Breakout Sessions

Most people equate grief with death. In reality, grief emerges from at least seven different types of loss, and, within each category, there are countless individual losses we carry across a lifetime.

This workshop will explore the seven types of loss, including the often-overlooked grief of lost hopes, dreams, and imagined futures. These losses are deeply formative and essential to process. We will also examine and define spiritual bypassing, a form of negative religious coping, and consider how it can quietly undermine authentic grief work. Finally, we will explore what it means to transform our losses—rather than avoid or be controlled by them—and how this work can be undertaken both personally and within congregational communities, not just for the overall health of the person but for the health and wellbeing of the entire community.

This panel will explore suicide prevention across the life span—from youth and young adults to midlife and older adults—with a focus on how communities across North Carolina are uniquely impacted. Panelists will examine risk and protective factors at different developmental stages, highlight current state-level trends, and discuss practical, community-based strategies for intervention and postvention.

Speakers will provide insight into statewide prevention initiatives, data trends, and cross-sector collaboration. Together, the panel will offer both a public health and faith-informed perspective on addressing suicide with urgency, compassion, and evidence-based action.

Dealing with dementia is challenging for everyone: the person, their care partners, their communities. Knowing what to say, what to do, and how to best support doesn’t always come naturally. Thankfully there are skills that help. This session will focus on how to support through the dementia journey: the process of noticing changes, obtaining a diagnosis, addressing anosognosia (absence of self-awareness), and strategies to maintain relationships throughout the changes. Finally, in a world where anyone and everyone can have an opinion, approaches for identifying credible resources will be addressed. 

This session introduces people of faith to a practical, faith‑aligned framework for understanding how the nervous system responds to stress, trauma, and healing.  Participants begin the Language of Resilience—a simple, non‑clinical vocabulary and set of somatic tools that support pastoral counseling, preaching, and congregational care. Through a practice of neuro‑somatic resets and language, this workshop introduces leaders to recognizing stress states, guiding people back to safety and connection, and cultivating emotionally resilient, spiritually rooted communities.

Many people sitting in our pews carry unseen wounds—grief, abuse, racial trauma, family separation, church hurt, addiction, and loss. While the gospel is good news, the way it is preached and taught can either become a source of healing or unintentionally reopen pain. This breakout equips preachers and faith leaders to understand why trauma-informed language matters in Christian preaching and teaching, and how our words, illustrations, and interpretations of Scripture can impact congregants who have experienced trauma. Participants will explore how traditional preaching habits—such as over-spiritualizing suffering, using violent imagery, or emphasizing shame and endurance without care—can unintentionally silence or harm those who are already hurting.

In this session, we will review the research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and examine the growing body of evidence around Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) as a powerful protective factor. Participants will explore how schools and youth-serving environments can intentionally cultivate connection, belonging, and safety. And we will explore how everyday interactions, relationships, and systems can be leveraged to foster resilience. Our hope is that participants will leave with a renewed strengths-based lens and practical strategies for embedding PCEs into their work with youth.

This session explores the complex relationship between substance use, mental health, and the family system, highlighting how addiction affects not only individuals but also their loved ones across generations. Using the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors as an analogy, the presentation illustrates that recovery is not a single path but a tapestry of approaches—including treatment, faith, peer support, family healing, and harm reduction. Participants will examine the role of stigma, trauma, and resilience while learning how harm reduction strategies can serve as a compassionate bridge to recovery. Led by Charlton Roberson, a behavioral health leader, harm reduction advocate, and person in long-term recovery, the session blends personal insight with practical strategies for supporting individuals and families on multiple pathways to healing.

Facilitated by Jamie Gallagher, explores the critical intersection of menopause and mental health. Participants will gain a clinically grounded understanding of how hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause and menopause can impact mood, anxiety, sleep, cognition, and overall psychological well-being.

The workshop will explore treatment approaches—including lifestyle modification, psychotherapy, pharmacologic options, and hormone therapy—and provide practical guidance for recognizing symptoms and seeking appropriate care. Attendees will leave with a clearer framework for understanding emotional changes during midlife and strategies to support mental wellness during the menopausal transition.