A youth panel on Resilience, Support and Stigma Reduction, this student panel aims to amplify student voices in the conversation around mental health and well-being. By sharing lived experiences, challenges, and strategies for resilience, we hope to foster meaningful dialogue, break down stigma, and inspire actionable change within educational institutions. Our goal is to provide attendees with authentic insight into the student experience and spark collaborative solutions that prioritize mental and emotional health in academic environments.

 "School Avoidance 101: From Understanding to Intervening," is designed to equip educators with practical strategies for addressing school avoidant behavior. Participants will gain a fundamental understanding of what school avoidance looks like, moving beyond simple truancy to explore the underlying emotional and behavioral functions driving a child's resistance to school. We will delve into identifying the various reasons students may avoid school, from anxiety and social challenges to academic pressures or seeking tangible rewards outside of school.

Attendees will leave with the ability to begin developing a basic, school-based behavior plan tailored to individual student needs, focusing on collaborative solutions between home and school. We will also highlight valuable resources available for parents, empowering them to support their children's successful return and engagement in the school environment.

In this session, MVHS Peer Counseling students and their advisors will share how they have established a peer-to-peer counseling program that is fully integrated into MVHS’ school-based mental health services continuum. Peer Counselors participate in structured trainings and ongoing consultations with an MVHS School Counselor and School-based Therapist, and peer counseling is offered as an entry level service in the overall MTSS structure. Participants will learn about how the program was started, funded, and integrated into the system. This session will include an interactive presentation as well as opportunities for participants to ask questions. And most importantly, participants will hear directly from the Peer Counselors about their experiences in the program!

The Mountain View High School’s Peer Counseling Program’s mission is to foster a supportive school environment where students can connect with trained peers, access compassionate mental health support, and build resilience. Through peer guidance, the program links students to a continuum of mental health resources, encourages well-being and promotes a stigma-free community.

This interactive workshop will guide educators through practical strategies for using real-time behavior data to support both Tier 1 classroom management and Tier 2 targeted interventions within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Participants will explore how structured daily check-ins, behavior trend tracking, and simple progress monitoring can lead to more proactive supports, reduce disruptions, and improve student outcomes—especially for students with persistent behavior needs.

Attendees will analyze common behavior data patterns (e.g., time of day, setting, triggers), practice using data to refine strategies, and leave with customizable tools they can use in their own classrooms or schools. We’ll also explore how to differentiate supports across tiers and how this work intersects with PBIS and SEL initiatives.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, support staff, or administrator, this session will offer accessible, actionable systems to help teams collaborate more effectively and reduce the guesswork around student behavior. 

Participants will leave with a behavior tracking template, example intervention prompts, and a simple system to help their school community move from reactive discipline to proactive support.

In today’s educational landscape, educators are facing unprecedented levels of stress, burnout, and emotional fatigue. This session invites participants to explore practical, trauma-informed strategies that center educator well-being as foundational to sustainable school transformation. Facilitated by Empowered Minds Collective, LLC (EMC), a team of equity-driven consultants and former educators, this interactive session will guide attendees through research-backed practices designed to foster resilience, strengthen relational trust, and build internal capacity across school teams.

Using EMC’s “Rooted & Rising” framework, we’ll explore how intentional rituals, reflective dialogue, and restorative leadership practices can shift school culture from reactive to restorative. Participants will leave with immediately applicable tools to integrate staff wellness into daily operations—without adding to their workload.

Ideal for school leaders, wellness coordinators, and teacher leaders, this session blends storytelling, collective learning, and practical planning to support whole-educator health while nurturing the conditions for effective teaching and meaningful student engagement.