A Full Day of Programming Dedicated to Honoring Disability Awareness Month
Gateway Wellness Associates presents a Day for Disabilities, including a continuing education opportunity for professionals wanting to learn more about the impact of disability on their clients and real tools for effectively assisting consumers to achieve their goals. This will be followed by two FREE presentations for anyone in the community with a disability or supporting someone with a disability. Come for the whole day or choose the workshops that fit your interests.
Morning program for professionals:
The Impact of Disabilities on Life, Sex, and Families: Improving Approach and Awareness
9am-12:30pm
$40
3 Counseling Clock Hours
Social Work CEUs available through Washington University for an additional $10 at the event
This seminar will provide knowledge about developmental stages, family relationships, independence, and sexual development. This training will also give participants useful tools and strategies for working with people living with disabilities. This workshop will leave you feeling motivated and enlightened!
We will be covering:
Sex and disabilities
Misconceptions
Education (e.g., caregiver’s role throughout life cycle of PWD)
Sexual expression
“Accommodations”
Legal & Ethical concerns
Family Experience
Case Study
Emotional impact of Homeostasis
Preventing burnout
Community supports
Spoon Theory
PWD Life Cycle Experiences
Impact of ADA: education, health care, and employment
Emotional Development & Resiliency
Roles of Medical & Behavioral Health Care Professionals
Wabi Sabi
Eradicating disability bias
Tools for PWD, family, and healthcare professionals: success at home, school, employment, & community
About the Presenter:
Tiffany Sidney, MS, LMFT, CIS is a licensed marital and family therapist in the state of Missouri. Mrs. Sidney also holds certification in Structural Family Therapy from the Philadelphia Child and Family Guidance Clinic, Hypnosis, and in administering psychological assessments for children. Mrs. Sidney received training in Solution-Focused Therapy from Insoo Kim Berg and integrates this technique in her private practice for couples and families. She also holds weekend intensive couples therapy retreats.
Her other community involvement includes providing seminars on Disabilities: Life, Sex, and Families, which has been presented at numerous universities and companies in the U.S. and Canada.
Mrs. Sidney became interested in educating people about those with physical disabiities after seeing people in the disabled community being underserved and misunderstood. She teaches medical and mental health care professionals on the emotional needs of caregivers and individuals with disabilities after successfully navigating the system for herself as an amputee and for her father who became a paralyzed Veteran. Mrs. Sidney states, "Yes we [people with disabilities] travel, have careers, get married, have families, and can be sexual just like you! Don't underestimate us."
FREE Afternoon Presentation
1:30pm - 3pm
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is providing a comprehensive interactive presentation about mental illness – including video, personal testimony, and discussion. It's a great stigma-busting tool that shatters stereotypes and puts a face on mental illness.
The presentation covers five issues frequently faced by those dealing with severe mental illness:
Dark Days
Acceptance
Treatment
Coping Strategies
Successes, Hopes, and Dreams
FREE Afternoon Presentation
3:30pm - 5pm
Tiffany Sydney returns to talk to people with disabilities, their friends and families about the impact of disability on various aspects of their lives. This interactive seminar and discussion touches on:
Financial effects for disabled individuals and caregivers
Systemic, developmental, and emotional effects of disabilities
Family experiences
Sexuality
Disability bias
Community resources
Successful adulthood