Building on the foundational webinar, this ECHO series deepens the workforce's understanding of harm-reduction strategies across four commonly experienced high-risk behaviors: active exploitation and violent relationships; substance misuse; leaving-care behaviors; cellphone and technology use. Each session offers practical guidance, real case examples, and interactive group coaching to support participants in applying harm reduction principles to complex, real-world situations.
Session 1: Harm Reduction: Active Exploitation & Violent Relationships
This session will focus on how to facilitate honest, open conversations about sexual health and relationships, including strategies for physical and emotional safety in high-risk situations such as exchanges with sex buyers or abusive partners. This session highlights empowerment, youth autonomy, and the use of Motivational Interviewing to assess readiness and strengthen decision-making.
Participants will:
- Explore how to support youth in recognizing warning signs of violence, consider safer escape plans when appropriate, and maintaining a sense of control over their lives.
- Explore motivational interviewing techniques that help assess a youth's readiness, willingness, and ability to leave harmful relationships or connect with supportive resources.
- Reflect on how a harm-reduction approach can foster informed decision-making, resilience, and overall well-being.
Session 2: Harm Reduction: Leaving-Care Behaviors
This session will focus on how to engage youth in open, nonjudgmental conversations about urges to leave care and how to collaboratively and comprehensively plan for safety when those urges arise. This session emphasizes partnership, maintaining youth autonomy while reducing the risks associated with leaving care.
Participants will:
- Explore strategies that support youth preparing safer alternatives for shelter or support that address individual basic needs and personal safety.
- Explore practical strategies for collaboratively developing safety plans, identifying safer locations, and preparing resources (e.g., emergency bag) that support youth in minimizing risk and enhancing safety needs if they choose to leave care.
- Reflect on how harm-reduction approach can foster informed decision-making, resilience, and overall well-being.
Session 3: Harm Reduction: Substance Misuse
This session will focus on how to engage youth in open, stigma-free conversations about alcohol and drug use to build trust and understanding. This session will focus on how to provide accurate information that increases a youth's awareness of their substance use, including how to introduce overdose prevention strategies and discuss safer methods of ingestion or injection. This session emphasizes partnership and maintaining youth autonomy.
Participants will:
- Consider how to apply safer-use and overdose-prevention strategies in real-life scenarios with youth.
- Explore Motivational Interviewing techniques to help assess a youth's readiness, ambivalence, ability, and willingness to engage in treatment or safer-use planning.
- Reflect on how a harm-reduction approach can foster connection, support, and informed decision-making about reduction and recovery.
Session 4: Harm Reduction: Cellphone & Technology Use
This session will focus on how to engage youth in open conversations about their personal values and rules around cellphone and social-media use. This session will focus on how to emphasize the positive benefits of technology while increasing awareness of social-media risks, online safety, and the urges that may lead youth to engage in risky digital behaviors. This session emphasizes partnership, informed decision-making, and responsible digital engagement.
Participants will:
- Identify ways to integrate balanced, harm-reduction conversations about technology use into everyday interactions with youth.
- Explore practical strategies for helping youth identify urges, understand digital risks, and make safer choices when engaging online or through social media.
- Reflect on how a harm-reduction approach can promote informed decision-making and digital well-being.
Presenters
Dawn Blacker, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and director of training and operations at the UC Davis CAARE Center at UC Davis Children's Hospital. For more than 25 years, Blacker has focused her clinical research work on abuse, neglect and trauma in family systems, along with training clinicians in evidence-based practices. She provides therapy and evaluation services across diverse communities and oversees Sacramento County contracts supporting sexually exploited youth and their caregivers. She co-developed web courses and a caregiver skills curriculum on sexual exploitation and serves as a co-chair of the NCTSN Child Trafficking Workgroup.
Brandi Liles, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist working at the UC Davis Children's Hospital CAARE Diagnostic and Treatment Center. Liles is the Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral therapy coordinator and has been nationally recognized as a master trainer since 2016. Her work centers on trauma-informed care for system involved sexually exploited youth, including training for probation and child protective services staff. She provides evidence-based treatment for youth ages 3-21 and their families.