2024 OST Conference

This year's conference will be held in person on the NAIT campus, in the Productivity and Innovation Centre Building. We will have incredible presentations from Edmonton Public Library, Safer Schools Together, Edmonton Immigrant Services Association, Ever Active Schools and more!

Experience the informative and practical sessions focused on building staff and organizational capacity for delivering summer programs in our ever-changing world. This conference is for people who work with children and youth in out-of-school time programming. It is a fun and interactive way to engage in meaningful discussions, access valuable training, and acquire new skills and helpful tools.

If cost is a barrier to attendance, please email [email protected]

8:30am-10:25am

Breakfast, Opening Remarks, Blessing, and Keynote Speech by Chelsea Hobbs, Amy Badger and Natalie Kuhn

Keynote: Hope in Action: Learning to Foster Hope in the Context of Summer Programming

Hope is an essential resource for adults working with young people. Research reveals that having hope is vital in helping us deal with life's challenging circumstances and crucial in achieving a sense of meaning and purpose in one's work. Further, learning to foster one's own hope can maintain a hopeful perspective for others, including the youth within one's work context. This keynote presentation will define hope and highlight it's value as an essential resource for working with youth. It will also contain personal stories and practical strategies highlighting how to strengthen one's own hope and how to work hopefully with young people. Join us for an engaging conversation and learn how to bring hope into action in your own work with youth.

Amy Badger, Natalie Kuhn, and Chelsea Hobbs are all research team members from Hope Studies Central, an applied research lab at the University of Alberta. As members of a larger team of researchers, psychologists, teachers, and students, they collaborated on the Strengths Hope and Resourcefulness Program for School Mental Health (SHARP-SMH). This program was designed to help build up students and teachers by bringing hope into the classroom. Using positive psychology and focusing on strengths, the team developed activities and lessons that teach and grow hope.

10:35am-11:35am

Breakout Session #1 (You will need to select one of the available sessions to attend. Please see below for session descriptions)

11:40am-12:40pm

Breakout Session #2 (You will need to select one of the available sessions to attend. Please see below for session descriptions)

12:40pm-2:00pm

Lunch Break. Food will be provided with vegetarian and vegan options. If you have any other dietary requirements or allergies, please provide them on the registration page.

2:05pm-3:05pm

Breakout Session #3 (You will need to select one of the available sessions to attend. Please see below for session descriptions)

3:10pm-4:10pm

Breakout Sessions #4 (You will need to select one of the available sessions to attend. Please see below for session descriptions)

Attendees will choose one session from each time slot

#1: Rethinking Wellness and Body Image in Youth

Presented by Alberta Wellness ED

Join us for an enlightening discussion as we delve into the intricate connections between diet culture, modern body narratives, and their deep-seated roots in colonialism, racism, and white supremacy. In this presentation, we’ll explore how societal constructs have contributed to harmful narratives surrounding food, bodies, and worthiness.

Participants will learn to identify and dissect oppressive messages perpetuated by diet culture, uncover strategies for recognizing these harmful narratives and learn practical approaches for challenging and deconstructing them. There will be a focus on how best to develop an environment where youth can be supported through this lens.

Join us on this transformative journey as we work towards dismantling harmful systems and nurturing a culture of inclusivity, empowerment, and body liberation!

#2: Searching for Hope

Presented by Natalie Kuhn, Amy Badger and Chelsea Hobbs

While hope can sometimes be hard to find, hope is always available or around you, if you know how to look for it! Searching for hope is a skill that you can learn and cultivate. Join us for this interactive session on learning how to search for and find hope using several different hope-focused activities.

#3: Understanding Gang Associate Behaviour

Presented by Safer Schools Together

Edmonton based gang prevention and intervention strategies. This session will cover current trends and community baseline, including identifiers of pathways to gang involvement, using case-specific examples.

#4: Inclusive Practices and Play

Presented by EverActive Schools

Let’s celebrate diversity and work together to ensure inclusive play and participation are a central part of your program. This active and interactive session will explore inclusive practices; games and activities to foster a sense of belonging; as well as practical modifications to ensure meaningful engagement for all children. Session participants will have the opportunity to look at their programs through the lens of equity and leave with tools to support all children in gaining awareness, appreciation and respect for one another.

#5: Creating a Sense of Belonging and Acceptance Among Newcomer Children and Youth

Presented by Edmonton Immigrant Services Association

This presentation examines how creating a sense of belonging and acceptance among newcomer youth in schools can foster strong diverse and inclusive school communities. There is strong research evidence that diverse and inclusive communities end up strengthening newcomer children and youth's sense of cultural identity, belonging and academic optimism. The session will explore how to respect and celebrate student cultural identity and language, encourage family engagement in schools, and address peer bullying and racism. The presentation aims to demonstrate how important it is for newcomer children and youth to feel welcomed and accepted in schools, so they feel a sense of pride in their identities, feel a strong sense of belonging and a positive connection to their school community.

#6: Discovering Your Strengths

Presented by Amy Badger, Chelsea Hobbs and Natalie Kuhn

The research identifies hope and strengths as being closely related, making learning to work in a strength-based way integral to learning to work hopefully. Join us in this interactive session and take an initial step in supporting youth in identifying their own strengths by discovering yours first.

#7: Lessons from Beyond the Bookshelf: Best Practices for Safe Outdoor Programming

Presented by Edmonton Public Library

epl2go literacy vans have been providing safe and fun summer library programs in parks across Edmonton since 2016. In this interactive session, participants will peek behind the curtains for an overview of the actual practices, policies, and documents used to keep staff safe on site. Ideal for front-line staff or those supporting programming, we'll also use scenarios to practice responding to factors like working alone, site hazards, and extreme weather.

#8: Energize Your Program!

Presented by EverActive Schools

Physical activity offers many benefits above and beyond physical health. This workshop will offer practical tips on how to incorporate physical activity into your program. Join us in learning how to re-energize your program participants, break up sedentary time regardless of what activity you are doing, and increase physical activity across your program.

If cost is a barrier to attendance, please email [email protected]

Parking and transportation information for the NAIT campus can be found here: https://www.nait.ca/nait/about/our-campuses/parking-transportation

Free parking will be available for the date of the conference in the M and L lots. Further details about free parking will be sent out by email. We encourage you to carpool!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

NAIT Productivity and Innovation Centre, 10210 Princess Elizabeth Avenue Northwest, Edmonton, Canada