No one is excited about finding out that they, or someone they love is impacted by a preventable, life-long brain injury. But knowledge is power, knowledge brings understanding. In this presentation, we discussed the many reasons how and why knowing and accepting a diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can be life changing in a positive way.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) program through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption offers a unique and highly successful approach to finding permanency connections for children and young people in and from the child welfare system. In a November session for Service Providers, three WWK recruiters, Nikki Holland-Green, Kerry Milligan, and Cynthia White shared their experiences as child focused recruiters, offering many examples and providing guidance on how to engage older youth for considering the possibility of adoption.

Parenting young adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can be incredibly complex—especially for caregivers who adopted their children as teens or young adults. In this personal and practical session, Barb Clark shared her journey as a parent of children with FASD and her own recent diagnosis as an adult. With honesty and insight, Barb offered guidance on how to reconnect with young people who may seem distant, shut down, or stuck.

Somatic therapist and author, Nadia George, explored what somatic healing truly is—and what it isn’t. Drawing from her professional expertise and lived experience, Nadia demystified the science behind somatic practices, shared real-life examples of what works (and what doesn’t) in the heat of the moment, and guided participants through practical tools they can start using right away.

Fight, flight, freeze or fawn? The nervous system is often thought of as the body’s control system. It’s responsible for processing information received about the world, triggering responses and regulating bodily functions. Understanding how it functions and the impacts that trauma has on the nervous system can help us select the appropriate tools and strategies for dysregulated moments. Lived Expert facilitator, Wendy, provided an overview of the nervous system in simple terms (and some science-y ones) as well as shared some of their personal tools for managing dysregulation for self and as a Kin Caregiver/Human.

How can Humans build trust, support their Lived Experts to feel safe, and strengthen their relationships? This panel featured Lived Experts and was moderated by Lived Expert Coordinator Charlene April, to hear directly from Living Experts on what kinds of relationship building approaches would be helpful on permanency journeys.

Permanency journeys are not linear, and they come with unique challenges and joys. Learning happens at different times and in different ways. Messages we’ve heard many times before may take on new meanings as life changes around us. Join this panel of Humans and Human-to-be as they share about the importance of continually engaging with education opportunities that offer insight into trauma, permanency relationships, mental health and other topics that support Humans in showing up in their connections to Lived Experts.

The words we use send value-based messages and inform the way we feel and think about the world. Lived Expert facilitator Wendy, who has worked in Communications for over 10 years, explored the subjectivity of language, identity-based language, and why Never Too Late (NTL) uses unique language such as the term "Human".

Part 1 of Difficult Conversations explored foundational groundwork that will empower and equip our relationships with Lived Experts for difficult conversations. Attention was given to the role that boundaries play and finding the “how much” between “yes” and “no” answers.

We celebrated the many successes of our panelist, Lived Experts with FASD! Each of them has made significant strides towards a rich and thriving future with the supports they need. While we can’t share the specifics of their stories here, we can share some of our favorite takeaways with you.

FASD and Developmental Trauma have real impacts on brain development and executive functioning. There are many things you can do to create an environment that supports those with FASD to grow and thrive.

Loss is a universal experience for young people who come into the child welfare system, it is at the center of the Seven Core Issues. As Humans, it is important to understand how loss impacts attachment, behaviours, and internal working models and learn how to support our Lived Experts in acknowledging and processing loss.