Bring the whole family!

This year, the National Conference is offering a track designed specially for youth with psoriasis, youth who have a parent or sibling affected by psoriasis, or parents of kids with psoriasis. Through four workshops, the whole family can connect with others, express their feelings about psoriasis, and become empowered to speak up about it. Peer leaders will be on hand throughout the sessions to share their own struggles and successes and offer support. A pediatric dermatologist will join us on Saturday to answer your questions about caring for pediatric psoriasis.

Whether you have psoriasis yourself, or its in your family, this track is perfect for all family members!

Family and Youth track workshops

Youth and Family: Express yourself!
Youth will have the opportunity to express their feelings about psoriasis through paint and pencil, play and poetry. Hands on art and theater activities will build self-image and empower youth to share their feelings constructively and creatively.

Youth and Family - Living with Psoriasis: Tips, tools, and talk
Kids, do you have questions about your psoriasis, how you can take care of it, what makes it better or worse...or anything else? Bring your questions to this session for Dr. Alla Gruman to answer. She specialized in treating kids, so she'll have lots of information that's for people just your age!

Youth and Family: Speaking Up and Speaking Out
This session will be a time to gain a creative approach to handling other people's reactions to your psoriasis with language and skills that will benefit all areas of your life. You'll learn how to incorporate peers and even bring a peer program to your school to help not only yourself but others as well. You'll come away equipped to run the race before you in life!

Youth and Family - How genes, environment and lifestyle contribute to psoriasis
The cause of psoriasis is unknown. However, it is clear that both genes and the environment are involved. In this session, we will introduce you to the concepts of heredity and genetic variations and how our genes, environment and lifestyle contribute to the development of psoriasis. You'll also take away a fantastic toolkit to help you collect and document your family health history.

Getting to Conference