"Changing the Story: From Trauma to Hope" is the topic of Empower Missouri's 115th annual conference. The event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 6, and Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, at the Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza, One E. 45th St., Kansas City, MO. Registration check-in will be held beginning at 9 a.m.

How trauma, a very individual experience, is relevant to social justice causes that Empower Missouri addresses, will be discussed, including what it has to do with institutionalized racism, homelessness, economic disparities, health, academic success and the criminal justice system.

The first workshop presented by Nancy Spargo, chief executive officer for St. Louis Center for Family Development, LLC, will take place from 10-11:30 a.m. on Thursday and deal with the impact of childhood trauma. An opening luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. will feature consumer advocate Tonier Cain who will share her life stories dealing with trauma, incarceration and recovery and how to improve the systems that failed her as a child. Before networking and conversation prior to dinner with keynote speaker Dr. Andrea Blanch of the Center for Trauma-Informed Care, several break-out sessions will take place.

A breakfast and membership business meeting will take place from 8-9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, with potential members welcome. A panel discussion will follow from 10-11:30 a.m. dealing with the role and responsibility of the media around trauma. Presenters include Katherine Reed from the University of Missouri School of Journalism Nancy Cambria of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star.

The cost of registration runs from $75 for the Thursday banquet only to $250 for the full two-day conference for non-members. For more details go here.

For more details regarding the schedule of events go here. For contact information phone (573) 634-2901.

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