Stronger Together: Building Resilience & Staying Inspired in Family Support Work: The 2025 Family Strengthening Network Summit

“We are worthy, we are capable, we will endure and be more beautiful together.”
-Dr. Jaiya John

The Family Strengthening Network’s annual Summit, held virtually on June 11, 2025, marked a meaningful milestone: 10 years since the first Summit in 2015. This year’s theme, “Stronger Together: Building Resilience & Staying Inspired in Family Support Work,” resonates deeply in the face of today’s challenges in L.A. County.

The event, which was funded by First 5 LA, brought together staff at the nine Welcome Baby hospital programs, along with the more than two dozen agencies affiliated with Healthy Families America and Parents as Teachers home visiting programs across L.A. County.

LA Best Babies Network — in partnership with First 5 LA, Work2Live Productions, California Hospital Medical Center, and L.A. County’s Department of Public Health and Department of Public Social Services — hosted the event.

Patrick Flippin-Weston, Senior Training Coordinator at LABBN and our Summit’s facilitator, opened the event with a message highlighting both the growing complexity and emotional demands of home visiting work, as well as the resilience of the dedicated staff who continue to show up for families.

We then heard remarks from Karla Pleitéz Howell, Executive Director of First 5 LA; Ashley Skiffer-Thompson, Director of Home Visiting Systems at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Division of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health; and Sharlene Gozalians, Director of LABBN.

A moving tribute video honored the life and legacy of beloved trainer and mentor Ruth Beaglehole, who passed away in April. For over a decade, Ruth has been a core part of our network’s staff training. Hundreds of home visitors, nurses, and managers have shared her teachings on Parent-Child Empathetic Communication and early brain development with families across the county.

LABBN’s Data team, Delisa Culver, Monica Charles, and Helen Chan delivered an impressive presentation titled “From Support to Success: A Data Snapshot of Family Empowerment,” highlighting key successes from the current fiscal year.

Keynote speaker Dr. Jaiya John delivered a powerful and poetic message that helped us reconnect with our purpose in family support work titled,“Our Sweet Song of Being Woven Together: How Relationships Heal and Lift Us.” He offered words for the soul: “What does it mean to support families? It means to be in love with life. Let the families you serve bring their crops to you. You must be humble enough to let them serve you—that you being blessed becomes their blessing. This is the sacred circle of life.”

Dr. Jaiya John is an internationally recognized freedom worker, poet, novelist, author, and speaker. He is the founder of Soul Water Rising, a global rehumanizing mission to eradicate oppression. Dr. John is the author of numerous books, including Daughter Drink This Water, We Birth Freedom at Dawn, Fragrance After Rain, and Freedom: Medicine Words for your Brave Revolution. He writes, narrates, and produces the podcast, I Will Read for You: The Voice and Writings of Jaiya John, and is the founder of The Gathering, a global initiative and tour reviving traditional gathering and storytelling practices to fertilize social healing and liberation. Dr. John holds doctorate and master’s degrees in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a focus on intergroup and race relations.

The Summit continued with a moving message celebrating the legacy of Lynn Kersey, Executive Director of Maternal and Child Health Access, in honor of her retirement. Lynn co-created the Perinatal Access Project for Homeless Healthcare in the 1980s, which became the foundation of MCHA. She has been a driving force in the fight to expand Medi-Cal postpartum coverage from just 60 days to a full year. Throughout her career, Lynn has served on numerous boards, councils, and advisory and leadership boards at both the local and state levels.

The Summit then moved into our parent engagement presentation, which also aligned with the 10-year celebration of our very first Summit. The conversation, titled “Then and Now: Families Share the Lasting Impact of Home Visiting,” reunited MCHA Parent Coaches with former clients from years past. The panel featured MCHA’s Resource and Outreach Supervisor Denise Cervantes, Parent Coaches Ebony Middlebrook and Whitney Pires, and their clients Alma Araiza and Taiesha Lighter. Alma was first featured in our 2016 Summit, and Taiesha, a returning client, has rejoined the program prenatally after 14 years.

Anna Ghukasyan, Senior Policy Research Associate at LABBN, shared achievements from the L.A. County Home Visiting Consortium workgroups and highlights from Home Visiting Day 2025, which was held on April 18 this year.

Staff members also took the opportunity to recognize each other. See the shout-outs they gave to highlight their coworkers’ dedication, hard work, and compassion. Check out the agenda and speaker bios, data presentation slides, and Policy and Consortium slides.

View the Summit pictures and recordings below.

Part 1: Opening remarks from: Senior Training Coordinator at LABBN Patrick Flippin-Weston; Executive Director of First 5 LA Karla Pleitéz Howell; Director of Home Visiting Systems at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Division of Maternal, Child, & Adolescent Health Ashley Skiffer-Thompson; LABBN Director Sharlene Gozalians; Video honoring trainer and mentor Ruth Beaglehole

Part 2: Client testimonial from a home visiting client with The Whole Child; LABBN’s data presentation, “From Support to Success: A Data Snapshot of Family Empowerment”

Part 3: Video from home visiting staff: “What keeps you inspired to do the work you do?”; Client testimonial from a home visiting family with St. Francis Medical Center; Keynote speaker Dr. Jaiya John, internationally recognized freedom worker, poet, novelist, author, and speaker

Part 4: Client testimonial from home visiting family with Shields for Families; Heartfelt message honoring Lynn Kersey, Executive Director of Maternal and Child Health Access, on her retirement; Parent Engagement Presentation, “Then and Now: Families Share the Lasting Impact of Home Visiting” featuring MCHA’s Denise Cervantes, Ebony Middlebrook, Whitney Pires, and their clients Alma Araiza and Taiesha Lighter.

Part 5: LABBN Senior Policy Research Associate Anna Ghukasyan shares achievements from the L.A. County Home Visiting Consortium workgroups and highlights from Home Visiting Day 2025; LABBN Director Sharlene Gozalians introduces a final video from the FSOE and gives closing remarks.