RTIC 7th Annual Partnering for a Resilient Community Learning Symposium

The Sustainable Why: Grounded in Purpose, Driven by Grit calls on us to reflect on what truly sustains us because what sustains us shapes what’s possible. 

This year’s RTIC workshops offer practical, healing centered approaches that support purposeful, sustainable work amid ongoing stress and change. From reimagining resilient practice, to empowering survivors through trauma‑informed financial guidance, to regulating the nervous system with BREATH‑BODY‑MIND™, to exploring purpose, personal power, and performance as pathways to presence and agency, each session strengthens the inner resources and skills that make meaningful, sustainable impact possible. 

The max capacity is 250 people and is on a first come, first serve basis. This year we will be providing a continental breakfast and buffet lunch for attendees. If you have any dietary restrictions/ allergies, please email us at CCNWebinars@carecompassnetwork.org.

Continuing Education Credits

While the workshops are free, there is a $45 fee for those seeking to earn 4.5 SW or CTLE Continuing Education Contact Hours. If you would like to earn CE credits, there is a 2-step process you MUST follow.

1. Register for the CCN RTIC 7th Annual Learning Symposium

2. Complete the SW/CTLE registration form AND submit payment with Binghamton University.

For those seeking CE Contact Hours, you will receive a separate email that includes a link for you to register and submit payment with Binghamton University. 

Binghamton University – SUNY, Social Work Department SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0143.

Hotel Information

The CCN RTIC Team has reserved a block of rooms at Tioga Downs Casino Resort. To reserve a room, attendees can call Tioga Downs Reservations Department at (888) 946-8464 or reserve a room online. The Group Code is 3291. 

Agenda

7:30am    Registration, Networking/ Community Tabling, Breakfast
8:30am    Welcome
8:45am    Energize and Center: A Somatic Start to the Day
9:15am    Your Values, Your Why: Grounding in Purpose, Strengthening Collective Resilience
10:45am  Wellness Break
11:00am  From Control to Confidence: Supporting Individuals and Survivors Through Financial Empowerment
12:00pm  Buffet Lunch and Networking
1:15pm    Purpose, Power, and Performance
2:30pm    Wellness Break
2:45pm    Breath-Body-Mind™: Building Resilience, One Community at a Time
3:45pm    Closing Remarks

While we do our best to manage the temperature of the room, sometimes it can get chilly. You may want to consider bringing a light jacket, sweater, or cardigan.

Workshop Descriptions and Speaker Bios:

Energize and Center: A Somatic Start to the Day

This uplifting somatic session is designed to awaken the body while bringing calm focus to the mind. Participants will be guided through accessible movements, gentle shaking, stretching, and breath practices that help release stress, increase circulation, and naturally boost energy. The experience concludes with a brief reflective pause, allowing participants to carry a sense of clarity, vitality, and grounded presence into the rest of the day.

Ann Honkala, BSN, RN, is a deeply compassionate and experienced mental health professional who has dedicated over 15 years to walking alongside individuals on their healing journeys. With a foundation in nursing and a soul rooted in holistic wellness, Ann weaves together the science of mental health with the art of mindful living. She is not only a registered nurse but also a certified nurse coach, yoga instructor, and breathworker—offering a truly integrative approach to care.

Ann’s passion lies in helping others reconnect with themselves—mind, body, and spirit. Whether working one-on-one or guiding small groups, she creates a safe and supportive space where individuals can explore, heal, and grow. Her approach is grounded in evidence-based practices and enriched by somatic wisdom, empowering her clients to cultivate inner freedom, resilience, and joy.

Through her unique blend of clinical expertise and holistic modalities, Ann helps people release old patterns, align with their purpose, and step into a life of greater meaning and fulfillment. She believes healing is not just about treating symptoms—it’s about awakening the wholeness that already lives within.

Your Values, Your Why: Grounding in Purpose, Strengthening Collective Resilience

As we navigate compounding collective traumas and deep fissures of instability across our society and communities, we find ourselves in a liminal space—between what was and what can be. This moment of uncertainty presents a powerful opportunity to reimagine more sustainable ways of living and working. Within the human services sector, this reimagining is especially urgent. As administrators and frontline staff alike report rising levels of stress, trauma, and burnout amid ongoing fragmentation and uncertainty (Frey & Jinnett, 2024; Nagarajan et al., 2024; O’Malley et al., 2020), there is a critical need to strengthen our collective resilience and develop sustainable, values-driven approaches to practice.

In response, framed by the 2026 Care Compass Learning Symposium theme, The Sustainable Why: Grounded in Purpose, Driven by Grit, this 90-minute session creates space to intentionally cultivate collective resilience through a hands-on journey of reflection, connection, and shared meaning-making. Grounded in Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of Praxis, participants will engage in guided reflection and dialogue designed to reconnect with core values and purpose. Through experiential activities and interactive exercises, participants will clarify their core values, articulate their individual and collective “why,” and explore pathways toward more sustainable and values-driven practice.

