2016 Recovery Workforce Summit Ignite Presentations

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 - 1:30pm - 3:00pm

What is an Ignite Session?

Everyone has a story and we will hear some of them during the Ignite sessions at the 2016 Recovery Workforce Summit. These presenters will connect with the psych rehab community by telling their story in a dynamic, engaging, abbreviated format. Each presentation focuses on empowerment, choice, and/or freedom. Each presentation will include 20 slides with only 15 seconds for the individual speaker to present each slide. Ignite speakers will tell us a story about a personal journey, a passion(s), what gets them up in the morning, and more.

The Young and The Restless: Millennials, Mentoring and Worforce Development

Nikki J. Pashka, MS, CRC, CPRP, LCPC

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the end of 2015, millennials represented the largest generation in the workforce. By 2030, millennials will comprise almost 75% of the workforce, leading businesses and agencies scrambling to figure out how best to support individuals in this age cohort. One key issue is developing strategies to support individuals who are struggling to relate to this tsunami of new energy. This IGNITE session will discuss myths and methods of working with the young and the restless.

Don't Look or The Power of Compassion

Beth Filson, CPS, Peer Specialist, Independent Consultant

Recovery stories often start with descriptions of adversity and end with personal victories. But so much happens in between. This talk will focus on the power of compassion to heal. I will share encounters with care providers whose simple acts of connection both inspired and facilitated my long-term healing. My intent is to affirm the power of compassionate engagement (especially when assisting a person who uses self-injury) and to assert that one person alone can be part of effecting incredible change. The slides accompanying this talk will use my own art.

Ignite! - A New Well-Being Paradigm for Engaging TAY

Michelle Coldiron, MA, LPC, CPRP, Program Manager, Mental Health Center of Denver

A new paradigm for a unique generation... Mental Health Center of Denver presents Emerson St. Program for Teens and Young Adults. This innovative program is shaking up the system and changing the face of mental health. Holistic programming that combines psychiatric rehabilitation with clinical services to provide comprehensive support as teens transition into adulthood. This program focuses on prevention and early intervention with the goal of helping to change a person's trajectory. Through ongoing program evaluation that elicits feedback and input from young people in services and other stakeholders, this program continues to develop so that services are culturally relevant and meaningful to this generation.

Parenthood as a path to recovery

Kathleen Biebel, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry,Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center University of Massachusetts Medical School

Having children and being a parent is a critical life domain. Individuals living with psychiatric disorders are as likely if not more likely than individuals without psychiatric disorders to be parents. National, generalizable data tells us that 68% of women and 58% of men with any psychiatric disorder are parents. For men with serious and persistent mental illness, the prevalence of parenthood increases to 76%. While some parents with psychiatric disabilities have lost custody or have limited contact with their children, there are many parents who are actively parenting their children. As anyone who is a parent will attest, being a parent impacts all aspects of daily life including work, school, housing, health and wellness, and is critical to how individuals integrate into their communities. In my Ignite talk I will argue that parenting needs to actively be addressed as a significant domain of psychiatric rehabilitation that provides a path towards recovery and wellness.  Parents with psychiatric disabilities, like all parents, are highly motivated to be the best parents they can be.  We as providers and policymakers should seize the opportunity to support individuals in their roles as parents, as a pathway to improve outcomes for parents, children and families.

Unpacking Privileged Messages about Work and Careers

Brian Stevenson, MA, Psychology Intern, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Medical Clinic

This presentation will critically examine the popular narratives and clichés we use when talking about work and careers. Through this examination, it will become clear that our society's most common messages about work and careers come from a place of power and privilege that only a small subset of people will ever attain. For those lacking power and privilege, our messages about working can have damaging psychological, social, and economic effects. This presentation will help people gain insight into the ways in which they may be perpetuating these privileged messages about work and careers, while also learning new skills and ideas for talking about work in a way that is more inclusive to all people - particularly those who've been made to be disadvantaged.

UNREASONABLE:  Choice, “unrealistic” goals, and goal placement in assessment and planning

Debbie Nicolellis, MS, CRC, Senior Training Associate, Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation

Our field has truly begun to embrace the concept and the reality that recovery is possible, and probable, for every person we serve.  We have come to commit to and hold dear psychiatric rehabilitation principles, values, and ethics related to choices about where and how people with diagnoses live, learn, work, love, worship, and have community.  Yet, in spite of our talk of recovery, we may be failing people who seek recovery every day through our assessments and planning processes. In our everyday work, we conduct assessments that lead us to design goals that sum up where people are now, rather than where they aspire to be.  Every day, we write treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery plans that sound “reasonable,” but may be missing the very thing that could give the person in front of us meaning and purpose.  In this presentation, we will “Ignite” our passions for the context in which psychiatric rehabilitation goals are written and through which lives full of meaning, choice, and power are championed.

You and Me: portrayal of dementia and their caregivers in Indian Cinema

Badr Ratnakaran, MBBS, DPM, Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr.Kunhalu's Nursing Home

Indian cinema is known for portraying social, cultural, political issues and this also includes issues in mental health.We review the portrayal  of dementia in Indian cinema. Ten films were identified after discussion with various experts in person, telephone and email correspondence.  Web databases were also checked to identify the films.These films portrayed balanced and unbalanced versions of dementia and it’s related issues have been identified. Caregiver issues have been the main themes in the films. Their struggles and their will to care for the dementia patients have been portrayed. However treatment and other interventions have not been discussed It can be concluded that these films can be used as a resource  for movie clubs as a part of teaching curriculum during post graduate and under graduate training. They can be an excellent medium to understand cultural issues related to dementia in the community

You Have a Choice - What Matters is How You See Yourself

Debra Ann Liberto, CPS, CPRP, WRAP facilitator, Team Supervisor, RHD Resources for Human Development

Its an ignite presentation about what matters is how you see yourself. you have a choice. it ends with, "it doesn't matter where you've been. What matters is where you end up" I will talk about the struggles we face with low self esteem, confidence, stigma & discrimination because of having a mental illness. The choices we do have. The fact that things don't change people do. So the power is within ourselves to make that change. Find out what it is we want out of our lives. With the use of psych rehab and practitioners how we can plan and devise how we can reach those goals and dreams. Most importantly above all us you must believe in yourself. That is your choice...no one can do that for you. Your life is your life..what are you going to do about realizing those dreams and desires beyond the limits placed upon you because of a mental illness. There are so many people out there wiith other disabilities. If you say you can or you can't, then you can.