Thank you for attending on November 13, 2025!
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We were thrilled to welcome over two-hundred and fifty attendees to our 2025 Summit, Open More Doors. We gathered healthcare professionals and administrators, school nurses, educators and administrators, community leaders, caregivers and change-makers dedicated to improving student health outcomes across Minnesota.
Participants experienced:
Engaging keynote presentations from renowned experts in school-based healthcare.
Interactive break-out sessions focused on actionable strategies to support student wellness.
Opportunities to network and collaborate with peers across diverse sectors.
Key takeaways include innovative approaches to student mental health, new approaches to dental care access in schools, practical strategies for sustaining school-based healthcare, and insights into emerging trends in pediatric and adolescent health from nutrition to social media to diabetes care.
Join us in creating healthier, stronger communitieS!
DETAILS
DATE AND TIME: November 13, 2025
SUMMIT: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Registration opens at 7:45 AM
KEY LEADERS RECEPTION and FUNDRAISER: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
LOCATION: St. Catherine’s University, 2004 Randolph Ave, Saint Paul, MN. Rauenhorst Ballroom, 3rd floor of the Coeur de Catherine (marked with a star on the map)
LODGING: Hampton Inn & Suites - University Area. Details and reservations here. Reservations must be confirmed by Oct. 22, 2025.
The Summit is taking place in Rauenhorst Ballroom, 3rd floor of the Coeur de Catherine (marked with a star on the map).
PARKING & ARRIVAL
St. Kate’s, Coeur de Catherine (CdC)
Preferred Parking Lots: Dew Drop Lot and Library Lot
From Gate 3 (Randolph Avenue):
Drive straight to the T intersection.
Turn right and continue down the hill.
The Coeur de Catherine (CdC) will be on your right.
Park in the Dew Drop or Library lots at the bottom of the hill.
From Gate 4 (Fairview Avenue):
Drive straight to the T intersection.
Continue down the hill.
The CdC will be on your right. Parking is available in the same two lots below.
Registration
Register for the summit as an individual — online registration closed
Register a group and receive a discount
School nurses discount available
Get Involved
Volunteer
Become an Event Sponsor
Exhibit, Table, or Present a Poster - filled
Key Leaders Reception
Please join us after the Summit for a reception to honor Key Leaders in school-based health and raise funds to further the mission of the Alliance. This will take place at The Cour de Catherine on campus from 6-8 PM. Refreshments and appetizers served. Tickets are $50 and walk-up registration is also welcome.
What Is the MNSBHA Summit?
Purpose:
Join Minnesota’s leading healthcare, education, and community professionals to unlock new solutions for student health and school-based care. The MNSBHA Summit 2025 is a transformative event uniting healthcare professionals, educators, policy makers, and community leaders. Together, we’ll explore how expanding school-based health centers in Minnesota is opening doors to healthcare access, education equity, and community vitality.
Audience:
Communities seeking solutions for student wellness
Schools expanding preventive care for students
Leaders supporting new and emerging school-based health centers
School health professionals supporting pediatric wellness
Health organizations exploring sustainability and improving pediatric care
Agenda:
7:45 AM Doors Open + Light Breakfast
8:30 AM Welcome Celebration & Opening Remarks
9:00 AM Keynote: Erin Walsh, co-founder of Spark & Stitch Institute and author of It’s Their World: Teens, Screens, and the Science of Adolescence
10:10 AM Breakout Sessions, Round 1 (details below)
11:35 AM Breakout Sessions, Round 2 (details below)
1:00 PM Lunch & Networking
2:10 PM Breakout Sessions, Round 3 (details below)
3:30 PM Networking Hour: explore tables, learn from poster presentations, work together
4:00 PM Lynn Bretl and youth panel present: YouthCHAT: A youth-led approach for improving communication between healthcare professionals and young people
4:45 PM Closing remarks and raffle
Why This Matters Now
The Need Is Urgent:
Mental health concerns and unmet healthcare needs are rising among children and youth
Many families face overwhelming barriers to timely, affordable care
Schools can’t do it alone: school-based health centers are community partnerships
Access to preventive care is decreasing, even for our youngest Minnesotans
Help Us Spread the Word
share your enthusiasm for the summit
Use our 2025 Open More Doors Summit Media Kit to tell your colleagues about the summit. You’ll find flyers, logos, and ready-to-go social media posts.
