Friday, June 13, 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. PDT
Families of children with ADHD, anxiety, and autism often face significant barriers in coordinating care across educational and clinical settings. Clinicians and peer support leaders are uniquely positioned to help families navigate these challenges, strengthen school partnerships, and promote integrated, strength-based support systems. This interactive training explores the emotional, cultural, and logistical barriers that prevent families from fully engaging with school teams. Participants will gain tools to demystify the special education process, support parents in advocacy roles, and foster effective communication between families, schools, and providers. Emphasis will be placed on trauma-informed approaches, collaborative treatment planning, and strategies for repairing trust when relationships have been strained. Through real-world case examples and practical tools, attendees will leave better equipped to bridge the gaps that often exist between home, school, and community care.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
Identify key emotional, cultural, and logistical barriers that interfere with family collaboration in school and treatment settings, including transportation, parent mental health, language barriers, and staff resistance. Explain the core elements of the special education process, including IEPs, 504 Plans, and common terminology, in a way that is accessible and empowering to families. Describe confidentiality and consent issues that can hinder cross-system collaboration and outline best practices for securing communication between school and providers. Apply strength-based, family-centered strategies to support caregivers during school meetings, treatment planning, and advocacy efforts. Demonstrate approaches to repairing broken trust between families and school teams, including communication coaching, mediation, and trauma-informed reframing. Utilize tools and templates that promote alignment of clinical and educational goals and improve consistency across systems of care.