2024 Webinar Series

Trauma and Healing: An Overview

February 7, 2024
02:00 PM (East)

This workshop will provide a view of trauma from the perspective of the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. It will explore the sources of trauma and the common effects of that trauma on both a biological and psychological level. The key ingredients for healing will be explored and case studies will be shared.

Speaker Bio

Karyn Harvey has worked as a clinician in the field of intellectual disabilities for over 35 years. She has her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Maryland. She has written three books: Positive Identity Development, Trauma-Informed Behavioral Interventions and Trauma and Healing. She currently offers individual and group therapy with people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, she regularly conducts trainings on trauma-informed support for people with IDD, trauma-informed leadership, and trauma-informed behavioral interventions for both state and individual organizations throughout the US and Canada. Karyn is a member of RespectAbility’s Faith Inclusion and Belonging Advisory Council.

How to Talk About Trauma Informed Care, Faith, and Spirituality

March 6, 2024
02:00 PM (East)

Trauma-informed care (TIC) has emerged as an approach for individuals and organizations in response to the growing awareness of the pervasive and long-lasting impact of trauma on health and wellbeing. Since the early 1990s, John has been involved with the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities community in various capacities. John’s work is dedicated to peer-reviewed scholarship about trauma-informed care and IDD. Simultaneously, he has served in music ministry in different capacities with my faith community for about 30 years. John will discuss creating a marriage of Trauma Informed Care and Faith.

Speaker Bio

John Keesler, PhD is an associate professor in the IU School of Social Work. Keesler conducts community-based research focusing on adversity/trauma, trauma-informed care, and quality of life, with an emphasis on these substantive areas in intellectual/developmental disability service organizations.

Stronger Together: Heritage Christian Services’ Grief Support Team

April 10, 2024
02:00 PM (East)

Heritage Christian Services’ Grief Support Team works with people who are aging and experiencing life changes. This presentation about the team’s work will reflect on why and how the team was developed, how the team provides grief support through music, dance, and art to people with disabilities and their chosen congregations, and how team members support one another with self-care in the process.

Speaker Bios

The Rev. Padraic “Paddy” Collins-Bohrer is a Priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester and a Faith Community Inclusion Specialist / Chaplain with Heritage Christian Services, an agency that supports people living with developmental disabilities in Rochester NY. He helps to connect people served by the agency with faith communities of their choice, offers prayer, builds relationships, and provides support during times of grief, illness, and at the end-of-life. His interests in ministry include exploring the portrayal of disability in the Bible and sharing his voice as an advocate for more clergy who live with disabilities. Rev. Paddy lives with Cerebral Palsy and is highly-sought-after to preach on his journey to Ordination and about Disability Theology. He assists regularly as a Supply Priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester preaching and presiding at the Eucharist. Rev. Paddy earned his Master of Divinity Degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester and Diploma in Anglican Studies from Bexley-Seabury Episcopal Seminary in Chicago.

Lida Merrill has led the spiritual life/faith community inclusion team at Heritage Christian Services since January 1996. The team works towards addressing the spiritual needs of the people served by HCS by focusing on inclusion of people with disabilities into local faith communities, providing training and supports to employees, and serving as resources for local faith communities as they welcome all people into their congregations. The team also works with the creative arts team of HCS to support people at times of loss or death. Lida is a graduate of Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan University and has a Master of Theology degree. In her 2024 retirement, Lida serves as a consultant for congregations and organizations.

Spirituality and Healing Through Expressive Arts

May 8, 2024
02:00 PM (East)

The arts can be a connector to community, spirituality, and healing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn from our panelists about how expressive activities, like painting or performing, helped people experiencing grief communicate, reflect, and process their emotions.

Speaker Bios

Dr. Michelle Boulanger Thompson is an Assistant Professor in research and teaching. She earned her PhD in Special Education, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, and post-baccalaureate Certificates in Autism and Leadership in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature from Indiana University. Dr. Thompson has worked as an occupational therapy practitioner for 34 years, working with individuals with disabilities and their families across the lifespan in early intervention (birth to age 3), public schools (ages 2-22), and adult home health. She serves on the Board of Directors for Mosaic, a national organization supporting community living needs for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), serves in a leadership and research role for the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities’ (AAIDD) Creative Arts special interest network, and serves on the Virginia Division on Early Childhood’s (VA-DEC) leadership board.

Dr. Yumi Shirai is the director of the Sonoran UCEDD ArtWorks, an instructor at the University of Arizona Department of Family and Community Medicine, a social behavioral scientist, and a trained modern dancer. She holds a PhD in Family Studies and Human Development and a MA in Dance, with an emphasis in Movement Therapy from the University of Arizona. Movement art has continuously provided her with a structured tool and unfolding opportunities to develop her physical, emotional, and intellectual strength, to process thoughts and life challenges, to share and engage with others in a larger community. She has instructed creative movement classes for diverse community populations for over 30 years, including youth, older patients in a hospital setting, and adults with intellectual disabilities. Merging her training in Movement Therapy and dance with over 17 years of applied fieldwork and scholarship in the social sciences, her passion is supporting aging individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their family members during late life transitions through development, implementation and evaluation of tools and model programs.

Jeanne Carrigan, Ph.D., A.T.R. has spent over 50 years working directly with children and adults experiencing cognitive challenges. During her lifetime of work as an art therapist, special educator, and university instructor, she has used the arts to foster communication and social and emotional health. She is now retired living with her Franciscan religious community in Wisconsin.