Upcoming Workshops

Did you know a key to successful aging includes meaningful engagement? An active lifestyle with your community, your inner social circle, and your feelings are the secrets to a high quality of life. In this session, we review service and environmental changes you can incorporate to facilitate meaningful engagement as an individual ages with an intellectual and developmental disability. We will join a host of issues in this session – from revising goals and definitions to identifying preferences and environmental improvements. We will recognize strategies to cultivate independence and identify reinforcement-based procedures to maintain skills. Engagement is usually a fun behavior to plan, but one that is challenging to produce. By taking time to enjoy the process, we show ourselves, our co-workers or supervisees, and the individuals we serve that meaningful engagement comes from our activities with life and connections with each other.

In this session, we will discuss how you do not need to be a licensed clinician to help the people we support improve their mental well-being through quality social connections. If we can grow our awareness of how our personal relationships with the people we support can be a powerful diagnostic and treatment tool, then we can begin to help unlock new and more fulfilling ways of being connected to others. A growing body of research supports a strong link between social connection and mental well-being. No matter our role, all of us have the potential to help others feel courageous enough to be more authentic and connected in their relationships.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy used by clinicians to treat mental illness. Research supports the use of this model for treating those dually diagnosed with intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental illness. In this session, we will review the core tenants of ACT. We will explore the ways ACT can help us better understand how maladaptive thoughts and behaviors develop in both the people we support and ourselves as well as practical strategies for change. You do not have to be a therapist to benefit from an understanding of the principles of ACT. The goal of this presentation is to provide concrete ideas of how all disciplines can implement ACT interventions for better, more therapeutic relationships and more positive interactions, no matter what role you play.

In this session, we will discuss how you do not need to be a licensed clinician to help the people we support improve their mental well-being through quality social connections. If we can grow our awareness of how our personal relationships with the people we support can be a powerful diagnostic and treatment tool, then we can begin to help unlock new and more fulfilling ways of being connected to others. A growing body of research supports a strong link between social connection and mental well-being. No matter our role, all of us have the potential to help others feel courageous enough to be more authentic and connected in their relationships.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy used by clinicians to treat mental illness. Research supports the use of this model for treating those dually diagnosed with intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental illness. In this session, we will review the core tenants of ACT. We will explore the ways ACT can help us better understand how maladaptive thoughts and behaviors develop in both the people we support and ourselves as well as practical strategies for change. You do not have to be a therapist to benefit from an understanding of the principles of ACT. The goal of this presentation is to provide concrete ideas of how all disciplines can implement ACT interventions for better, more therapeutic relationships and more positive interactions, no matter what role you play.

Personal Centered Thinking is at the very center of what we do. Why do we still have plans that do not include values, choices, teaching skills that are important to the person supported? During this session, we will challenge you to think about person centered thinking during the assessment, implementation, and follow up phases of the development of a behavior support plan.

Personal Centered Thinking is at the very center of what we do. Why do we still have plans that do not include values, choices, teaching skills that are important to the person supported? During this session, we will challenge you to think about person centered thinking during the assessment, implementation, and follow up phases of the development of a behavior support plan.