10th Annual Wellness Together Conference

We invite students, parents and caregivers, and educators to join us as we discuss the emerging concerns around chatbot use for mental health support. We will discuss why chatbots may seem preferable to seeking help from adults and how students and adults can build trusting relationships that offer authentic support. Participants will share their own perspectives and experiences throughout the session and reflect on key messages and safety guidelines to share with peers.

This session is designed to support instructional leaders in strengthening their emotional health as a foundation for effective leadership. The presentation begins with guided reflection, where participants assess their current personal practices for maintaining emotional well-being while navigating the demands of their roles.

From there, the session unpacks key principles that influence leadership capacity, including emotional deficits, self-awareness, healthy boundaries, and the role of rest. Participants will engage in structured discussions and reflective activities to deepen their understanding of how these elements impact both their leadership presence and instructional effectiveness.

As the session progresses, participants will shift from reflection to action by identifying specific leadership adjustments needed to enhance their impact. Participants will leave with practical strategies and intentional next steps to implement within their instructional programs, positioning themselves to lead with greater clarity, balance, and effectiveness as emotionally healthy instructional leaders.

In response to rising concerns about teen anxiety, distraction, and digital overload, the LBHS counseling team designed a data-informed Social Media Silence Challenge: a voluntary, five-day social media detox paired with structured reflection and pre/post data collection.

In this interactive session, participants will review data from the Social Media Silence at LBHS and how it impacted students’ attention, mood, sleep, compulsive checking behaviors, and awareness of their habits. Attendees will engage in a mini “digital habit audit,” self-reflect on what they are seeing on their campuses related to social media use, and collaborate in small groups to design an implementation plan for their individual school sites.

Participants will leave with ready-to-use tools, including survey templates, pre/post assessments, reflection journal prompts, communication scripts, and a launch guide to implement a Social Media Silence Week immediately. This session demonstrates how schools can facilitate critical dialogue across districts and communities regarding social media’s interconnected influence on student awareness and well-being.

Notice. Talk. Act. ® at School is an interactive mental health training program designed for K–12 educators and school personnel, regardless of their role or prior experience in behavioral health. The training equips school and district staff with practical skills to recognize early warning signs of mental health concerns, engage students in supportive and compassionate conversations, and connect them with appropriate school and community resources. Grounded in evidence-informed and trauma-responsive practices, Notice. Talk. Act.® at School helps build mental health literacy, increases confidence in responding to student needs, and strengthens referral pathways within schools. By empowering educators to take action when concerns arise, the program supports early intervention, promotes student well-being, and fosters safer, more supportive school environments where all students can thrive.

The presentation will begin by showing our brief media clips, including our CBS special, as well as some overall adolescent youth and mental health statistics. I will then go into what our specific group of 27 girls did.

The presentation will break down the specifics and details with regard to their 30 day digital detox, including (and especially) their before and after questionnaires and assessments. I will also be including real life statements and video clips from some of the girls but my daughter will actually be with me and available for Q&A. I will go into my daughter‘s pre and post detox scans and computer assessments and scores, via the Amen Clinic. I will also touch on my son’s screen free and gaming detoxes and his academic and mental health scores.

I will address quite a few parental concerns centered around fear and their children being left out, as well as adolescent and youth concerns with regard to “FOMO." I will open this topic up for discussion. I have a unique and powerful (never-before-seen) video, specifically to address parent guilt and youth fomo concerns. All of this will lead to me introducing an adolescent boy and an adolescent girl on screen. I will tell the audience their daughter, son, niece, nephew, student, etc., just starting hanging out with them and then describe their characteristics as being that of a codependent narcissist. Then, thanks to the wonders of graphic technology, both that boy and that girl, will morph into smartphones and the connection to codependency will be made. From here, I will give the withdrawal statistics and experiences from our group of 27 girls, as well as my son, which are quite profound, as they are the exact same as those of a drug addict or alcoholic.

Students' mental health is a concern. It can look like chronic absenteeism, disruptive behavior, isolation, poor or failing grades, and so much more. While the state has invested an unprecedented number of resources in addressing this matter, challenges with implementation, access, and feasibility remain. Two counties in Northern CA have formed partnerships with local Community Health Centers (FQHCs) helps build sustainable funding by integrating the health and education systems creating a durable funding model for providing lasting mental health supports in schools.
Come hear from county office leaders, CHC executives, and managed care organization leadership how they have built these partnerships, what makes it especially durable, and how you can replicate the model.