FASD and Mental Health: A Fireside Chat with Providers and People with Lived Experience

Presented by Children’s Mental Health Ontario

Originally aired in November 2021

Speakers: Nancy Lockwood (FASD Consultant), Angela Geddes, Janet Carioni, Reinier DeSmit

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on and exacerbated many of the longstanding gaps in child and youth mental health. At the same time, we have seen new and innovative ways of partnering and providing service emerge. We’re at a crossroads where we can keep doing things the same way, or we can re-imagine a better future.

Over the course of two weeks, CMHO hosted a series of webinars featuring experts in our sector who helped us explore, how we might collectively re-imagine the future of child and youth mental health.

This session will open with a brief presentation about FASD and mental health, followed by a fireside chat and discussion on why timely assessment is important, the journey following diagnosis, and how to build capacity in your region to support those with FASD, with a focus on mental health. The speakers will draw on their personal experiences with barriers to diagnosis, including accessibility and stigma. Panelists will also draw on their experiences to highlight the importance of supporting the mental health of the entire family, including caregivers and siblings.