September Advanced Training Details

Thanks to everyone who attended the training last Thursday. Keena Gallop, a Resource Family Consultant with DCFS, presented to us on how to deal with difficult teens. Here are her handouts:

Teens Packet

Please take the time to review this packet, as it had really great information on building relationships with teens, praise, rules, discipline, etc.

Also, I announced at this training that I will no longer be the coordinator. Angie Bleggi will take over as the coordinator, effective today. Angie is AWESOME and you will love working with her! Her email address is ableggi@utah.gov and her phone number is (801) 371-1119. Please direct all questions and documentation to her.

And, I will still be around (just a new job assignment), so stop by and say hi. I have LOVED working with each of you and I am very grateful for your hard work! You are the best!!

September Advanced Training Info

Our next Advanced Training will be on Thursday Sept 15 from 5:30-7:30 pm in the Provo DCFS office (150 E Center St 5th floor) in the conference rooms. We will have a presenter, Keena Gallop, present on Parenting Difficult Teens. I am sure this is something that we could all learn more about to help our clients. Susan Capell will also present on Time Management.

I will also be making a VERY important announcement and would like to have as many of you there as possible. PLEASE make every effort to be there (change your schedule, get a babysitter...do what you can, please!).

As always, we will have a potluck dinner/treat buffet, so bring something to share if you can!

RSVP at the right if you haven't! Thank you guys for all you do! See you ALL there on Thursday Sept 15!

July Advanced Training

Hello everyone and Happy Fourth of July!! I hope most of you are out having fun with family and friends!!

I wanted to get this out while I am thinking about it. I have been trying to get a specific training booked for over a month now and I finally got it nailed down (which is why we missed the June training and are doing it in July).

Our next Advanced Training will be Thursday, July 14 at 5:30 pm in the Provo DCFS office. Our presenter will be Heidi Whitaker, who is the Nebo School District Volunteer Liaison for educators/parents who teach or raise children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. She will be presenting on Parenting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. She is also bring a panel of parents with have first hand experience. This is going to be a GREAT training and one that we can all benefit from. We seem to be getting more and more requests for services for parents with autistic children, so I would like us all to be more aware of how we can help these families. I know summer is a busy time, but please make an effort to be at this training!

We are going to do the Skills training section a little differently this time. I won't tell you exactly what we are doing, but come prepared for some summer fun! :)

As always, we will have a potluck dinner/treatfest so bring something to share (if you would like).

Summer Skills Group for Autistic/Aspergers Teens

This looks like a really great group and could be something really helpful for families with this need:
“Super Skills”

Social Skills Group

Ages 11 to 15

· Asperger Syndrome

· High Functioning Autism

· Related Disorders

Starting June 13^th to August 15^th

At

American Fork Family Clinic

801-763-5010

Intake Calls

DCFS has centralized their intake, which means SLC takes all calls (instead of the regions like before). The new number to call is 855-323-3237. Please make note of this (it will always be on the right side of the blog) if you need to make a referral or call someone afterhours.

April Advanced Training

We had a great Advanced Training last week. You never know what to expect from our presenters and this one was no exception. It was, however, very informative. Detective Melissa Stout from the Utah Co Sherriff's office presented on Recognizing Drug Use Symptoms. Please take the time to read through the following handout:

Recognizing Drug Use Symptoms

Some other points from her presentation that I wanted to point out so you could pass them along to your clients or in working with them:

*Legally, you cannot drive on ANY controlled substance (including Xanax and Loratab). Cops will generally not do anything about it unless you are impaired, but you still shouldn't be driving while taking them.

*Drugs are absorbed through mucus membranes (such as through snorting).

*"Eyes Don't Lie" Always look for constricted or dialated pupils for signs up drug use (see handout for which drugs do which).

*If you see a pill and you don't recognize it, you can make note of the size, shape, color and any letters or numbers on it. Poison Control can help you identify it (but I would just make note of it and let the caseworker look into what it is).

Did anyone else at the training take away anything that I missed? If so, leave it as a comment to this post.

Ilene Barton gave us a WONDERFUL presentation on Happiness and Communication. I personally learned alot and am grateful for her training. To read through her handout, click on the link below:

Happiness Handout

Thanks for taking the time to go through this information and for those who attended. See you at the next training in June!

Meals Matter- Resource

Susan shared a great website with me, MealsMatter.org, and I think it would be a great tool for you to use with your families. Click here for the link or on the picture above.

The site has a lot of information on healthy meal planning, recipes, setting healthy eating goals, and tips for meals for busy families.