and focus groups, we learned about the perspectives of behavioral healthcare providers and individuals and families who self-identify as belonging to the African American/Black/Afro Caribbean, Latine/o/a/x, refugee and immigrant, disability, and LGBTQ+ communities.

We Are Here; Addressing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment and Supports

Heidi Cloutier and Kandyce Tucker

A short video that lifts & amplifies voices from individuals who have experienced challenges accessing substance use services in NH will be shown & facilitate discussion to explore steps to advance equity. We will facilitate discussions about how to address these challenges, diversify the workforce and action plan to implement the National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services while providing substance use treatment and supports.

AAPI 101: Support and Advocacy for Individuals, Families, and Communities from the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Diaspora

Savitri Horrigan, Angela Zhang

According to the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to the enormous diversity within this group, and the challenges that AAPI experience. Using an outlook of “informed not knowing”, in this workshop we will explore the history of the AAPI diaspora, how the “Asian American” identity has been shaped by systemic racism, and the impact of race-based traumatic stress. We will pay special attention to the intra-group differences within the AAPI label, and the intersections with other dimensions of identity. At the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped to explore the uniqueness and nuances of the individual experiences of AAPI community members, and ways to support the AAPI community on a micro, mezzo, and macro level.

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Details

All human service providers and students are welcome to attend this conference.

6 Category A Clinical CEs approved by NASW NH

Before October 14th:
$75 NASW Members$125 not-yet-member
$30 SW student

After October 14th
$85 NASW Member$145 not-yet-member
$30 SW student

You must be an NASW Member at the time of registration and of the conference to qualify for the NASW discount

Registration fee includes CE certificate, continental breakfast, and lunch.

Questions? Just email Lynn Stanley exec.naswnh@socialworkers.org

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Exhibiting & Sponsorships

Do you need to get your message out to social workers, service providers, and allied professionals?

Become an exhibitor or sponsor.

Email Janelle jjoliat.naswnh@socialworkers.org for more information or check out our prospectus [link].

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Poster presentations

Interested in being a poster presenter?

Find out more information here. [link]

Deadline: Friday, November 8, 2024

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Our Presenters

Anna Adachi-Mejia, PhD, CPCC (she/her/hers), principal of Adachi Labs, LLC, co-led this project with Talmira Hill, EdM. Dr. Adachi-Mejia is a creative coach, innovative facilitator, & detail-oriented consultant for individuals and groups who think differently and are ready to bring their unique perspectives into the world. As a bi-racial person raised in a tri-cultural household, she has thought a lot about how to foster inclusion and belonging in the workplace. Anna is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), trustee of three nonprofit boards in New England, former Associate Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and former nonprofit Executive Director. She completed her Undergraduate, Masters, and Doctoral training at Dartmouth College. Anna excels in Meeting Facilitation, Board & Staff Retreats, Leadership Coaching, Scientific Writing & Editing, Trainings, and Keynotes.

Heidi Cloutier is Co-Director of Training at the Children's System of Care Resource Center at the UNH Institute on Disability providing training & technical assistance to schools & behavioral health providers. Heidi has extensive experience working with underestimated communities, behavioral health, youth leadership & development, and Substance Misuse. She is passionate about social justice, equity & inclusion & recognizing & honoring each person’s strengths to improve the lives of youth & families. Heidi is an endorsed trainer with the Northeast Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Network, received her MSW in 2002from the University of New Hampshire, is adjunct faculty in the UNH Social Work department and provides training to behavioral health professionals nationally.

Kalyn DaSilva, MSW, LICSW (they/them), serves as the Assistant Director of Counseling and Outreach and is an adjunct professor at Franklin Pierce University. They earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from Simmons University in 2020 and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Franklin Pierce University in 2018. Kalyn is a Licensed Certified Social Worker in Massachusetts and is on track to become a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in New Hampshire by August 2024. Throughout their career, Kalyn has been dedicated to working with the LGBTQIA+ Community. With over 8 years of personal and professional experience in this field, they have developed and implemented Gender Diversity training for various groups, including students, organizations, and mental health clinicians. Kalyn is also actively involved in advocacy efforts against anti-trans legislation in New Hampshire.

