Beth Gallagher

Custom Lives: Practical, Realistic, and Attainable
Services for people transitioning to adulthood commonly leave a lot to be desired. This session challenges the status quo. Join Beth to explore creative and unique methods of designing support systems around individuals to ensure that they successfully live, work and go to school in the community setting of their choice. Experience tools that can be used to identify dreams and goals. Collaborate with other participants on idea shaping. Work with participants on how to ask "The Next Best Question." Experience examples of how supports that are truly individualized can allow people to live the life they find rewarding.

Emma Van der Klift

Complexity of Communication for Parent Centers: Parts One and Two
Faced with resistance or refusal during negotiations for critical supports and services, many who are committed to advocacy find ourselves feeling discouraged and powerless. Despite sincere efforts to work collaboratively, we wonder why we are repeatedly "hitting the wall" and worry that perhaps we have been naive in our approach. This is particularly true when power dynamics do not seem balanced. Many current strategies offered by conflict resolution trainers are primarily "interest-based." However, not all conflicts seem equally amenable to this approach. In addition, we are recognizing that some of the difficult conflicts we face may never be "resolved" once and for all, but rather must be managed in an ongoing way.