See below for the conference agenda with links to available presentations for the CHKD Youth Suicide Risk & Prevention Conference.
We encourage you to download or print these prior to the meeting. Please check back for updates. Slide content is owned by the presenter and should not be used without consent from the presenter.
Youth Suicide: Risk and Prevention Conference
Bringing Support, Care, and Hope to Our Children
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Clinical Track – Virtual Only
Friday, May 2, 2025
Community Track – In-Person Only
Thursday, May 1, 2025
8:00 a.m. Opening/Welcome Remarks - Stephanie Osler, LCSW
Stephanie Osler has been caring for children and their families in various clinical settings for over 28-years. She has been employed at the Children’s Hospital of The Kings Daughters since 2003, first as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the emergency department (2003), program manager of the Social Work Department (2005), and in 2014, Stephanie was named Director and is currently serving as a Director of Mental Health, a comprehensive approach to providing mental health care to children and their families including program planning and development for a 60-bed inpatient acute psychiatric hospital specifically for children and teens, partial hospital program, intensive outpatient programming, crisis programming, and expanded outpatient programming throughout the Hampton Roads Region. More recently Stephanie’s focus has shifted to oversight and development of our mental health assessment team, medical social work, and community-based partnerships and engagement.
Stephanie has extensive training in Leadership, Program Management, Family Systems, Crisis Intervention, Trauma and Child Abuse, Suicide Risk Assessment, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Stephanie is a military spouse of an active-duty service member, Master Chief, currently serving as CMC of SRT2 in Virginia Beach. She and her husband have 2 children ages 16 and 17.
8:10 a.m. Suicide Risk and Prevention in Children: A Developmental Psychopathology Approach to Youth Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors - Adam Bryant Miller, Ph.D.
Adam Bryant Miller, Ph.D., is the Associate Director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program (CHAAMP). He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He completed his predoctoral internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Miller completed a National Research Service Award funded postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the Department of Psychology.
Dr. Miller’s program of research focuses on identifying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms linking early childhood adversity exposure with risk for suicide across the child and adolescent developmental trajectory. To investigate this overarching question, Dr. Miller leverages mobile technology, functional MRI methodologies, and intensive and traditional longitudinal designs. His work is based in developmental psychopathology principals by acknowledging that pathways to suicide risk dynamically change over the course of childhood and adolescent development. His work has been continuously funded by the National Institute Health.
9:15 a.m. A Trauma-Informed and Collaborative Approach to Youth Safety Planning and Lethal - Lucas Zullo, Ph.D.
Lucas Zullo, Ph.D. (He/Him) is the Clinical and Fellowship Director of the David Farber Advancement of Suicide Prevention Intervention, Research, and Education (ASPIRE) Center and Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University. He has over a decade of experience providing family-focused, evidence-based suicide prevention care in a variety of settings, including intensive outpatient, inpatient, consult liaison, and the emergency department. As Clinical Director, Dr. Zullo has a passion for community-partnered, equity driven care and is committed to making the services provided by the ASPIRE Center available to all families seeking care. Dr. Zullo is also an on-call consultant for The Trevor Project and 988. As a researcher, Dr. Zullo has regularly obtained funding for his work, including funding from NIH, the American Psychological Association, and SAMHSA.
10:15 a.m. Break
10:25 a.m. Strength-Based Approaches to Suicide Prevention in the Black Community (slide presentation not available) - Jasmin Brooks Stephens, Ph.D.
Dr. Jasmin Brooks Stephens is an incoming Assistant Professor of Clinical Science in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston and completed both her predoctoral clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. In recognition of her contributions to advancing mental health equity, Dr. Brooks Stephens was named to the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Healthcare.
Dr. Brooks Stephens’ research integrates qualitative and quantitative clinical science methods to examine the social and contextual risk and protective factors that shape the mental health trajectories of Black youth and emerging adults—particularly in relation to suicide vulnerability and racial trauma. The overarching goal of her research program is to develop and implement culturally responsive interventions, programs, and policies aimed at reducing racism-related stress, suicide, and health disparities in Black communities. Her work has been supported by several national organizations, including the NASEM Ford Foundation, the American Psychological Foundation, the American Psychological Association, and the P.E.O. Foundation.
11:30 a.m. Managing a Mental Health Crisis Compassionate Assessment in the ED - John (Jack) Fanton, MD
Jack Fanton, MD, is an Assistant Professor, in the Division of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry of the Department of Pediatrics here at the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. He earned his Bachelor of Science as a double major in Biology and Philosophy from Binghamton University before completing his Doctor of Medicine at the University at Buffalo.
This was followed by a 5 year triple board residency at Brown University, in the last year of which he served as Co-Chief Resident in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Child Psychiatry. Dr. Fanton further enhanced his expertise with two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pittsburgh and Baystate Medical Center respectively prior to joining CHKD in 2023 as Medical Director of Emergency Psychiatry, all the while remaining humbled by the many accomplishments and ordeals our patients and their families share with us daily. And he’s especially grateful his two children make it look like he knew what he was doing, but they get all the credit!
