2026 Bridge Conference

Has negative self-talk sabotaged how you feel about yourself and impacted how much self-care you engage in? How can we notice and change how we speak to ourselves? Together we will explore some strategies to create healthier self-talk habits. We will also look how stress responses such as fight, flight and freeze impact how we think and feel and respond in the moment. We will use reflection and large group imagining to connect these concepts to sustainable self-care practices for youth workers.

Join us for a 30-minute meditation and stretch session to ease into the 2nd day of Bridge. We recommend wearing comfortable clothing. 

Join us for an untraditional game of Bingo! Together, we’ll explore the benefits of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and put it into practice through a fun, hands-on activity. Get ready to learn, connect, and discover new ways to support yourself and others!

Children and youth behavioral health needs continue to grow in complexity, requiring coordinated, cross-system responses that extend beyond the school setting. This session highlights how Kids Mental Health Pierce County is leading a community-driven approach to strengthen school behavioral health through strategic partnerships.
Participants will explore how schools, healthcare providers, community-based organizations, and other key partners can move from siloed efforts to aligned, system-wide collaboration. Using realworld examples, this session will illustrate practical strategies for building relationships, improving access to services, and advancing a “no wrong door” approach for youth and families.

This session shares the journey of transcreating the School Age Basic Training into Spanish, from the initial needs assessment to the development of the final product launching in Fall 2026. Presenters will offer an honest look at the multilingual collaborative process, highlighting the successes, challenges, detours, and key realizations that shaped the work. Participants will learn how decisions were made, how diverse perspectives informed the adaptation, and why transcreation was chosen over direct translation. Through this case study, attendees will gain insight into the complexities and opportunities of adapting training content across languages and cultures, as well as the commitments made to support inclusiveness, cultural responsiveness, and racial equity throughout the project.

Young people engaged in high-risk or harmful behaviors are often defined by labels rather than understood through the lens of trauma, attachment, and missed developmental experiences. As an educator and social worker, I recognized a gap in mental health programming for adolescents who were struggling and created a curriculum to respond to their needs. Rather than viewing behaviors as problems to control, I learned to see them as communication and opportunities for connection.

This interactive workshop focuses primarily on adolescents (ages 12–18) and explores how our own experiences, assumptions, and biases influence the way we show up for youth. Participants will learn how adaptive, trauma-informed practices can transform programming, strengthen relationships, and create spaces where young people feel seen, supported, and empowered. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for responding to emerging needs and building programs that honor the humanity of both youth and staff.

Every group of humans has moments when they are regulated and moving forward together, and moments when some or all of them are dysregulated for whatever reason and just "can't even!" Intended for all student ages, this workshop will lead participants through:
* Defining and recognizing regulated behavior in students
* Pre-emptive and classroom management strategies to maintain regulated behavior
* De-escalation strategies for when students begin to become dysregulated
* Follow-up processes to allow student community to move forward

Through small-group and full group activities and discussions, we will demonstrate strategies in action to help you keep your students be their most successful selves.

What if liberation is not a destination—but a river?

In this interactive session, participants will be introduced to The RISE to Liberation, a framework that connects history, wellness, and systems navigation as tools for individual and collective transformation.

Through immersive storytelling, shared visual experiences, creative reflection, dialogue, and experiential activities, participants will journey from past to present to future. They will explore how history can build action and resilience by learning from the knowledge, choices, and resistance of those who came before us; how the Eight Dimensions of Wellness can support collective care and healing; and how understanding the systems around us can help us thrive while navigating barriers.

Participants will engage in a shared immersive visual experience and interactive activities designed to spark reflection and action, asking: How does what we see, remember, and imagine influence how we lead, heal, navigate systems, and create change?

Together, we will explore what it means to be like water—to adapt without losing ourselves, move through barriers, and create new pathways toward healing, resilience, and liberation.

Participants Will Leave With:

• An understanding of The RISE to Liberation framework and its three liberation tools.
• Historical knowledge and strategies for using the resilience of those who came before us to inform action in the present.
• Collective care and healing strategies grounded in the Eight Dimensions of Wellness.
• Systems-navigation tools to help identify barriers, find pathways forward, and thrive.
• Practical tools, strategies, and resources to use personally and professionally.
• Ideas and resources to share with their communities, extending the impact beyond the workshop.
• A vision for action toward more liberated and thriving communities.

Crystal quartz and metal bowls are musical instruments that emit vibrations and frequencies attuned to brain waves that calm the mind and the central nervous system. The body replenishes and regenerates cells and organs when it is given an environment of deep rest, sleep, and nourishment.

Wear comfortable clothing, you may end up laying on the floor during the session. If you are able to, bring a small pillow to make your session comfortable. You are also welcome to sit in a chair or on the floor, whichever is the most relaxing for you.

Through play and peer learning, educators will be empowered with strategies to differentiate instruction and build inclusive environments where each and every TK-8 grade student thrives. Explore growth mindset, apply strategies to real-world scenarios, and engage in “Pause & Play” activities that model inclusion. Leave with practical tools and resources to support staff and students, ensuring all learners are seen, supported, and set up for success.

Join Mizzen Education for an interactive workshop that invites participants to move beyond directive, compliance-based communication and embrace the power of leading with facilitative communication with youth. Participants will explore how small shifts in intentional language can strengthen relationships, amplify youth voice, and create environments where young people feel seen, heard, and empowered to contribute.

Through ideation, reflection, discussion, and practice, participants will learn to listen deeply, collaborate boldly, and design interactions with intention that nurtures connection, adaptability, and shared ownership with youth. Leave with simple, effective, and immediately implementable tools and frameworks designed to create more responsive, engaging, and youth-centered experiences, just by shifting communication.

Reflection is the bridge between an event and a developmental milestone, yet many programs rely solely on verbal discussions that can exclude certain learners. In alignment with "The Art of Being Water," this session provides a fluid, multi-modal toolkit designed to reach every participant through artistic, tactile, and movement-based debriefing. Participants will explore the WSU 6-Step Activity Framework—from framing to real-world transfer—to ensure learning is a deliberate, repeatable outcome. We will dive into a curated "toolbox" featuring activities like Play Dough Sculptures, Group Poems, and Slam Dunk Suggestions. Attendees will learn to scaffold sharing and use brief "micro-debriefs" to maintain a group’s pulse. Every participant will receive a physical Toolkit containing reflection cards, object bags, and the WSU 103 activity guide to immediately elevate their program’s impact.

Affordable housing is a platform for education, equity, and community resilience. Mercy Scholars is a place-based program that works alongside families and youth by providing resources and support that will help students succeed. An essential piece of our work is in collaboration with schools and community partners; building a web of support that allows students to explore their identities and passions. This empowers youth to shape their own futures, allowing for generational transformation.

In this session, we will cover three Mercy Scholars program areas, including student support, parent engagement, and community partnerships.

Student Support: How to create a historically responsive lesson plan

Parent Engagement: How to incorporate and celebrate family brilliance

Community Partnerships: How to leverage the experts around you