[humanser] Important Human Services Division Convention Announcement

[Yolanda Garcia]

Hello All Human Services Professionals

 

Have you thought of making plans yet to attend the NFB national convention in Detroit this summer yet? Wonder what new and exciting things we might be discussing at the Human Services annual meeting. Well wait no more. The National Federation of the Blind Human Services Division will be having their first annual Therapeutic Toolbox Swap on Sunday July 5th during the division meeting. 

 

What is this you ask? As professional counselors, clinicians, practitioners, case workers, and therapist, we are always looking to expand our toolbox of resources to help with the direct practice of our clients. Purchasing many awesome therapeutic tools and collecting literature are essential to enhancing our resources, but can become expensive. Not to mention we may not know where to begin looking for popular techniques with populations that are out of the scope of clients we work with. Sometimes, there just isn't enough time in the day to peruse around on the internet as well. Additionally, we may get some very cool resources from fellow colleagues at work; however, they may not always be blind friendly formats of literature or experiential exercises that can be made accessible.

 

Our goal for the Swap is to have everyone attending bring their favorite therapeutic tool/resource to share with the group. We will give everyone a couple of minutes to explain what they brought and how it's worked well for them and the services they provide to their clients. Items can include a favorite book, handout, or worksheet packet scanned and saved on a memory stick so that others maybe able to download them on their note takers or laptops. You may also bring burned copies of DVD's or CD's with relaxation techniques or different intervention styles that can be distributed. Or perhaps you have modified an activity/game/exercises tactually that you use with your clients and would like to show it to people to touch so that way attendees can go home and make their own replica. You can get as creative as you want with this therapeutic toolbox swap. We just ask that if you decide to bring copies of printed handouts or materials that you make numerous amounts of copies to distribute. We roughly have at least 50 members who attend every year but believe that making 30 copies of any material would suffice provided that not everyone receives a copy.

 

If you do not own a laptop/ notetaker, or are unable to bring anything scanned and saved on a memory stick, we ask that you be willing to take people's names and email addresses and send them a copy of the materials/literature once you arrive home. 

 

We encourage you to utilize the next two and a half months before national convention to begin filtering through your toolbox to share with us in hopes of making this one successful Therapeutic Toolbox Swap! The board is very excited to continue bringing new ideas such as this to strengthen the networking in our division! Can't wait to see everyone in Detroit!



Warmest Regards,

Yolanda Garcia, Human Services board member