Overview
The Arc New York is excited for the Guardianship Training Virtual Symposium, taking place on November 6 and 7. This event is proudly sponsored by the Trustees of NYSARC Trusts and promises to be an enriching experience for all attendees.
This year’s theme, “Reframing Guardianship & Individualized Supports,” will delve into innovative approaches and best practices in guardianship. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with expert presenters and explore new strategies that prioritize individualized supports for those in need.
The symposium will feature a range of informative sessions, providing valuable insights into the evolving landscape of guardianship and the importance of tailored support systems. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the field, this event is designed to enhance your understanding and skills.
Below are the Symposium Training Materials for each Session.
SESSION 1: READING TO THE HEART – HOW TO RECOGNIZE BODY LANGUAGE CUES AND PRESENT YOUR BEST SELF
In each minute of interaction, you can share up to 10,000 nonverbal cues. Understanding and using the secrets of nonverbal communication can enhance your listening ability and how you perceive and understand. As a guardian, you interact with people daily, explaining options to clients, listening to their preferences, and advocating for them. In addition, you often work with family members, address the court, work with medical professionals, and more. Do people understand you accurately? Does your messaging persuade them? Would you like to improve your understanding of what clients are saying? In this motivational program, you will learn ways to communicate by establishing meaningful rapport, uncovering commonalities that connect, and discovering methods to be more receptive and open to others. In this unique program, you will “experience” accurately reading and using these cues to enhance your nonverbal communication skills.
SESSION 2: INSTITUTE FOR EXCEPTIONAL CARE—A NATIONAL ROADMAP FOR DISABILITY-INCLUSIVE CARE
Everyone should have access to quality healthcare, no matter their
needs. However, approximately 60% of U.S. physicians say they don’t have the training and skills to properly care for people with disabilities. The National Roadmap for Disability Inclusive Healthcare is a plan for clinicians to learn how to give the best healthcare possible to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This session will explain what the National Roadmap is, how it came to be and what the future work under the Roadmap looks like.
SESSION 3: “OPERATION HOUSE CALL – EMPOWERING FAMILIES & SELF-ADVOCATES AS HEALTH EDUCATORS (A PROGRAM OF THE ARC OF MASSACHUSETTS”
Operation House Call (OHC) advances inclusive healthcare for individuals with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. We empower families to teach through lived experience, shaping the skills & mindsets of tomorrow’s healthcare professionals.
SESSION 4: “JUDGE’S PANEL: GUARDIANSHIP & SUPPORTED DECISION MAKING”
Moderator: Tara Anne Pleat, Esq. Wilcenski & Pleat PLLC, Special Needs and Trusts & Estates Attorney, New York, and Member of The Arc New York Guardianship Committee
Presenters: Hon. Louis P Gigliotti (Oneida County); Hon. David H. Guy
(Broome County) and Sheila Shea, Esq. Mental Hygiene Legal Services
SESSION 5: “COLLABORATING WITH THE LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN PROGRAM”
The Ombudsman program was established in every state under the federal Older Americans Act (OAA) to address complaints and provide advocacy on behalf of residents for improvements in the long-term care system. This panel of experts from the NYS Ombudsman Program will share their vast experiences and knowledge in navigating the long-term care system, the barriers residents face living in these facilities, and strategies in providing effective oversight and advocacy. This session will facilitate a discussion of what the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) does for residents in facilities and how The Arc New York and LTCOP can work together to assist individuals who may be in long term care facilities or may be facing nursing home placement in the future.
SESSION 6: “ETHICAL DECISION MAKING – HOW TO”
By the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
-Describe the primary ethical principles used in medical decision-making
-Appoint a healthcare surrogate & have discussion points for goals of care
-Identify the potential pitfalls of implicit bias in healthcare
-Understand the benefits of enlisting the services of the bioethicist
- Powerpoint Notepad
- Atul Gawande’s 5 Questions to Ask at Life’s End
- Steps to Decision-Making
- Evaluating Medical Decision-Making Capacity
- Five Wishes Sample
- Matter of Elizabeth M.
- Matter of Joseph P.
- Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)
- N.Y. Surr. Ct. Proc. Act § 1750-B
- NYSARC presentation resources 2024
- OPWDD MOLST Checklist
- Physicians’ Perceptions Of People With Disability And Their Health Care
- Family Health Care Decisions Act
SESSION 7: HOW GUARDIANSHIP AND OTHER INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTS CAN BE EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY TOOLS FOR DECISION-MAKING
Guardianship is only one of many tools for decision-making support in our system. While we expect that other less-restrictive options for decision making are considered before approaching guardianship as the preferred choice of intervention, guardianship remains an option for people who need significant support in decision making and advocacy. This session will review skills and tools supporters can use before considering guardianship (e.g., supported decision making, the stoplight tool), and how to apply those skills and tools. We will focus on ways that supporters can use alternatives, but also the tool of guardianship in what are often considered “challenging” situations such as supporting people who do not use speech for communication, palliative and end-of-life care, and supporting people whose wishes may be different than what their guardian proposes.
SESSION 8: PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES – INVOLVEMENT, INCLUSION AND HEALING
This session will address issues of people with cognitive disabilities and their unique needs as they grieve the death of a significant person and other losses. It will also address issues of what care providers can do to support people with intellectual disabilities as they grieve.
Supplemental Materials
- Physician’s Attitudes about Caring for People with Disabilities
- Physician’s Attitudes about Caring for People with Disabilities -2
- End of Life Care for People with Developmental Disabilities
- What are we planning exactly? The perspectives of people with intellectual disabilities
- Article on Health and End of Life Care For People with IDD
The Arc promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.
