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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'Tennessee CARE Workshop Tour - Planning and Implementing CARE Training through Statewide Collaboration'
Track: 6-Family Issues
Keyword(s): CARE, training, grief, families, counseling
Learning Objectives: -define the core elements of CARE training; -determine the extent to which CARE training could benefit individuals, families, communities, professionals, and pre-professionals in their state who are associated with hearing loss; -describe ways to collaborate with EHDI stakeholders in their state to plan coordinated CARE workshops; -describe how CARE training can be implemented with families or individuals in at least 3 different environments; and -describe the impact that CARE training had on a parent of a preschooler with hearing loss.

Abstract:

In 2011, Tennessee’s Newborn Hearing Screening Program recognized that professionals statewide who are involved in the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) process needed updated training on the grief that parents experience after discovering their child has hearing loss. In the same year, Tennessee launched a new Hands & Voices chapter, and discussions among parents revealed a significant desire to help one another during the difficult stages of grieving. As a result, the “Tennessee CARE Workshop Tour” offered coordinated training workshops to meet the needs and desires of EHDI providers and parents statewide. CARE (Counseling Aural Rehabilitation and Education) is a multidimensional tool that addresses the grief associated with hearing loss for individuals, families, communities, professionals and pre-professionals. The training stresses the importance of engaging in active listening with family members to validate their emotional state, a counseling skill that is often not included in professional pre-service or parent-to-parent training courses. The presentation will discuss the collaborative effort between various Tennessee EHDI stakeholders, including parents, which made it possible to plan and host the workshops in a short period of time. It will also address how CARE is currently being implemented across Tennessee in different environments such as early intervention programs, educational facilities, hospitals, and universities. Outcomes of the statewide CARE training were documented and will be reviewed, including the perspective of Tennessee’s Hands & Voices Lead Parent, who is not only the mother of a preschooler with hearing loss but also a hospital newborn hearing screener.
Presentation: This presentation has not yet been uploaded or the speaker has opted not to make the presentation available online.
Handouts: Handout is not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S):
Johnnie Sexton - The CARE Project
     Credentials: AuD, CCC-A
      Johnnie Sexton has worked with children who are deaf and hard of hearing for 33 years. In recent years, he designed the early intervention system for audiology in North Carolina. He has devoted his energy in the past 2 years to redefining counseling for families with children who have hearing challenges and the professionals who provide services for them. He owns a private practice specializing in educational audiology services and has established the nonprofit agency, The CARE Project, Inc., serving as Executive Director, for the advancement of family, professional and preprofessional training opportunities in counseling.
Susie McCamy - Tennessee Newborn Hearing Screening Program
     Credentials: BA, Deaf Education MS, Child Family Studies
     Other Affiliations: Tennessee Hands & Voices, Friends of Tennessee Infants and Toddlers
      Susie McCamy is the Deaf Educator / Family Outreach Coordinator at the University of Tennessee Center on Deafness Newborn Hearing (EHDI) Grant which helps provide support, information, training and resources for parents of newly identified children with hearing loss. Susie collects needed child & family data for the HRSA and CDC grants at the TN State Department of Health's Newborn Hearing (EHDI) program. Her responsibilities include partnering with lead parents to help in the development of Family Support endeavors / activities / trainings for families of children with hearing loss throughout Tennessee. Her 30 plus years of experience in the field include being a Parent Advisor / Statewide Supervisor of a home based program for 0-3 children with special needs & their families; TEIS Advisory Consortium. Ms. McCamy is a certified Ski*HI trainer and has served on multiple committees and Boards associated with the field of Early Childhood Special Education.
Julie Beeler - Tennessee Newborn Hearing Screening Program
     Credentials: MA, CCC-A/SLP, NHS Audiology Consultant
     Other Affiliations: DSHPSHWA
      Julie Beeler is currently the Audiology Consultant for Tennessee's Newborn Hearing Screening Program at the University of Tennessee Center on Deafness. Previously, she was with the University of Tennessee Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. In addition to her EHDI work, Ms. Beeler also works privately as an educational audiologist and speech-language pathologist for a rural East Tennessee school system. Previously, she served as President of the Directors of Speech and Hearing Programs in State Health and Welfare Agencies (DSHPSHWA).
Melanie Bacon - Tennessee Hands & Voices
     Credentials: Parent
      Melanie Bacon is the Lead Parent for Tennessee Hands & Voices, which launched in early 2011. She is the mother of a preschool daughter with bilateral hearing loss. Melanie is also a hearing screener at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis.
 
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