Objectives:
* Define collective resilience, identify its relevance within the current human-services landscape, and describe its relationship to purpose and grit
* Reflect on and clarify their personal and professional core values
* Reflect on and articulate their “why”
* Co-construct a shared sense of purpose through dialogue and collaborative engagement with peers

Cecily, Mitchell-Harper, LMSW, is based in the New York City metropolitan area. She earned her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and brings over 15 years of diverse experience across mental health, child welfare, school social work, and preventive care.

Grounded in an equity-centered, trauma-informed approach, Cecily integrates these principles into every aspect of her work. She is deeply committed to fostering healing, restoration, and the development of sustainable communities rooted in liberation and care. Her guiding mantra—“Transform yourself to transform the world” (Grace Lee Boggs)—reflects her holistic and reflective approach to both personal and professional practice.

Cecily is a professor at Mercy University, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She teaches core courses in the social work program, including Engaging Diversity: Anti-Racism, Equity, and Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice, a course she designed. She has also been recognized as a Teaching Excellence Award nominee.

In addition to her academic role, Cecily serves as a Wellness Circle Facilitator with the National CARES Mentoring Program and as a Workshop Facilitator with Equality Education. She is also a nonprofit consultant, providing professional development and strategic guidance to youth-serving organizations. Her areas of expertise include cultivating healing-centered organizational cultures, supporting staff in addressing secondary trauma and burnout, and applying continuous improvement frameworks to advance institutional change.

A sought-after speaker and presenter, Cecily is SIFI-certified and actively engaged in professional communities. She is a member of the NASW New York State Chapter and NAMI Westchester, and she serves on the Advisory Council of the New York State Trauma-Informed Network and Resource Center (NYSTINRC)

From Control to Confidence: Supporting Individuals and Survivors Through Financial Empowerment

This workshop designed for employees working with individuals and survivors who have experienced financial abuse, instability, or other forms of trauma that affect economic wellbeing. This session explores how financial empowerment can function not only as a practical tool, but also as a pathway to healing—helping clients rebuild autonomy, confidence, and long-term stability. Participants will learn how trauma influences financial decision-making, money management behaviors, and an individual’s sense of control. The workshop introduces trauma-informed strategies grounded in safety, trust, collaboration, and empowerment to ensure that financial guidance supports healing rather than unintentionally recreating power imbalances.

Importantly, this workshop also addresses the growing body of evidence linking financial strain and economic hardship with increased suicide risk and poorer mental health outcomes. Research shows that economic stressors—such as unemployment, debt, and sudden financial loss—are strongly associated with higher rates of suicidal behavior and psychological distress. Studies further indicate that payment problems, unmanageable debt, and poverty significantly heighten suicide risk across genders and age groups. Understanding these connections equips staff to approach financial conversations with deeper sensitivity and awareness, especially when working with vulnerable or high-risk populations. [thelancet.com], [mentalhealth.va.gov] [journals.sagepub.com]

Through interactive discussion, real-world examples, and hands-on tools, attendees will gain practical skills in:
* Recognizing signs of financial trauma and economic control
* Communicating about money in a non-triggering, client centered way
* Supporting client voice and choice in financial goal‑setting
* Building realistic, strengths based‑ financial action plans
* Encouraging long‑term financial confidence and emotional resilience

By the end of the workshop, employees will leave with actionable techniques to help individuals and survivors move from a place of fear or dependence to one of empowerment, stability, and self-determination‑—strengthening both their financial futures and their overall well‑being.

Objectives:
* Understand what financial abuse is and how it intersects with trauma
* Recognize signs of financial abuse in clients
* Learn practical strategies to support clients in regaining financial autonomy
* Identify community resources and referral pathways

 Samantha Lethbridge, MSML, CCUFC, CCM, Samantha Lethbridge is a financial services and community engagement professional with more than ten years of experience across banking, financial counseling, and client relationship management. She currently serves as Community Education Coordinator at Visions Federal Credit Union, where she leads initiatives focused on financial wellness, education, and community building—empowering individuals and families with the knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions and build generational wealth. 

Previously, Samantha held roles with Commonwealth Financial Network and Edward Jones, where she developed strong expertise in client services, retirement planning support, and account management while building trusted, long‑term client relationships. She holds a Master of Science in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Nyack College, along with specialized training in behavioral economics through the Council for Economic Education.

Deeply connected to her community, Samantha is committed to service and meaningful impact. She is especially passionate about mentorship and believes strongly in investing in and guiding the next generation of leaders. She proudly serves as a Board Member of the NoMa Community Center in Binghamton, NY, a full council member of the Broome County Family Violence Prevention Council, and an active member of the Reentry Reform Task Force with the Broome County Sheriff’s Office.