Harvey Feldman, LCMHC (he/him) is a licensed therapist in the state of New Hampshire (#2128). He holds a Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Goddard College (Plainfield, Vermont) with a focus on clinical issues of gender and sexuality, as well as a Master’s degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an undergraduate degree from Smith College. He is a founding member of The Gender Diverse Care Coalition of New Hampshire, and works in consultation with Dartmouth Hitchcock's Trauma Interventions Research Center. Harvey is the owner of Harvey Feldman Counseling, a private psychotherapy practice in Concord, New Hampshire, with a clinical specialty in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and their families.

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Our Presenters

Talmira Hill, EdM, founder and principal of the T. L. Hill Group, co-led this project with Anna Adachi-Mejia, PhD. Talmira consults at the nexus of philanthropy and community change to strengthen social impact. Talmira brings 30 years of leadership experience in the broader nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors, specializing in partnerships and collaborative enterprises to improve outcomes in low-income and underrepresented communities. A graduate of Georgetown University (Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, 1986) and Harvard University (Master of Education, 1990), Talmira managed a portfolio at the Annie E. Casey Foundation to improve outcomes among vulnerable young adults. Talmira authored Setting the Stage for New High Schools: Municipal Leadership in Supporting High School Alternatives (2007). She has coordinated federal initiatives to improve access to and quality of mental health and wellness supports.

Savitri Horrigan earned her B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor in Human Rights at the University of Connecticut in 2013, and her Master of Social Work with a focus in Community Organizing at the University of Connecticut in 2017. She is a Cohort 10 graduate of the Equity Leaders Fellowship and shadowed the ACLU of NH board in 2024. Her former roles include being the Food Access Manager at the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, and the Population Health Program Manager at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. Her areas of interest and former work include health equity, anti-racism, food access, climate justice, reproductive justice, and immigrant rights. She is co-chair of the NASW NH JEDI committee, and formerly served as the chair from 2018-2021. In 2020, Savitri co-founded the BIPOC Social Workers of Northern New England affinity group. Savitri is Indonesian American and resides in Manchester, NH where she enjoys creative writing, playing board games, and spending time with friends and family.

Kaleigh Hyland, DSW, LICSW (She/Her) is a clinical social worker who has practiced in community health settings throughout the duration of her career. Dr. Hyland focused her doctoral research and writing on the issues of Menstrual Health Equity and Period Poverty with a goal of increasing awareness for other social workers and identifying solutions for equitable menstrual health care for all. Dr. Hyland holds degrees from Simmons University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works in integrated behavioral health in the Seacoast of New Hampshire.

Angela Menendez is New Hampshire Public Radio’s director of people and culture. She supervises NHPR’s human resource efforts in alignment with the organization’s mission and strategic goals. She leads learning and development efforts that support an inclusive culture within an increasingly diverse workforce. Angela welcomes conversations that seek clarity, explore possibilities and spark deeper engagement through the lenses of equity and creative systems-thinking so that NHPR may continue to grow and thrive as an organization. Angela brings a broad spectrum of leadership and people management experience, from dean of faculty at the White Mountain School to developing people and brands in her prior career with companies such as Garnet Hill and L.L. Bean. Angela has a degree in international relations from the University of Southern Maine and is pursuing a master’s in creative nonfiction at Dartmouth College. She completed Dartmouth’s summer writing program at Exeter College in Oxford, England. When not writing, Angela can be found working in her garden in Sugar Hill or exploring the wooded trails of northern New Hampshire with her dog, Sofia.

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Our Presenters

Dr. Sara Rodrigues, LICSW (she/her) is the founder and Executive Director of Balanced Learning Center, a neurodiversity affirming non-profit organization, an adjunct professor at several universities, and a national speaker and consultant. She earned her DSW from Simmons University in 2023 and has over 20 years of experience working with children and families in across multiple settings.

