Why This Matters: Stories from AASR Volunteers

Join us for “Why This Matters: Stories from AASR Volunteers” with Guy Stephens, Karen Bures, Amy Kriewaldt, Braden Flax, Heathyr Watson, Sidney McGillicky, Arielle Silverman, Chantelle Hyde, Angie Vigliotti, Cass Griffin Bennett, Erica Cotter, and Courtney Litzinger.

In this episode of AASR Live, you’ll have an opportunity to meet some of our amazing AASR volunteers and hear their stories. Learn why these amazing individuals are supporting the work and mission of the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. We will also talk about our end-of-year giving campaign and hope that you might support our work.

Transcript

Guy Stephens: 0:12

Well, hello and welcome back to the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint Live series. My name is Guy Stevens, I'm a founder and executive director of the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint and excited to have you here joining us. Again, as always, we have a really fun, I think, show in store for you today, something a little different from what we usually do. And as it's the end of the year, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to tell you a little bit about what we have coming up in the new year, as well, it's a fantastic opportunity for you to get to meet some of the amazing volunteers that we have here at the Alliance, and learn a little bit more about who they are and why they're volunteering with the Alliance and why this work is important to them. So I'm going to just here in a moment introduce to begin to introduce to you some of the amazing volunteers that we have. Before we do and as we go through today, I'm going to have a few things to share with you. And a few announcements to share with you as well. And I'm going to start off with one of them. That is well I think it's really exciting. So hopefully you will as well. What I want to share with you is that we are as we move into the next year, as we move into 2024, we actually are going to have a number of folks helping to sponsor our podcast, which is fantastic. As you know, we bring this podcast to you every two weeks. And often even more frequently than that. And it's something that we have done and always want to do and no cost. But of course it cost us money to produce these shows, and you know, all of the equipment and services and whatnot. So we've been looking for some sponsors to help us to cover some of the costs of this. And we have two sponsors that are already on board for next year. But we are looking for a few more so and we're really looking for, you know, products, organizations that are aligned with our mission or vision and our values. So if you or you know, anyone that might be interested in helping to sponsor our work, please let me know, I do want to let you know, immediately that we have two that are already signed in on for next year, we have some portable solutions. And if you were with us, our last live event you met Connie Persike. Connie Persike is the owner of Supportable Solutions. They are an amazing company out of Wisconsin that does really educational consulting around the country. And I've been lucky enough to work with Connie pretty closely on some work that we're doing together related to a collaboration we have with Crisis Prevention Institute, which is really interesting as well. And at any rate, Supportable Solutions will be one of our sponsors over the next year. You learned about a week ago about the why toolkit. And you'll have an opportunity to learn more about that and more about the great work that they're doing there as well over the coming year. So one of our sponsors I wanted to introduce the other one who actually just joined us today is we're going to be sponsored by Ryan and Robert Delena, who wrote this amazing book. And you may remember we did a live event with them at one point previously as well. But they did this amazing book called without restraint. And the book is subtitled how Skien saved my son's life. And the story really follows the story of Ryan and his experience in school he's experienced being restrained and secluded, and is in the words of the book kind of how Skien helped to save him and how he's doing today. And they're gonna be sponsoring our podcast in the coming year as well. So we're gonna have some more announcements as we kind of continue on today, letting you know some of the exciting things that we've got coming up in the next year. But let's get to some of the fun here. And let me go ahead and begin to introduce you to some of our amazing volunteers. I'm going to bring them up all up on the stage here. And we'll start by doing some introductions. I do want to ask you if you are watching us live, you know the drill here and I see that. Pam, you've you've already you've already jumped in. Let us know in the chat who you are, where are you joining us from I hope everybody's having a great holiday season as we're getting towards the end of the year here. But please let us know who you are and where you're coming to us from today. And with that, let me go ahead and bring up our some of our volunteers here today, who will be joining us for the program. And we will get a chance to meet some of them and hear a little bit about them and their stories and why they're involved here. I do want to remind you that as always, this program is being broadcast live on YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. And of course it's available after the fact is an audio podcast. So if you want to listen on the go, you can go to Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you listen to podcasts. So I all of a sudden have this Brady Bunch looking group of people up here, and I don't mean that literally.

Courtney Litzinger: 5:00

really like Brady Bunch, but you know, So my name is Courtney Litzinger seeing the nine squares here, I feel like I'm on an old time TV show here. But, as I mentioned we have a number of our volunteers that'll be joining us and others that might jump on a little later. So what I want to do is first is to do some introductions. And I'm going to ask everybody to first introduce themselves. And then we'll go back through and tell you a little bit about their stories and why they're involved with the Alliance. And I'm going to start here, just because it's easier to have a system. And I'm going to start with Courtney, for a lot of reasons. But, Courtney, you are you are next in line here in more ways than one. Courtney, of course, is my amazing assistant here at the Alliance who has been doing a lot of work to support the work that we've been doing here. Courtney and I are the only actual staff people here. We're a small organization. And Courtney helps to do a lot of things and keep us moving in the right direction. Courtney, let me go ahead and let you introduce yourself and take it away.

Guy Stephens: 5:59

and you may still be muted there.

Courtney Litzinger: 6:10

Okay, can you hear me? All right, hold on, I think can bring you back to life. How's that? Can you hear me? I can hear you now. Sorry about that. That was I press the magic button, which unfortunately had you unable to speak and I didn't mean to do that. So go ahead. So my name is Courtney Litzinger and I've been in the human service field for about 15 years. I'm a mother to three children, my oldest who is autistic and has been restrained in school multiple times. So I got involved with the Alliance when my daughter started getting restrained in school. And I've been trying to advocate to end seclusion and restraint in schools ever since. Great, great. And we'll come back to you in a few minutes and talk a little bit more about your story. If you're willing. Angie, you know a couple of great things about introducing you. One is that you're also here in Maryland Now, mind you not in the same part of Maryland that I'm in or you may not actually be in the state at the moment, because I know you're often traveling, and I get to see all the amazing places you are. But let me let you go ahead and let you introduce yourself.

Angie Vigliotti: 7:18

Hi, Guy, and everyone. My name is Angie Vigliotti. I have only recently been a volunteer with the Alliance, but I have known Guy for quite a while now and the work he's been doing here. And I am a parent of several neurodiverse children and a stepchild and I am here, mostly because I've joined this organization, mostly due to my connection to most of these people here. And to probably some of the people that are watching and listening live. So I'm here to help with some guidance. And I'll give you a lot about my story. But I I tried to help a lot of people in the special education program in my area, because my county is completely different than other counties in Maryland. And I have been working under an autism waiver for the state now for quite a while. So I work with a lot of kids that have autism.

Courtney Litzinger: 8:37

Great. And we'll come back in a minute. And you can tell us a little bit more about why this work is really important to you, Heather.

Heathyr Watson: 8:49

I couldn't find the unmute button. I am Heather, I volunteer with the Alliance because I used to work residential. And I see a need for reaching out to schools, and any place that provides services to children and give them skills articles and things to support the move away from restraint and seclusion.

Courtney Litzinger: 9:11

Fantastic. And we're gonna go I feel like I need to say into the center square. Karen, you are the center square today. Go ahead and introduce yourself.