Purpose, Power, and Performance

Convinced that trauma can alienate us from our true selves, this workshop seeks to provide professionals, especially those within the human services, opportunities to access, and perhaps reconnect with, their truest selves. This workshop operates from the perspective that trauma obfuscates talent by confusing our sense of purpose and personal power. When we are able to envision an authentic version of ourselves untouched by the fear imposed by trauma (including microtrauma as it affects us in the workplace), we can then begin to perform that version of ourselves that allows our highest potential to shine through to the outside world, deeply impacting those with whom we interact. With an understanding of our intentional purpose, access to our own personal power and agency, and the imaginative creativity that fuels how we perform in the world, we can overcome adversity and inspire others. The ability to perform in the world, unlimited by fear, and grounded in a sense of deliberate purpose, allows us to enact our personal power with undeniably real effects. With the combination of theory, personal practice exercises, and even the invitation to engage in movement, this workshop promises to instill feelings of empowerment, liberation, and inspiration.

Objectives:
* To offer an understanding of the connection between trauma and talent by acknowledging the effects of avoidance
* To bring an awareness informed by performance theory to human behavior in the professional setting, allowing us to expand our repertoire of available skills, talents, and intentions
* To offer techniques and practices that can help professionals overcome avoidance, reimagine versions of themselves, and feel empowered to explore new avenues of growth

Jesse Katen, is a leadership coach and consultant based in Binghamton, New York. He has coached leaders and instituted leadership talent development initiatives in a variety of sectors such as nonprofits, corporate industry, and public agencies, in a range of fields including human services, healthcare, social work, education, technology, and manufacturing. He specializes in helping those in leadership positions notice, navigate, and negotiate their own inner worlds to maximize their impact in the outer world! Jesse’s coaching, workshops, and conference appearances seek to transform how leaders think of themselves, expanding their potential to realize the vision of the places they lead.

NYS Trauma Informed Network and Resource Center and BREATH-BODY-MIND^TM: Building Resilience, One Community at a Time

The New York State Trauma Informed Network & Resource Center (TINRC), funded by New York State Office of Mental Health, aims to uplift the principles of trauma-informed care and create a place for learning, knowledge sharing, and resources to promote trauma-informed work and wellness practices. In this session, participants will learn about TINRC initiatives with a specific focus on BREATH-BODY-MIND™ (BBM) to support and promote wellness. BBM is a set of gentle, science-based breathing exercises grounded in ancient wisdom practices. Research shows that these practices, which can be performed anywhere, help restore balance to the nervous system, improve sleep quality and mood, reduce tension, build stress tolerance, and sharpen mental capacity.  In this experiential workshop, participants will have the opportunity to learn and practice these relaxation techniques to help ease stress, calm the mind, and strengthen self-regulation.

Objectives:
* Learn about the NYS Trauma Informed Network and Resource Center and how to become involved through TINRC initiatives.
* Understand how BREATH-BODY-MIND^TM practices can support and improve health/wellness.
* Experience a range of BBM exercises and how to support ongoing practice by attending free weekly BBM sessions.

Denise Quamina, M.E.d., CAS, MSW, is a Senior Consultant at the New York State Trauma-Informed Network Resource Center (TINRC), a program of Coordinated Care Services, Inc., funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health. She recently retired after a 32-year career in public education, where she gained deep insight into how stress and adversity impact overall well-being. Motivated to help individuals and communities better cope with these challenges, Denise received training as a Level 2 Breath-Body-Mind (BBM) instructor. She is passionate about fostering resilience and brings these evidence-informed practices to professionals and communities to support stress regulation, wellness, and holistic health.

Questions?

If you have any questions or need assistance, please email Bouakham Rosetti at brosetti@carecompassnetwork.org or Melissa Gusman at mgusman@carecompassnetwork.org.

CCN RTIC Resources

CCN Regional Trauma-Informed Care Network team consists of dedicated and passionate individuals from colleges, county government, health care, social care, human services, and schools spanning the Southern Tier and beyond. This diverse group of individuals has been diligently putting together a variety of helpful resources for our community and region to support a more compassionate, kinder, and inclusive environment. Visit our website to submit a request to receive any of our free resources https://care-compass.org/about-us/ccn-collaborations/

• Posters – Welcome to Our Safe Space for Families and Children
• Pilot Summative Report – Infusing Trauma-Informed Care: RTIC Pilot Implementation Framework Summative Report
• Resources Quick Guide – Compassion, Resilience, and Trauma-Informed Care Resources Quick Guide for Caregivers and Community Professionals
• Resources Quick Guide – Navigating Grief and Loss Trauma-Informed Resources Guide
• Toolkit – Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Framework for Primary Care Clinics
• Toolkit – Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Framework for Community-Based Organizations
• Toolkit – Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Framework for Schools