Working with Children and Youth who are High-Risk

Working with Children and Youth who are High-Risk, Marginalized and Engage in Self-Harming Behaviour *THIS EVENT HAS BOTH IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE OPTIONS* Welcome to The Student Based Mental Health & Education Conference: High Risk, Dysregulated Kids and Indigenous Perspectives in Technology-Saturated World On behalf of Jack Hirose & Associates, welcome and thank you for joining us in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We are delighted to bring together educators, counsellors, therapists, administrators, mental health professionals, and helping professionals from across Canada for three days of practical, evidence-informed learning. Winnipeg is a vibrant and culturally rich city with a strong sense of community, diverse dining, arts and cultural attractions, and a unique history. We encourage you to take advantage of your time here by exploring the city and experiencing the warmth and hospitality Winnipeg has to offer. Throughout the conference, you will explore practical strategies for supporting children and youth experiencing emotional dysregulation, mental health challenges, trauma, and other complex needs. Sessions will also highlight Indigenous perspectives, resilience, connection, and culturally responsive approaches to supporting children, youth, families, and communities. We hope you enjoy both the conference and your time in Winnipeg, and leave feeling inspired, connected, and equipped with practical strategies and new ideas to support the children and youth in your communities. ______ Education and Clinical Professionals: All education and mental health or healthcare professionals who work with children or youth including, but not limited to K–12 Classroom Teachers, School Counsellors, Learning Assistance/Resource Teachers, School Administrators, School Paraprofessionals including Special Education Assistants, Classroom Assistants and Childcare Workers • All other professionals who support behavioural challenges and complex learning needs including but not limited to: Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Clinical Counsellors, Family Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Addiction Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Probation Officers and Community Police Officers. ______ Day Two – December 3, 2026 Working with Children and Youth who are High-Risk, Marginalized and Engage in Self-Harming Behaviour Presented by Caroline Buzanko, Ph.D., R. Psych 8:30am - 4:00pm December 3, 2026 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION For anyone who know that “safety contracts” don’t work and want to know what does. Self-harm among youth isn’t rising because young people are more fragile. It’s rising because the conditions they’re navigating create psychological states where harming one’s own body makes functional sense. This intensive 6-hour workshop is designed for anyone who work with the youth carrying the heaviest burdens: those at the intersection of marginalization, trauma, and self-injury. You’ll move beyond risk management checklists to understand the why beneath the behaviour. Drawing on the established theories and evidence-based interventions for self-harm, this training provides the clinical precision needed when the stakes are highest. This workshop addresses the reality that therapy fails when it replicates the same power dynamics that harm youth in the first place. You’ll learn how to structure engagement that honours adolescent autonomy, conduct chain analyses that reveal intervention points invisible in standard assessments, and teach physiological regulation skills that work when cognitive strategies fail. We’ll tackle the specific dialectical dilemmas of adolescent treatment: how to involve parents without breaking confidentiality, how to validate pain without reinforcing dysfunction, and how to adapt evidence-based protocols for youth who experience standard therapeutic language as minimizing and unhelpful. You’ll also confront the parts of this work that textbooks skip: how to stay regulated when a 14-year-old shows you fresh burns, how to respond when a family’s exhaustion manifests as rage, and how to maintain therapeutic boundaries while practicing the “moral courage” required to witness historical trauma. This workshop is key to develop enough technical skill and relational capacity that young people choose to stay alive long enough to discover they want to.