Karen Bures: 9:20

My name is Karen Bures. I am a special education teacher in the state of Oregon. My background is also residential. And I've since moved into the educational world and I'm currently working for a nonprofit organization. And we run an after school program for the students in our district, providing academic support and social emotional learning support, and then trying to continue to build skills in the schools.

Courtney Litzinger: 9:53

Fantastic. All right, we're gonna go over now to Braden

Braden Flax: 10:00

Hi, am I audible and visible?

Guy Stephens: 10:03

We can we can hear you perfectly.

Braden Flax: 10:05

Awesome. Hi everyone. I'm Braden Flax

Guy Stephens: 10:09

And see you, so we've got your both ways.

Braden Flax: 10:11

I'm Braden Flax coming to you all from Virginia. I'm a very recent recent addition to the Alliance. And I credit my joining the Alliance to my friend, Dr. Arielle Silverman, whom you'll all be hearing from shortly. As far as the rest of my life, I wear a lot of different hats. I am a Red Cross certified First Aid CPR AED instructor. And I also serve as a community experience advisor for the Blind News Foundation. And an executive assistant at the Safety Positive Foundation. And what brings a lot of my work together is that all of those things in one way or another have to do with making sure that people are both safe and included. And I'll say more about that later. But I want to give next person a chance.

Courtney Litzinger: 11:12

Fantastic. Thank you. And we're gonna go over to Amy.

Amy Kriewaldt: 11:22

I'm Amy Kriewaldt and I'm currently in Connecticut. I'm actually from Maryland. So I have that in common with a few of you. So I'm a mom of three autistic children. They're all pretty young, second grade and kindergarten. So I have had an experience with my youngest. And one of my oldest children since she was in preschool, of dealing with difficulties with keeping her safe in school. So I have a vested interest in making sure all children are safe. And I'm autistic myself. So I have a long history of wanting to ensure that children are kept safe in school. It's definitely a big problem.

Guy Stephens: 12:08

Absolutely, absolutely. All right, we will move on to Arielle.

Dr. Arielle Silverman: 12:11

All right, if you cannot hear me, please say something otherwise, I will speak. Hi, everyone. My name is Arielle Silverman. I've been a volunteer with the Alliance for about six months now. And I am a person with a disability. I've been totally blind since birth. I also have a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder. And I worked as an independent disabilities research and training consultant, I have a background in research methods as well as Disability Justice philosophies, and I worked with organizations to help them become more inclusive. I also worked for about four and a half years with a pre employment transition services program in Virginia for students who are blind or have low vision, including several who were autistic or who had other developmental intellectual disabilities. And I now work professionally as the director of research at the American Foundation for the Blind, in addition to volunteering with AASR and a couple other disability focused justice focused organizations. And I'll share more in a bit about my story.

Guy Stephens: 13:30

Sounds good. And it's great to have you here. And I don't know how you're at the the very last position here, Chantelle. So let me let you go ahead and let you introduce yourself.

Chantelle Hyde: 13:43

Hi, I'm Chantelle Hyde and I've been a volunteer with the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint for about four years now. I'm gonna get that date from you one day Guy. But it's been a pleasure. It's been an interesting journey. But my background is in business and before having my daughter, adult education and very much in supporting adults who were retraining for new jobs after being injured at work. And so accommodations and inclusiveness in an educational setting isn't new to me. But I have a 30 year old son in Ontario, where I'm originally from and live with my daughter and my husband in New Brunswick, Canada now, and unfortunately, I had no choice but to get involved in the issue of seclusion and restraint, especially after my daughter went through some pretty traumatizing seclusion incidents, and I mean, came home with things like finger shaped bruises on her arm. I know Amy, you experienced that with your daughter and broke my heart. But yeah, it was just the more and more you see how widespread an issue it is. It's impossible not to try and do something about it, especially when your child goes throught that.

Guy Stephens: 14:56

Absolutely. You have definitely been doing things about it.

Chantelle Hyde: 15:00

Lots of things over the last several years.

Guy Stephens: 15:04

All right. So tell you what, I just want to remind folks that are watching live. And I see a couple of you already have. But let us know in the chat who you are and where you're from. And I'll share that out here in a moment. I do want to mention before we kind of get on to learning a little bit more about your stories and your background. I said that kind of as we went through today, that I would have some announcements, I have some things to share. And right after Chantelle spoke is really a good time to bring this up. I wanted to mention to everyone that we are kicking off our 2024 books study series. And anyone that may know this already, we did a book studies series this current year really as a trial. We wanted to try a couple of books and see how it went and Chantelle, along with a number of other volunteers have led those books studies and done an amazing job and oh gosh, we read a book from Mona Delahooke, Brain Body Parenting, we did Laurie Desautels book, Intentional Neuroplasticity, we did a book from Joe Brummer, we did a number of books. And we really had a lot of fun, great conversations and we got to meet amazing people. One of the things that we did in conjunction with the book studies is that each of the book studies lasted about four weeks. We were kind of tweaking the time, four to five, or even six weeks. At the end, we had the authors join us. And I do want to mention that in 2024 we already have a page up on our website about the book study program. And you'll recognize immediately the first book that we have coming up because you're lucky enough right now to be joined by the author, Dr. Arielle Silverman. We're going to be doing the first book study on Just human Dr. Silverman's book. That's coming up in January. We've got a book study for One Rule Improv coming up in March, we have Raising Kids with Big Baffling Behaviors by Robin Goble coming up in September, and I Will Die on this Hill, Autistic Adults, Autism Parents and Children who deserve a better world coming up October. That's our standard book study program, we also are going to be doing a special educator program. And this is going to be during the summer, the educator program is going to be led by educators for educators and that can be paraprofessionals, teachers, social workers, psychologists, whoever it may be. And in fact, you know, I may even be hitting one of our educators that's on this call here to help out with that. So something to look forward to. I won't mention any names right now. And we've got a children's book study coming up as well. We're gonna cover over the summer a couple of children's books, ones that we would love to see in more classrooms around the country. So just wanted to mention that real quickly. And why don't I go back here and see who has said hello and then we will start getting into, oops lost my cursor here, start getting into some of the stories. We've got Divinna from Connecticut. I've got Erin here. And Erin said, My child has autism, ADHD as well as PTSD and depression anxiety and has been restrained multiple times by the school district resulting in further trauma. I'm a disabled special educator as well. Erin, I'm sorry to hear what's been done to your child and you're at a place where we want to change that and stop that from happening. We've got Sarah joining us from Rochester, New York. I've got Kim here from Michigan, my child was in seclusion during ABA. She has been traumatized by this experience. It wasn't until after I realized they had an ABA director that lied about all her training and had stolen BCBA credentials. Oh, that sounds hairy. Erin said I'm living in Delaware, forgot that part. Let's see a few more people that have joined us. Dawn from Fargo, North Dakota. I've got somebody here from New York and great. So Oh, and there's Jennifer. Jennifer, I expect you to be on this end of things. But good to see you. And absolutely. We got a lot of amazing people here today. All right. Kim in New York said, my child was restrained and lots of incidences that I could not get any details about. And of course, many of us share some some common experience with restraint and seclusion and with some of the broader issues as well. So I thought it would be interesting to kind of have some folks share a little bit more about their story if they're willing. And really why they decided to become part of the Alliance and help out with this work that we're trying to do here. So I'm going to kind of go around and you're welcome to share a bit and if you want to pass you can always have a pass as well. I don't want to put anybody in the hot seat. But I will start with somebody and I'm gonna go now from back to front and not the other way around. Chantelle, let's start with you. And if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about your story, why this work is really important to you and tell us a little bit more about your experience.

