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!

Schools are not neutral spaces. Every day, educators are asked to lead, mediate, and hold space for conversations that carry the weight of generations. The current political context contributes to heightened emotions and racial tensions. And you, no matter how experienced, bring your own history too. When a student says something harmful, a colleague dismisses a lived experience, or a systemic issue needs examining, the most powerful thing you can do is to know yourself well enough to stay present and grounded, even when every instinct tells you to fight, flee, or freeze. Through honest storytelling, self-reflection, and hands-on practice, you'll learn to recognize what activates you, strategies to respond instead of react, and ways to hold space for the emotional responses of others.

Every day, youth development professionals make decisions shaped by beliefs about respect, success, leadership, behavior, belonging, and care. But where did those beliefs come from?

Through reflection, dialogue, and interactive activities, participants will explore how socialization influences the way we see ourselves, one another, and the young people we serve. Together, we will examine the messages we inherited from family, schools, communities, media, and society, and consider how those messages show up in our programs, policies, and practices today. This session invites participants to move beyond judgment and toward curiosity as we explore what it means to learn, unlearn, and intentionally create environments where both young people and youth workers can thrive.

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.