Lisa Bartilotta

Welcome to the 2014 CSSP Conference, “Paving the Path to Success:  Engaging Our Students One Intervention at a Time”!

As you know, millions of children suffer from mental health issues that go undetected or won’t receive intervention until well beyond the onset of symptoms. Educators and mental health professionals who work with children have a unique opportunity to not only seek out these difficulties, but to intervene at the earliest possible point in a child’s life.  Obviously, you all agree.  As I reviewed comments and feedback from past conferences, a simple request continually appeared…”More interventions, please!”  

I want to let you know that our conference committee heard you and, as you can deduce from the title, decided to make this year's theme all around interventions.  Although we have a number of talented  and nationally renowned speakers, you will not find a keynote in this year’s conference.  I wanted you to have as many choices as possible so that you have the greatest possibility of taking something home with you as you leave the conference; something you can extend to your students right away.

In addition for a request of more intervention topics, past conference feedback highlighted the importance of opportunities to connect and collaborate with colleagues. I believe this year’s schedule of workshops, breakout sessions, poster presentations, and special events not only offer engaging speakers and intriguing topics, but also offer plenty of opportunities for collaboration, and are activities designed with both interventions and collaboration in mind. Beside meeting the goals of obtaining intervention tools while reenergizing yourself with colleagues, you will also have the opportunity to earn up to 21 documented CPD’s, all of which are approved by NASP and CDE!

None of this would be possible without the incredibly hard work and support of our 2014 CSSP Conference Committee, our CSSP Board, and professionals from across the state who submitted proposals to present the latest research on the most applicable interventions to our attendees. Thank you also to our 2014 conference sponsors, including the Colorado Department of Education, MHS, PAR, and Pearson.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this year’s conference!

Lisa Bartilotta

CSSP President, 2014-15