Chantelle Hyde: 20:17

Ok well, I can tell you that if you were to Google Chantelle and Lilly in New Brunswick, you will probably find a few links for the new stories there. And it really started out when I went on the news after years and three provinces in Canada trying to find the appropriate supports for my daughter, the appropriate supports in school, and support with her augmentative alternative communication device. Things like this, and just running into one brick wall after another and just disastrous situations like being cut down to half days of school and so on. And so I went on the news to talk about the fact that I was really honestly concerned that I might not be able to care for her in a couple of years, if she didn't get more support. And another mother saw that newscast, and, sorry, I'm gonna get emotional already. But to describe the situation, I just I shook for three days after hearing the story. Sorry. It's impossible not to get emotional. Sorry, because I'm in a bit of a state right now. I apologize Guy.

Guy Stephens: 21:26

No worries about that.

Chantelle Hyde: 21:27

I've had to remove Lily from school for good. This breaks my heart, I just, I can't imagine that we went through it again. I'm trying to take a breath here. Because it's just unbelievable to me that after four years of really hardcore advocacy, bringing things to the legislative floor, to get things on record, about restraint and seclusion, about the fact that they would just hire anybody off the street to work with my complex needs child with zero training, guaranteed to like lead to catastrophic situation. I literally, Guy, you and I spent 16 months I believe, working with my other producer of CTVW five, and went on a national, the longest running news program in Canada to bring the issue of restraint and seclusion across Canada to light. And still, somehow Lilly ended up being locked in a room again. And it just blew my mind. And the next day, this time, when I went into the school, I found out a couple of things actually, Guy suggested that I view any video footage that was available, and found out that they had been walking around for an entire week, with a blue folding gym mat under their arm, every moment that they worked with her. And a week before, Guy, you had actually posted a video of a little boy, that I couldn't even watch. It was so disgusting to me. So to see that they were carrying around a gym mat similar to that new's story I was just blown away. And also found out that the resource teacher who was the one who was training, all of her staff, didn't even know her emergency safety plan. And we spent eight months by that point, developing a minute detail by minute details safety plan for exactly the most difficult moment that she might have at school, this day it was over PMS, to be honest, we've realized the next day. And they didn't do any of it. They didn't do anything that the OT who's very trauma-informed had a lot of suggestions in there about what they should do. They of course, were carrying around a blue gym mat that nobody knew about. And I don't know how we had a whole team of people that met monthly, I'm on the end of the phone, email, text message at any point in time, if somebody thinks they need a strategy for something. That OT is there seven hours a week she had dedicated to Lily's case. And nobody even mentioned to her or to me that they had a staff member coming in concerned about their own safety. And if that's the case with my child, I would expect that we would have a conversation about that, as I'm sure any one of you would expect that conversations would have been around all of these things. But unfortunately, we had several levels of school system that really kept all of this from me. So it's really scary when you start to learn that it can be that kind of a situation that the superintendent and that the Minister of Education literally was getting letters from another mother for months before I found out what happened to her. How could that ever be the case? And we were living in a town of 3600 people with one English school so if somebody's talking about Lily at this one English school, there's only one Lily there. There's only was only one Lily at that school in that entire town. So it's impossible that we're not talking about the same child. So you know, it just was a blatant disregard and really hiding the situation. And I don't know if it's because they didn't want to admit that they didn't know what to do, because they didn't have experience with a child as complex as Lily. But when it came down to the last situation where people just blatantly ignored her plan, then I knew that she's just not safe. She's not safe in that environment. So I'm sitting in a camper right now in Florida. And we're really just going to be traveling around Florida for the next several months, to be honest, with me trying to get into a better nervous system state because I've really ended up in a tough place, this time, my trust for people to leave my daughter with people is just gone. So it took me a long time, Guy, you know, to get to that better place. And, doing things like the book studies and everything that was a big part of that. So I'm really excited to get back to the book studies in January. It was really amazing, actually, even if it's just us volunteers sitting in the room in January, this will be an amazing place for me to be on a weekly basis. Again, it's a really positive, proactive way to go about things, we've been able to work with some really amazing educators and psychologists in the school system and even gained some amazing volunteers as a result. So it's been an awesome experience. So I apologize for my emotional state, but I'm on a roller coaster these days after the seclusion thing, it really did a number.

Guy Stephens: 26:26

Of course, you've been working really hard in New Brunswick, and across Canada, to try to bring about change. And you and I have met with people across the country, hoping to do some things that really influenced some change. And you've also immersed yourself in what are the solutions? I know, you've been taking the courses from the Mehrit center, the Self-Reg courses, which I've heard you say, just really amazing things about. But you mentioned this CTVW five news story. And of course, for those of you in the US, that would be kind of like 60 minutes here in the US. It is a pretty large news show and ill put that link in the chat as well, for anybody who wants to take a look at that. But you've been doing..

Chantelle Hyde: 27:20

I did a few things before that, which might have made it possible even for CTVW five to agree to even work with me at all. But the fact that came out, really opened the door with the New Brunswick child and youth advocate. And I do know, at this point, because of the information that I brought to him and so on, we've had an effect on the new education act ending inclusive education policy, which is a really big deal. Because there's not a large group of people in New Brunswick. And, it's really been you and I that have worked really hard to look at what should we do next? Or what kind of information should we send? What types of questions should we have asked on legislative floor? You've been a huge help to me with all of that. So I appreciate it more than you know. But it's made a difference, it has, so I can't say it's all sad doom and gloom. You know doing this work, it's been really important, for sure, but it has made a difference, some of the things we've done.

Guy Stephens: 28:19

Absolutely, you have certainly made a huge difference. I mean, you know, I think that the things that you've done, you know, have made a tremendous impact locally there in New Brunswick, and I think even more across Canada. So I know these are tough things that you go through. I know the pain that comes along with this, and the trauma that comes along with it. But to be able to take that and to do things that are going to, I believe it's a heart of what we do here, what it is really is about. We can never erase the things that we've gone through. But if we can prevent another child from going through it or another family member from going through it, another parent from going through the things that we experienced, I think it's worth the hard work. So Chantelle, thank you so much for all you do and stick around. We're gonna keep going around here. I'm going to shift gears a little bit. And, we have a community here at the Alliance that I'm really proud of, and that we are not just parents, we are not just self advocates, we are educators, we are administrators, we are school psychologists, we are a lot of different people coming together, that want to do better that know we can do better. And I think that's really important. It's not just a matter of people that have had this experience, saying these things are wrong, don't do them. It's a matter of coming forward with ideas and with solutions and working together. And I think that's where we're the strongest. So I want to transition a little bit and Karen, I want to come to you for a moment because you're one of our educators here today. And of course we've got a lot of educators in our our community. And that's something that means a lot to me. Because, it's through the work that you're doing, through the work that other educators in our community are doing, that really makes a difference on the ground for so many kids. So Karen, let me have you tell us, if you would, a little bit about your story, whatever you're comfortable sharing, and why this is important to you.

