Opening Keynote Speaker: Lisa Maaca Bartlette
Getting to the Heart of SOP: Creating Space for Connection
In her 2024 TEDx Talk, Lisa Maaca Bartlette concluded with the following quote: “People are not problems to solve; rather, beings begging to be understood.”
Child welfare work centers around supporting people who are struggling with a myriad of problems to find needed help, hope and healing. Evidence shows a strengths-based, trauma-informed and culturally responsive team approach provides the path towards better outcomes, and SOP provides tools aplenty to support this approach. However, we can have all the best tools, supportive policies, and practical solutions, but without the ability to create meaningful connections, our efforts fall short.
How we show up and hold space with others is the heart of SOP. In this dynamic presentation, Lisa will distill stories from her own child welfare experience, divulge core principles of trauma-informed care and discuss ways we can create relational connections as the heartbeat of SOP practice.
Lisa Maaca Bartlette, MSSA, is the founder and CEO of Lisa Maaca Inc., providing transformative trainings, workshops and keynote presentations to inform child welfare, juvenile justice and other workforce professionals. Adept at storytelling and with years of education, research and professional experience, Bartlette has made it her life's work to re-shape how we think about and address trauma to help those who are hurting find healing.
Inspired by her child welfare practice experience from Ohio and California, her trainings are informed by her current doctoral studies at Barry University focused on the neurobiology of trauma and trauma-informed care.
Keynote Speaker: Irving Chavez
Your Story, Your Strength: Irving Chavez's Journey of Resilience and Community
How do the stories we live shape the choices we make, the expectations we set, and the outcomes we achieve? For Irving Chavez, his story began within the foster care system—entering at just two years old with his four older siblings and navigating over seven placements before the age of seven. But that was only the beginning.
In this powerful and inspiring keynote, Chavez will share how embracing his personal story became a driving force for transformation and positive change. Drawing from his experiences, he’ll highlight the critical role a supportive community plays during pivotal life decisions, especially those on the path to adulthood. Join us for a session that will leave you empowered to harness the strength of your own story and build a foundation for long-term success.
Irving Chavez serves as the chief impact officer of Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT) in San Diego, CA. Having experienced the foster care system at the age of two alongside his four older siblings—and being placed in more than seven homes by the age of seven—his story is one of unceasing resilience. Despite experiencing major educational gaps as a result of constant changes in placements and moving from city to city nationwide, Chavez excelled in school and earned a college degree in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology. Today, Chavez draws upon his personal experience with the foster care system to advocate for the voices of children in care.
Additional presenters to be announced soon!