An ethical audit enables health and human services as well as professionals in the field to assure that their clinical practices and the practices of the organization within which they are employed meet certain minimum standards of care. Whether examining this from the perspective of the Hippocratic Oath or the performance improvement mantra of “do the right thing and do the right thing well” the clinician, direct care worker, manager and/or administrator must wrestle with solving principled and moral dilemmas on a daily basis.
This workshop will address from an individual and organizational view the principles of ethics and negligence, will discuss concepts related to the duty of care owed, and provide a framework from which participants can conduct an ethical audit from a risk management perspective.
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Attachment should be an inevitable part of life. However, for many individuals, this is not the case. Those individuals who suffer from attachment issues live a confused, superficial life at best. Teenagers who experience attachment problems are often diagnosed (or misdiagnosed) with conduct disorders, Bipolar disorders, and even burgeoning personality disorders. It’s not so much that they do not fit the symptomatic presentation of these disorders; it’s that the lack of a RAD diagnosis prevents the adults working with them from fully understanding the depth of the problem or the correct methods of treatment. These youth often present as rage full, aggressive, and out of control. They frequently have already begun to develop a juvenile court record, associate with other youth who are struggling with legal, substance abuse, and sexuality issues. They are likely cutting on themselves, hurting others, engaging in sexually elicit or abusive relationships, running away, and using alcohol and other drugs to mask their pain. The training will also include appropriate strategies for probation officers to provide probation supervision to meet the special needs of youth with RAD and protection of community.
This training is designed for those who have little understanding of attachment issues as well as those who work daily with this disorder. The participants will learn to identify signs and symptoms of attachment issues. Attendees will leave the seminar with new understanding, skills and interventions to assist in their most frustrating and challenging cases.
Training Objectives
ETHICAL USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING?
In our very busy lives most of us use one or the other of the internet choices for social media. Social media is a popular way to stay in touch with our friends, family and colleagues, and the proliferation of sites for specific purposes and types of connections grow in number every day. Oh yeah–“got an app for that?”
But what parameters define the ethical use of social networking in your workplace? What advice do you give clients and families about boundaries related to the use of social networking? When does the liability of allowing use by clients, families, staff, your development department, and the organization outweigh the good? What parameters are needed? What limits are required? Who holds the liability when something bad occurs and who gets praised when allowing use of social networking brings dividend? Within these questions and other questions as well issues of productivity, what defines an inappropriate posting, and the personal life clients and employees enjoy outside of the work environment are embedded.
While not new, the principled use of social media and social networking can be confusing for child caring organizations. This workshop will examine the ethical questions raised by the decisions and desired outcomes of the use of social networking by your organization.
The new Casey Life Skills Assessment website offers a suite of research-based assessment tools and resources for helping youth to address and improve needed skill areas as they transition to adult life. Casey’s resources are free, research-based and proven and offer best practice oriented opportunities which lead to improved outcomes for youth and young adults.
This session will examine the Casey Life Skills Assessment and familiarize professionals and caregivers with how to register youth for the assessment and guide them through the process of case planning (having crucial conversations, setting goals and action steps and using resources to learn, practice and develop needed skills.) The session will explore the 13 supplemental assessments that address additional areas that youth often face: parenting; homelessness, school and post-secondary attitudes and the need for supports; special populations and youth who experience developmental delays. Also included, will be information to utilize caregiver input regarding the youth’s areas of strength and opportunities for growth and how to customize reports and learning plans for groups and individual youth. Youth engagement strategies will also be discussed.
Brandi Kirby, along with the Prince of Peace Center, have been visiting local schools and colleges speaking to staff and students and sharing Brandi's personal journey of homelessness and drug addiction. In her past she was a drug addict and homeless at the age of 14 which lasted for over 10 years, and now she has completely turned her life around with the help of the community. Focusing on the positives in her life she hopes you will find her story filled with inspiration. Although her story hits on many areas of life, the main focus is to raise homeless awareness and drug prevention.
Brandi has been on the cover of Views and Voices magazine, had her story published through StoryCorps and filed in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, as well as volunteered at many community events. She has been recognized with awards, but the most rewarding thing she does is speaking to today's youth because that is where it all starts. The decisions they make today will be the ones that will affect not only their own personal future, but also the future of our community.
