Thank you to all of our wonderful presenters and participants for making the 2009 Building on Family Strengths Conference our most successful conference to date! Over 800 people took in the 142 workshops that featured 54 youth presenters.

Conference E-Proceedings are now available! Click here to read presentation abstracts and descriptions and download presentation PDFs if available.

Our national conference provided the latest research and best practice information on two very important aspects of service provision: the inclusion of youth voice and philosophies of wraparound in mental health care and social services. These issues were addressed throughout the conference—both by invited experts in plenary sessions, and through presentation of individual papers and symposia. In addition to these emphases, the conference promoted programs and practices that increase family and youth participation and empowerment, as well as family-centered, youth-guided, and culturally competent services; and that build the capacity of communities to support children and families.

This year’s focus was on the latest developments in two exciting areas:

1. Youth empowerment and participation in designing, delivering,
   and evaluating services, supports, and systems. This theme was addressed throughout the conference – both by invited experts in plenary sessions, and through presentation of individual papers and symposia.
2. Wraparound. The final day of the conference was co-sponsored by the National Wraparound Initiative. Plenary and breakout sessions provided opportunities to learn about skills, tools, resources, and techniques for wraparound training, supervision, practice, implementation, system development, and more.

The Research and Training Center also hosted a pre-conference National Youth Summit on June 22, 2009. For more information please visit the Youth Summit webpage.

National Institute
on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education