Karen Bures: 30:26

I feel, it's hard to go after you, Chantelle, because I have restrained and secluded children. And I think there's been a lot of comments in the section about like, why. And so I think I want to talk about my experience and my journey. I started off in residential treatment, and I think from the ripe age of 22, was trained to seclude and restrain. Sorry, was gonna get loud there for just a second. I was trained to do that, if there were any big behaviors that was the go to intervention. And so I carried that with me for a very long time, that I knew it was an ugly part of the job, but it was, in fact going to be a part of the job. And I didn't realize, for years, how desensitized I was to all of it. Because, you have to, like you have to disconnect and there was a lot of pride. If that is the right word, but like I have the ability to disconnect from the emotion of the situation to keep everybody safe. And I believe that with my whole heart, and felt really conflicted at the same time emotionally. And then I transitioned into the world of education and into younger students than I was working with in the residential setting. And I worked in an offsite behavior program for intensive behavior. And when I got there, it felt very much like a residential treatment center, there was a lot of multiple daily large escalations, multiple seclusions, multiple restraints. And I started as a paraprofessional and felt like you know that something is kind of wrong in your gut, but you can't really articulate it. You don't have a voice to push back against that yet. It's just if somebody instructs you to initiate a restraint in the education system, you need to do what your administrator is telling you to do, or you're insubordinate and can be fired. And so I think it took me a very long time to really unpack that I didn't believe in what we were doing. And it was incredibly scary, knowing that there could be some repercussions for me. And, there was one restraint in particular, we had a student who had really just been sort of moved around from center to center to school to school. He was a hard kid, he was a difficult kid, for reasons that were not his fault in any way. For the trauma and the disability that he had. And I worked so hard to make a connection with him and to build a relationship with him. And there was one day where he got some pretty big feelings and he started throwing chairs around. And I was instructed to participate in a restraint with him. And I had said to my administrator, I don't think we need that. I was at the point of starting to very nervously use my voice to to object to things while trying to stay obedient and compliant, which is part of the education system for our kids, for our teachers, for our administrators, like all the way up. It's a system that's built on compliance. And she said, Nope, this is getting very dangerous. We need to do this. And so we initiated the restraint. And I looked down at one point and he just had tears that were like coming down his face, and like dripping off of him. And the look that he gave me. I realized that I had broken something, and that I had betrayed his trust and all of the work that I had been doing with him was gone in that moment, because I did something that somebody told me would keep him physically safe. But it certainly didn't keep him emotionally safe. And it was a really pivotal moment in my journey. And I vowed not to do it ever again, I won't ever do this again. And then I got the teaching position. And I worked incredibly hard and building a team and building strategies. And I had no idea what I was doing. You're trained in restraint and seclusion, that's the big training. And then we went to a training called Collaborative Problem Solving. And that was sort of a game changer for me. So I started trying out these new strategies and researching some more strategies and trying things out and failing and trying again. And after a couple years, we built a program that we did not have restraint and seclusion as a normal intervention anymore. And we got a lot of accolades for it. And so that was kind of around the same time that I stumbled upon meeting Guy. And so I started to ask him, how do I go about formalizing this in some way. And so I ended up proposing to the superintendent that we adopt a new crisis prevention plan that did not have restraints and seclusion attached to it. They created a task force, and I felt like we were getting somewhere. And then I started to face some retaliation, I started to face at least monthly disciplinary meetings, where I was told that I was being insubordinate, and I was being unprofessional. And then ultimately, I was asked to sign a letter of directive, saying that I would stop talking about not restraining students with disabilities, or secluding them anymore. And that if I didn't stop, essentially, I would be fired. And so I resigned and continued to fight to try to find ways. I think the thing that I've reflected most on and I recently wrote an article about this is realizing how similar I am to the students that I serve. Because their needs are not getting met. And that might be manifesting in a lot of different ways that society says are not appropriate or not safe. But it's because they don't have a voice and they're not being heard, and they're not being supported. And that's also how I felt, I felt like I was told that I needed to be silent. And I just couldn't, I just didn't have it in me. I can't be silent about it. And so that is why I'm here and I found some other paths to be able to continue to support my students. But my work with the Alliance is incredibly important to me because I didn't realize I felt very alone in all of it. I felt like a troublemaker, I still feel a lot of shame. You know, around not being in the district with some of my peers and my co-workers. I made a comment to Guy about feeling like an imposter sometimes because I'm speaking out and I'm trying to coach other professionals and at the same time, I'm not working in the district as as as a teacher. That's not true, I am a teacher but like in the school district, because I won't stop talking about it. So I appreciate this community. And when I hear stories like Chantelle's and Courtney's that's why I started talking before. And I'm going to continue talking and I'm going to continue to try to help other educators realize that there are different interventions, and there are different tools and strategies and they are effective, and they do work and we don't have to resort to those measures. But it's gonna take a collective sort of movement, because being a disrupter is not a celebrated characteristic in the education field.

Guy Stephens: 39:47

And you know, what's interesting to me is that you had made so much progress. I mean, you had essentially taken an environment where restraint and seclusion were regular occurrences and had really managed to reduce and eliminate the practices. And at one point, as I recall, the district even marched you in front of the board of education to talk about the great work you had done.

Karen Bures: 40:08

It was just the school board, not the board of

Guy Stephens: 40:12

School board. Right. And, then then later, of education. course, as you continue to push to say, we can do better we can eliminate these things, you face a lot of pushback. And I get you, I mean, it's absolutely hard, it's hard to feel like you're the lone person that's trying to bring about change. But, you really have stuck with the things you think are important and continue to do amazing work. I'll just mention here real quickly, just because it's a good time to mention this kind of after you talking. I kind of talked about how we keep bringing up some things that are happening throughout the coming year. And one of those things is the Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference. And the reason I connect that to you is that you're going to be presenting for the virtual portion of the seventh annual Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference, which is fantastic. This is a conference that is put on by the attachment trauma network, it's the largest trauma informed Educators Conference in the country, and really an amazing event. There's so many great speakers that are going to be there this year. I think Ross Greene's a keynote Dr. Laurie Desautels is another keynote. I know Dr. Shankar is going to be speaking at the the virtual event as well. I'm going to be speaking at the event in Dallas. Jennifer Abbanat, another one of our volunteers, is going to be there as well. So encourage people to check that out. And Karen, again, just want to thank you for the courage and the work that you've been doing and continue to do. It's not easy to stand up against a system. And you talked about something I talked about a lot, which is a compliance problem. This is a problem. You know, when people say, Well, why does somebody do this? Why does somebody do this to a child? Wouldn't they just reflect and think that this is not the right thing to do. And unfortunately, I think that we're so focused on compliance throughout our education systems that people come out of. The kind of teachers colleges, and they have their teaching degree, and they get into an environment, and they've not learned anything probably about restraint or seclusion or any of these things, they've not learned really enough around the neuroscience of trauma and behavior. They're coming in really not very well prepared. And they get into a situation where they're told, this is what we do when these kids are or whatever might come after that. Usually, it's something around the word safety. And, people might initially think, well, that doesn't really feel right. But in the name of compliance, we often do things that we might not otherwise do. So Karen, thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for being the disrupter. Glad to have you as part of our volunteer team. I want to shift over for a moment to Courtney. Courtney, would you like to share a little bit about your story? I know we published a bit about your story recently as well. Do you want to share a little bit?

