Description

SD Fire Chiefs Association Annual Leadership Conference - All are welcome!  You do not need to be an officer to attend!  All are welcome and encouraged to attend, 100% Volunteer, Combination and Career.

This conference is geared for Fire Departments of all sizes from small volunteer departments to large career departments.

Hello and welcome to the 2023 South Dakota Fire Chiefs Leadership Conference.  We are please to say we are back at Cadillac Jacks for another conference.  This year we have made a few schedule changes to open up more quality networking and social time for the attendees to get the most out of the conference.

Speakers and presenters are still being plugged into time slots but we have another full conference for education and leadership topics.  Two of the headliners are listed below with there bios.

We hope to see all of you here again, and bring a few new faces as well.  This is not just for chiefs, but also for up and comers in your organizations.

 Click Here to Download .pdf of Tentative Schedule

Keynote Presentation:  Kepra Jack - HeartFit for Duty

Kepra is the Co-Owner and Chief Operating Officer for HeartFit For Duty.  Kepra works with various fire departments and law enforcement agencies across the country to educate members on relevant health risks specific to their jobs. Kepra is a voting member on NFPA committees as well as the National LEO Medical Guidance committee. HeartFit For Duty works with agencies to continuously expand the scope of wellness programs and identify ways to implement change within the public safety community. Kepra and the HeartFit team partner with researchers to drive the needle forward to change habits and improve health. Kepra and her team work with the Firefighter Cancer CoHort Study, First Responder Center of Excellence, The 100 Club, Skidmore University and The Science Alliance.

Keynote Presentation:  Dani Shedden - Holding the Line for Fire Leadership

Dani Shedden is a mental health counselor and owner of Close the Gap Wellness. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor. Her education includes a Masters of Science in Clinical Counseling from Northwest Nazarene University and a Masters Certificate in Fire Ecology, Management, and Technology from University of Idaho. Her background not only includes working in the mental health field, but as a wildland firefighter for the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. She has served as a Peer Supporter, Peer Lead, and Coordinator for the Critical Incident Stress Management interagency programs. Recently, she became certified in CISM and accepted into the approved instructor course to teach CISM courses. One of Dani's core values is taking care of people, she continues to do this work outside the land agencies as a CISM Clinician, Mental Health Educator, and as a Human Factors Facilitator for Fireline Leadership courses with Mission Centered Solutions.

About Holding the Line: with Danielle Shedden. Maintaining your mental health is just as important as your physical health. This course focuses on how to build resiliency, support, and develop tools to maintain self-care throughout the year. The goal is to learn strategies on how to care for one’s mental health to be able to stay in a position for the long term, while managing to stay healthy both mentally and physically. You’ll learn how to cultivate your own mental health, while holding the line and advocating for yourself.

Leaders attending will have the opportunity in this course to learn what resiliency is to you and those you support, what a healthy support system looks like, and some tools to utilize to avoid burnout and/or fatigue.

Other Presentations/Info will be Provided From:

  South Dakota Workers Compensation and the FRAP (First Responder Assistance Program)

 South Dakota State Fire Marshal/South Dakota Department of Public Safety/South Dakota Wildland Fire

 Sourcewell

 South Dakota Firefighters Association

EXHIBITORS/VENDORS:  For information on Sponsorship opportunities, exhibitor space at the event, etc... please contact us and we'll send you a link for Vendor/Exhibitor/Sponsor Specific Registration Page.  SCDir@sdfirefighters.org