MISSOURI CHILDRENS TRAUMA NETWORK
Hotel Reservations:
Please advise all reservations should be made before March 26, 2022 in order to receive the discounted group rate. Rates are $99.00 plus tax. Once you enter the arrival and departure date, you will see the group name and code CTR.
>> Reservation Link <<
2022 SPEAKER HIGHLIGHTS
Resmaa Menakem
Resmaa Menakem is a healer, a longtime therapist, and a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in the healing of trauma. He is also the founder of the Cultural Somatics Institute, a cultural trauma navigator, and a communal provocateur and coach.
Resmaa is best known as the author of the New York Times bestseller My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, and as the originator and key advocate of Somatic Abolitionism, an embodied antiracist practice of living and culture building. He is also the author of Psychology Today’s Somatic Abolitionism blog, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/somatic-abolitionism.
For ten years, Resmaa cohosted a radio show with former U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison on KMOJ-FM in Minneapolis. He also hosted his own show, “Resmaa in the Morning,” on KMOJ. Resmaa has appeared on both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on family dynamics, couples in conflict, and domestic violence. He has also been a guest on Charlamagne Tha God’s Comedy Central TV program, Tha God’s Honest Truth, and on iHeart radio’s The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Yee. He currently hosts the Gorilla Muse podcast on the Amplify Voices platform:
https://shows.acast.com/amplifyvoices/episodes/6129499a886fa300120fc0a5
Resmaa has served as the director of counseling services for Tubman Family Alliance, a domestic violence treatment center in Minneapolis; the behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; a domestic violence counselor for Wilder Foundation; a divorce and family mediator; a social worker for Minneapolis Public Schools; a youth counselor; a community organizer; and a marketing strategist.
From 2011 to 2013, Resmaa was a community care counselor for civilian contractors in Afghanistan, managing the wellness and counseling services on 53 U.S. military bases. As a certified Military Family Life Consultant, he also worked with members of the military and their families on issues related to family living, deployment, and returning home.
Resmaa helps people rise through suffering’s edge.
His work focuses on making the invisible visible. You can learn more about Resmaa and his work at his website,
www.resmaa.com; on his Instagram feed:
https://www.instagram.com/resmaamenakem
Derek Clark
Derek Clark is considered one of the most inspiring motivational speakers for conference keynotes, employee morale and retention, foster care, adoption, social work, abuse and neglect prevention, non profits, child protective services, child welfare, department of children and family services, mental health and many more organizations. He is the author of seven inspirational books titled Never Limit Your Life and the critically acclaimed I Will Never Give Up book series which details his experiences and mental tools that he used to beat the odds while growing up in the foster care system.
Prior to sharing his expertise as a motivational speaker in personal and professional development, Derek was the founder of several successful corporations. Derek knows that attitude, vision, leadership, teamwork and a fresh perspective play critical roles in the success of any organization. When individuals push themselves beyond their self perceived limits, everyone around them grows in strength and character. Hope and positivity are not only contagious, but the keys to higher productivity. Personal and professional success begins, first and foremost, with our attitude. By cultivating drive, focus, and fearlessness, employees will find their professional and personal lives opening up to new promise and fresh opportunities.
Derek Clark knows first-hand the power of attitude in coping with adversity and overcoming hardship. At five years of age, Derek’s mother and stepfather (his biological father was in prison) abandoned him at a psychiatric hospital. He then was turned him over to the California foster care system, where he would spend the next thirteen years of his life, contending with rejection, humiliation, emotional distress and overwhelming anxiety. Yet through it all, Derek never gave up, and went from victim to victor by defying the artificial limitations imposed on him. He literally took a disadvantage in life and turned it into an advantage. His remarkable story is one of resilience and redemption, from his personal to professional life.
Having suffered brutal child abuse and abandonment, Derek was prone to severe distress and lashing out in anger. As a child he was “labeled and misdiagnosed” in almost every psychological evaluation in existence. As a helpless child, Derek was nearly institutionalized due to severe erratic behavioral problems and violent tendencies. At 6 years old, Derek was diagnosed as mentally handicapped with an IQ of a two and half year old and suffered erratic psychosis. As he developed, it became clear to his wonderful foster parents that this diagnosis was without merit.
Derek’s life mission has become helping others find the mental strength to recognize and take advantage of opportunities. His keynotes are based on true-life trials and triumphs, and have inspired thousands of listeners to have the mental strength to overcome adversity and fear. His purpose is to cultivate drive, focus, and the courage to take action.