04/06/20

HAYS, Kan. – The annual Olliff Family Educational Symposium has been converted to an online webinar format this year in response to the COVID-19 health emergency, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, April 9.

The webinar symposium is free and open to the public. Registration is still necessary, but do not select a lunch option. Persons who registered before the symposium was converted to an online format will be reimbursed if they paid the registration fee.

Links to the webinar will be emailed to registrants. For information on how to register, and a link to the registration page, visit the Olliff Family Educational Symposium webpage, https://www.fhsu.edu/olliff-family-educational-symposium/index.

The keynote speaker is Pamela Cornwell, a Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist from St. Francis Ministries. She will launch the theme for this year’s event, “Building Resilience: What Is in Your Toolbox?”

Cornwell has more than 28 years of working with survivors of abuse. She has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Wichita State University and a Master of Science in marriage and family therapy from Friends University in Wichita.

She is certified in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and Trauma Systems Therapy, and she is a facilitator for Healing of Memories workshops. She provides organization-based and community-based training on trauma and child development.

Throughout her career, Cornwell has worked with multi-generational families around sexual abuse, elderly abused as children and transitioning into nursing home care, and children involved in the child welfare system. In addition, she has participated in several program start-ups, including: Grandparents too Soon, Parents as Teachers for families struggling with sexual abuse, Early Childhood Mental Health, and The Trauma Recovery Center.

She is currently the clinical director for trauma practices for St. Francis Ministries, a nonprofit child welfare organization. In her position, she is responsible for completing trauma assessments for children; consulting with various community partners and stakeholders involved with children in child welfare; organizing group support to build staff resilience to secondary traumatic stress; and working closely with agency social workers, parents, and caregivers to implement strategies to resolve trauma-related behaviors.

The symposium is sponsored by Fort Hays State’s College of Education.