This presentation will describe Auberle’s journey to becoming high performing and goal driven. Auberle received the Wishart Award and the National Alliance Agency of the Year Award as a direct result of our planning and outcome goal driven processes.
Auberle Senior Leaders will describe the evolution since 2004 when we began our scorecard and goal based process. We will share lessons learned along the way and provide participants with tools to create a goal driven environment within their own agency.
Individuals with developmentally disabilities are 7 times more likely to come into contact with law enforcement than others. Current statistics indicate an average of 1 in 88 children in the United States have an ASD diagnosis. Acknowledging the impact of autism, it is imperative Law enforcement, First Responders, Caseworkers, Probation Officers and Court Personnel are able to recognize individuals with this disorder. The training will provide an explanation of familiarization of the core symptoms of autism, the characteristics of autism including social, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. The training will also include appropriate strategies for participants to learn how to interview individuals on the spectrum, and meet the special needs of ASD individuals. Whether it is a simple field interview or a more focused interrogation, dealing with persons with autism present unique challenges and considerations.
Training Objectives
To increase participants understanding and awareness of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
To recognize and have a general understanding of common autism behaviors and characteristics. Including:
¨ Communication
¨ Social interaction
¨ Emotional
¨ Behavioral
To assist participants in understanding the function of a individuals behaviour
To provide an overview of skills and strategies
Criminal Justice Issues
Dilemmas and tips in interviewing skills and interview settings
Behavioral de-escalation techniques
Public/community safety issuesThe methodology for the workshop will include: lecturing, power point, handouts, Resources for future assistance, and have an individual with Autism diagnosis speak to group and do questions and answers for participants.
This training will identify the impact of trauma on child’s behavior, feelings, relationships and view of world. Training will also cover the impact trauma has on children physically, the impact on learning, and the impact on brain development. We will cover signs of compassion fatigue, and ways to deal with compassion fatigue. Overview of ways to help children manage trauma in home, through creating safety, learn to manage emotions, and the impact that trauma reminders play on behavior.
This training is based off of the National Childhood Traumatic Grief Network’s Child Welfare Trauma Training.
The Kaizen Burst an operational excellence tool used to make a large process change in an organization. Toyota, General Electric, Kennametal and others have used Kaizen as part of their lean management approach to building cultures that continuously improve outcomes.
Kaizen has recently been applied in non-profit and health care settings. This presentation will demonstrate a Kaizen Burst process and how it can be used to enhance change within a social service organization.
This event will be hosted by PCCYFS, where we will welcome local legislative representatives with a wine and cheese reception. This will not only be an opportunity to thank our local legislative representatives for passing Act 55 of 2013, but to also engage in conversations with current issues. Facilitator for the event will be Lisa Fox from the Bradley Center.
**You must be at least 21 years of age to attend this event - ID will be checked at the door.**
Through a 1 ½ hour PowerPoint presentation and printed materials, Christy Lewis, Director of the Arc of Washington, in collaboration with Life Enrichment Trust’s Administrator, Timothy Pawol, Esq. will present important information regarding one of the most under publicized financial advantages that exist for individuals living with disabilities: Supplemental Needs Trusts. Additional materials will be available that will enable attendees to establish appropriate types of trusts to meet the specific needs of individuals with disabilities, especially children and their families.
Christy Lewis will address the benefits received from creating and/or preserving eligibility for an individual with disabilities, including:
Because asset limits are imposed on individuals with disabilities to allow them to qualify for government benefit programs which pay for their basic needs, care must be taken so that once created, eligibility to receive these valuable benefits is never lost. Christy will share specific examples of individuals who became ineligible due to the accrual of excess assets and were then not able to receive needed services. Loss of benefits places additional stress on families and caregivers:
As a means of protecting assets while creating or preserving eligibility for individuals with disabilities, Life Enrichment Trust (LET) offers legal options for using funds from estate planning, legal settlements, and other forms of income to allow an individual to have funds available that would have been spent down or surrendered to reach the extremely low, government-imposed limitations. Tim Pawol will discuss how establishing one of the three types of supplemental needs trusts allows an individual to access their own funds to purchase goods and services that would otherwise have been out-of-pocket expenses paid by relatives or friends. LET works with individuals, families, caregivers, and providers to determine which trust, or combination of trusts, will best suit an individual’s needs.
