Dr. Mansfield Mela is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan. His clinical practice is out of the Forensic Outpatient Clinic at University of Saskatchewan and the Forensic Inpatients Services at Regional Psychiatric Center, Saskatoon.

His interest in FASD began with a desire to better understand and assist his clients, who he felt at the time were not co-operating with completing homework assignments. After discussing his frustration with a colleague he realized it was the manifestation of symptoms of Fetal Alcohol - which led him on a path of greater understanding.

Dr. Mela drops mega information bombs in this podcast about FASD and aggression that will leave you informed and ready to diffuse frustration and aggression in your household.

He also provides excellent insights on the current pandemic, and what it means for caregivers and individuals with FASD. He reminds us despite the uncertainty:

This is our opportunity to load up on...

Michael Harris is an active speaker regionally and nationally, a foster parent to a young man on the Spectrum and creator of the FASD Elephant™ podcast and website. Michael graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Psychology and received an MA in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development.

You will learn:

• What anxiety is.

• The six types of...

After her daughter received her FASD diagnosis, she began to learn as much as she could in order to help her daughter navigate life. It was after she met and spoke with adults with FASD that she founded Team LOVE to support her daughter, which has evolved to become her passion project connecting families raising children with Fetal Alcohol.

With the recent events and closures of schools, many parents and caregivers are expected to step up to teach their children at home. This is creating a lot of anxiety in not only parents, but children. 

The buzzword “homeschooling” is being used across social media.  Parents are creating and sharing schedules thinking this is what...

R.J. Formanek is an FASD speaker, educator, creator of Flying With Broken Wings - a Facebook Support Group for Individuals with FASD, caregivers and professionals who support them, as well as the inspiration behind and partner in the Red Shoes Rock international awareness alliance. Oh and did I mention, he is on the Spectrum?

R.J.’s story is an adventure of hope and inspiration from how he began his journey to end up where he is now - the happiest he has ever been. 

Not that I was my own worst enemy – But I definitely wasn’t my best friend.

Despite a rough start, growing up in the "system," he lived a "normal" life on the outside - becoming a father, a husband, and holding down jobs. Still, it was a struggle, living with an "alphabet soup" of diagnoses, which never really fit. Until a close friend suggested maybe what he had was Fetal Alcohol.

She looked me square in the eye and said: It's not your fault. And that just broke me right there.

...

This guy is no joke! Dr. Chasnoff opened the first clinic in the United States on prenatal drug and alcohol exposure. He is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois at College of Medicine, an author of 12 books, a researcher, lecturer, and the President of NTI Upstream, a company he founded with his son, Gabe. In other words – he's awesome. 

Throughout our chat, we will confirm that not only is raising a neurotypical child difficult in today’s world of social media, there are added challenges for our kids with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.  

“Children with FASD are at very high risk for misuse of...

TRIGGER WARNING: This is a first hand account of one birth mom's experience as she discovers that consuming alcohol while pregnant caused her sons to have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Some details may be overwhelming.

Anne shares a raw and powerful story of a birth mom who went from feeling “absolute, crushing anguish and unbearable grief” to helping save lives through her determination to raise FASD awareness through research, advocacy, publishing a book, training, speaking and forming the first FASD organization founded by a birth mom – in effect saving lives.

We delve deep with Anne as she relates how her doctor told her to “go and have a few drinks at the pub with your husband” to prevent an early...

Our closed Facebook FASD Caregiver Success group gets a lot of posts and questions about MRIs, so we took them directly to a professional who breaks down the brain, what MRIs are and can do, how past research is informing current research, and how her team are making discoveries about how the brain of an individual with prenatal alcohol exposure differs from a neurotypical individual. 

In this episode Dr. Lebel shares: how she found her way into the FASD world; gives us a look into her work (and how the brain works); tells us about a Canadian Study on FASD & Mental Health; and...

Settle in for a double feature to hear mom Yvonne and her daughter Nicole talk about their ups and downs on their FASD journey. What a treat this is to hear the FASD experience from their different perspectives.

Yvonne relates her journey from the first moment she saw a seven year old girl in pig tails to how their lives have unfolded and her own education and growth as an FASD caregiver.

She candidly shares strategies and tips as well as the significant challenges they faced not only as a family but also that she experienced as a single mom raising a daughter in a small rural town that didn't understand or accommodate the disability and how that affected them both through the years. Her best advice for caregivers: Don't dwell in the future. Be present now.

With Nicole transitioning to an adult, Yvonne can now offer hope for caregivers through her advocacy, blog and speaking engagements.

Picture courtesy of Pete Fisher (Today's Northumberland)

Nicole is a 22 year old...

Dr. Hanlon-Dearman has been working collaboratively with a number of research teams to understand population health issues of individuals with FASD and to better integrate care for affected individuals and their families. Her clinical and research interests include neurodevelopmental patterns of children with FASD, as well as children with a variety of neurodevelopmental disabilities.