12:35 p.m. Finding Hope through Grief’s Silver Lining - A Parent/Provider Perspective (Slide presentation not available) - Mark Schreiber, MD
Mark T. Schreiber has been practicing psychiatry and addiction medicine in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia since 1978. He has held various leadership positions in Hampton Roads during that time, including President of the Norfolk Academy of Medicine, Psychiatric Association of Tidewater, President of the Medical Staff of Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center, and President of the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts. He is an elder at Bayside Presbyterian Church. He is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology, and in Addiction Medicine.
1:05 Closing Remarks
Friday, May 2, 2025
9:00 a.m. Registration/Visit Exhibitors
9:15 a.m. Opening/Welcome Remarks - Sam Fabian
Sandra “Sam” Fabian is the Community Outreach Manager at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. With 38 years of experience in managing, developing, implementing, and coordinating community education programs for professionals, parents, and children, she is dedicated to fostering partnerships with community stakeholders to build healthy communities. During her 25 years at CHKD, and with support from pediatricians, nurses, social workers, educators, and volunteers, Sam has taught classes and coordinated programs for parents, professionals, and youth in Hampton Roads. She has collaborated with community agencies, schools, and coalitions to develop programmatic partnerships to enhance the health and well-being of all children.
Sam’s diverse career also includes roles as a residence hall director and adjunct faculty member at Old Dominion University, a health educator, a health promotion coordinator for Amerigroup Corporation, a medical case manager with Full Circle AIDS Hospice Support, and a sexual assault victim intervention specialist with the Navy. She earned her bachelor’s degree in health education from the State University of New York at Cortland and her master’s degree in Student Personnel Administration and Counseling from the State University of New York at Buffalo State University.
9:30 a.m. Mental Health First Aid - Aimee Layo, MSW, and Jaclyn O’Neal, M.Ed.
Aimee Layo is a Supervisee in Social Work and Mental Health Referral Specialist at CHKD. Along with providing individual therapy and co-facilitating a DBT group for middle school students, Aimee works with referrals that come in from CHKD and community providers alike to ensure that families are connected to the services and resources that best fit their needs. Trained in the discipline of school social work, Aimee also serves as an on-call crisis clinician through a partnership between CHKD and Virginia Beach City Public Schools. During the summer, she serves as a grief specialist at a summer camp dedicated to youth who have experienced the death of a loved one. Her clinical interests include working with grief, intergenerational trauma, twice exceptionality, the LGBTQIA+ community, and advocating for mental health access in communities of color.
Jaclyn O’Neal is a Resident in Counseling who has worked for CHKD as a Mental Health Therapist since 2023. Jaclyn works with the Virginia Beach Schools partnership program, offering short-term, no-cost therapy services to Virginia Beach Schools students. Jaclyn also facilitates trainings for Virginia Beach Schools staff, including school counselors and nurses, focused on addressing student mental health concerns and crises. Within CHKD’s Mental Health Service Line, Jaclyn provides individual therapy using evidence-based treatments, including MATCH, PC-CARES, and TF-CBT, and co-leads in-person therapy groups for elementary and middle school students.
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m.. Lived Experience Panel (Survivors and Family Members) - Moderator: Susannah Uroskie, Panelists: Kathy Damon, Olivia Steil, Eric Smith, and Leland Smith
Susannah Uroskie has been a part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) since 2016 after her 19-year-old daughter was released from a psychiatric hospital. She is the Vice-Chair of the Virginia Beach Community Service Board and has been Board President of the local affiliate, NAMI Coastal VA since August of 2021. She is also coordinator of the Youth and Young Adult Outreach. Susannah is passionate about mental health advocacy.
Kathy Damon has had an interest in mental health for most of her life. She studied psychology at California State University, Chico, and then without graduating, started her lifelong career in the restaurant business.
In 2013, she and her friend, Elaine Roberts, founded a support group for people who had lost a loved one to suicide, called StillStanding. Elaine’s daughter, Kaila, who was a friend of Kathy’s children, took her life in 2004, and together, Elaine and Kathy have contributed to the community’s needs for education and support regarding depression awareness and suicide prevention in honor of Kaila.
Unfortunately, Kathy’s father attempted to take his life four times from 1976-2004. This is her contribution today, a lived experience of a family witnessing their loved one’s struggle to deal with the unexpected resurgence of depression in his life.
Olivia Steil is an 11th Grade student at Tallwood High School, Global Studies and World Languages Academy.
Eric and Leland Smith are a father and son trying to cope and navigate grief after losing a 17 year old son and sibling to suicide in 2022.