Of special note, and current interest, Tim’s section of the presentation will include:
Presenting as “Champions Lighting the Way”, Christy and Tim will share both experience and expertise with “Champions Who Impact Community/Legal Decision Making”. The ultimate goal of both presenters and attendees is the increased ability to enrich the lives of individuals with disabilities.
An Overview of Sensory Integration Dysfunction
This presentation includes an overview of sensory integration, the basic neurological components underlying it, an explanation of each sensory system, and how the organization or lack of organization of these systems can contribute to a person’s ability to function at home, in school, and in society. A child with sensory integration dysfunction has difficulty with taking in and processing sensory stimulation and producing an appropriate response to it. This may result in a child having difficulties such as problems transitioning between situations, being easily overstimulated, frequent tantrums during which it is difficult to calm them, and many more issues which interfere with their ability to function throughout their daily routines. They are often misdiagnosed as having behavioral problems, ADHD, psychological, or social disorders. The intent of this presentation is to help people to better understand the signs of sensory integration dysfunction so that it may be identified more quickly in children. Early identification and treatment of sensory integration dysfunction can result in a child being able to participate in daily routines with more ease and comfort.
Integrating adopted, foster, or pre-adoptive children who have attachment disruptions and early trauma into an established family presents unique challenges. Failure may result in a disrupted placement, a dissolved adoption, or out of home treatment for the child struggling to become part of a permanent family. Many family therapy models focus on the family as a system while avoiding the individual’s trauma history that hinders the ability to form healthy relationships. Focus is often on how the family brings about or allows “dysfunction” to continue, which negates the health of the foster or adoptive family prior to the child entering that system. In addition, traditional therapeutic services tend to focus on the family “learning to manage” behaviors rather than addressing the underlying issues. Behavioral approaches may not result in permanent change, healthy relationships, or contribute to strong attachments enhancing permanency for the child.
Learn about a new, state funded, in-home team delivered service that is heavily invested in supporting the success of the “forever family.” This service includes assessments, psycho-educational sessions to explain the impact of trauma and resulting trauma disrupted competencies, linking behaviors to trauma history, teaching and application of specialized parenting skills, using attachment building interventions, and arranging sessions for trauma resolution. To further success, discharge planning encourages links to informal and formal supports such as; specialized outpatient providers, parenting support groups, state funded Post-Permanency services (when available), and respite providers.
A Second Chance, Inc. (ASCI) is a nonprofit organization established in July of 1994. Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families and the Department of Human Services of Philadelphia are the primary funding sources of ASCI. ASCI specializes in Kinship Foster Care, reunification, kinship adoption, subsidized permanent custodianship, and in Philadelphia the organization has a Kinship care, traditional foster care program, and the primary contract for Family Group Decision Making.
In today’s economy, when everyone is being asked to do more with less, the nonprofit sector faces a particularly challenging environment. The demand for nonprofit services will continue to grow given the continuing high rates of social problems such as poverty, unemployment, underemployment and child abuse.
Sustaining an organization over time can be a challenge as priorities change, community issues come and go, and retooling an organization to meet the needs of a changing environment can be costly. The workshop will look at factors affecting sustainability of a nonprofit organization. These factors are based on A Second Chance’s 18+ years of experience as a dynamic community-based nonprofit organization in both Allegheny and Philadelphia counties in the state of Pennsylvania.
Successful organizations are good at networking, secure social capital from local supporters, are innovative and passionate about the mission; develop a diverse resource base using networks and relationships, and are flexible and creative (can do much with little). In addition, there are internal support systems that support the needs of staff and volunteers. They use collaborations, are focused and think strategically about how they work with funders.
Community based nonprofits are often at the center of many important community and social issues, playing a critical role in helping those communities and consumers. This workshop will help nonprofit organizations to use their creativity to set up business management practices to effectively sustain and retool the work over time.
The presentation will consist of a review of social issues facing military families during deployment and upon returning home.
Dr. Niebauer, VA Clinical Psychologist, and Mr. Cress, VA Clinical Social Worker will give a clinical presentation of mental health issues that are prominent with returning combat Veterans, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and suicide risks.
