2021 START National Training Institute

Virtual 2021 START National Training Institute banner with a dark blue background and white lettering

START With Mindfulness: Unlocking Our Potential

The 2021 Virtual SNTI took place May 3-5, 2021. Thank you to all who participated in another excellent virtual SNTI.

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Monday May 3, 2021

12:00-12:30pm ET | Opening Remarks

Opening Remarks with Dr. Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Director of the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability/UCED

Welcome & Mindfulness Exercise with Dr. Joan B. Beasley

12:30-2:00pm ET | Keynote and Q&A

Mindfulness for Individuals with IDD and Mental Health Needs
Nirbhay Singh, PhD, BCBA-D, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University

The opening keynote will introduce mindfulness as a simple practice that makes a small cognitive shift of the mind through meditation, which results in large positive changes in our lives. It will briefly cover the basics of mindfulness meditation and how it changes our brain and behavior through the mind-body connection. A central focus will be on how mindfulness has been used in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, and how parents, teachers, paid caregivers and people with IDD can use it to improve their mental health (e.g., stress, anxiety, worry, burnout), as well as have better control of behavioral excesses (e.g., anger, aggression, disruptive, and destructive behaviors). The talk will be based on most current research findings, and emphasize the practical relevance of mindfulness in our daily lives.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will be able to define mindfulness meditation in terms of attention, awareness, and acceptance
  • Participants will be able to practice focused meditation
  • Participants will be able to enumerate mindfulness programs for caregivers and informal practices that can be used by people with IDD

2:15-3:15pm ET | Research Panel

START Research Update: Positive Advancements in IDD-MH Research
Andrea Caoili, LCSW Director of Research and Quality Assurance, Center for START Services; Joan B. Beasley, PhD, Director, Center for START Services, Research Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability; Luke Kalb, PhD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Ariel Schwartz, PhD, Post Doctoral Fellow, Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College: Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation; Jessica Kramer, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept of Occupational Therapy, University of Florida

Updates will be provided by the Center for START Services research team and partners about the work being done to improve the wellbeing of persons with IDD, their families and communities before, during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the variety of research being conducted by CSS and their partners
  • List at least 3 (three) strategies for inclusive research practices involving persons with IDD/MH
  • Identify implications for practice in supporting and providing services to persons with IDD/MH through COVID-19

3:30-4:45pm ET | Research Poster Session #1

Tuesday May 4, 2021

12:00-1:00pm ET | START Talks: Building Community Through Storytelling

"The stories we live and tell provide coherence and meaning and orient our sense of purpose."
-Sharon Daloz Park

The 2021 START Talks will feature six 10-minute stories from a diverse group of leaders representing professionals, people with lived experience, and family members. Each will share their stories as leaders and will reflect on their experiences with the Center for START Services. What made them travel on this road? What kept them on the journey? 

We are all leaders on our own paths. START Talks aim to inspire, encourage, and provide hope through stories that highlight our resilience and strength, put us in touch with our humanity and help to make the connection between our personal growth, the experiences we have, and the stories we share with others.

1:00-2:15pm ET | Breakout Session #1

Strengths-Based Approaches & Community Inclusion

Practical Applications of Mindfulness-Based Programs for Children
Nirbhay Singh, PhD, BCBA-D, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University

This session will focus on (a) practical applications of mindfulness-based programs for children and (b) specific mindfulness meditations that can be taught to children at various developmental levels. The presentation will cover what we know about the evidence-base for the effects of mindfulness-based programs on children and adolescents, and the specific programs used to produce these effects. There will be an opportunity for the attendees to sample some of these meditation practices during the presentation and subsequently use them with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will be able to list mindfulness-based practices for children and adolescents
  • Participants will be able to demonstrate at least one mindfulness-based meditation often used with children
  • Participants will be able to enumerate mindfulness-based programs that have been found effective with children and adolescents and to list their specific effects

Psychiatry & Integrated Health

Positive Medicine: Healthier Physicians/Healthier Patients
Leslie Rubin, MD, Founder, The Rubin Center for Autism and Developmental Pediatrics, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Morehouse School of Medicine; Dan Tomasulo, PhD, TEP, MFA, MAPP, Core Faculty, Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, Assistant Instructor, Masters of Applied Positive Psychology Program, University of Pennsylvania, Director, New York Certificate of Applied Positive Psychology, Open Center

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’ This definition has changed the paradigm of clinical focus from a disease oriented doctor-patient approach to a more comprehensive approach, taking into consideration living circumstances that may have played a part in health-related issues to provide a better understanding of the condition and the approach to improving health for that individual. This model also presupposes a network of individuals, agents or organizations that can be recruited to understand the condition and in the process of promoting improved health. 

