In collaboration with community partners around the region, Northwest Regional Education Service District presents:

2025 School Safety and Mental Health Summit

Wednesday, January 15, 2025  8:30am - 3:30pm

The 2025 School Safety & Mental Health Summit aims to bring together school and community partners to discuss current topics related to school safety, school culture and climate, and mental and behavioral health through a lens of equity and culturally-sustaining practices. The summit will serve as a platform to unite diverse perspectives and expertise in sharing best practices, research findings, and innovative approaches to promote safety and mental well-being in educational settings. 

Keynote address:
Riding the Wave: Sustainable Trauma-Conscious Care
Dr. Han Ren

As we continue to navigate ongoing global upheaval, pandemic fallout, and political stress, the collective mental health impacts of ongoing trauma cannot be ignored. Educators and students alike are facing additional layers of an increasingly polarized educational landscape that denies the lived experiences of individuals who hold intersectional marginalized identities. While we're pivoting and improving in our ability to cope with overt acts of harm and marginalization, we're also learning to numb and ignore more subversive and subtle forms of oppression. Similarly, we're becoming more adept in managing stressors, yet the lingering effects of stress on the nervous system are often overlooked. This workshop aims to normalize collective trauma responses to ongoing systemic traumas as well as provide tangible coping frameworks. We will broaden the frameworks of trauma-informed care to extend from the individual and collective, and unpack the insidious effects of microaggressions, racial gaslighting, and internalized oppression. Teasing apart stressors vs. stress, we'll explore sustainable and embodied ways to better address our nervous system needs. Rooted in the strengths of historically overlooked communities, we prioritize collective care and uncover ways of forging ahead with compassion.

Dr. Han Ren (she/they) is a licensed clinical and school psychologist, consultant, speaker, and educator. She is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive work, practicing from a justice-oriented, interpersonal, culturally-humble, and systems-informed framework. Through their widely viewed content on social media, they strive to make mental health accessible and applicable to our daily lives. Dr. Ren addresses the pursuit of collective healing through her work centered in historically overlooked communities, especially Asian-Americans and children of immigrants. She co-leads a group private practice in Austin, Texas and has been featured on the TEDx stage, the Headspace app, Buzzfeed, and the Huffington Post. When she's not in the therapy chair, Dr. Ren is working on her first book: "The Hyphenated Life,", a self-help memoir on bridging the in-between spaces of intersectional identities, debuting in 2026.

In addition to the morning keynote, participants will have the opportunity to curate their experience by choosing up to four breakout sessions. Full session descriptions and materials are available on the event homepage linked above.

Accommodations: We strive to make our events accessible and inclusive to participants of all backgrounds, identities, and abilities. Live captioning will be enabled for all sessions. If you anticipate needing additional accommodations, such as an interpreter, please note this in the event pre-survey or reach out to the event contact. 

About Northwest Regional Education Service District: Northwest Regional ESD is the largest of Oregon’s 19 education service districts. We serve students, educators, child care providers and families living in Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Washington counties. Our staff members work collaboratively with school districts and other educational partners to deliver quality, cost-effective programs and services including special education, technology, professional development, school improvement and operational support. Our vision is that every student is educated, equipped and inspired to achieve their full potential and enrich their communities. Learn more at nwresd.org.