Session Descriptions

Preconference Workshops: Question, Persuade, Refer: Suicide Prevention Training for Everyone

The preconference workshop will explore the intersection of Public Health with Mental Emotional and Behavioral Health. Workshop participants will meet the requirements to become a certified Question Persuade Refer (QPR) Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper. Developed by the QPR Institute, QPR is the most widely taught gatekeeper training in the world and is designed as an emergency response to someone in crisis. Participants will also explore national, state, and local resources, organizations, and funding opportunities that can aid health educators to foster partnerships with prevention and behavioral health providers.

Opening Remarks: The Power of Partnerships: Advancing Health Outcomes Together

Individuals in this session will learn about Ohio SOPHE, its role for professionals and the benefits of joining the organization. Individuals will also learn the benefits of credentialing in their field of work. We will explore the roles of different professions such as Health Educator, Ohio Prevention Professional, Licensed Social Worker, Registered Nursing and Marriage and Family Therapist.

Keynote: Expanding Your Leadership Horizons

This dynamic, interactive session will explore how to apply new perspectives, partners, and possibilities to expand your leadership horizon. Learn how to capitalize on your existing strengths and address your weaknesses so that you're operating as your best, authentic self to effectively address interpersonal, team, and public health challenges. Whether you're an experienced leader with a title to match or a brand-new public health professional looking to plan your career trajectory, this session will help you hone your leadership skills so that you're able to see the potential of the team, organization, and community that you are a part of – and help everyone expand their horizons.

Concurrent I: Promoting Health Equity for People with Disabilities

This presentation delves into the crucial role of health educators in fostering health equity for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It explores the profound impact of targeted outreach strategies, emphasizing the importance of inclusive and accessible health programs to bridge gaps and empower this vulnerable population. Attendees will gain insights on how health educators can drive positive change, ensuring equitable healthy opportunities and improved well-being for people with disabilities.

Concurrent I: Organizing Effective Meetings

From Coalition meetings to one-on-one meetings with school personnel, to staff meetings, prevention professionals can end up spending a lot of time in meetings. In this session, you will learn about the steps to organizing an effective meeting.  No more meetings that could have been an email!

Concurrent I: Fostering Public Health Partnerships: Community Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement for a Healthier Future

This panel discussion will explore how 3 programs in Ohio found success in creating spaces for community collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and collective impact to advance health outcomes across a variety of sectors.

Concurrent II: The Intersecting World of Public Health and Prevention

During this hour-long session participants will learn about the intersecting world of Public Health, Prevention, and Health Promotion & Education. Presenters will discuss the differences and similarities between these fields and their scopes of practice. During this session participants will learn about the benefits of having a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary approach to creating healthier communities.

Concurrent II: Resources for Ohio’s Future Health Education Workforce

Participants will learn about the CHES Exam, resume development, and job-searching techniques. These discussions will help the new health education professional prepare for the workforce. A lot of time will be devoted to Q & A throughout this event.

Concurrent II: Health Equity and Data-Driven Decision Making

Participants will hear from professionals engaged in data driven decision making through a health equity lens. A part of the discussion will be ‘Turning Vaccine Hesitancy into Vaccine Confidence Through Community Connection’.

Dinner & Plenary I: Thriving with Boundaries: Embracing the Power of “No” (thank you)

Explore the transformative potential of setting boundaries and the liberating power of saying “no”. Discover how embracing boundaries can improve mental well-being, develop stronger relationships, and heighten productivity. Overcome the barriers that hinder your ability to establish boundaries confidently and gracefully, while learning from real-life examples of individuals who thrive by embracing the art of saying “no”. Join us and begin the journey to unlock your potential, nurture your self-worth, and lead a healthier, more fulfilling life. Embrace the liberating power of “no” and unlock the path to thriving with boundaries.