One such approach for promoting improved health is Positive Medicine, which cultivates skills of resilience through promoting physicians’ well-being while caring for their patients. This evidence-based program introduces the science of positive psychology by utilizing scientifically validated assessments and physiologic measures of well-being to create objective and meaningful change in physician’s lives.

Learning Objectives:

  • Analyze the paradigm shift from more traditional doctor-patient relationship to a more comprehensive approach aimed at improving health
  • Identify at least 2 non-medical strategies to improve health
  • Identify at least 2 community resources that contribute to health
  • Describe how Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being has been extended
  • Describe the caregiver’s fatigue syndrome and how this impacts physicians

2:30-3:45pm ET | Breakout Session #2

Research, Policy & Practices

It Begins with Listening: Avoiding Assumptions & Finding Opportunities
Russell Lehmann, Autism & Mental Health Speaker, Author, Poet, Advocate, Mary Lou Bourne, MS, Chief Quality and Innovation Officer, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, Michael Smull, Senior Partner, Support Development Associates

Mindfulness when offering support begins with listening with purposeful intent to understand. When we hear of (or read about) actions a person engages in, and we immediately assign the description of a challenging behavior, it typically results in an associated diagnostic label.  This chain reaction, when documented in a record, often leads the reader to make assumptions about the person that do not reflect who the person really is or how to best support them.  Simply stated, the solution is to listen intently both to the words a person says AND the messages being delivered by their actions.  In this session participants will hear from a person with lived experience and practitioners about the importance of listening with compassion and listening within a framework that starts with understanding what is important to each individual, from their own perspective.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify how assumptions influence our understanding of a person’s life experience and may lead to recommendations that limit their potential experiences.
  • Describe new frameworks of listening for both what is important to, as well as, what is important for, people. 
  • List at least three (3) tools for eliciting information and assessing current status of individuals that can facilitate more effective listening and understanding.

Cross-Systems Crisis Intervention

Partnering with Law Enforcement: Working Our Way Up the Triangle
David O'Neal, MS, LMHC, Project Facilitator, Center for START Services, Director of IDD Services, Sound Health; Tiffany Liska, Clinical Team Leader, I-START (County Social Services)

When working with any system partner, the relationship must encompass multiple ways of interacting together. With first responders and law enforcement, it is important to provide resources and services at the tertiary, secondary, and primary levels of intervention...Often all at the same time! This presentation will provide theory, methods, models, and actual partnerships demonstrated at each level.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe at least one (1) intervention at each level of the tertiary care model (primary, secondary, tertiary) that improves interactions with law enforcement at the point of crisis response
  • Identify at least two (2) tools that can be used to increase capacity for knowledge, identification, and understanding of MH/IDD amongst law enforcement
  • Describe the most common ways individuals with IDD come into contact with law enforcement

4:00-5:15pm ET | Research Poster Session #2

Wednesday May 5, 2021

12:00-12:30pm ET | Opening Remarks

Welcome Address with Dr. Dan Tomasulo

12:30-2:00pm ET | Keynote, Panel Discussion, and Q&A

The Cultural Implications of Lessons Learned from the START COVID Study
Tawara Goode, MA, Director, Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities & National Center for Cultural Competence

Panelists: Andrea Caoili, LCSW, Director of Research and Quality Assurance, Center for START Services; Fiorella Guerrero, MA, Rehabilitation Science PhD Student, University of Florida Department of Occupational Therapy; Elona Spencer, Parent & Family Advocate

any public health crises have a disparate impact on marginalized populations including sub- groups at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and disability. Through a PCORI-funded project, START sought to contribute to the body of knowledge about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD-MH) and their families. This panel will present the process, frameworks, and preliminary results of survey data collected and analyzed for START enrollees between March and July 2020. This approach to data analysis places significant emphasis on identifying the socio-cultural contexts and disparities associated with intersectionality, particularly among persons with IDD-MH and their families from African American/Black and Latino/Hispanic backgrounds. This pilot project has far reaching implications as the frameworks can be instrumental in identifying information that equips mental health systems to achieve more equitable outcomes in future public health crises.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the study methodology the project team employed to code data from the survey administered to START enrollees comparing mental health service use and outcomes before and after the onset of COVID-19.
  • Describe two frameworks, the convergence of cultural contexts and intersectionality, used to code and analyze survey data.
  • Describe the importance of access to and use of these types of data from a parent perspective. 
  • Delineate the inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed in the IDD-MH system and the implications for ongoing efforts to address racial equity and implement culturally and linguistically competent practices.

