Grab your chair, get up, and stretch! This session will include gentle breathing and stretching exercises to combat the effects of sitting. No yoga mat, sweat, floor work, or change of clothes needed. Better than coffee!

Catie Lasich, Instructor

Workforce burnout and compassion fatigue: frontline specialists are at even more risk now than ever. If your I&R program went through the initial phase of the pandemic unphased, our hat is off to you. If, however, your specialists need a little extra TLC, or maybe you went through turnover due to the high volume of activity, this session is for you.

United Way of Greater Houston’s 211 Texas/United Way Helpline recognized the impact of stressful calls and work isolation of remote-working specialists handling those calls. About 30 days after moving to a remote environment (with no notice, by the way!), the Helpline implemented twice-monthly Coffee Time conversations. These conversations meet specialists where they are, providing a safe space for discussion. Although the facilitator will present a topic, coffee time takes on its own form, becoming whatever the group needs it to be. Some specialists describe it as “magic,” while others say they can’t miss the sessions but have difficulty explaining exactly why Coffee Time is an important component of their work experience.

Key Takeaways:

• Understanding Coffee Time from several perspectives: agency leadership, managers, facilitators, and specialists
• How to implement a similar process for your agency (choosing a facilitator, determining "ground rules" for conversations, and establishing talking points for meetings (i.e, using an established set of talking points vs. using new ones each time))

Sandra Ray, Program Director

Casey Harvey, Information Referral Specialist

Nancy Weatherall, Resources Specialist in Aging and Disabilities

Shondria Criss, Information and Referral Specialist

(1 hour session)

One of the biggest challenges facing older adults and people with disabilities is finding transportation services in their community that meet their needs. This session will focus on transportation and mobility options for older adults and people with disabilities when driving is no longer an option. Topics will include the importance of mobility for social connections and health, the range of mobility options, transportation accessibility, and ADA considerations. Information on finding community resources for transportation through information and referral/assistance (I&R/A) programs, the role of mobility managers, and assistance from aging services and CILs will also be provided. An introduction to a new I&R resource from the Eldercare Locator called the Disability Information and Assistance Line (DIAL) will be featured. DIAL specialist refers callers to the appropriate local transportation and other key community resources, taking their unique mobility needs into consideration.

Key Takeaways:

• Participants will learn how the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC) and Eldercare locator provide information on transportation options.
• Better understand the array of community resources that may be available to help older adults and people with disabilities choose the best transportation option available to address their specific needs.
• Understand the importance of mobility and transportation accessibility to keep older adults and people with disabilities socially connected to their community and essentials services.

Sara Tribe Clark, Director of the Eldercare Locator

Ken Thompson, National Aging and Disability Transportation Center, Silver Spring, Maryland

Heather Edmonds, Program Associate for the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC)

(1 hour session)

More and more, aging and disability providers across the country are seeking to ensure that they are providing culturally responsive services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults – including agencies located in rural parts of the country. Rural organizations face additional challenges due to the lack of existing LGBT community infrastructure and must seek new solutions to reach and serve LGBT older adults in culturally responsive ways. This presentation provides a firm grounding in SAGE’s best practice guide for the Aging and Disability network LGBT outreach and planning.

Key Takeaways:

• Attendees will understand the steps they need to take in order to become more LGBT-inclusive
• Attendees will learn creative strategies for reaching rural LGBT populations
• Attendees will be able to identify barriers and needs experienced by LGBT Older Adults in rural areas
• Attendees will learn how to work LGBT-related objectives into their area plans
• Attendees will be able to list best practices for LGBT inclusive outreach and services

Sherill Wayland, Director of National Education Initiatives

(1 hour session)

We identified that our Quality Assurance practices were outdated and punitive, resulting in our phone agents sounding robotic and disconnected from the customer. By surveying direct staff and getting feedback from our employees, we developed a renewed quality assurance model to facilitate a natural rapport with our callers while simultaneously being purposeful to promote efficiency and timely results. We regularly calibrate calls as a leadership team to ensure consistency is achieved in regards to expectations of the phone agents. We’ve emphasized the importance of backing away from the data and focusing on establishing a unique human connection with our callers.

Key Takeaways:

• Accomplishing a powerful connection with our callers based on conversations and emphasizing soft skills.
• Creating clear-cut expectations and standards for our diverse set of calls.
• Fostering an environment where we can share our concerns and work collaboratively to achieve the same results.

Kimberly Curnan, Contact Center Workforce Manager at

(1 hour session)

Have you begun to wonder why you don't feel enthusiastic to go to work each day? Have you noticed feeling heavy and burdened when your day has ended? Do you find you are struggling to be engaged with your family and friends because your mind is never at rest and work is holding a cloud over what should be your "good life"? This session is designed for people in all positions - leaders, staff (e.g. I&R, Navigators) and volunteers – to learn about resources and tools for managing the impact of regularly helping people who experience traumatic stress that results in burnout and compassion fatigue. Join this session to learn more about how to identify compassion fatigue, and practice strategies for developing a self-care plan to help you get back to living your "good life."

