California Social Workers Return to Davis for Reinvigorating Statewide SOP Conference
For the first time in more than five years, the California SOP Conference welcomed social workers from throughout the state back to the UC Davis Campus for two days of learning, sharing and inspiration.
Hosted by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services on the Davis campus June 21-22, the 2023 California Safety Organized Practice (SOP) conference proved a reinvigorating return to its traditional form after the 2021 conference was hosted as a virtual event due to the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 235 participants from 28 California counties and four different states enjoyed presentations from five keynote speakers and more than 20 workshop presenters who shared new ideas, fresh hope, and the same collaborative spirit that has helped cement SOP as one of the key elements of best child welfare practice over the last decade.
In a hopeful sign for how far the practice has grown over that time, the 2023 conference focused on collaborative engagement for prevention, signaling the infrastructure-wide shift to prevention-focused services moving in lockstep with both California’s Integrated Core Practice Model and core elements of the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Workshop presenters at the 2023 conference tackled topics as interesting and diverse as the places and the populations they represented, but the unifying threads of engagement, prevention, healing, and hope were omnipresent. Keynote speakers Stefania M. Agliano, Bryan Hall II, Nicki Weld, Gaelin Elmore and Keisha Clark brought continuity to these themes throughout the conference.
For the keynote presentations, what drew particularly positive feedback from participants were the instances in which they shared some of their vulnerabilities and lived experience.
"It was great to learn about the concept of belonging from someone's experience going through the foster care system and what made a difference,” wrote one participant following Gaelin Elmore’s presentation, Be the Difference: Your Commitment to Belonging Changes Lives. Elmore’s emotional and engaging story helped highlight how SOP principles can be successfully utilized to cultivate belonging.
"Courageous presenters,” said another participant following Stefania M. Agliano and Bryan Hall II’s presentation, Fragmented Pieces: A Story of Intimate Partner Violence and Resilience. Their presentation of healing, redemption, loss, trauma, and the tenacity to succeed resonated exceptionally well, based on both written post-conference evaluations and informal/verbal feedback at the event. “Amazing story and great application [of] SOP skills and tools and [the] need to engage with families.”
Keynote and workshop presenters were not the only ones in the spotlight at the 2023 conference. The inaugural SOP: Stories from the Field, which served as a hybrid between a virtual poster session and a non-fiction storytelling competition, offered participants an opportunity to submit stories of instances in which they used SOP to achieve positive results in practice. As is often the case with competitions involving helping professionals, the competitive element quickly evolved into a celebration of all the nominees, and a recognition that the true winners were the children and families served by these outstanding social workers championing SOP. Congratulations and thank you to the nominees—and thus champions—Mikey Habbestad, Claudia Taylor, Marla Dickenson, Connie Grekoff, Housa Xiong, Bilee Hernandez, and Michael R. of Amador, Sacramento, Tulare, El Dorado, Tuolumne, Sacramento and Los Angeles counties, respectively!
The Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated staff and enthusiastic volunteers who played an integral role in making the California Safety Organized Practice Conference a resounding success. Their tireless efforts and boundless enthusiasm played a pivotal role in the success of this remarkable event, and their commitment to excellence and passion for fostering collaborative learning have left an indelible mark on the participants and their respective communities.
Conference Planning Team: Monica Montury, Otilia Johnson, Kristi Dvorak, Tami McCalip, Jennifer Lowery, Jason Borucki, Carla Kong, Kristin Mick, Javi Perez, and Alison Book.
Support Staff and Volunteers: Katie Ryan, Kari Liang, Sahar Samim, Chris Juvinall, Juviya McDonald, Alan Dill, Emma Black, Tomas Loarca, Valeria Hoag, Katie Yang, Alisha Delara, Georgina Milam, Karla Morales, Jerelyn Bourdage, Misael Chavarin, Sara Gorrell, Lizzy Dembosz, RaQuel Neal, and Nancy Hafer.