In today’s episode, you are going to learn what is possible in creating an agency to serve individuals with FASD and their families and caregivers. I’m talking to Lisa Murphy, the Executive Director of the Lakeland Centre for FASD. This Centre is one of the leaders in Canada for FASD programs and services.
Lisa started with the Centre as a practicum student while taking a social work program and has risen over the years to the top. She has worked in many capacities including advocacy and coordination of services for children, complex youth, and adults diagnosed with FASD and their families, consultation, and data collection, and as a program manager.
We talk about her beginnings with the Agency and how she has got to where she is today, as well as:
I have the honour today of talking with Dr. Susan Rich. This is a fascinating interview that contains some very real and frank discussions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and reasons why Dr. Rich thinks that despite all the knowledge we are still struggling with prevention, awareness, recognition, and support.
Susan D. Rich, MD, MPH, DFAPA is a practicing child/adolescent & adult psychiatrist who holds a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from North Carolina State University, a Master of Public Health in health policy, and a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed psychiatry training at Georgetown University Medical Center as well as a child/adolescent fellowship at Children's National Medical Center.
Dr. Rich first learned about the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the early embryo while working in pharmaceutical research in April 1992 after reading a book...
One of the best parts of my job is talking to all the caregivers who have such a wide range of experience and offer so much practical information to help others on the journey.
Natalie Vecchione is one of those caregivers.
She and her husband are parents to a 5-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son (with FASD). She has been a Board-Certified Music Therapist for 25 years and began homeschooling six years ago. She and John are co-founders of FASD Hope and recently began a new adventure in the world of podcasting. They live in the farm country of North Carolina.
Her journey to a diagnosis for her son when he was 15 was a rocky one, that like so many of our listeners have been down. We talk about that journey to get an FASD diagnosis and how when she and her husband brought up FASD as a possibility she was dismissed.
Anytime it would be, nope, that’s not it. Because so many practitioners were under the impression that you had...
It’s great to be back to our Podcast! How important are stories in your life? Not only do stories help entertain us, but they also educate, and in some respect are medicine. To celebrate our return after a brief pause in our schedule, we have a double feature. First, we hear about a unique program that provides adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder an opportunity to share their stories or medicine, and then we hear from an individual who is living his life on his terms.
Individuals with FASD want their voices to be heard. They should be heard. I am excited to bring those voices and highlight programs bringing those voices to educate, entertain, and highlight success stories.
First, we talk to Emma Bergen and Suzanne Mozdzen from the Visions and Voices program out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is an interesting program that recruits adults with FASD to be part of a unique speaker’s bureau. The program aims to increase awareness in communities in order...
You know when you meet someone, and you're like "Man, they're wicked smart," and then you realize they're on your team. Such is the case with Katharine Dunbar Winsor, the Executive Director of fasdNL (Newfoundland & Labrador).
Katharine is the Executive Director of fasdNL. Prior to her appointment, Katharine previously worked as fasdNL’s Project Coordinator since 2015. Katharine is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. Her SSHRC funded research examines the experiences of criminalized mothers and substance use in Atlantic Canada.
Katharine completed her Master’s thesis entitled “If we get beyond the stereotype: professionals’ experiences attending to FASD, social supports and stigma in Newfoundland and Labrador” at Memorial University. Katharine has published and presented at various conferences on FASD and the justice system, criminalized women, and feminist criminology. She is...
Are you a single mom, or even feel like a single mom – alone, isolated, without close family or friends? Wondering if life as a caregiver with an individual with FASD is going to be a constant state of chaos and confusion? It doesn’t have to be that way. Take it from today’s guest, Claire Mafranc. She was where you might be right now, and you could be where she is right now.
Claire is a single mom to two teenagers, both with different needs, but one with FASD. She felt alone, isolated and had no one to discuss strategies, solutions, or decompress with. She was overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, and relying on consequences and behaviour modification. Until she found our online community and the Caregiver Kick Start program. We talk about what that was like for her, including how she:
What an episode we have for you today! If you are like my guests, Kristin and Mike Berry, from Honestly Adoption (formerly Confessions of an Adoptive Parent) and desire to do good and be good parents, and feel like no matter what, you are “doing it wrong” then you will want to tune in as we deep dive into their experience parenting eight adopted children. We also look at trauma and FASD.
Mike and Kristin are authors, bloggers, speakers, parent coaches, adoptive parents, and former foster parents. They are passionate about reaching adoptive and foster parents around the globe with a message of hope and transformation. They are the creators of both an award-winning blog and podcast (links below). Between them, they have written nine books. They have been married for 21 years and have eight children, all of whom are adopted. They live on a farm in Indiana (USA).
We are parenting very different kids from who were growing up and so that led...
Do you struggle to get medical professionals to listen to you?
Are you looking for ideas about what you could implement in your community to help caregivers?
Do you know why Scotland is leading the charge on FASD in the United Kingdom?
If you want to know the answers to these questions, you are going to want to tune into today’s podcast with Aliy Brown.
Aliy holds a BA (Hon) in Social Policy from Newcastle University. Currently, she is the Project Manager for FASD Hub Scotland, a support service run by Adoption UK Scotland for all parents and carers across Scotland who are parenting individuals with FASD and the networks and professionals who support these families. Aliy and her husband are parents and home educators to three children who are adopted, one with an FASD diagnosis. Aliy is passionate about raising awareness of FASD, breaking down the barriers for parents/carers, and empowering all those who have an interest in...
A couple of weeks ago FASD made the cover of PEOPLE magazine. And boy did that create some conversations in our private Facebook Group. There were two camps: those that thought it was amazing that FASD made it to the cover of an international magazine – and those that were disappointed in the “sunshine and rainbows” slant the article seemed to take.
So I went straight to the source. Well, thanks to some help from another caregiver who knew them. Alicia and Josh Dougherty are parents to 10 children – six adopted (with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) and four biological children. Their journey was not, and is not sunshine and rainbows. In fact, their first adopted son started with extreme physical violence towards Alicia when she was pregnant. After receiving a diagnosis, Alicia wondered how she had not known.
When you get hit with that diagnosis you are so overwhelmed and washed over with, What does this look like for the rest of their...
This is definitely a topic of great interest for caregivers. Lately, there have been requests for more information on how to help siblings navigate, respond, and manage their relationship with a brother or sister who has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. You asked … I delivered! But before we get going, maybe hit pause and gather your kids so they can listen and learn from someone who has been there!
Amy Patterson has a younger brother with FASD. It was this relationship that ignited her passion to work with children who present with externalizing behaviour. She grew up immersed in the everyday stress that her brother faced due to developmental, social, emotional, and cognitive deficits, and the resulting impact it had on the entire family. Even at a young age, she felt like the world around him could and should do a lot better in setting him up for success. Accordingly, this reality led to her obtaining a Bachelor of Applied Child Studies degree and...
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