December is here and the holidays are just around the corner. For some this is an extremely enjoyable rest period involving lots of time with family and a short respite before the new year. For other individuals and families this time of year can be a stressful, anxiety-inducing experience.
CanFASD Art Competition Winners Announced
We’ve received really unique submissions from artists of all ages, all over the country. It was really difficult for us to choose just one winner because there were so many artists we wanted to showcase. So this year, for the first time, we’re introducing a second and third place title along with our first place winner.
Supporting Healthy Pregnancies this Holiday Season
There are many reasons people might choose not to drink this holiday season. People might be pregnant, recovering from addiction, abstaining for health reasons, are the designated driver, or could simply not want to. Refrain from questions like “why aren’t you drinking?” sentences like “just one can’t hurt”. Drawing attention to someone’s sobriety can lead to feelings of stigmatization and isolation.
Article Summary: The experiences of caregivers looking after individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Caregivers and families experience numerous and significant impacts in relation to understanding FASD, obtaining an FASD diagnosis, and managing and supporting individuals with FASD through their lifetime. A lack of understanding by health care and social service providers was considered a key barrier to accessing effective resources and supports. Improved training, resources, and FASD diagnostic guidelines for health care practitioners is essential for improving outcomes for individuals, caregivers, and families.
Highlight on Canadian FASD Service Providers- NB Centre of Excellence
The New Brunswick (NB) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Centre of Excellence is a bilingual, provincial, community-based model that incorporates a holistic, collaborative, client-centred, strength-based, women-centred, trauma informed approach to its health care services. The NB FASD Centre of Excellence takes great pride in providing a safe, kind, caring, and empathetic environment for all their clients and families. The Centre … Read More
#FeatureFriday – Stigma and the 2019 CCSA Conference
CanFASD had the opportunity to celebrate NAAW at the CCSA’s Issues of Substance Conference. This conference was a wonderful chance for our team to interact with other researchers, professionals, and service providers to gain a better understanding of the landscape of substance use in Canada. It also gave us the opportunity to share the knowledge and resources that our organization has collected and developed about FASD, alcohol, and pregnancy.
Giving Tuesday with CanFASD
Donations to our organization help us to expand the work that we do to improve services, policies, programming, and resources to address FASD in Canada. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the amazing community members who have donated their time, money, and energy to our cause.
Respecting Rights Coordinator Sue Hutton shares her journey at ARCH Disability Law Centre
In delivering Rights training to staff and observing how the self-advocacy movement across Ontario looked like it could use a major facelift, I began to consult with Rights lawyers at ARCH Disability Law Centre to learn more about the legal rights of persons labeled with intellectual disabilities. It seemed as though the law was missing from the fabric of how rights work was being carried out across Ontario’s developmental services agencies. It wasn’t just one agency or another – it was the whole province from what I could gather through academic searches, literature reviews, and my own environmental scans.
Issue Paper: The Efficacy of Warning Labels on Alcohol Containers for FASD Prevention
Organizations and countries around the world have developed a number of prevention strategies to reduce the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Alcohol warning labels are becoming an increasingly common prevention strategy. However, research is mixed on whether this approach is an effective means of FASD prevention.
Public Definition of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
In July 2019, CanFASD released a standard definition of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a diagnostic term used to describe impacts on the brain and body of individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol. FASD is a lifelong disability. Individuals with FASD will experience some degree of challenges in their daily living, and need support with … Read More