Winter Statewide Meeting Boosts Energy and Connections
By Shari McConnell, Regional Technical Assistant
Keynote presenter Michael Sanders gets everyone to their feet dancing and demonstrating the power of music to boost mood and build engagement.
During the bleak, cold winter, everyone in the SWAN/IL network knows the best opportunity for warmth and energy is attending the SWAN/IL Winter Statewide (WSW) meeting. Held at The Penn Stater on January 29 – 30, the meeting featured keynote speaker Michael Sanders from the 220 Project, 14 concurrent workshops, a drop-in session for the redesigned Affiliate Automated Late Report, and a matching reception.
The WSW kicked off with welcomes and updates from Deputy Secretary Laval Miller-Wilson and Teresa Musser, DHS/OCYF; Meghan O’Hare and Kimberly Hine, Child Welfare Resource Center; and Scott Habecker and Tammy Hendrix, SWAN. These updates included a brief demonstration of the Meaningful Family Engagement Toolkit from CWRC (materials below). It is always great to have this group of individuals highlight timely information and resources with the network and to offer words of encouragement to help children and youth in Pennsylvania achieve permanency.
The keynote speaker, Michael Sanders presented the general session titled Permanency is Everyone’s Business, but My Job. He started off the session by “shaking” things up, literally, with Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” the soundtrack to an impromptu dance session. Anyone who walked past the room could hear music and laughter and feel the entire room on their feet dancing. Michael used music throughout the keynote presentation explaining that music activates your brain, is magical, and has the power to change one’s mood or attitude. Michael demonstrated that when working with youth, music is a wonderful tool.
Michael went on to share some statistics stating that 92% of youth said that music impacts their mood and that youth listen to four hours of music every day. His question was: why not use music as a tool or method with youth to help with permanency? Michael shared a story about a youth (“Kimberly”) who was listening to music when they first met. He asked what she was listening to, and she was quickly able to talk about music to connect with Michael. Through music and lyrics, she was able to relate her situation and get a powerful message out of a Lizzo song she enjoys, which then led to initiating positive actions in her life.
Throughout the presentation, Michael shared how social workers can help youth with permanency. He emphasized focusing on the “why”—when you know the “why,” your “what” has more impact. He believes “the way you (professionals) see them (youth) is the way they become.” In other words, youth give what they receive. Michael went on to promote that there is a family for every youth (just because you haven’t found the family yet doesn’t mean they don’t exist), so permanency professionals should never give up. Michael ended the session with a strong message to “go harder tomorrow than you did today.”
The matching reception took place the evening of January 29 and was attended by 19 families and 62 exhibiting agencies. Walking through the matching reception, one could see the creative ideas agencies used to highlight their waiting youth and families. Many families were found collecting flyers of youth and having conversations with youth and family workers. A PAE coordinator shared that a family that was in attendance inquired about a youth that had participated in a KDKA taping, which aired the day of the matching reception. The youth’s team and family were able to connect and talk about basic information and shared contact information to further discuss if a potential match could be made. The best part of the matching reception is witnessing the families and workers engaging with one another and the excitement for potential matches.
The next time the network gathers will be at the SWAN/IL Spring Quarterly Meetings in April. Save the dates and stay tuned for registration information coming soon.
Shari is a Regional Technical Assistant with SWAN and approaching her one-year anniversary at the prime contract. She is a graduate of Saint Francis University. Shari has 23 years of experience in child welfare, specifically in foster care and adoption. Prior to her current position at SWAN, Shari was a Permanency Director at an affiliate agency for over 13 years and also has experience providing the SWAN units of service at two affiliate agencies.