MNSBHA: Who We Are
We are Minnesota’s leading resource for building and improving school-based health centers (SBHCs). We help communities:
Identify gaps in healthcare access that impede school success
Fill gaps in pediatric preventive and acute care where kids spend time, in school
Build sustainable health systems through community partnerships
Since 2022, we’ve grown our statewide SBHC network by 60% — partnering with government agencies, health systems, and local leaders to reach 100% of emerging and established clinics in Minnesota.
Conference Sponsors
thank you for your support
Ready to Open More Doors?
This is more than an event. It’s a movement to transform how we care for our children and youth. Whether you're a policymaker, practitioner, or passionate advocate — your voice matters here.
Questions? Email: hello@mnsbha.org
SPEAKERS & SESSIONS
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Opening Doors to Digital Wellbeing: What Students Need from Us Now
Parents and professionals are swimming in headlines about AI, phones, social media, and mental health. In this engaging and affirming talk, Erin Walsh takes you inside the teenage brain and connects the dots to the unique risks and opportunities of growing up digital. With warmth, science, and humor, she helps us move from feeling overwhelmed to capable and connected - the steady presence young people need to build resilience in a complicated world. Erin Walsh Erin Walsh is co-founder of Spark & Stitch Institute and author of It’s Their World: Teens, Screens, and the Science of Adolescence (Free Spirit Publishing).
Erin has worked with communities across the country who want to understand child and adolescent development better and cut through conflict ing information about kids and technology. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, the Star Tribune, Huffington Post, and Yahoo News. She co-authored the Tenth Anniver sary Edition of the national bestseller Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen and has consulted with schools, school districts, parent groups, and other youth-serving organizations throughout the United States and Canada on issues related to digital media, parenting, and social-emotional development. You can follow her work at sparkandstitchinstitute.com.
Breakout Sessions
10:10 AM — Breakout Session 1
Room 1: Physical Health: Improving Body Image and Preventing Disordered Eating in K–12 Students
Salena Salfen, MPH, Registered Dietician, Public Health Specialist with the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) at Saint Paul – Ramsey County Public Health and Be Real Ambassador and with BeRealUSA.org
Co-Presenters:
Alyssa Greene, LPC – Mental Health Systems Coordinator, MDH
Amanda Holmes, RD, LD – Cultivate Counseling
Children and adolescents are increasingly facing body image concerns, appearance-based bullying, and rising rates of eating disorders. This session equips educators and health professionals with tools to recognize disordered eating and promote positive body image through inclusive, protective nutrition education.
The session also challenges common stereotypes about eating disorders and highlights how systemic issues such as racism, transphobia, and anti-fatness increase risk for marginalized populations.
Room 2: Behavioral Health - Resilience-Based Model to Promote Psychological Wellness Among Refugee and Immigrant Youth
Saida Abdi, PhD, MSW, LICSW, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work
This session shares insights from the CIRCLE Project and Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees (TST-R), which addresses trauma in refugee children through culturally attuned, multi-tiered school-based interventions. Participants will learn how TST-R builds resilience and belonging in youth through education, wellness promotion, and trauma-responsive environments.
Room 3: Innovation - Bridging Health and Education: A Rural Success Story
Kelsey Henningson-Kaye, MSPAS, PA-C, Ortonville Area Health Services and Trojan Care SBHC in Ortonville School
This session highlights a successful partnership between a rural school district and local health services that improved healthcare access. Attendees will gain practical tools for building sustainable, community-backed school-health collaborations.
Room 4: Policy - Equitable Billing Practices for Sustainable School-Based Health Centers: Bridging Gaps in Public Health
Heather Gibson, Senior Healthcare Consultant with Rosen, Sapperstein, & Friedlander, LLC
Heather outlines how health departments can build equitable billing systems that ensure financial sustainability without compromising access. Attendees will walk away with tools to stabilize revenue and protect underserved communities.
