FASD and Connecting Virtually through STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

On Saturday, March 21, the Rural FASD Support Network met with help from the amazing partnerships throughout Lanark County and continued to provide support to children with FASD and their caregivers.  With Calvary Bible Church opening up their facility and providing direct cleaning afterwards, Beckwith Tech Camp providing the expertise and crew of one person, Cogeco TV in Smiths Falls loaning the equipment and Lesley and Allison Cochran of Almonte sharing their experience and knowledge about DoTerra Essential Oils through Facebook LiveStreaming, the Rural FASD Support Network came together for an hour and half and once again connected as a community.  We were joined virtually by Megan Van Allen, FASD Worker for Kids Inclusive in Kingston and Christine Lapeer, nurse for Lanark Mental Health and did check-ins through Zoom Conferencing.  Within our time together, we learned how essential oils impact our body’s balance, our mental health, our sleep, and many other facets of our life.  We heard several testimonials from both the Cochrans and many of our members who joined us.  Following their presentation, we then went into confidential sharing time through Zoom conferencing and had the opportunity to hear how everyone was doing, their highlight of the past week, and their biggest concern going forward.  We also heard valuable information about how our mental health units are still meeting needs, how our paramedics are protecting themselves, status of employment situations and potential education resources that will be posted shortly through our Twitter account.

One of our biggest concerns going forward is the impact ongoing isolation will have on families and caregivers.  We shared how important it is for caregivers to remain calm and engage with their children and how that will have huge and numerous positive impact on everyone.  It is also important to note that our mental health clinics remain open and will continue to work with families and individuals who need mental health support through this time.  Finally, we also shared the importance of continuing to find ways to connect with others and maintain some type of structure and routine in our lives.  This is why we were thrilled to help St. Francis de Sales Parish in Smiths Falls by recording their mass immediately following our meeting and sharing it with their community https://youtu.be/LlXAtUrVvgM.

We thank all our partners for making this day so memorable and look forward to continuing to meet our mandate in supporting families with FASD.  Please note all individuals in the videos maintained a distance of six feet and immediately cleaned their hands and all surfaces immediately before and after the events.

Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams and FASD

Photo by Aidan through Kids Brain Health Network

One of the benefits of our FASD Awareness Day at Queen’s Park on Feb 24 was it allowed us to bring together several partners from across the province including Chief Mark McGillivray of Smiths Falls Police, Inspector Karuna Padiachi and Inspector Derek Needham of the OPP and Ms. Rebecca Fromowitz of Lanark Mental Health who represented the Lanark County Mobile Crisis Intervention Team that just made the national news.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/opp-smiths-falls-police-mental-health-crisis-1.5488509 

For those of you who have heard me say you need to establish the police as part of your network in supporting your youth and adults with FASD, these folks are our partners.  However, I was also told at our Awareness Day that most areas have Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams.  As a caregiver for someone with FASD, this is the team you want to meet.  I would strongly encourage you to meet the point person for that team, introduce your child to them on a good day, make sure they understand what a mental health crisis looks like for you and your child and have a plan and contact info for when this service is needed.  While I recognize not all of you are going to get a mental health nurse like Christine, through your collaboration and relationship building, you can also develop the same type of bond that exists between Christine and Sky.

You should also know our local police make a point of coming into our schools, meeting the kids, doing workshops on drugs, drunk driving, vaping and other topics, and community events like having the kinder’s bike helmets inspected.  All of these programs were key in establishing the trust all three of my kids have with the police.  We, of course, always talked about these visits afterwards and reinforced how the police are our friends and are safe people to go to.  That initial training has always held and enabled us to go to these types of interventions now. 

Within our organization, we have seen firsthand how this type of justice approach has led to positive outcomes.

Within our discussions on Feb 24 we learned there is a provincial strategy for how these teams operate, but your team will also be unique to your particular area, its needs and resources.  There is also, within that provincial strategy, a desire to build knowledge capacity regarding FASD and mental health challenges in general.

As you can imagine, losing this program will create consequences for us.  It is a very clear choice of pay now or pay later.  Policing and justice costs will absolutely rise.  While you might think this is a local story, it is not.  All the mobile crisis intervention teams across the province or the areas that don’t even have teams are being impacted by this decision of the Solicitor General to end funding.  There was a huge call three years ago for these teams and CBC News ran a story on it then as well in Toronto.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/inside-the-mobile-crisis-intervention-teams-1.4190249

If you are a FASD Advocate and don’t have one of these teams, you want to have conversations with your municipality, your police service board, your MPP and your local police Inspector or Chief.  The current funding from the Ministry comes through the Solicitor General but could potentially come through the Ministry of Health under the Mental Health department. 

Finally, in the Rural FASD Support Network, we speak a lot about inclusivity and accessibility.  In 2005-8, the Ministry of Education did a special education project called Essential for Some, Good for All.  The recommendations from that project were implemented in the Learning for All document 2013 which still defines our educational instruction and assessment methods today.   As I hope you heard in the interview, while this team is essential for our youth and adults with mental health challenges, it is a good for all of our society.  Having this touchstone that brings all of us together as one is what inclusivity and accessibility is all about.