Jim Schachter is New Hampshire Public Radio’s president and chief executive officer, guiding the vision and strategy for the organization and leading a team of more than 65 staff advancing NHPR’s public service mission. Jim came to NHPR in October 2019, after decades as a journalist and newsroom executive with some of the nation’s leading media organizations. Under his leadership, NHPR has been honored with the duPont-Columbia Award, multiple national Edward R. Murrow Awards, and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He most recently spent seven years as vice president for news at WNYC in New York City, the nation’s largest public radio station. He also spent 17 years at The New York Times, working as a senior editor in the business and culture departments and at The New York Times Magazine before rising to the masthead position of associate managing editor. Earlier in his career, Jim reported and edited for 10 years - primarily on the business beat - at the Los Angeles Times. He also covered labor issues for The Kansas City Star. Jim got his start in journalism at the Jacksonville (Fla.) Journal after graduating from Columbia University in New York. Jim and his wife Pam, a special educator, live in Concord. They have four cats, four adult children, and one grandchild.

Lutze (loot-see) Segu, aka The Social Justice Doula, is an interdisciplinary public Black feminist scholar, cultural critic, and creative intellectual. She is the daughter of Haitian refugees and is a first-generation Haitian-American from Miami. Lutze is an anti-racist feminist educator consultant who helps individuals and organizations operationalize their social justice values using a gender liberation framework. Lutze holds a Master’s in Social Work from Barry University and is a doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia, studying Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at The Social Justice Institute. She is currently writing her dissertation, where one of the themes she explores is Black feminism as her civic spiritual practice. Lutze, aka “The Social Justice Doula,” does digital Black feminist consciousness-raising work and popular education online on social media. Lutze loves the internet and thinks and theorizes about online culture, trends, and patterns, which has seeped into and changed our offline relationships and sense of self and social justice non-profit work. Lutze is a writer who thinks deeply about social justice, pop culture, and feminism and publishes a newsletter titled “Theory + Practice = Praxis.” All the work that Lutze does is rooted in a Black feminist perspective, a woman of color feminism, Indigenous feminism, and Black revolutionary love ethic.

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Our Presenters

Sherri Simmons-Horton, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor in the Social Work department at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She also serves as a Core Faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies at UNH. Simmons-Horton has over 25 years of practice experience in the child welfare system in the state of Texas, with a focus on addressing racism and racial disparities present for Black children, youth, and families. Simmons-Horton’s research focuses on crossover youth (adolescents with involvement in the juvenile justice and foster care systems, structural intersectional inequities across both systems and the empowerment of system-involved Black youth and families through an anti-oppressive lens. Simmons-Horton serves as the 2nd Vice President of the Black Administrators in Child Welfare and she is a staunch child, family, and youth advocate, with a strong interest in practice and policy strategies to dismantle oppressive practices in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Kelly Smith, LICSW (she/her) has spent her 30+ year career working directly with children and families who have experienced abuse and neglect and consulting to various private and state agencies across New Hampshire to shift how they work with individuals and families with neurodevelopmental disabilities who have experienced trauma, disrupted attachment, and loss. In her current work with the Dartmouth Trauma Interventions Research Center, Ms. Smith trains clinicians and providers across NH to work with individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, LGBTQ+ youth, and children who have experienced trauma. As the Director of Training for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Ms. Smith trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the NH courts. She has traveled the world working with children in orphanages and foster care preparing them to be adopted by parents in the US. Ms. Smith and her spouse have birthed, fostered, supported through guardianship and/or provided safe refuge to six young adults.

Angela Zhang originally hailed from Virginia and now lives in Lebanon, NH. Angy earned her B.A. in Geography at Dartmouth College in 2012 and her Master of Social Work at the University of New England in 2018. In 2017, Angela began working as the Programs Director at LISTEN Community Services, a social services agency based in Lebanon dedicated to helping meet the critical needs of Upper Valley individuals and families. She also teaches at the Social Work department at Plymouth State University. In 2020, Angela co-founded the BIPOC Social Workers of Northern New England affinity group. In her spare time, she volunteers as a crisis line advocate for WISE, and serves on the Board of Directors for WISE and Twin Pines Housing Trust. Angela was named the 2022 Social Worker of the Year by NASW NH.

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NASW NH

2025 JEDI Conference

justice, equity, diversity & inclusion

We can’t wait to see you!

If you or your organization are interested in sponsorship or exhibiting at our conference, please contact Janelle Joliat, Chapter Relations and Outreach Coordinator at jjoliat.naswnh@socialworkers.org. You can also find more information here.