Courtney Litzinger: 43:09

Sure. So my first experience with restraint and seclusion was actually right out of college, I worked for a residential treatment facility that did a lot of restraint and seclusion. So then, years later, when I had a daughter who was autistic and doesn't communicate in the traditional way, she uses an AAC device. I knew that she was at risk for being restrained and secluded. So our public school actually placed her in a specialized private school. And I didn't know it at the time. But in Pennsylvania, where we live, the specialized private schools are not subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools are. So she had very little protection at all from being restrained and secluded. And at first in the school things went well. And then COVID hit, and I would say the year after COVID. For the first year we were remote for COVID. She came back to school and she had a different teacher. And that's when things kind of went downhill. The culture seemed to have really changed at that school. And the way they were dealing with things was just to restrain kids. So she ended up being restrained for the first time right after Halloween that year. She was restrained twice in a row. And the second time she was restrained was only for biting on like a GPS unit that she had, which wouldn't have hurt anything. So that really wasn't a good justification for restraint. She would come home with like handshape bruises kind of like Chantelle said, we tried turning the school into Childline, that didn't help anything. She was showing a lot of signs of trauma. But unfortunately, when you have a child that doesn't communicate in the traditional way, a lot of times they're not looked at as being able to be helped with things like therapy or anything like that. So any issues she had were brushed off. She went on to be restrained a couple other times for things like trying to eat snow off the ground. One point she got glitter in her eyes, she was a restrained over that. So we ended up switching schools, we would have switched sooner. But unfortunately, with it being still right after COVID no one had staff and no one was able to take her. So she's in a new school now, and things have been going a lot better. But the point is, she's still at a specialized private school, and things could still go bad. Initially, the school she was in was fine, but then there was a leadership change, and there was a big culture shift. And because there's no laws to really protect her or the other kids, any of these schools could go bad at any point. So I really feel like we need to advocate for change, higher level change. So that there are protections out there so that things like this can't happen to kids like mine. So I'm really glad to have found the Alliance.

Guy Stephens: 46:12

Yeah, and we're glad to have you. And, absolutely the fact that there's no federal law around the use of restraint and seclusion in schools across the country. To me, it's criminal. I mean, there are federal laws when it comes to health care and when it comes to law enforcement. But not in school settings where these things are happening predominantly to children with disabilities, black and brown children, kids with a trauma history. And really young kids, we're talking about five and six year olds that are having this happen to them. So we're to continue pushing to get better laws and policies, whether it's nationwide, state by state, or in Canada, whatever we can do to try to make a difference here. Let me shift over to Amy, would you like to share a little bit about your story?

Amy Kriewaldt: 46:54

Sure. Hi. I started getting involved when my daughter, Alice was restrained. Actually, first in Washington state when she was in preschool. She was only three years old. And the only reason she was restrained is because she wouldn't sit still for circle time. And it wasn't a typical restraint. She was trapped between cube chairs. And they sent me a picture of it. Like they sent it like a craft for Father's Day with the puzzle pieces, which, that's a whole different thing. But that's how I found out and I was just horrified. And they were very excited about it. Oh, look, we found a solution for her to sit. You could see her face, because she couldn't move. She was just completely stuck. And so that was my first, I showed it to some therapists that she was working with at the time. And they said, No, that's mechanical restraint. And I was just absolutely horrified. So I think that was when I first started getting involved, and then I thought we would have a different experience moving across the country. And no it got worse. We moved to Connecticut and she started kindergarten. First day of school, they started her on a token board, just to get her to sit still in her chair. They said she could get up to move around if she sat still at her desk. And I said throw that thing in the trash. Throw it in the trash. And of course they didn't like me. So right off the bat it was a very tense. I think we lasted nine months, eight months, and kindergarten. She and her twin brother. And I pulled him out to homeschool. And then this past year, we had a lot of changes. And so I tried again, because I really needed time to work. So I tried again to put them in school. The second day of school, I picked her up and she had bruises on her arm. They had already been upset because I sent her to school with her AAC device. And they didn't like that. I mean, they made me sign a form. Or no, they didn't make me sign anything but they sent of form home, an official letter from the school district saying that they gave me permission to use her personal device on the school grounds. It was an insurance issued device. And I didn't even know what it was. And so I knew that there was a problem, but I'd had no idea it was that bad. And so when I picked her up from school, the para that was working with her, she has to have a one on one because she elopes. So the para that was working with her was snapping in her face to try to get her to look up. And I was just, I couldn't, I was so horrified. I couldn't even move. So I took them to McDonald's. It was like Friday, and then by the time I got them home, that's when I saw that she had bruises, like a hand and thumbprint. It was a fairly obvious thumbprint and little finger marks on the other side of her arm. And, of course, it was a Friday, so I just I took pictures immediately and went completely crazy on the administration. They denied everything. All they did was assign her a different paraprofessional. The pediatrician that I took her to did call the Department of Children and Families they investigated while she wasn't at school, never called me to talk to Alice, they just decided that since she bit herself in kindergarten, when she was frustrated, that must be what the bruises were, without ever actually looking at Alice just based on the teachers at the school. So it happened again. And I was in a situation where I didn't have a choice but to keep sending her to school. About a month later, it happened to her brother, her twin brother. He came home with bruises. And he told me what happened. I called DCF myself. They investigated. They looked at video, which they didn't let me do. I said I wanted to see it, they wouldn't let me. And even the social worker who viewed the video said I couldn't do it, which doesn't make any sense to me. So and then, the last thing that happened was that my youngest child, who was in kindergarten, he was really getting upset because of everything that was happening with his siblings. So he was needing his kindergarten teacher who was wonderful to walk him to the door to meet me at pickup. Administration, I guess was looking at the communication on the app. So they intervened. And when I went to pick them up, one of the administrators met me at the door and said, we're trying to break him of this and wouldn't let the teacher walk them to the door. He was standing in the hallway, completely frozen to the spot. Terrified, everyone was walking around him. He was crying. He didn't know what to do. And they had Alice outside. Of course, she elopes. So the minister said, well, if you want to go get him, I can stay here with her. I had to go pick him up while I'm disabled, I have a bad hip. I couldn't do it. I can't, really he's a large child, I couldn't really pick them up. I had a hard time like I literally had to drag him outside screaming crying. So they just decided they were going to break him of the habit of needing some support. You don't talk that way about a five year old child who has disabilities, you talk that way to about a dog. That was the last time I went onto the campus because I just couldn't go back. I couldn't get back. So it felt like a calculated attack on me and my family from the school district. I live in a very small town, the director of special education knew that was how I feel about ABA. And it felt really like they were trying to do as much as they could to show me that they were going to do ABA no matter what. And that I was not going to have my voice heard, my children were not going to have their voices heard. And they were going to do whatever they could to control them and me. So it wasn't long after that we stopped and my son, Frankie, my older son told them the day before he made the decision to stop. He said to them, I'm not going to be here tomorrow because I'm not getting what I need here. Seven years old, I didn't know he was gonna say that. But I'm very proud of him for being his own self advocate. So that's how I got involved, because you don't do that to my children. And nobody should be doing it to anybody.

