Creating a Healthy Community
St. Luke’s Center for Community Health
Annual Fall Conference

Stuart Brown, MD
“Play, Spirit, and Character ~
Inseparable Companions Crafted by Nature”

A FREE EVENT presented in partnership with
Presented by St. Luke's Center for Community Health in Partnership with:

St. Luke’s Center For Community Health and our partners, The Community School and the Blaine County Community Drug Coalition, bring renowned author and speaker Stuart Brown, MD to Blaine County.  Whether you are a parent, educator, or community member, Dr. Brown’s keynote presentation will open your eyes to the importance of play at any age. 

This powerful presentation, and the Learning Sessions that follow, promotes using our resources, cultures, and collective energy to create and maintain healthy families and a healthy community. 

Keynote Speaker:
Stuart L. Brown, MD, psychiatrist, clinical researcher, and pioneer in the research on play, founded the National Institute for Play (www.nifplay.org).  Trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, he first discovered the importance of play by discerning its absence in a carefully studied group of homicidal young males. He later became founding Clinical Director and Chief of Psychiatry at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and an Associate Professor at UCSD in San Diego, California.  Over the course of his clinical career, he interviewed thousands of people to capture their play profiles.  His cataloging of their profiles demonstrated the active presence of play in the accomplishments of the very successful and also identified negative consequences that inevitably accumulate in a play-deprived life.

As he ended his clinical career, he believed that play could be the key to discovering the giftedness that is in everyone, but he realized that identifying the importance of play hadn’t really fully revealed what play is. So, in 1989 upon leaving clinical medicine, he decided to pursue play in greater depth.

He was surprised that much of the play-related research he reviewed was fragmented and lacked quantitative confirmation of factors readily observed clinically. A science and evidence-based way of understanding and suggesting how to improve play hygiene was and still is lacking.  He turned to animal play research to gain insights into human play.

With the support of the National Geographic Society and Jane Goodall, he observed animal play in the wild. He became acquainted with the premier animal play experts in the world, and began to see play as a long evolved behavior important for the well being and survival of animals. He subsequently came to understand that humans are uniquely designed by nature to enjoy and participate in play throughout life.

Dr. Brown is the author of “Play – How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul”.  For more information visit the National Institute for Play website at www.nifplay.org.

Keynote Address: 
Play, Spirit, and Character ~ Inseparable Companions Crafted by Nature

Whether you are a parent, educator, or community member, this presentation will open your eyes to the importance of play at any age.  Play has profound effects on child development, parenting, education and social policy, as well as the future of society.  Stuart L. Brown, MD, psychiatrist, clinical researcher, and pioneer in the research on play, founded the National Institute for Play. 

Dr. Brown’s studies show how play is deeply involved with human development, intelligence, and survival, and is essential for our well-being .  Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults -- and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. 

The National Institute for Play believes that as play is woven into the fabric of social practices, we will dramatically transform our personal health, our relationships, the education we provide our children, and the capacity of our corporations to innovate. 

Schedule of Events

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Community Campus ~ 1050 Fox Acres Road, Hailey

• 8:30 - 9:00 AM ~ Check-in
• 9:00 - 9:15 AM ~ “Unsung Heroes” Community Awards presentation
• 9:30 AM - Noon ~ Keynote Speaker – Dr. Stuart Brown presenting “Play, Spirit, and Character ~ Inseparable Companions Crafted by Nature”
• Noon - 12:45 PM ~ Lunch
  Lunch will be available for purchase through the Golden Elk (Or bring your own)
• 12:45 - 2:00 PM ~ Learning Session #1
• 2:10 - 3:25 PM ~ Learning Session #2

Afternoon Learning Sessions

• “Telling it Like Is – A Dialogue with Teens”  
  Panel of Blaine County Teen Advisory Council (BCTAC) Speakers    
• “Parenting on the Same Page”
  Nancy Kneeland, MS
• “To Tech or Not to Tech?  That is the Question”   
  Darrel Harris
• “Raising Kids with Love and Logic”    
  Janice Payne, RN, MS, LP
• “Ayude a sus hijos a desarrollar sus habilidades motrices jugando con ellos”  (Una sesión hablada en español )    
  Gloria Gunter, MPT, MEd

Free Childcare
Childcare is available for children up to 11 years of age on a space available basis.  Pre-registration is required!  You may sign up your child for day care with conference registration.  See registration form for more details.

Lunch
Lunch will be available for purchase on-site through Golden Elk or you may bring your own. 

You may also call St. Luke’s Center for Community Health at (208) 727-8733 for more information or to register.

St. Luke's Center for Community Health
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Registration

CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE IS FREE Online Pre-Registration is closed There is still space available - Please register at the event.

 

Friday Presentations
Friday, November 6, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
The Community School, Sun Valley

Special In-Service for Blaine County Educators
Thanks to The Community School, one of our generous co-sponsors of Dr. Brown’s visit, Blaine County educators are invited to his presentation

“Discovering What Nature has Provided Each of Us - Through Play.”
Educators will learn the evolution and patterns of play behavior, what it does for the brain, body, imagination and emotions. Discover your own personal play history, and learn how to use it personally and professionally.

For more information and to register for this FREE in-service,  please call Mary Hall at The Community School, 622-3960 ext. 101.

The Mission
“To improve the health and safety of our community by decreasing alcohol and other drug use among our youth.”

In the fall of 2005 our community recognized a threat to their valley.  Our children were being exposed to illegal drugs and alcohol.  Their use had reached alarming rates and with the introduction of crystal meth on the scene the general public was very concerned.

A group of individuals representing youth and adult probation, treatment professionals, law enforcement, community health care, schools and private counseling came together to aggressively address the problem.  From this group the Blaine County Community Drug Coalition was formed.  It has now expanded to include parents, faith-based groups, media, politicians, social service agencies, and concerned citizens.  They have organized to create a vision for the valley and goals to counter the drug involvement of our residents, with a strong focus on our youth.

For more information please visit www.blainecountycdc.org