| Conference Schedule and Presenter Bios
10 – 10:30 a.m. | Check-in and Networking
10:30 – 10:40 a.m. | Mindfulness and Movement Activity
Start the day in a playful way during this mindfulness and movement activity to get us going!
Love and Light 4 Kidz, LLC, provides coaching services for children, parents, and families. Yoga and mindfulness afterschool classes are offered in the community for children. Workshops and seminars are offered for parents and teachers, and community collaboration and partnerships for wraparound services are welcomed.
Facilitator: Arti Kumar-Jain is a mental health therapist, presenter, and facilitator who believes in the use of mindfulness and yoga to facilitate a state of wellness and presence. Arti believes in integrated care and partnership, community, and collaboration.
10:40 – 10:50 a.m. | Opening Remarks and HRPEN Overview
Michele Tryon, CHKD, and Anita Williams, HHF, will open the conference with brief remarks and an invitation to join Hampton Roads Parenting Education Network in their quest to promote best practice in parenting education in all sectors and their mission to ensure access to comprehensive positive parenting education opportunities that meet the needs of families in Hampton Roads.
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10:50 a.m. – Noon | A Return to You- Modern Motherhood, Social Media, and Postpartum Support
Postpartum expert and author of A Return to You: A Postpartum Plan for All Moms, Dr. Natasha Sriraman will provide insight into the challenges facing the modern mother. Consider how social media can be a mixed blessing, offering connection and eliciting comparison for new moms. What do new moms need to feel comfortable and confident during the postpartum period and beyond? How can parent educators and healthcare providers understand and respond in helpful ways to the needs of new families?
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Presenter: Natasha Sriraman, MD, MPH, FAAP, FABM, PMH-C, is a mother, wife, board-certified academic pediatrician, and associate professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School/Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. She is also a faculty member in the Center for Maternal and Child Health Equity and Advocacy in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at EVMS. Dr. Sriraman teaches medical students and residents and has received numerous awards for her teaching and research. An internationally recognized expert on breastfeeding and postpartum depression, Dr. Sriraman is trilingual and has published on cultural, linguistic, and racial differences with respect to breastfeeding and maternal mental health. She is a strong advocate for moms and babies and has worked with the Governor’s office to have May declared as Maternal Mental Health Month in Virginia. Dr. Sriraman has also lobbied in Washington for women to have protected time and lactation space in the workplace. On the National American Academy of Pediatrics, she has served as EDI District Champion and currently is on the Committee focused on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. Dr. Sriraman is the vice president of the Virginia AAP chapter and honorary chair of Postpartum Support Virginia. She believes that as a mother and pediatrician, her role is to empower mothers as they care for their babies. In her free time, Dr. Sriraman likes to run, do yoga, read, and spend time on the beach with her husband and four babies (three human, one canine).
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Noon – 12:45 p.m. | Book Signing, Lunch Break, and HRPEN Exhibit
Book signing with Dr. Sriraman. A Return to You will be available for purchase at the conference at $13.50, cash only.
Boxed lunches are included in the registration fee and will be available in the Brickhouse Auditorium Annex. If you requested a meal for dietary restrictions during registration, your lunch will be available with your name on it.
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12:45 – 1 p.m. | Activity: Body Intelligence for Habit Change
Enjoy a delightful after-lunch treat with Dr. Wendy Schofer, as you learn how to engage the intelligence of your body to create habit change on the spot. No experience or special outfits are necessary. Only requirement: bring yourself and a mind open to new possibilities.
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Presenter: Wendy Schofer, MD, is a CHKD pediatrician, registered yoga instructor, improv comedian, and founder of Family in Focus. She helps parents who are tired of the constant stress about weight and the worry about how to raise kids to have healthy eating and movement habits without causing restrictive diet mentality or risking long-term health problems. Instead of diets and food fights, parents learn and apply the effective tools of cognitive behavioral coaching to create better relationships with food that ripple through the whole family. Dr. Schofer harnesses the power of play, neuroscience, and emotions to address today's stress, so families and professionals create healthier lives on their terms.
Dr. Schofer offers customized private and group coaching, workshops, and keynote addresses combining the language of emotions, improv comedy, and effective communication for parents and professionals to start feeling better today. Learn more.
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1 – 1:45 p.m. | Autism – FACTs and Family
Be equipped and inspired by Tyler Williamson as he shares the story of FACT, and how growing up with a younger brother with autism influenced the development of his passion to bring families together and provide the incredible resources FACT offers.
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Presenter: Tyler Williamson is a former camp counselor for Camp Gonnawanngoagin’, where his younger brother Brian was one of the first children with autism to attend. Tyler has been a member of the FACT Board since 2018. After practicing law for 6 years in Hampton Roads, he decided to follow his passion and joined FACT as chief executive officer in 2020. Tyler oversees the organization’s programs, fundraising, and special events.
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1:50 – 2:45 p.m. | Caring Adults and Empowered Teens Sharing Collective Voices and Ideas!
Get inspired! Teen Health 360 has done it again! Learn about the Open Call 2024 process and what our collective community had to say. The EVMS research team asked the question, “What does a supportive relationship look like between an adult and a teen?” The stories, poems, images, audio/video, and mixed media submissions came rolling in and tell a powerful story of what a difference a caring adult can make, and what teens need to feel seen, heard, and empowered.
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Presenters:
Dr. Tracy Fu currently serves as an associate professor at the Community Health and Research Division within the EVMS Pediatrics Department. She leads the implementation of the Teen Health 360 program with a five-year award from VDH/HRSA to address the prevention of teen pregnancy and STIs among school-age youth in Hampton Roads through evidence-based, medically accurate, and age-appropriate comprehensive sex education. Dr. Fu received her doctorate from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2008. Over the past sixteen years, she has been conducting research and program interventions addressing sexual and reproductive health, immigrant health, and behavioral interventions for illicit drug use and harm reduction.
Brianna Marshall is a Hampton Roads native. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Virginia State University. She is now a first-year MPH student with a concentration in epidemiology at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Brianna has worked as a program assistant with the Teen Health 360 Program since 2023. She coordinated the 2023-2024 Open Call.
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2:45 – 3 p.m. | Closing Remarks and Raffle
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You will receive an email with an evaluation form; please complete it by May 16. Certificates of Attendance will be emailed to participants on May 17. Your certificate will be emailed to the email that was used for your registration. Please check to make sure it is correct if someone other than yourself, registered you for the conference.
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