2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO
3/19/2024 | 2:15 PM - 2:40 PM | Building Family Leadership and Collaborative Partners with a Family-Centered Approach | Capitol 7
Building Family Leadership and Collaborative Partners with a Family-Centered Approach
This session will focus on a family centered approach to successfully empower families. A family is as strong as its support systems. The family perspective changes when they learn of their child’s disability(ies). When a child has a loss of both hearing and vision, the family leadership role intensifies as they navigate the complex support systems and into a unique disability of deafblindness. Understanding the loss, the impact of deafblindness, and connecting with other families, agencies, and others is key to the best outcomes for the child – and the family. Meeting families where they are in their journey by pausing to be present and listening to the family is a start. Assessing the family’s strengths in how and at what capacity they can interact with the medical, educational, legal, financial, and social network systems allows for trust and for building a relationship of understanding the whole child. Through listening to a family’s story, family empowerment begins, and can create a voice for other families as well as their own. During this breakout session, participants will listen to diverse family stories who have children who are deafblind and have other complex needs. Listen to how they have grown in family leadership as staff under Iowa’s EHDI program, Colorado’s Family Voices, and Colorado’s PEAK Parent Center. Learn how the collaborative partnerships of family voice, ongoing systems partnerships, and building new relationships make change.
- Participants will identify key family support systems.
- Participants will become familiar with assessing a family's strengths as they lead their family, while recognizing barriers in support systems for families whose child is deaf-blind.
- Participants will describe diverse family leadership paths that create change through family story.
Presentation:
3478265_16335JanaVillemez.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Jana Villemez
(Primary Presenter), National Center on Deaf-Blindness, jvillemez@helenkeller.org;
Jana is the Family Engagement Initiative Lead at the National Center on Deaf-Blindness. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with experience in hospice, palliative care, behavioral health, and 11 years as the Family Consultant for Arkansas' state deafblind program. She believes strongly in meeting families where they are and empowering them by building their family voice. She is also a wife, mom, mother-in-law, and grandmother!
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Heather Dirks
(Co-Presenter), Iowa Deafblind Project and Iowa EHDI, heather.dirks@iaedb.org;
Heather Dirks is a mom to four children, the oldest of which is Deafblind. She works for both the Iowa Deafblind Project as the Family Engagement Coordinator as well as Iowa EHDI as the Family Support Coordinator. Her experience in raising a child who is deafblind with multiple disabilities has given her the unique ability to relate to other families with similar circumstances. Her passion is in helping families find support and resources for their children and she really enjoys being able to support families in both of her roles.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Megan Bowser
(Co-Presenter), Family Voices Colorado, megan@familyvoicesco.org;
First and foremost, Megan is a mom of 4 amazing kids. Her oldest son is 11 years old and has multiple disabilities including deafblindness. She is a fierce advocate for her own children and is passionate about improving access to services for all children with disabilities. Megan is deputy director for Family Voices Colorado. Through her role there, she assists families with navigating the complex disability systems, advocates for policies that serve those with disabilities well, and works to create systems that meet the needs of families impacted by disability.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with Family Voices Colorado.
Nature: employed by a non-profit family advocacy organization.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Michele Williers
(Co-Presenter), PEAK Parent Center, mwilliers@peakparent.org;
Michele Williers is a proud mother of a 20-year-old young man navigating the ups and downs of transition, and with every new step igniting opportunities for inclusion. She is also a servant, and mission driven family leader with a 30 year-career in leadership, operations, management and administration of community & partnership development and youth serving agencies, including 22 years within the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America network. Michelle now lives in Colorado, as the Executive Director of PEAK Parent Center. She is a passionate leader and fierce advocate for families of children with disabilities, self-advocates, transition aged youth, educators, and professionals. She is a valuable contributor on a local, statewide, and national basis in support of schools to improve services and outcomes for students with disabilities.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with PEAK Parent Center.
Nature: N/A.
Nonfinancial -
Non-Financial relationship with PEAK Parent Center.
Nature: N/A.