Adapting Care for Special Needs Populations
“We should all know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value…”
~ Maya Angelou
Who are Special Needs Populations?
What do we mean when we speak of someone as being part of a “special needs population?” The reality is that understanding who might be included in this population is broader than you might think. In this 2-day workshop, our presenters will explore the special needs of a few of these populations (disability, emotional trauma, LGBTQ+, and bipolar disorder).
Additionally, with one in five adults in our country living with some form of mental illness, WVIS is excited to have facilitators from The National Council for Mental Wellbeing offering a certificate program in Mental Health First Aid. The evidence behind this early intervention program demonstrates that it builds mental health literacy and helps individuals identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness.
Special Needs, Filling the Space In and Between us
Disability as a vital challenge to grow is something all of us encounter, some sooner from birth and some later while aging in life. Without perseverance and careful discernment, vulnerable challenges to beloved community can lead to status quo perfectionism, victimhood, and tragedy on a world-wide scale.
In this presentation, we will explore healthy ways to feel how growing challenges are changes in the seasons of our lives, a potential source of deep and lasting spiritual meaning and purpose as compassion for whole beloved community.”
Emotional Sobriety
Emotional Sobriety is a challenge for many survivors of childhood abuse (sexual, neglect, alcoholism, etc.) The very coping mechanisms that helped these children survive are often a source of shame until they are understood. Emotional sobriety offers the opportunity for personal and spiritual growth and allows these individuals to move from the experience of trauma to the reality that what happened, happened and it doesn’t define them. This presentation will include tools that those who work with this population can use to assist those they work with in managing these traits and growing in self-esteem and freedom.
The Coming Out Process: A Pilgrimage Through Fear and Rejection to Love
LGBTQ+ spiritual seekers are not unlike any other spiritual seeker in their desire to deepen their relationship with the God of their personal experience and understanding. However, social and religious ideologies that shape western culture also form the basis for much of the internal and external conflict and alienation experienced by LGBTQ+ persons. Yet, as is true for all genuine spiritual seekers, the growing desire within to know and love God and to belong and share in community with others moves the heart of LGBTQ+ persons toward deeper integration within themselves, their relationship with God and their faith communities.
An important part of integration for the LGBTQ+ person is the Coming Out process, a very personal, necessary, challenging, and spiritual experience. A experience that enables them to see and love themselves as uniquely, wonderfully, lovingly, and purposely made by God as an LGBTQ+ person, and expands them, as is true of all lives touched by grace, to carry the presence of the God of their experience and understanding in the world as a witness to the expansive, unpredictable, boundless, and endlessly creative love and power of God.
Bipolar Disorder
Individuals with Bipolar Disorder, like everyone else, have a quest for meaning and purpose in their daily lives. They seek answers to questions like: Who am I, is there more to my life, and what does God want of me.” However, for millions of people impacted by mental health related challenges, such as bipolar disorder, this search for one’s true self and divine reality becomes increasingly complex. In this presentation we will explore the role of spiritual care within the context of the highs and lows of Bipolar Disorder.
This workshop will be held on Friday, October 18th (12:45 – 8:00 p.m.) and Saturday, October 19th (8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.) via Zoom. Both days will include presentation, break-out sessions, and time for breaks and meals.
Friday’s session will be the Mental Health First Aid certificate program. Saturday’s program will include the presentations on adapting care for special needs populations. Materials and a Zoom link will be sent out to all who register the week before the workshop starts.
A donation of $100 is requested. This donation includes all costs for the Mental Health First Aid program and all materials and certificates. (NOTE: CEUs are available for SW, RN, and LPC licenses).
WVIS wants to make its programs available to all who want to attend. Partial scholarships are available by emailing Program Coordinator Pat Grebe at patgrebe26@gmail.com.
SPACE IS LIMITED TO FIRST 30 PARTICIPANTS
WVIS is a 501 (c)(3).
Contact
1601 Virginia Street East
Charleston, West Virginia 25311
304.345.0926 (main)
304.345.8206 (fax)
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