The presentation will also include barriers and challenges regarding providing treatment to this population. The presentation will also consist of a panel discussion that will include two Iraq/Afghanistan combat Veterans, who will openly share their personal stories and answer questions from the audience.
This presentation will provide a first-hand account of the day to day lives and the challenges faced by our retuning combat Veterans and family members.
This 1 ½ hour presentation discusses the stages of grief and loss experienced by both children and their biological parents due to separation from family members that often occurs in child welfare practice. In addition to discussing "the normal grief process" we will also explore how trauma affects children and biological parents as they process grief. Strategies to help children, their biological parents, and the resource providers deal with the issues of loss and traumatic reaction to grief will be presented through case presentations.
Topics to be discussed include: the history and stages of grief, the influence of attachment on separation responses, reaction to loss, affective symptoms, behavioral symptoms, cognitive symptoms, common diagnoses, behaviors that parents display during separation from their children, ambivalent parents, helping children grieve, strategies to help clients find help and relief from their feelings of loss, and approaches to working with ambivalent parents.
The presenters will provide insights into the stages of grief as experienced for both children and adults through a PowerPoint presentation. This will be followed by demonstrating how, when trauma is involved, children and parents do not process grief in, what is perceived to be a "normal" manner. By explaining and demonstrating to the audience/participants why children and parents would respond in the manner in which they do, understanding/knowledge is gained. Through case presentations and group discussion, the participants will gain a better knowledge base/understanding of the behaviors observed in children and birth parents when children are removed from the home. Additionally, participants will be able to develop strategies to help the children, biological parents, and resource providers work through their grief in a more positive manner.
This presentation will be helpful to caseworkers, resource parents, foster care agency workers, students, educators, and other community partners/service providers working with child welfare clients and their families.
The intent of this presentation is to provide non-behavioral health clinicians with evidence-based practices and the information necessary to recognize and bring into treatment Veterans who are struggling with suicidal thoughts. There are approximately 25 million Veterans in the United States and 5 million Veterans who receive care within the Veterans Health Administration. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate suicide rates among men between the ages of 20 and 65 at approximately 22 per 100,000 persons per year. Veterans Health Administration mental health officials estimate 6,400 suicides per year among Veterans, and 1,600 to 1,800 among Veterans receiving health care from the Veterans Health Administration.
Goals of the presentation:
1) Understand the prevalence and scope of suicide in our society and among the Veteran population.
2) Understand the assessment of potentially suicidal Veteran.
3) Recognize warning signs and make necessary referrals.
4) Become familiar with risks related to suicide in patient presenting with other medical and psychiatric concerns.
5) Learn about systemic and environment risks related to treating suicidal Veterans.
6) Recognize the importance of what is termed “means restriction”.
7) Understand the basic concepts of formulating a safety plan for the Veteran identified as at high risk for suicide.
The presenter will be Peter Albert, MSN, RN the Suicide Prevention Coordinator at VA Butler Healthcare and the Lead Suicide Prevention Coordinator for VA’s VISN 4. The format of the presentation will be a power point presentation to address the goals stated above. The presenter will review the power point presentation with the participants while providing relevant clinical examples to reinforce the information presented. Additional handouts and information on the Department of Veterans Affair’s suicide prevention program will be made available to all participants.Auberle has begun the 3 year journey to implement The Sanctuary Model of trauma-informed care across the agency. This Model provides a method for creating a culture that can more effectively address healing from psychological and social trauma. It integrates current brain and medical research, best practices in promoting emotional, mental and behavioral health and wellness and healing strategies for at-risk youth and their families. The Model also addresses staff wellness with its “care for the caretakers” emphasis. Sanctuary provides a guide for organizations who work with children and families to create a “trauma-informed community” that understands the ways that trauma “injury/hurt/pain” and chronic stress impact an individual’s behavior, overall health, and worldview. One of its primary goals is to create a safe and healthy environment for healing and growth to take place. A trauma-informed community challenges everyone, from staff to foster parents, to change the thought process from “what’s wrong with you” to “what’s happened to you”.
