YATA 2015 COLORADO OPI

YATA Conference 2015: Building Resilience

YATA 2015 COLORADO OPIThis year’s annual YATA (Young Adult Transitions Association) Conference was held in Boulder, CO from October 8-10th with the focus of the symposium on Building Resilience in our young adult participants.  YATA was developed two years ago to provide a forum for collaboration among young adult treatment facilities on issues of mutual concern, including young adult issues, treatment, operational issues, and other aspects and issues related to providing young adults transitional services. OPI sponsored this year’s event and created opportunities with other transitional treatment programs to dialog, sharing ideas and concerns in a collaborate, rather than competitive, manner.

Day One’s keynote speaker Carol Pertofsky of Stanford University addressed the conference with her ideas on resiliency in treatment by looking at mindfulness as part of the treatment practice in her speech “Resilience: Gumption, Gratitude and Grace.” Dr. Petrofski stressed that any mindfulness application must include the pursuit of happiness and bliss. Her words echo the late Joseph Campbell and OPI’s Dr. Fischer, whose own admonition to our participants is “to go out there and find some joy in your lives.” The breakout sessions that followed for the remainder of the day addressed: Implementing Fitness and Wellness though Loving Kindness Meditation; Exploring the Family System through Building Resilience in Young Adults; Viewing Borderline Personality Disorder Through the Lens of Attachment Theory; Exploring Sexuality & Relationship through the Creation of Safe Space; Understanding the Young Adult Brain and Mentalization, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the Primacy of Hope.

Day Two’s keynote speaker was media psychologist Dr. Don Grant. Dr. Grant’s presentation “Unplug to Reconnect” addressed the ever increasing maladaptive use of the internet and social media in young adults and it’s implications in failure to launch issues. Dr. Grant presented his research on the effects of social media in sobriety support in one of the other breakout sessions. Other day two topics included Dr. Pertofski’s continuation of her dialogue regarding mindfulness in “Living in Gratitude”; Assessing Readiness and Creating Structure for College Life in Young Adults with Eating Disorders; Collegiate Recovery and Aftercare Programs; Supporting the Parenting Process of Young Adults; and Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Wilderness Field.

Day Three culminated the conference with breakout sessions by Dr. Don Grant and also Dr. Raymond Kotwicki in continuing to provide understanding of the young adult brain by “Identifying Prodromal Systems of Mental Illness.” The conference concluded with a round table discussion of the conference highlights and goals for the future of YATA and next year’s conference.
Kim Jensen, MA, LMFT
Optimum Performance Institute

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