11:45 a.m. Break
12:00 p.m. Community Mental Health Resource Panel, Moderator: Sam Fabian; Panelists: Susannah Uroskie, NAMI; Elaine Roberts, StillStanding; Beau Kirkwood, CHAS Foundation; Michelle Peterson, Sarah Michelle Peterson Foundation; Stephanie Osler, CHKD Mental Health; Staci Young, CSB Western Tidewater
Elaine Roberts is a co-founder with Kathy Damon of StillStanding2, a 501 (c) nonprofit. The mission of StillStanding is to help prevent suicide in the community through education about depression, anxiety, and suicide, and provide support meetings to those age 18 and above who have lost a loved one to suicide. 13 years ago, they began a Suicide Loss Support Group and have been meeting with Survivors the second Tuesday of each month at Spring Branch Community Church in Virginia Beach. Dr. Mark Schreiber, a Virginia Beach psychiatrist, attends the meetings and shares his professional expertise and personal experience.
September 2024, StillStanding organized their first StillStanding Memorial & Suicide Prevention Walk with approximately 200 participants, various speakers and community resource representatives. The Virginia Beach Department of Human Services recognizes StillStanding as a help to the community and includes their information in the City’s Family Education & Support hand-out packets.
As a teacher at St. Matthew’s School, Elaine started a program in 2014 with workshops, for 7th and 8th graders about depression awareness, anxiety, and suicide prevention. Several students have come forward with personal mental health concerns, which has led to their getting help. Elaine has been interviewed on local radio and television stations WVEC, WTKR, and WAVY and was a guest writer for an article on “How to Maneuver the Holidays When You are Grieving” in The Virginian Pilot.
Elaine lost her 15-year-old daughter Kaila, a 9th grader at Cox High School, to suicide in 2004. She was smart and fun and funny. She was an artist, poet, and surfer who loved strawberries and the color purple. Kaila was extremely talented, and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do except live with her chronic depression. She was under the care of a therapist when she passed from suicide. Elaine was in the process of looking for a different therapist who could help Kaila feel comfortable in hopes that she might open up and talk. She was diagnosed with suicide ideation, but “not suicidal at this time”.
Beau Kirkwood is executive director of The CHAS Foundation; a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to effective treatment for individuals and families impacted by mental illness in Hampton Roads. A native of Norfolk, VA, Beau attended both Norfolk Academy and Maury High School. His family faced significant challenges and barriers in accessing treatment for his brother, Chas, who struggled with and ultimately lost his life to schizoaffective disorder.
Beau has spent the last decade raising awareness about the need for improved mental health care in our community, which includes addressing stigma, improving crisis response, enhancing services, and supporting families affected by mental illness. Beau works with the CHAS Mental Illness Navigation and Support Program to provide free support services, including crisis meals, transportation to services, and emergency temporary housing. In his spare time, Beau enjoys spending time outdoors, especially in the waters of the Outer Banks.
Staci Young LPC is the Director of Acute Care Crisis Services for Western Tidewater CSB. Staci has over 30 years of working with individuals in crisis in multiple capacities. In her role as director, she has the following programs: Region 5 Crisis Call Center, Dispatch of mobile teams, Emergency Services, Reach mobile teams, Adult/Child mobile teams, Marcus alert implementation, CIT, state and local discharge planning, and NGRI. She is a Virginia state certified pre-admission screener since 2004. A CIT instructor since 2010, Regional Mobile Crisis Master trainer 2021, CISM trained, ASSIST trainer, NOVA crisis response team and Virginia Behavioral Health Response team.
12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. The Intersection of Trauma-Informed Care and Grief - Laura Kanter, LCSW and Anne Russell, LCSW
Laura Kanter, LCSW, is the CHKD Child Advocacy Center’s Mental Health Services Coordinator. She utilizes evidence-based treatments to address trauma reactions and problem behaviors in children. She is certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and in Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). She has also received training in Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), Problematic Sexual Behavior Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PSB-CBT).
Ms. Kanter has provided services to children and their families in the community since 1994. Ms. Kanter provided grief counseling as well as counseling for various mental health and behavioral concerns for children and their families for many years prior to joining the CHKD Child Advocacy Team in 2013. In 2016, Ms. Kanter became the handler for the Child Advocacy Center’s facility dog, Meki, who joins Ms. Kanter at work every day to provide children and their families with comfort and support during difficult circumstances.
Anne Russell is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked at CHKD since 2013. Anne initially worked in the Child Advocacy Center at CHKD assessing and treating PTSD in children and adolescents related to child maltreatment. Anne joined the CHKD Mental Health Service Line in 2018 and is currently the Outpatient Clinical Care Supervisor providing clinical oversight to the Outpatient team, direct care to clients using evidence-based treatments, and trainings to Mental Health staff and the community on topics related to trauma.
2:45 p.m. Closing Remarks
TEEN RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Participate in a Paid Teen Sleep Research Study!
Seeking teens ages 12-18 for research study on social stress and suicide risk!