Key Takeaways:

• A personal assessment of one's own level of compassion fatigue or burnout resulting in the use of CtLC tools for self-care planning.
• Introduction of the CtLC framework for problem-solving, planning, and decision-making and how it can be applied to self-care.
• Demonstration on how to use the CtLC trajectory to identify what you want/need from self-care and what is NOT restful for you, as well as to reflect on what has worked in the past and what has created challenges for personal self-care.
• Development of goals for self-care, using the Integrated Support Star and Mapping Relationships tools to identify the resources you can access to help yourself.

Mary Turner, Director

(2 hour session)

NOTHING matter more in a disaster than relationships. And the relationships you lean on are built during "fair weather days". Trying to create relationships with other key players in your area or other I&R organizations during a disaster will never work. The second most important thing is taking the steps needed to prepare you and your team in every way to be ready to continue operations and respond. Even that can benefit from the lessons learned by others. 

Welcome Chad Veeser, the Emergency Management Officer from Michigan 211 and some new friends from coast to coast who have learned from previous responses and strengthened their teams and their relationships locally and nationwide (Catherine Rea, Florida; Robin Pokojski - Oklahoma; Janna Shoe - Texas and Kinglsay Zelee - Hawaii). 

Then we will spend some time with a FEMA rep and NVOAD rep who will tell us what we can expect from their organization during an actual repsonse and answer your questions!

Chad Veeser, Emergency Management Officer

Chiara Cameron-Wood, Executive Director

Catherine Rea, AIRS Policy Committee Chair/Vice President for 211

Janna Shoe, LBSW-IPR, CRS, Outreach & Disaster Coordinator

Kingslay Zelee, Program Manager

Robin Pokojski, Vice President of Community Partnerships

Katherine Boatwright, Director of Operations

Jeannie Moran Gardner, Senior Individual Assistance Analyst

This 2-hour symposium will feature a variety of speakers who will focus on resources for active military and veterans including the Wounded Warrior Project, the American Red Cross and Military One Source. 

Kelly Smith, Program Analyst

Lynn Crabb, Senior Director, Policy and Program Development

Lucinda Lorei, Information, Referral and Relocation Program Manager

Charles Burns, Outreach and Engagement

(2 hour session)

Aging and disability I&R/A professionals are invited to join ADvancing States, the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), USAging, and the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) for the Aging and Disability Symposium: Bringing Community Living Home. Hear from your national partners, learn about developments in the aging and disabilities networks, and gather resources to support I&R/A practice. The Symposium will feature a special panel presentation on housing. As I&R/A professionals know, affordable and accessible housing is a top unmet need for people with disabilities, older adults, and caregivers. These needs have become more acute in the current market with rising housing costs, some eviction moratoriums ending, and unpaid utility bills. Join the Symposium to hear from agencies at the frontlines of responding to housing needs and learn about some new tools that I&R/A professionals can use to assist people in finding and securing housing with access to community services. 

Nanette Relave, Senior Director

Sherri Clark, Senior Aging Services Program Specialist

Sara Tribe Clark, Director of the Eldercare Locator

Danielle Garcia, Senior Policy Advisor to the DAS

Anson Houghton, Program Manager/Developer

Lindsay Baran, Policy Director

Tricia Serlin, Information and Referral Program Coordinator

Molly French, Session Assistant

(30 minutes session)

As social service agents, we often wonder: are we making a difference? How can we facilitate change? In this session, we will discuss how we can encourage healthy lifestyle changes among our clients with the use of motivational interviewing (MI), an evidence-based approach to behavioral change. We will learn about the core principles of MI and how this person-centered approach can help build your client’s motivation for change. Attendees will also hear how we used motivational interviewing to successfully help individuals create smoke free homes. After this session, attendees will have a better understanding of motivational interviewing and how they can be agents of change.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn what motivational interviewing is and is not
• Understand the core principles of motivational interviewing
• See motivational interviewing in action
• Learn how to engage clients

Shadé Owolabi, Intervention Coordinator

(30 minutes session)

Do you want to feel more in control over your own health and wellness? When demand is greater than our capacity, we experience stress. In this session, we will learn about one practical tool anyone can use on a regular basis to recognize and generate uplifts for their own health and well-being. 

After this session attendees will: 

• Have a basic definition of stress
• Understand importance of self-care
• Have access to an uplifting tool for developing resilience and combatting stress.  

​Kate Hanson, Coach and CEO

(30 minute session)

Updating information in your provider database is never easy, and often not fun. But, what if you had more tools, tips, and tricks on how to get your community partners to help you update your database? It May not be more fun, but will be easier! Participants will gain information about how (and why) to keep their community provider database up to date; share ideas about what worked and what didn't, and take away more tools for their toolbox.

Kay Takeaways:

• Participants will understand how to deal with the challenges of updating the information in their database
• What to do when organizations don't answer you
• How to use automated features within your software to facilitate updating information
• Other reports and tools that are available to keep track of who updates

Cathleen (Cat) Dwyer, Owner