2:15-3:30pm ET | START Awards Ceremony: Celebrating the START Community

2021 William I. Gardner Awards:

  • William I. Gardner Social Justice Award: Tawara Goode
  • William I. Gardner Leadership Award: Dr. Bruce Davis

The William I. Gardner Award is the highest honor given by the Center for START Services. Each year, we recognize national leaders who have promoted social justice and significantly improved the lives of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental health.

Tawara Goode, MA
Director, National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC); Director, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Georgetown University; Assistant Professor, Georgetown University

Ms. Goode has led the way In the Center for START Services’ journey toward improved cultural and linguistic competence, has been a steadfast partner in research, and a national leader and mentor to many. Ms. Goode also serves on the board of the National Resource Consortium. 

Bruce Davis, PhD, BCBA-D, Sr. LPE, LPC
Director of Behavioral And Psychological Services, Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Dr. Davis has long been a champion of mental health and IDD including his active engagement within the START Network and his recent efforts that brought START back to Tennessee. This year Dr. Davis played a key role as an advocate in support of Tennessee citizens with IDD in COVID vaccination planning. Tennessee was the first state to do this.

3:30-4:00pm ET | Closing Remarks

Congratulations to the 2021 START Research Poster Winners!

1st place: CA START Alta- Prevalence of Early Childhood Trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Lifelong Trauma and the Impact on Behavioral Health Symptoms and Gaps in Treatment in Individuals with IDD

2nd place: NC West START: The Efficacy of Virtual Crisis Response During the Covid-19 Pandemic

3rd  place: NH START- Pivoting to virtual groups during a year of global pandemic

4th Place: CA START San Diego, Westside & SCLA- Therapeutic Coaching and Covid 19


View All Research Poster Overview Videos

2021 START Research Poster Overview Video Playlist


 

Research Poster Session Part 1 - Monday May 3, 2020 - 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm ET

  • Poster #1 - NH START: Pivoting to virtual groups during a year of global pandemic
  • Poster #2 - NY START Region 5: Staying Connected & Supported during COVID-19: A Case Study
  • Poster #3 - I-START: START Program Sustainability
  • Poster #4 - NC START East: A Tertiary Approach to Sexual Health
  • Poster #5 - NY START Region 1: Using Psychiatric Consultation for Individual and Systemic Stability; A Virtual Tool in NY START Region 1
  • Poster #7 - CA START SD WRC SCLA: Therapeutic Coaching and Covid 19
  • Poster #8 - NC START Central: The PERMA Assessment: How Forming Connections in a Time of Isolation Meets the Social Needs of Individuals with IDD through Virtual Therapeutic Coaching Groups

Research Poster Session Part 2 - Tuesday May 4, 2020 - 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET

  • Poster #10 - CA START Alta Regional: Prevalence of Early Childhood Trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Lifelong Trauma and the Impact on Behavioral Health Symptoms and Gaps in Treatment in Individuals with IDD.
  • Poster #11 - Texas START: Pandemic Practices: Resource Center on the Road
  • Poster #13 - CA START San Andreas: The impact of a global pandemic (COVID-19) on biopsychosocial stressors: A comparative analysis utilizing the RSQ
  • Poster #14 - CA START East Bay: Addressing the high rate of sleep disturbances amongst individuals being supported by the CA START East Bay team: Gauging the efficacy of mindfulness-based sleep-hygiene interventions
  • Poster #15 - NC START West: The Efficacy of Virtual Crisis Response During the Covid-19 Pandemic
  • Poster #16 - NY START Region 4 Richmond Kings: Women with IDD: Challenges in Reproductive and Gynecological Health Care in America (this presentation has been moved to Monday's session)

Congratulations to the 2021 START Award Winners!

William I. Gardner Award

The William I. Gardner Award is the highest honor given by the Center for START Services. Each year, we recognize national leaders who have promoted social justice and significantly improved the lives of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental health.

