Student Services Professionals from Newark Public Schools are invited to attend a day of learning and inspiration with various speakers. Come be refreshed and invigorated to continue the work you are doing. For the full schedule see below.
Also, all attendees will be provided materials from the on-site NCYI Resource Fair.
Makenzie Perkins, MS, currently serves as the Counseling Specialist for Collierville Schools (TN). In this role she is responsible for coordinating and supervising school counseling, threat assessment, health facility transitions, and crisis response across the district. Previously she served as the Prevention Counselor at Collierville High School, where she helped students and staff navigate mental health concerns and crises at the largest high school in the state.
Makenzie is a National Certified Counselor and earned her Master of Science degree and Clinical Mental Health Specialist degree from the University of Memphis. She is also the author of 30-Minute Groups: Grief. Makenzie is passionate about training professionals in the areas of threat assessment and management, suicidality, school safety, loss and grief, and understanding the everchanging mental health needs of today’s youth.
Makenzie will also be presenting the breakout session Beyond the Screen: Responding Effectively to Suicidal Ideation. See the breakout section below for more information.
Curious if your school or district is prepared to prevent and manage potential acts of targeted violence? Wondering how different professionals in a school should be utilized to build a functioning multidisciplinary threat assessment team? Look no further! Using a variety of case studies and tabletop exercises, participants will leave with a better understanding of targeted violence, take an in-depth look at the threat assessment process, and learn how to implement a variety of interventions to effectively enhance school safety. This training workshop can be used as a starter course or modified as a training refresher for school professionals with an already established threat assessment team.
School counselors are uniquely positioned to be front line responders to students presenting in crisis. This workshop is designed to enhance a school counselor’s knowledge on current suicide statistics, explore strategies to provide effective screening, and demonstrate how to create meaningful safety plans. Special emphasis will be placed on empowering student voice through this process.
These sessions explore prevention-centered strategies that support students’ social and emotional well-being before challenges escalate. The sessions highlight how creative approaches, including music and guided reflection, can help students build emotional awareness, confidence, and healthy coping skills. Participants will gain practical tools to support students experiencing anxiety, low self-esteem, emotional dysregulation, and attention-related challenges, while strengthening protective factors that contribute to resilient, emotionally responsive school environments.
The Proactive Heart is an interactive breakout session designed to help educators and school leaders strengthen prevention by focusing on the leadership behaviors that shape culture before challenges escalate. Grounded in the 5L Framework, Listen, Learn, Love, Live the Values, and Lead with Purpose, this session reframes prevention as a daily leadership practice rooted in connection, consistency, and emotional intelligence. Through reflection and discussion, attendees will leave with practical strategies they can immediately apply to support proactive solutions, strengthen relationships, and advance a culture of prevention within their schools.
Many of the challenges experienced by students are based on self-defeating and unhelpful thought patterns that impact both feelings and behavior. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a time-sensitive, structured, and present-oriented treatment that focuses on problem solving and teaching students how to modify these distorted patterns of thinking. This presentation provides a foundational knowledge of the principles and strategies involved in using CBT.
Explore Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and its findings on how smartphones and social media are impacting youth mental health. Educators will gain strategies to reduce screen time, promote resilience, and support students in navigating today’s digital challenges.
This presentation speaks directly to helping professionals who look strong on the outside but feel overloaded on the inside. It acknowledges the emotional weight that builds from constant exposure to crisis, trauma, and responsibility, and normalizes the reality that you can function at a high level while quietly burning out. The session walks through what chronic stress actually does to the brain and body, while offering practical tools to regulate in real time and rebuild sustainably. Rather than labeling people as “burned out,” it reframes overexposure as something that can be understood, managed, and even transformed. Participants leave with language that removes shame, skills they can use immediately, and a renewed sense that growth is still possible — even after prolonged stress.
Tentative
8:00 am – 9:00 am
Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Opening Remarks
Mary Leigh Harvey, Director – Office of Student Life
Carolyn Granato, Assistant Superintendent – Student Support Services
Roger Leòn, Superintendent – Newark Board of Education
Dr. Gary B. Crosby, President – Saint Elizabeth University
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Connecting the Dots: A Deep Dive into K-12 Threat Assessment – Makenzie Perkins
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Rotation 1- Participants report to assigned breakout session
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Rotation 2- Participants report to assigned breakout session
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Rotation 3- Participants report to assigned breakout session
All conference activities, including lunch, the training sessions, Resource Fair materials, and parking are FREE OF CHARGE. Please register below to attend.
All attendees will be provided materials from the on-site NCYI Resource Fair.
This is an opportunity for you to personally review and choose curriculum, activity and small group manuals, books, videos, DVDs and CDs. NCYI has the newest and best counseling resource materials available from America’s foremost publishers in Classroom Guidance, Character Education, Bullying Prevention / Intervention, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, Separation Issues, Grief Recovery, Learning Disabilities and Social Skills Training.
National Center for Youth Issues, or NCYI, is a national non-profit organization that publishes and distributes counseling resource materials for schools. In addition to publishing its own publications, NCYI represents over 40 different publishers of educational resources. They also provide training opportunities for educators through on-site training services, as well as regional and state-wide conferences.
866.318.6294
National Center for Youth Issues
P.O. Box 22185
Chattanooga, TN 37422-2185
866.318.6294
National Center for Youth Issues
P.O. Box 22185
Chattanooga, TN 37422-2185
The Attendee will receive an email confirmation to the email address provided when their registration is processed. (Make sure to check Junk/Spam folders.)
Make all checks and purchase orders payable to:
National Center for Youth Issues