Guy Stephens: 54:51

Absolutely. Well, you mentioned your son as a self-advocate and of course, Alice wrote an article with you that and I shared the link to in the chat as well. So, I think it runs in the family there. I think that's important. I mean, it's so critical that we stand up to the systems that aren't working, and we push for change. It doesn't happen if we're all compliant. We need the disruptors, we need to challenge what's happening in systems, and it's the only way we're gonna see things get better.

Amy Kriewaldt: 55:30

Well, my mother worked in special education in the 60s and 70s. And she also had enough. When I was born, she stopped teaching and she started teaching piano instead. And she sent me to school, but I ran home. When I was eight years old, I went home, and I had enough. And she started homeschooling me. So I think it's a generational issue that we have just bucking the system. So at some point, people are going to start listening.

Guy Stephens: 56:01

Absolutely. And that's why we're here. That's what we're trying to do, we're trying to change laws and policies, we're trying to bring better ways of doing things, and hopefully affect positive change. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm going to shift up to Braden, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about your story and what connected you here with the work that we're doing as well.

Braden Flax: 56:26

Sure. So I actually want to start by talking about a protest that I took part in, back when I was at Princeton, and it was called The Seven by Nine protest. The reason it was called The Seven by Nine is because what we did, this was an anti anti-incarcaration group on campus. We had a space on a sidewalk, that was seven feet by nine feet, it was marked off. And each person for a 24 hour period, I believe, occupied that space, and didn't have any sort of human interaction for that time period. The reason we did that, and the reason we chose those dimensions is because those are the dimensions of a solitary confinement cell in a prision. I think that there is a significant analogy between the type of seclusion, that unfortunately, so many kids are subjected to. And solitary confinement. That is a very common practice in American prisons, and we know how traumatizing the solitary confinement is. And I see no reason to think why wouldn't be even more so for people who are still developing, still growing. There are quite a few differences between my experience and their experience. Number one, I chose to be there as a legal adult. Number two, I was not in an actual enclosed space, I was on a sidewalk that just happened to be marked off where the confinement box ended. Number three, I had the wherewithal, as someone who had experience coping with neurodivergence and developing mechanisms for dealing with something like anxiety, which I have. I had the ability to do that. If I were, I don't know, 15 years younger than I was, and I didn't make the choice to be there, and I was in an actual enclosed space, it would have been a totally different story. And so that is a huge part of why I identify so strongly with what the Alliance does. I'm sure a lot of people listening to this have been are familiar with the terms the school to prison pipeline? I think that fundamentally the fact that these these techniques of enforcing compliance exist in both of those environments. I don't see that as coincidental. And so that is sort of just one of the bases that really drives me to want to take part in this work. You know, and I guess the the other the other thing that I would say is I think that the strength of character that I see in so much of our AASR community to be able to recognize that, maybe we did perpetuate these things, either in softer or harder, more or less explicit ways. And the ability to recognize that in ourselves, and to try to take concrete action steps to counter that. I think that's kind of one of the most restorative things and one of the most immense acts of courage that anybody could do. And so that's a part. That's important, the reason why I am proud to be engaged and happy to be speaking here.

Guy Stephens: 1:01:13

Well, we're really excited to have you here. And of course, I know, another part of your your engagement here came from who I'm going to ask them to come up next and speak and that's Dr. Arielle Silverman, who I know you've known and are friends with and whatnot for quite some time. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I'm gonna go ahead and transition over to Arielle.

Dr. Arielle Silverman: 1:01:37

Alright, thank you so much Guy. So I first learned about restraint and seclusion. I remember, fairly clearly, it was about seven years ago, and I was working on a book chapter for a book about ableism that one of my colleagues, Michelle Nereo, Redmond was writing. And I don't remember how I stumbled on it, I went down some research rabbit hole, and I was looking up something and it led me to another source led me to another source. And eventually I found a news article about restraint and seclusion and how prevalent it was, and it was from 2009. But of course, things you know, haven't changed appreciably or haven't changed enough, since then. And I remember sharing the article on my Facebook page and saying, Wow, this is absolutely horrific. And I was just in shock, that so many kids would be subjected to these practices, especially by special education professionals who, you know, supposedly you should know better, who should be creating supportive and accommodating environments for these kids. Like, how could there be so many failures in special education. And then around that same time, I was working as a disability research and training consultant and I realized that I needed to broaden my knowledge base. I knew, of course, a lot about blindness from growing up as a blind person. I had done my postdoc in a lab that studied the psychology of living with physical disabilities, but I didn't know that much about intellectual and developmental disabilities. So I started reading. And I found, you know, went down a few more rabbit holes of blogs, written by autistic adults about behaviorism and ABA and masking and ableism against autistic people. And of course, a lot of you know, practices like restraint and seclusion and other practices that attempt to get rid of autism like making kids drink bleach or MMS solution or whatever, like I learned about all that kind of stuff. And then in 2018, I started working for the pre ATS program in Virginia. And so I had a few autistic students, probably three or four that I knew were and probably some who weren't identified. And I started to learn from them. And there was one student in particular that I really connected with, and I remember very vividly that the first time he came to an event, and you know, I introduced myself to him and and met him and that one of the first thoughts that I had when he walked away was wow, this this boy has been ABA aid. And not just that he's gone through ABA, but he has been ABA. I just got a little battery warning. So we'll see how this how this is going to work here. Okay, um, I'm going to turn off my camera and go up to the charger while I'm speaking. Like continue to speak. Okay, sounds good. Um, I apologize. So, yeah, so I met this student and I spent a lot of time working with him over the next year and a half while he was enrolled in the program. You know, I spent a lot of time co regulating with him, he would kind of seek me out to talk and we would he would share a lot of his special interests with me and he did an internship that was based around one of his special interests. And without, you know, giving out a lot of private information about him, what I can say is that there were some people in his life who completely pathologized him, and, you know, labeled him with a bunch of acronyms and labeled him as being behaviorally challenging, and, you know, applied all these interventions that were based on behaviors into him. And then, you know, he was the exact same person, but in a different environments, like with me, in my program, and in some other environments. He, you know, his strengths were able to shine through and he was had a completely different profile. And, you know, this isn't really surprising when you think about the background that I have in social psychology, which preaches that everything is an interaction between a person and their environment. And that's so important to remember with ASR. Because, you know, the same person can be labeled as dangerous, you know, in need of, of restraint and seclusion in one setting, and then in a different setting, just have none of those tendencies. So, you know, I spent a lot of time talking to the student, and he told me a lot about, you know, how his nervous system worked. And I learned that a lot of the, I had a lot of misconceptions about autism. And there are a lot of misconceptions out there. And I continued to correspond with him after he graduated when the pandemic started. And I don't know if he had ever been restrained and secluded. I do know that he had experienced some other traumatic things, that some of which were ongoing at the time that I was interacting with him. But he always would say, whenever we were in, you know, group discussions or one on one, that he was going to change the world, and he was going to make the world a better place, especially for young people, you focus a lot on that. And you couldn't always verbalize and he was speaking, but he couldn't always verbalize all of his thoughts, and he couldn't really tell me how he was going to make the world better. But that was that was a very clear, you know, driver for the choices that he made in his life. But unfortunately, I don't think he really fully knew that it was okay, that he was okay, the way he was, it was okay to be autistic, and to have other disabilities. About three years ago, this individual stopped returning my communication. I don't know where he is, and I don't know if he's safe. But I made a commitment that I would, you know, work to, in His Spirit, to try to make life better for people like him. You know, autistic people, other disabled people, people who have experienced trauma, and people who have had their, their rights and their autonomy violated. So that was one of the main kind of drivers for coming to ASR. You know, I think I found ASR through Greg San Tucci, some of his work. And I also incorporated a lot of what I learned from the student in writing my memoir, which I was actually working on during some of the times when I was communicating with him. And particularly the latter part of my book, for those of you who decide to join the book study, you know, the final four chapters or so incorporate a lot of the things that I learned and some of the ideas that I was thinking through at the time.

