Tuesday, 11/7/17 – Day Two

6:30 – 5:30 p.m.    Exhibitors/Sponsors Set Up and Display (Abenia/Foyer)

7:30 – 8:30 a.m.    Registration (Conference Center Lobby) 

7:30 – 8:30 a.m.    Continental Breakfast (Conference Center Foyer) 

8:30 – 9:15 a.m.    Welcome, Introductions and Opening Remarks – Bellvue Room

Erica F. Berman, Assistant Executive Director for Guardianship Services, NYSARC, Inc.

Laura J. Kennedy, President, NYSARC, Inc.

Katharine Wilson Conroy, Esq., Chairperson, NYSARC, Inc. Guardianship Committee

Tania F. Seaburg, Interim Executive Director, NYSARC, Inc.

9:15 – 11:00 a.m. – Keynote Speaker – Stephen “Dr. Bird” Birchak, Ed.D. Bellvue Room (105 minutes)

Author, professor, counseling psychologist, former college wrestling coach of the year, husband, father, and reformed class clown, Dr. Bird is a nationally recognized speaker on issues of positive psychology and has spoken to over 200,000 practitioners, professionals, and educators nationwide.  Dr. Bird offers small changes in our day-to-day behaviors that will allow us to reduce stress and deal with the most challenging of situations.  Dr. Stephen Birchak has become one of the nation's foremost experts in human relations in the home, workplace, and in educational settings.  His principles involving human character have been used by parents, teachers, executives, corporate leaders, and children.

11:00 – 11:15 a.m. – Morning Break with Exhibitors/Sponsors

11:15 – 12:30 p.m. – Supported Decision-Making: Protecting Rights, Ensuring Choices – Wapanak/Nirvana Rooms (75 minutes – CLE 1.25)

Speaker:  Jonathan G. Martinis, Esq., Senior Director for Law and Policy, The Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University; Project Director, National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making

In this session, attendees will learn about Supported Decision-Making (SDM), where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities work with trusted friends, family members, and professionals to help them understand the situations and choices they face so they can make their own decisions to the maximum of their abilities.  By putting people at the “center” of their decision-making process, SDM increases people’s self-determination, or life control, which has been shown to improve life outcomes such as independence, employment, and community integration.  Attendees will learn about the theories, clinical research, laws, and cases that have led to and validate SDM, ways to access SDM supports and services, and ways that SDM can improve the lives of people who are in guardianship and those who wish to avoid or emerge from guardianship.   

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. - Recognition and Service Award's Luncheon - Bellvue  Room (90 Minutes) - Luncheon Sponsored by:  Rose and Kiernan, Inc.  

2:00 – 3:40 p.m. – A View from the Bench: Guardianship Issues and Challenges – Wapanak/Nirvana Rooms (100 Minutes – CLE 2.0)

Moderator: Lisa K. Friedman, Esq., Attorney at Law, New York City, New York

Panel Members:  Hon. David H. Guy (Broome County); Hon. John S. Hall, Jr. (Warren County); Hon. Peter J. Kelly (Queens County);and Hon. Stacy L. Pettit (Albany County); 

In this session, participants will hear from sitting Surrogate Court Judges about the role of the Court in guardianship proceedings.  They will learn about the duties of the Court, as well as evolving expectations in today's climate of supportive decision-making, self-determination, guardianship and other less restrictive alternatives.   Participants will better understand the guardianship process and ongoing responsibilities of guardians as well as learn to better navigate the Surrogate Court system on behalf of the individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities they serve.

3:40 - 3:55 p.m. - Beverage Break with Exhibitors/Sponsors

3:55 – 5:35 p.m. – Panel Presentation:  Supported Decision Making and SDMNY (100 minutes – CLE 2.0)

Moderator:  Nancy Succoso, Special Assistant to the Executive Director, Arc of Westchester

Panel Members:

Kristin Booth Glen, Esq., Project Director, SDMNY

Matthew Smith, Esq., Senior Project Coordinator, SDMNY    

Joan Cornachio, Education & Training Coordinator, SDMNY     

Funded by a five year grant from the New York State Developmental Disability Planning Council (NYS DDPC), Supported Decision Making New York (SDMNY) is creating an educational campaign about supported decision making (SDM) as an alternative to guardianship for a wide variety of stakeholders including people with I/DD, their families, providers, social workers, lawyers, judges and the court system. SDMNY is also conducting two pilot projects utilizing SDM, one to divert people with I/DD at risk of guardianship, and the second to use SDM to restore rights to persons currently subject to guardianship. SDM allows persons with I/DD to make their own decisions with support from trusted persons in their lives, thus retaining all of their legal rights, as opposed to guardianship, in which, under existing law, all of the persons legal rights are removed and s/he loses the right to make choices about where to live, with whom to associate, healthcare, etc. SDMNY’s work draws upon the human right of legal capacity set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

5:35 - 6:00 p.m. - Meet with Exhibitors/Sponsors and Door Prize Drawings

6:00 -7:00 p.m. – Social hour at Mountain View and then dinner on your own (Three On-site Restaurants: Mr. Brown’s, La Bella Vita or Caldwell’s Lobby Bar)