  • Professor Tawara Goode, MA - Director, National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC); Director, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Georgetown University; Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
  • Bruce Davis, PhD, BCBA-D, Sr. LPE, LPC - Director of Behavioral And Psychological Services, Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

START Award Winners

  • Care Coordination/Case Management/Service Coordination - Teodoro (Ted) Bilbao- South Central, California
  • START Network Partner (Adult Services) - Iowa Mason City Police Dept
  • START Network Partner (Children’s Services) - Dr. Lisa Plotnik- New Hampshire
  • START Team Member (Certified START Coordinator) - Luis Hernandez- NC START East
  • START Team Member (Team Leader) - Oruada Oruada- NY START Region 4 Triborough
  • START Team Leadership (Clinical, Program, & Medical Directors)
    • Demetra Grigley- NC START West
    • Val Tetreault- NH START
    • Symone Pompey- CA START, San Diego
  • Therapeutic Supports: Resource Center Director - Michael Blau- NH START Resource Center Director
  • Therapeutic Supports: Resource Center Counselor - Latoya Ward- NC START East
  • Therapeutic Supports: Therapeutic Coach
    • Alicia Mitchell- NY START Region 4 Triborough
    • Denise Hart- CA START, San Andreas
    • Gladys Ballon- CA START, San Diego
  • Special Recognition Awards
    • Kelly Land- This award recognizes Kelly's demonstrated leadership and significant contributions within TX START and the START Network. Kelly exemplifies the START philosophy of positive engagement with individuals, families, and the service system..
    • Jessica Kramer: This award recognizes Dr. Kramer for her support and partnership with the Center for START Services & the START Network. Dr. Kramer exemplifies the START philosophy of positive engagement and leadership with individuals, families, and service systems
Dartmouth Hitchcock Logo

Medical Professionals: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Dartmouth-Hitchcock and The Center for START Services. Dartmouth-Hitchcock is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Dartmouth-Hitchcock designates this live activity for a maximum of 6.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Learning Outcomes Statement: At the conclusion of this learning activity, learners will be able to utilize the evidence-based concepts and approaches shared within each session to broaden their understanding of individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and behavioral health needs, inform clinical practices, and formulate and implement acceptable treatment modalities.

APA (Psychology): This program is co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Psychological Association (NHPA) and the Center for START Services. NHPA is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. These credits are also accepted by the State Board of Mental Health and the State Board of Psychologists for all New Hampshire licensees. NHPA maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. This program offers up to 5.0 CE credits for psychologists. Full attendance is required to receive credit for psychologists; variable credit for partial attendance may not be awarded based on the APA guidelines.

NASW (Social Work): This program is approved by the National Association of Social Workers (Approval # 886725464-2213) for 6 continuing education contact hours.

National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC): 2021 START National Training Institute: The Pursuit of Happiness has been approved by NBCC for NBCC credit. Sessions approved for NBCC credit are clearly identified. National Center for START Services, University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability/UCED is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. NBCC Approval No. SP-3628.

START National Training Institute Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe how inclusion of therapeutic strategies to support the pursuit of happiness is essential to overall emotional well-being for people with IDD-MH, their families, and their system of support

  2. Identify at least three (3) resources found within research, policy, and practice that promote happiness in the lives of people with IDD-MH and their families

  3. Utilize at least three (3) strategies to foster happiness for people with IDD-MH and their families

New York Social Worker: The National Center for START Services, Institute on Disability/UCED, University of New Hampshire, is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0452. This program offers up to 6.5 CE credits for New York Social Workers.

2021 SNTI Continuing Education Credit Providers

CME

NHPA

NASW

NBCC

UNH

NYSW

Cost

$25

$25

$25

$25

Free

Free

Sessions:

Keynote: Mindfulness for Individuals with IDD and Mental Health Needs

1.5

1.0

1.5

1.5

1.5

1.5

START Research Projects: Positive Advancements in IDD-MH Research

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.0

Breakout 1: Practical Applications of Mindfulness Based Programs for Children

1.25

1.0

1.0

1.25

1.25

1.25

Breakout 2: Positive medicine & its impact on health practices

1.25

1.0

1.0

0

1.25

1.25

Breakout 3: It Begins with Listening: Avoiding Assumptions & Finding Opportunities

1.25

1.0

1.0

0

1.25

1.25

Breakout 4: Partnering with Law Enforcement: Working Our Way Up the Triangle

1.25

1.0

1.0

0

1.25

1.25

Keynote: Cultural Implications of the START COVID Survey

1.5

1.0

1.5

1.5

1.5

1.5

Total Hours Available

6.5

5.0

6.0

5.25

6.5

6.5