Guy Stephens: 1:08:52

Well, thank you for sharing that story. And I very much relate to your your passion, and around around the changes that need to happen, you know, moving away from, you know, medical models of disability and into social models, and how do we move away from compliance based approaches that are, unfortunately, exceedingly common, and result in a lot of harm and really appreciate the work that you're continuing to do in this space and really excited to have you as a volunteer. So let me take a quick little break here and just again, kind of in the spirit of mentioning some things coming up next year, I did want to mention something else here. We have kicked off today a seclusion and restraint survivor group. And what this is really intended to be is a safe place for individuals that have experienced restraint seclusion, and we've limited this right now to individuals that are 18 or older. But individuals that have experienced restraint seclusion, kind of a safe place to connect with others and to share resources and, and really to be part of a community. I know coordinates putting in the chat a link to this. But if you're interested, you can sign up, it's going to be using discord. And there's a sign up form that is linked here. But it's another one of the things that we're introducing and 2024. To really again, try to do more to support, you know, really all the different individuals that are affected by this, you know, we want to support individuals that have experienced this, we want to support families, we don't want to support educators, we want to do all we can to bring about change. So check that out if you get a chance. And I'm going to make that disappear. And I'm going to transition now into Frederick County, Maryland. And Frederick County, as many as you may know, was investigated by the Department of Justice over their use of seclusion and restraint. And I'm going to have Angie share a little bit about her story. Thank

Angie Vigliotti: 1:10:58

you, guy. Thank you. Um, so I came about to this organization. Our story is a little bit unique, because I have actually been through the entire legislative system. And my husband is a local politician. I may be going into the BOE next year, myself, so my child, Thomas, my son, was placed into a special education program at a very young age. He was restrained and secluded hundreds of times throughout a nine year span. Without my knowledge, um, the Department of Justice investigation came into our county, and that's what led to the findings of the incidents. Otherwise, they they would have been hidden away in my son's educational file, possibly forever. Um, when I found out my son Thomas was being secluded and restrained without my knowledge, he was 16 years old. He had not understood that his entire school life had contained abuse, as he has autism. And he thought his experience of being locked in a closet or held facedown by staff was a normal school day for him. So when he read the article in the newspaper about the Department of Justice investigation, he came to us and said, I'm glad they're finally doing something about this. And we were appalled. Could because we were like, Oh, we didn't know. Were they doing these things to you? And he said, Yes, all the time, and it felt like abuse. So that's why we started to dive into his educational file. And we found a lot of really distressful information. I had been extremely proactive. And his whole career since Thomas was very little. Starting in 2010. I was always researching the newest developments for autism, attending NIH workshops, attending IPs and asking lots of questions. And also was looking for low income resources because I was a newly single parent going through a divorce. So this was during a timeframe when autism was really not as commonly known or even slightly accepted as it is today. I've had to overcome a lot of X obstacles. And overall we did end up undergoing litigation with the public school system and we did settle. However, Thomas and myself are still undergoing a lot of therapy, from the trauma. The trauma that you experience as a parent, when you have seen your child and distress at school, and you think it's from a disability when it's actually the possibility from consistent abuse. And the public school system is it just changes you as a person. You you feel guilt as a parent, that you didn't protect your child that can be really overwhelming. I I have to constantly be working on myself and therapy to overcome this hardship on a daily basis. And even though it wasn't my fault, as parents, we all have this deep emotional instinct that tells us things would have been different if we made different choices in our child's education. And we have to live with that. And that's the, I think the toughest thing for parents. Guy has been a guiding light and all of this with this organization in stopping seclusion and the state of Maryland, they got that legislation passed, I still have a lot of parents locally, that reach out to me as the expert, basically, and preparing yourself against the system, because you kind of have to put your mind in that context, that you, you might hate these people that have harmed your child, and you want to hurt them back. But it's not them. It's the system. It's the system overall, that is at fault. And, you know, I'm always checking news on recent developments and finding more trauma and more obstacles for individuals, especially children in the system. And personally, I don't want to throw the system away, though, I just want to change it. You know, protecting kids against seclusion and restraint is just the beginning. The actual public school system nationally needs more funding and resources. And it needs more ideas from people like all on this panel and everywhere out there, on how to make this system better and more inclusive for all children, and especially children, you know, that are, you know, of, I don't I don't like saying black or brown children, but really, you know, it can be based on income, it can be based on a disability, and it can be based, you know, on race, unfortunately. Um, it's really weird because I advocate a lot on this, and my brother, who is in California, John Pisano, he is at Star King to be a priest, but he really wants to work on therapy for prisoners, and veterans, because prisoners actually undergo the same types of abuse that our children go through in the school system. So, you know, I have him working on one side, and I'm working on another. This organization has been so helpful for me, even though I'm just in the beginning stages. And the that these, like, efforts allow, like the efforts that I make to try to like, help parents understand what is seclusion, what is restraint, what is illegal, and what you can do about it. You know, this organization helps me have a platform to help other people, because it's really tough when like, someone emails me and, you know, or messages me and they need immediate help. I unfortunately, just can't be like 20 places at once to help everybody. So, you know, that's why I like being able to be given a project here to help with the legislation, and help try to get laws changed everywhere. Guy is so right about an every one here about compliance. You know, the school system is all about compliance and making your child you know, do and say and act a certain way. When really we just need to be like accepting of people's differences, and we need to learn how to communicate with people with disabilities, we have to learn their communication, if you go to Japan, you know, or another country, you know, or Mexico or wherever. It's important to try to learn how to speak the language, or learn the culture of where you're going. And when I I think of people on the spectrum and other neurodiverse people, I like to think of that I am in their country, and I need to learn how to communicate with them at on their language, you know, on their culture. And in order to understand and help them succeed, it's really tough now, because, you know, my child is kind of pushed out of the system and is being pushed into being an adult when he is not really employable or cannot do secondary education. So that's why a lot of my efforts are going towards possibly the Board of Education and representing both sides, because it's not just children, I mean, teachers are getting reprimanded constantly. And special educators, they, you know, there's no whistleblowing you know, protection for these people. And there needs to be, it needs to be changed. And the only way that really anyone can make change is to start small and work your way up. So that's what I'm doing over here.

