The 4th annual What Works Conference will be held Thursday, January 28, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Monroe Convention Center.
This year's focus is "Healthy Living" and will include an emphasis on not only mental and physical health, but also on healthy relationships, according to Executive Director of the Children's Coalition Lynn Clark.
"We're really excited because there are so many needs and so many ways to define health, that this year's topics really came from our community when we asked them: What would be useful to you?" says Clark.
The conference is designed to echo local initiatives by the Coalition such as infant care and adolescent addiction.
Presentations include "Look Beneath the Surface: Human Trafficking Along I-20," "Building Baby Brains," and "Internet Crimes Against Children: Internet Safety."
The adolescent series of sessions features presentations such as "STIs in Northeast Louisiana: Adolescent Friendly Health Services."
Clark explains, "What we wanted to do was really define 'health' and 'healthy living' broadly. So that we were looking at physical health, we were looking at mental health, we were looking healthy relationships, and we were looking at how our community can support that."
The closing keynote presentation is "Adverse Childhood Experiences: Where Do We Go From Here?" focusing on how adverse childhood experiences affect not only the health of the individual, but also have an inter-generational affect as well.
