He Aka Hui | FASD, the Hidden Disability: Building Skills and Professional Development for the Disability and Mental Health Workforces

Te Pou has partnered with Te Whāriki o te Ara Oranga and New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) to deliver a new professional development workshop series, designed for the disability and health workforces, Barriers and Pathways to a Good Life: Autism, Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) and FASD.

The three He Aka Hui will be run as two-hour, online workshops, hosted by Whāriki, and form part of the implementation of the Equitable Access to Wellbeing Framework (EAW).

The final He Aka Hui in the workshop series is He Aka Hui | FASD, the Hidden Disability: Building Skills and Professional Development for the Disability and Mental Health Workforces.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a brain and body-based disability that can affect people prenatally exposed to alcohol. It is a lifelong disability that impacts each person uniquely. People with FASD will have differing degrees of challenges in their daily lives that require understanding, support and accommodation to enable them to lead their best lives.

This interactive workshop, delivered with FASD-CAN, will empower leaders in the disability and mental health workforce with knowledge about FASD and identify best-practice approaches and strategies that clinicians and services can use to help FASD individuals achieve healthy life outcomes.

Workshop outcomes

• Gain an understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and how the symptoms of this neurodisability impact the body, brain, learning, and behaviour of individuals with FASD.
• Develop an awareness of best practices from the lived experience perspective to support the wellbeing of those with FASD.
• Recognise the importance of upskilling the workforce to effectively support this common and complex neurodisability.
• Identify the necessary workforce skills and other factors to consider when supporting and interacting with FASD clients.
• Identify key issues to raise and discuss within their service and work team to improve the support provided to FASD clients.

Presenters

• Kim Milne - FASD-CAN principal advisor
• Dr Leigh Henderson - FASD-CAN chair
• John Vogenthaler - Te Pou programme lead and principal advisor – disability

The workshop will be run on Zoom, hosted by Whāriki.

The workshop series

• He Aka Hui | Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua (Looking Back to Move Forward) Autism and Neurodiversity Trends and Potentials
• He Aka Hui | Positive Behaviour Support (PBS