Professional Development

The 2015 Bost Health Policy Forum hosted by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky kicked off with a welcome from Kentucky's Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen. She reinforced the importance of economic vitality, livability and strong communities related to the health of Kentuckians. We heard from a variety of health advocates on topics including education, the built environment, worksite wellness and food systems from Andrew Dannenberg from the University of Washington, Vera Oziransky from the Read ▸ about Howard L. Bost Health Policy Forum

It has been a busy few weeks with travel to South Carolina, Hawaii and Tennessee the past few weeks. Some updates on what we've been working on! Presenting 8 Paradigm Shifts in Health Education in Hawaii! HYPE Program, Read ▸ about HYPE, Hawaii, TN Keynote and RWJF Event

A few months ago, my former employee, Maesie Speer, currently the Program Associate for Grants and Programs at the Oregon Community Foundation, asked me if I'd be willing to share the Systems Thinking Systems Changing simulation with her staff in hopes that they would see the value of facilitating the simulation for recipients of their Studio to School grant. Her colleagues were really excited about it and last Friday, I facilitated the game with 100 participants in Eugene Oregon Read ▸ about Oregon Community Foundation; Studio to School Grants

ASHA's new identity! I took full advantage of being back in Portland for the third time in 3 months, this time at the American School Health Association Conference. Being that I just moved from there to Kentucky less than a year ago, there were plenty of people to connect with, but I focused on my own professional development and networking while in downtown Portland.I was asked by Linda Morse, President of ASHA and Lee Lowery, ASHA Read ▸ about American School Health Association Conference

My alarm goes off at 5:20am. I don’t even press the snooze button because I’m super excited to lead the 6am, 4.5 mile run from the conference hotel in downtown Louisville over the Big Four Bridge (no, seriously… I am excited!). I lie there curious to know if anyone will even show up and wonder to myself, if they don’t, will I still run or come back home and crawl into bed? I get dressed, eat a hardboiled egg, drink some tea and walk the 3 blocks from where I live in downtown Louisville to the Read ▸ about Southern Obesity Summit- Day 2

“It’s just a question of changing political will.” — Larry Cohen, Executive Director, Prevention Institute A fabulous panel of experts from a variety of backgrounds in obesity work and from across the US opened the 8th Annual Southern Obesity Summit in Louisville, Kentucky last night. Dr. Stephanie Mayfield Gibson, Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Public Health set the stage by sharing what’s happening in Kentucky, both from data and programmatic perspectives, Read ▸ about Southern Obesity Summit- Day 1

“SIF is a White House initiative and program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Social Innovation Fund has the simple, but vital goal of finding solutions that work, and making them work for more people.We unite public and private resources to evaluate and grow innovative community-based solutions that have evidence of results in low-income communities in any of three priority areas: economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development.”  I'm Read ▸ about It Was a DC Kind of Day…

Here is an update about what Cairn Guidance has been up to recently. We are so excited to be working in school health, community health and within the content areas of: tele-medicine, after-school programming for youth, school health policies, facilitation, keynoting, bicycle and pedestrian-friendly streets, sustainability, curriculum, systems thinking, suicide prevention, mental health promotion, and obesity prevention! Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky- Jess is a part time project officer Read ▸ about What Have We Been Up To?