Overview of Sessions

The topic of the first session, from 9:00-10:15am., was Psychiatric Disorders and Medications:Issues for Recreation Therapists. The presenter was Cara Alfaro, Pharm. D., a pharmacist (picture below) with the National Institute of Mental Health. Her presentation was well received by CHARTA members. Some comments from conference attendees included: "Although not a TR, she consistently validated the role of TR in the treatment of psychiatric patient"; "…knowing the side effects of some drugs will help tremendously with my group sessions"; and "…excellent topic and information that can be related to anyone who works with patients/clients on medications."

The topic of the second session, from 10:45am. - 12:15pm., was Recreation Therapy for the 21st Century. The presenter was Ann Huston, Executive Director of ATRA, (no picture of Ann available). Some comments regarding her presentation from conference attendees included: "It's good to hear ATRA is working hard for all of us in TR!"; and "I did not realize how important it was to be involved on a legislative level, I will definitely participate in the DAY ON THE

Lunch and Membership Meeting

Following a lunch of cold cuts, salads, and cookies, the initial Membership Meeting of 1999-2000 was held. Michael Duquette, President, presided. He tried to give the membership a quick lesson in grammar but failed, however, he did a very nice job on introducing the new board to include, Sheri Burnett, Mollie Baer, and Jamie Cox. During the meeting nominations for additional Board members were made. Discussion of a CHARTA Web Site was the main focus of the meeting. Questions from the membership were skillfully handled by Ann Huston and other knowledgeable members.

The topic of the third session, from 1:15am. - 2:30pm., was on Patient and Family Education Across the Continuum of Care. The presenter was Jessica Rickard (picure below) from the Spinal Cord Injury and Multi-trauma Unit at Kernan Hospital. ). Some comments regarding Jessica's presentation from conference attendees included: "The resources given were great!, they will really benefit my patients and their families"; and "Very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, a great speaker!"

The final session of the day, from 3:00-4:15pm., was on the topic of Children with Epilepsy and Learning Disabilities: We Can Do Anything. The speaker was Scott Becker (picture below) who works with the developmentally disabled in Leesburg, VA. Some comments regardin Scott's presnentation from conference attendees included: "The speaker's life story was inspirational - his information was great!"; and "Good resources for epilepsy and other disabilities, very useful."

Overall, the conference was a success. Keep posted for the Spring Conference in April of 2000.