Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds® Institute

The Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation (PAHWF) recently announced the opening of registration for their annual health and wellness conference, Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds® Institute (HBHM). The focus of this year's conference is cultivating a culture of wellness in schools. The Foundation has partnered with Fizika Group LLC, to offer ACT 48 credits as professional development. Attendees can register for sessions on the topics of active learning, capacity building for wellness teams, mental health, social emotional learning, and nutrition education. Each year this one-day conference offers an excellent way to network, collaborate, learn and recharge for the upcoming school year.

Lark Eshleman, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of the About Child Trauma Foundation, will open the conference by discussing the group effort it takes to nurture today's student population. In her keynote entitled, “Mapping the Village Toward Wholeness for our Students,” Eshleman will speak about healthy attachments in relation to resilience, development of students and student wholeness. 

Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds® Institute is also where participants and winners of the annual Pottstown Area School Wellness Checklist© (SWC) Challenge will be recognized and awarded.  SWC© is made up of evidence-based strategies and policies recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Institute of Medicine to impact the health of the school environment and reduce childhood obesity over time.

Another new addition to this year’s Institute is a panel discussion entitled, “Creating a Wellness Culture in Schools: National, State and Local Perspectives.” Harris will moderate a panel that includes: 

• Coleen Martin, Assistant Director,  Medical University of South Carolina
• Marianne Bartley, Ed.D., retired Superintendent, Lebanon School District, Founder, Time to Think, LLC 
• Pamela Smith, Special Assistant to the Secretary, PA Department of Education
• Thom Stecher, Founder, Thom Stecher & Associates

The featured panelists will discuss a variety of topics encompassing student wellness, the well-being of staff in schools and the direct correlation to student success. 

The cost to register is $50 and allows participants to choose from over 25 professional speakers to listen and engage with. This year, there will also be an expert panel discussion on Building and Sustaining a Culture of Wellness in Schools.  A continental breakfast and lunch will be served, and provide networking opportunities for attendees.

When registering for the event, attendees have the option of choosing from five tracks. These tracks include:  active learning, social and emotional learning (SEL), healthy eating and nutrition, mental health, and capacity building for wellness teams. Through peer-to-peer sessions and expert-led content presentations, attendees will have the opportunity to gain the perspective of many like-minded educators doing diverse work in the field.