What if the behaviors we fear most, defiance, withdrawal, aggression, and disconnection, are actually distress signals from people who have never felt safe enough to belong?

Emotional Homelessness™ is the condition of individuals who move through life without a consistent sense of emotional safety, identity, or connection. It is invisible, pervasive, and disproportionately experienced by youth of color, children in foster care, and families navigating systems that were never designed with their belonging in mind.

In this session, behavioral educator, bestselling author, and keynote speaker Tameka Anderson, herself a former youth who aged out of foster care, unpacks the science and the story behind Emotional Homelessness™ and introduces practitioners to the THRIVE™ Framework: a research-informed, trauma-responsive model for building the conditions where belonging is not just possible, but sustainable.

Participants will learn to reframe behavior as data, identify the unmet needs beneath surface-level presenting concerns, and walk away with practical tools they can use immediately, whether in a classroom, a courtroom, a clinic, or a home.