This year's summit was held virtually June 24-26 and featured a total of 20 workshops and keynote speakers covering topics such as racial equity and stopping sexual violence. More than 300 participants from the United States and international restorative justice communities were in attendance.
PESA contributed to the programming by having two of its staff, Rosie Avetisyan and Melissa Santiago, each host a workshop during the Summit. Avetisyan’s workshop covered mental health and stress management while Santiago’s workshop informed its attendees about potential stressors in life and how to develop healthy coping skills.
Avetisyan says that her workshop was received positively by its attendees. “The students [were] engaged,” she says. “[We covered] how important mental health is to every individual, and that improving your capacity to cope allows for better decisions to be made."
Santiago had similar feedback regarding her workshop, which taught that, "in some cases stress is inevitable," and that there are healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with it. “The attendees participated and were engaged throughout the presentation,” she says. “I could tell that they took something valuable from the presentation.”
Overall, each presentation gave youth knowledge to better themselves and their communities. ■
If you’d like to support PESA’s many social and educational initiatives, please contact us.