11:35 AM — Breakout Session 2
Room 1: Physical Health - Collaborative Nutrition Counseling for Adolescents in SBHCs
Natalie Nation, MPH, LD, RD and Community Health Specialist with Hennepin County WIC & Minneapolis School Based Clinics
Natalie explores how dietitians can integrate into school-based teams to support adolescent nutrition. She shares effective strategies for adolescent engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration in school clinics.
Room 2: Behavioral Health - Drugs and Why People Use Them
Kyle Lipinski, Mental Health Counselor and Clinical Supervisor with Wilder Recovery Services
Kyle presents substance use as a coping strategy and shares how to build safety and autonomy in clients. This session emphasizes trauma-informed care and harm-reduction strategies.
Room 3: Innovation - Sharing Smiles at School - Oral Health Tools, Education, and Insights for SBHCs
John Howe, Senior Director, Foundation and Community Giving Strategy & Operations at Delta Dental of MN
John will present with a panel of experts in school-based dental care. Joining him, Kara Esser (Delta Dental) will describe about the 10-year journey of the Smiles@School, Dr. Eileen Crespo (Delta Dental) and Dr. Cindy McGregor (Delta Dental) will talk practical tips for sharing oral health prevention/education beyond 1st grade, and HealthFinders Collaborative will share their journey in school-based dental care at the new school-based health center in Faribault Public Schools.
Room 4: Policy - Medicaid Matters – Health Equity and School-Based Health Clinics
Miamon Queeglay, MPH, Integrated Population Health Researcher at the Minnesota Department of Human Services
Miamon explores how Medicaid policies impact the sustainability of SBHCs, especially in underserved communities. Learn advocacy strategies and reimbursement models that support health equity in schools.
2:10 PM — Breakout Session 3
Room 1: Physical Health - Family Interviews Inform School-Based Nursing for Type 1 Diabetes
Sarah Ogilvie, DNP, CNP, and Assistant Professor of Nursing at MSU Mankato & Nurse Practitioner at Health Commons at Pond SBHC
Sarah shares research from family interviews to understand the challenges of managing Type 1 Diabetes in schools. She presents school-nursing strategies for education, care coordination, and family engagement.
Room 2: Behavioral Health - Cultivating Courageous Clinicians Through Culturally Responsive Supervision
David Hesse, LMFT, Director of Training and Supervision at Change Inc.
David explores how culturally responsive supervision supports clinical staff and strengthens community mental health outcomes. The session offers actionable tools to enhance equity, awareness, and relationship-building in clinical supervision.
Room 3: Innovation - Establishing an Innovative Non-Profit to Operate SBHCs
Jessica Miehe, DNP, RN, PHN, Founder/ED of Rise Up Health Clinics; Assoc. Professor at St. Catherine University
Jessica discusses how to create a nurse-led nonprofit to run school clinics with equity and efficiency. This session dives into funding, partnerships, and community-driven leadership for long-term impact.
Room 4: Policy - Everyone Wins, When We’re All on the Same Team!
Jackie Blagsvedt, MLIS, Full-Service Community Schools Policy Consultant, MN Department of Education
Jackie presents how Minnesota school districts are using MN Multi-tiered Sytems of Support and Full Service Community Schools models to align schools, families, and behavioral health. Participants will explore partnership-driven strategies to build whole-child, whole-community support systems.
YOUTH PANEL
YouthCHAT: A Youth-Led Approach to Improving Communication Between Healthcare Professionals and Young People
YouthCHAT (Youth Council on Health and Teaching) is an innovative, youth-led program that trains current and future healthcare professionals to provide developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based care to adolescents. Youth CHAT Educators are adolescents and young adults from diverse backgrounds who act as simulated patients for healthcare trainees, developing characters and providing feedback on clinical interviews. This panel shares what young people need from healthcare providers, what’s working, what’s not, and how we can improve communication and care for adolescent patients.
Lynn Bretl, MPP is the Program Manager of YouthCHAT in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Minnesota. Lynn will be joined by a panel of YouthCHAT Educators: Alexis Craft Cheney, St Paul College student Evie Mattson, University of Minnesota graduate and med school applicant Aidan Maahs, recent Nursing School graduate from Minneapolis College.