Update as of March 12: Following guidelines with regards to Coronavirus, the 2020 MACHS Conference at Cazenovia College has been canceled.
By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
Cazenovia College will host the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Human Services (MACHS) Conference Friday, March 27 through Sunday, March 29.
The MACHS is a regional affiliation of the National Organization for Human Services, founded in 1975 to strengthen the field.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Trauma in Our Communities: Prevention and Interventions.”
The schedule will feature a selection of workshops and student poster board presentations, as well as keynote and luncheon speakers.
According to Professor and Human Services Program Director Mary Handley, CRC, LMHC, PhD, the Cazenovia College Human Services Club has been hard at work organizing the conference and setting up the weekend program.
“Organizing the conference has been an adventure, to say the least,” said Roshawn Kershaw, president of the Human Services Club. “Having Mary Handley and [graduate and international programs coordinator] Abby Berry working to get all the details right has been so helpful . . . I’ve been included in all the steps to curating the event; being able to give ideas and make decisions that [help] make the conference possible has been amazing.”
The club was also tasked with selecting the theme of this year’s conference.
“The executive board wanted to focus on trauma to shine light on a topic that has been circulating around the human services community recently,” Kershaw said. “Research . . . on trauma has increased and people have great [information] they should be sharing with others; this conference gives them the platform to do so. Human Services Club Secretary Hailee Thomas came up with the title ‘Trauma in Our Community: Prevention and Interventions,’ and we just knew that was what we had to go with.”
According to Handley, the conference is designed for human services students, faculty and professionals from the community.
“The primary focus is students, so it is scheduled on the weekend so they can come, and it is reasonably priced so they can afford it,” Handley said.
Throughout the weekend, Cazenovia College faculty and graduate students in the mental health counseling program will lead workshops exploring the impact of trauma on communities, families, individuals, schools and other institutions.
Undergraduate students will be delivering poster presentations with a broader scope beyond the conference topic such as student internships, research, projects and community outreach.
“We have local presenters [too] and one will be doing a painting event with participants, which I’m personally looking forward to,” Kershaw said.
International speaker and sexual assault survivor, Jennifer Nadler, will deliver the keynote address.
Nadler is a certified therapeutic art coach and the founder and director of The Center for Creative Arts & Healing, where she helps people to process past trauma, present life circumstances and future goals and aspirations through art.
She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from LeMoyne College.
Nadler is a member of the board of directors and a sexual assault advocate for Vera House, Inc.
She is the recipient of several honors of distinction, including the “Exceptional Women of CNY Award” from New York State Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter.
Martha Haythorn will serve as the conference’s luncheon speaker.
An advocate, educator and an actor, Haythorn’s goal is to reduce the stigma related to disabilities.
She will discuss her life experiences and her message for improving the lives of all people.
In addition to providing students with the opportunity to present their work and learn about their field of study, the annual conference also offers students the chance to network with professionals.
“The conference is important for students because at any moment you are in a room full of professionals who may [have knowledge] of jobs and opportunities that the students could go into in the future,” said Kershaw. “The professionals that I have met have been so open with talking and sharing, and that is special to this conference.”
For information, hotel booking and registration for the MACHS Conference go to cazenovia.edu.
For more information on Nadler, visit thevoiceofasurvivor.wixsite.com/jennifer/.
