Possibilities for Child Welfare: FASD Generalist Training
Workshop Facilitator
Susan Opie (BA, BSW, MSW, RSW) has over 10 years experience working with individuals with FASD and their families, providing individual and family counseling, educational information, and advocacy with various systems impacting families and children. She has provided consultation for and individual therapy to youth with FASD in care, facilitated support groups for families affected by FASD, and provided education, consultation, and training to various systems working with families and/or children and youth with FASD. Susan has presented on topics related to FASD at conferences in Western Canada, and presented numerous workshops on FASD in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, B.C., Yukon, and Nunavut. She has developed a Model of Service Delivery for School-Age Children and Youth with FASD and their families.
Workshop Overview
The Creating Possibilities for Child Welfare Generalist FASD Training provides two days of hands-on principles and strategies for foster parents parenting children and youth with FASD, and for child welfare workers providing services to and intervening with individuals with FASD. Participants are given a glimpse into how individuals with FASD experience and process their world, and how this might impact parents and caregivers as they care for children and youth. The workshop provides many opportunities for participants to ask specific questions, and time to apply information about FASD to specific issues or topics on the second day.
Some of the workshop topic areas include:
- Destigmatizing FASD
- Updating diagnostic terms and process
- A look at primary versus secondary disabilities, and protective factors for children and youth with FASD
- Building solid relationships with children, youth, (or adults) with FASD
- Accommodating specific brain differences when parenting and providing services
- Group exercise: Looking at ‘meltdowns’: prevention and responses
- Utilizing strengths with individuals with FASD
- Discipline with children and youth with FASD
- Difficult issues that may arise with individuals with FASD: ‘Lying,’ ‘Stealing,’ AWOLs/running away, substance abuse, etc.
- Small group exercise: looking at specific situations
- Large group exercise: discussion, questions, etc.
Workshop Participant Feedback
Susan was wonderful. She answered all our questions directly and offered many suggestions on how to deal with all kinds of situations. I honestly feel that the material covered more than enough information that is pertinent to us with problem solving, disciplining, coping strategies, and also how a child with FASD and ADHD actually sees things and how it is different from how others see and understand things.
Information was useful, and a good challenge to myself to be aware of my beliefs and their impact on my work.
Very helpful hints in order to have a better understanding of a child with FASD and be able to help the child.
Great presenter, good information, practical, usable, related to my work well.
Susan has an excellent knowledge of FASD and a fantastic way of presenting it in down-to-earth, everyday language.
The facilitator was excellent! Very knowledgeable about this topic. It was a fun two days of training. The facilitator made it very enjoyable.
Thank you so much for helping me to understand what my child is going through. It will help me to do things a lot better, and it helps to see it through her eyes as well.