Events:  

April is Autism Awareness Month!

See the State of Alaska proclamation

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/proclamations.php?id=936

 

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Taxes and the Stimulus Package are linked…                         Do your clients need help filling out tax forms?  There is help available for folks with disabilities! Check out this website for more information: http://www.hss.state.ak.us/gcdse/news/200802_taxhelp.html        

 

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New Resource on Psychiatric Advance Directives

The National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives (NRC-PAD), a collaboration between the Bazelon Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, has announced new resources for consumers, family members, clinicians and policymakers – a blog and a conference for social workers.

 

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Register Now for the Full Lives Conference!

Find out more at http://www.alaskachd.org/fulllives/

 

Stay Tuned for the Winners of the Outstanding Direct Service

Professionals of the Year Awards!

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All across Alaska alcoholism and substance abuse is a growing problem. From the smallest village to our largest city it continues to spread, robbing us of our greatest resource: Our people.
Out North Theater has begun a project to help stop this spread of abuse. We are combining theater and therapy as an alternative to tradition therapy. Research is showing that traditional therapy has less than a 10% success rate or even lower. Check out this website to find out more about a new project:  http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?tell=2&id=36848

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The Trust Training Cooperative coordinates and provides training, education, and career development opportunities for the current and future workforce working with people with developmental disabilities, people with substance abuse issues, people with mental health issues, and people with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia. 

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Legislative Contacts:

Stay current on state legislation concerning our industry and consumers!http://www.capwiz.com/mhtrust/home/

 

Check out this legislation in moving through the Federal System... http://capwiz.com/thearc/issues/bills/

 

http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/index.htm

 

Do you know other national advocacy organizations? 

 

Please let AADSC know about them, send Heidi an email.

 

 

 

 

Check out information on the PHI website....

Including an interview with Anna Ortigara talking about paternalism toward direct care staff...

http://phinational.org/archives/anna-ortigara-on-learning-from-direct-care-workers/#more-190

And the article on Culture Change and how it improves Job Satisfaction!  This is specific to nursing homes, but the concepts can be used in other direct service organizations....

http://phinational.org/archives/culture-change-improves-quality-of-life-staff-satisfaction-at-beverly/

Direct Service Careers provide professional support to adults and children with alcohol issues, developmental disabilities, chronic illness and aging, adults who experience mental illness, children & youth diagnosed SED (Severely Emotionally Disturbed) and individuals with co-occuring disorders who need help in order to be self-sufficient.