Plenary II: Climate Change, Racial Justice, and Public Health

Climate change poses current and increasing threats to human health. As the climate continues to warm, the risks to human health will grow, exacerbating existing health threats and creating new public health challenges.  This session will examine how government, grassroot leaders, philanthropy and partner organizations can center equity and community engagement in their work to support capacity building and collaboration efforts that address complex climate challenges.

Skill Building – Part I: Utilizing Design Thinking Principles to “Find” Problems Instead of “Solve” Problems

Public health faces many complex problems; however, the focus on problem-solving often usurps real problem-finding. When we solve problems, have we uncovered enough to know if we are solving the right problem? Problem-finding is about giving attention to the complexities, nuances, and disruptions people face in their experiences.  Through discovering and applying a design thinking process, public health practitioners can reframe public health problems through collaborative ideation with person-first situatedness. In this session, we will share the details of our approach and insights into how public health agents can engage and apply design thinking practices.

Skill Building-Part I: Finding Your Voice and Common Ground to Create Connections and Community Health Champions

This session will introduce participants to the policy and advocacy process, the power of building connections and coalitions, and elevating community voices as health champions to work towards lasting impact in the community. The presenters will walk participants through the advocacy process using examples of current policy efforts in Ohio then will facilitate hands-on skill building sessions where participants can use the provided examples or another pertinent to their work to practice the concepts introduced.

Skill Building-Part I: Making Change Visible

The Making Change Visible skill session will introduce a practical resource for public health practitioners, community organizations, and funders who are interested in engaging communities in evaluation processes.  In this session, participants will explore a variety of evaluation tools and methods that measure community-engaged change. This interactive session will allow participants to try out tools that measure community engagement, baseline, process, and outcomes.

Lunch & Plenary III: The Impact of Disinformation on Public Health

The study identifies the presence of health misinformation through a surveillance strategy of web scraping using social media and the web sources. The presentation outlines the need for risk communication strategies to influence the uptake of accurate health information among populations that experience health disparities.

Skill Building – Part II: Utilizing Design Thinking Principles to “Find” Problems Instead of “Solve” Problems

Public health faces many complex problems; however, the focus on problem-solving often usurps real problem-finding. When we solve problems, have we uncovered enough to know if we are solving the right problem? Problem-finding is about giving attention to the complexities, nuances, and disruptions people face in their experiences.  Through discovering and applying a design thinking process, public health practitioners can reframe public health problems through collaborative ideation with person-first situatedness. In this session, we will share the details of our approach and insights into how public health agents can engage and apply design thinking practices.

Skill Building-Part II: Finding Your Voice and Common Ground to Create Connections and Community Health Champions

This session will introduce participants to the policy and advocacy process, the power of building connections and coalitions, and elevating community voices as health champions to work towards lasting impact in the community. The presenters will walk participants through the advocacy process using examples of current policy efforts in Ohio then will facilitate hands-on skill building sessions where participants can use the provided examples or another pertinent to their work to practice the concepts introduced.

Skill Building-Part II: Making Change Visible

The Making Change Visible skill session will introduce a practical resource for public health practitioners, community organizations, and funders who are interested in engaging communities in evaluation processes.  In this session, participants will explore a variety of evaluation tools and methods that measure community-engaged change. This interactive session will allow participants to try out tools that measure community engagement, baseline, process, and outcomes.

Ohio SOPHE Memorial Poster Session: Lessons from the Field

The poster session will offer participants an opportunity to learn more about the academic and applied research being conducted by health educators and university public health programming in Ohio.

Plenary IV: Power Literacy to Enhance Leadership, Influence, and Connection

Suspect you might be caught in a power struggle? Seeking influence at a higher level? Want to create a more collaborative and productive group climate? In this mindset shifting and skill-building session, we will expand “power literacy” to help you inspire trust, increase influence, minimize unhealthy conflict, and create environments where people feel engaged and respected. Participants will:

• Learn the non-verbal vocabulary of status, authority and power.
• Expand awareness of your habitual power behaviors and where they help and hurt your cause.
• Understand what positive power engagement looks like.
• Practice applying status fluency to communicate with confidence and in difficult situations.