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ABOUT THE 8thANNUAL ABC CONFERENCE
Despite rhetoric at the federal level, Illinois’ struggles are a reality that will not end in the foreseeable future. For the past two years, Illinois had been without a state budget. Vital organizations that serve our children, families, and communities have either scaled services back dramatically or have disappeared. Yet the basic needs for attention to health for children with special needs, their families, and the communities in which they live are still very visible. From the perspective of a statewide organization, the uncertainty we have been living with here in Illinois has contributed trauma and toxic stress for so long, many of us are stunned, frustrated, and angry. While we may be in a unique position to help, we are also vulnerable to the stress and challenges of working with children with special needs who suffer their own psychological and physical realities. We endure compassion fatigue—the cost of caring.
All of these factors impact the physical, mental, and behavioral health of children and families. They also impact our ability, as those who serve the community, to be empathetic and emotionally effective in our work. Therefore, there is a greater need for sharing tools and supports that enable providers to recognize and address some new truths about the realities of health from children’s social, economic, physical, and educational environments.
The 8th Annual ABC Conference will deliver valuable information about navigating the current realities of service delivery, advocating for those we serve, and professional self-care, family self-care, and community self-care in order to enable providers across many disciplines to recognize and address these realities when caring for children and families with special healthcare needs, including those impacted by trauma and adverse childhood experiences.
*The following sessions ONLY have been approved for IL EI credits:
KEYNOTE SESSIONS:
MORNING-Navigating the Eye of the Storm: Using Trauma-Informed Principles to Build Resilience When Toxic Stress Thrives-0.5 INT, 0.5 WWF
NOON-Advocacy: Everything Is Impossible, Until It’s Not-1 WWF
AFTERNOON-Caring Too Hard: Refueling When You are Spent- 1 WWF
A (AUTISM) TRACK SESSIONS
A1: What Professionals Say, What Parents Hear-1 WWF
A2: Instilling a Trauma-Informed Lens in Early Intervention: A Journey of Training, Reflection and Connection-0.5 INT, 0.5 INT
A3: Clinical Diagnosis of Autism: Are We Over Diagnosing?-1 ATY
B (BEHAVIORAL CHALLENGES) TRACK SESSIONS
B1: Children Don’t Immigrate, They Flee-1 WWF
B2: Ensuring Optimal Assessment and Treatment for Children Who Have Experienced Complex Trauma -0.5 AS, 0.5 INT
C (COMPLEX MEDICAL NEEDS) TRACK SESSIONS
C1: When Our Families Are Stressed, So Are We: How a Primary Care Medical Home Works to Decrease Stress in our Families and our Team-0.5 INT, 0.5 WWF
C2: Oral Health Considerations for the Child with Medical Complexities-1 WWF
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