As we have rolled out the Model to Residential and Foster Care programs, we have found it to be an excellent tool for retention for difficult placements. We will share our perspective of 22 months of our 3 year journey to creating Sanctuary in Auberle and how it enhances and compliments Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) already in place. It is up to us to remain current on the best practices and research for helping our clients while addressing wellness strategies for our staff. As an agency, Auberle prides itself on innovative practices and our interest in The Sanctuary Model was really the next logical step as we continue to innovate.
At conference time we will be close to the end our year 2 for implementing The Sanctuary Model. We will share the challenges and rewards in terms of staff/foster parent recruitment, retention, training, and on-going program operations.
The learning objectives for this presentation will be:
1. Participants will be able to name the basic tenants of The Sanctuary Model,
2. Participants will be able to conceptualize The Sanctuary Model in all settings primarily as it pertains to Residential and Foster placements,
3. Participants will be able to critically analyze the value of implementing The Sanctuary Model into their programs and agencies. The Sanctuary Model is a much needed tool to engage and train families to work with the ever-challenging children sent to us.
Jeanne Burger, Community Services Manager/Foster Parent Recruiter and Trainer, has been with Auberle for 6 years as the Foster Parent Recruiter/Trainer and Community Services Manager for 1 year. During that time she has effectively recruited over 125 families in 4 counties. She currently manages 80 families. Jeanne is a former foster parent and adopted 3 of her foster children alongside her 3 birth children.
Carrie Jarvis, Case Coordinator Manager, has been with Auberle for 8 years and in her current position for 6 years. She has also been a certified TCI and TCIF trainer for 61/2 years. She manages the Coordinators who coordinate the care for all residential children at Auberle.
Experiential and/or Action-Based Counseling methods are specialized intervention techniques, used as part of a comprehensive treatment protocol in working with traumatized individuals and offenders. Particular focus is given to the Event Drawing Series, an assessment and intervention method combining counseling and art therapy techniques in a task oriented process that allows troublesome experiences to be resurfaced in a safe and non-threatening manner.
*This presentation is intended for professionals / graduate students and not suitable for parents / families. Drawings and materials are graphic depictions of sexual abuse and sexual violence.
Workshop will define experiential and action-based counseling; identify methods and techniques; and the role of these clinical methods in treatment.
Participants will be able to describe how experiential and action-based counseling is used to assist clients recall, clarify and respond to troublesome events and experiences.
Participants will examine how the Event Drawing process aids insight into a client’s thinking processes, perceptions and relationships.
Participants will be able to recognize the importance of sensory, perceptual and behavioral clues, through the use of drawing process, and in order to making connections with patterns of abusive and other dysfunctional/destructive behaviors.
This presentation will detail the legal implications for writing proficient IEP’s to ensure students educational benefit. The format will be interactive, demonstrating the IEP writer software along with a power point presentation explaining the legal implications behind writing legally proficient IEP’s.
The role of the presenters is to help people understand this very important process.
This 1 ½ hour presentation discusses the neurobiology of trauma. Traumatic childhood experiences have a major impact on many different areas of functioning. The participant will gain an understanding of the impact that childhood traumatic stress has on the children served by the child welfare agencies. They will understand how the child welfare system can help mitigate the impact of trauma, or can cause more trauma to the child/children it serves.
The greatest gift we can give to a child of neglect and trauma is an understanding that they are not broken and can heal with love and hope. Brain Freeze takes a basic look at the impact of neglect and trauma through the multi-faceted lens of neurobiology and developmental ability, and draws focus to the importance of love and hope. By understanding the impact to the whole of the human that stands before us, we can utilize basic child rearing tools to aid the child to once again trust and grow in life. The avenue to hope comes with the caregiver and the professional understanding the grieving world of the child.
Topics to be discussed include: Broca’s area of the brain, fight or flight syndrome, survival vs. Pleasure, child developmental abilities, steps to elicit memory and heal trauma, techniques to build trust and draw memory, band aids of hurt, trust/rapport, color my world.
Case history examples coupled with multimedia presentation components will provide those that attend a multisensory experience to draw from when engaging these children.
This presentation will be helpful to caseworkers, resource parents, foster care agency workers, students, educators, and other community partners/service providers working with child welfare clients and their families. The goal of the course is to leave the attendees with an open mind, a basic level of understanding and a heart filled with hope.