Guy Stephens: 1:21:31

Well, yeah, Angie, I appreciate it. Appreciate all the things you're doing. I know how much you actually have been doing to support people, you know, in your community across the state. We're glad to have you here with the Alliance and doing work to support, you know, all the people kind of across the world that are experiencing this. I relate to so much of your story, and I'm glad to have you here with us. Why don't we get to Heather, you ended up on the other side of the the starting line here. So you're gonna wrap us up? And why don't you share a little bit about kind of your story and what brought you to the alliance? And I know you share some things in common with a couple of the other folks that have spoken already. But why don't you share a bit about your story and your work?

Heathyr Watson: 1:22:15

Okay, well, if it hasn't been obvious, as you're watching, I struggle with ADHD really bad. And my stress is out of control. So I started in residential. And when I worked at the first place, we were stringing kids constantly. And I would see staff at the kids and getting on the conflict. Instead of doing what we were trying to do. I tried to therapeutic crisis intervention, which is kind of like CPI, but it's specifically made for residentials. And through that you're playing how to de escalate a situation, that restraint, but staff would just argue with the kids and do things. So they had to put that kid in restraint. And as my time went on there, I was like, why are we doing this? What is the point of restraint if we as staff are the ones causing it. And then I moved up a little bit in that organization. And I knew I wanted to be an advocate. So I went the Social Work route. I did my master's in social work, and I'm a licensed social worker, I work in therapy now. And I moved to an emergency shelter here in Northern Indiana. And while I was there, I been writing their policies against using restraint because to be accredited by the Accreditation body, you have to have a five year plan of getting out of restraints, and not using them. And I was perusing the Alliance website one day, and I found an article by Dr. Laurie DESA tells about trauma. And it was just such a great explanation of what trauma was and how it affects kids that we pass it around to every single staff member. And yeah, and I just started questioning restraints. And I remember one night I was the on call admin, and they had just restrained a kid and that kid had gone underneath the table. And they're like, do we need restraint? And they get they called me and they're like, we're about to restrain him again. He's under the table, he won't come out. And I'm like, No, you're not just let him underneath the table. If you can see him, leave them alone, because he is trying to pay from all that stimulus and he is trying to regulate themselves don't make things worse. Yeah, and that got me on my latest hyper fixation, which is sensory input, sensory processing, and occupational therapy. And I joined this organization because I want to help others. I'm gonna help social workers, teachers. I'm a big believer in teaching kids to advocate for themselves and giving them a voice and I also liked it right. So I've written a couple articles and I'm really nervous as a public speaker. So Oh, I feel like I'm rambling. But yeah, I joined because I believe kids into voice and I believe, as an adult who works with kids who works with teenagers, that I should be advocating for change in all systems for the children.

Guy Stephens: 1:25:16

Yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate you and all the work you've been doing. And of course, your your writing is fantastic. And you mentioned your, your interest in kind of sensory, and you've done a presentation for us at one point, and really brought some great information to our team. And I get to talk you into someday doing that for a larger audience, even if it's, well pretend it's a private event, you know, just you and I, and you, have

Heathyr Watson: 1:25:40

you signed up for July?

Guy Stephens: 1:25:41

All right. All right, good, good, good, good. I knew I was trying to get you get you on the schedule. So that's fantastic. But it really appreciate the work that you're doing. And you know, all of you are doing things to make a difference. And I appreciate that, I want to, you know, we've gone a little longer than usual, and I want to share a couple more quick announcements. And then we're gonna wrap it up, and I'm gonna give you each one final word. So you can be thinking about what your final word might be. And just to put some context in it, you know, kind of, as we move into 2024, you know, what your hopes might be, you know, whether personal or you know, system change, or whatever it may be. So with that, let me go ahead and give a couple more quick 2024 announcements and some other things here. One, I do want to encourage you to consider our end of year giving campaign. So we've got I think, Courtney, I'll put the link in the chat as well. But we've got an entire year giving campaign. And we actually encourage you not only to consider giving, but maybe even sustain giving, you have the option to give kind of one time or even monthly or quarterly contributions. You know, we are a very small nonprofit. And it really helps to get support from the community to support the things that we're doing. So that was one thing I wanted to mention. Another thing I wanted to mention was, we are trying to get 1000 subscribers on our YouTube channel, and we're getting ever so close. But if you happen to be on YouTube and have an account, if you would subscribe to our YouTube channel. And of course, there's a link there, as our news slash YouTube where you can go to our website and find it as well. And you would subscribe, that would be a fantastic help for us. Another thing I wanted to mention here is we're getting through some of the announcements. As you've been listening to our volunteers, you might be thinking to yourself, I want to be part of it, I want to volunteer, you know, I've I've had similar experiences, and I want to do something to help affect change. If you go to our website, there is a form there that you can fill out if you're interested in being a volunteer, and you can tell us a little bit about who you are and your interests. And we'll have somebody reached back out to you usually within a day or two. And you can just navigate our website under take action, there is a volunteer option. So feel free to click on that and learn how to become a volunteer. And with that, I want to go ahead and wrap us up and wrap us up. I just want everybody to take kind of what we'll do. This is a lightning round here. A quick final word, anything, any final things you want to share, or any hopes you have as we go into the new year. We'd love to hear that. And, Courtney, I'm gonna get back to you as number one because you are right beside me as I look at the the squares of everybody here. So Courtney, what's your what's your final word?

Courtney Litzinger: 1:28:27

I just hope that this year, we can get some federal legislation passed that can protect all kids in public school, private school, and, you know, help prevent frustrating seclusion from happening in the first place to kids. Fantastic. And that won't happen without people standing up and caring, and what that looks like. And this isn't hard to do. But if you reach out to your federal representatives, you reach out to your congressional representative and your senator. And you tell them that you want them to support the heat meal students a fact if you schedule a meeting to meet with staff from your Senator or Congressman person's office, this is something you can do. You know, six years ago, that would have seemed like a foreign concept to me, I wouldn't have thought I could just call up my senators office. But you know what I have and I've met with several senators offices and congressional representatives. And that's how change happens. Change happens by us taking action. So great, great, Courtney. Braden, what are your final thoughts? Hopes for calling for anything last final you want to share with us? Yeah, sure.

Braden Flax: 1:29:28

So, couple. Couple of things I'd like to get rid of in 2024, though, it'll take longer is I'd like to do away with grades because they don't do anything other than stress out. Both kid and adult learners. I'd also like to get rid of attendance awards that will be good. As far as what I'm looking forward to, but a little bit more realistic. I'm looking forward to being one of the discussion facilitators on Arios book which I want to recommend, again, tip to everybody And I'm also looking forward to getting to know everyone on the on the team better as I start joining more and more projects. So thanks. Thanks for having me on.