School of Social Work Homecoming Lecture by Dr. Lucy Lach: "Caring to caregiving: Parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders"
School of Social Work's Annual Homecoming Lecture聽& Supper
鈥�Caring to caregiving:聽 Parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders鈥� presented by Dr. Lucy Lach
The field of social work is bereft with assumptions about what constitutes 鈥榞ood enough鈥� parenting of children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorder.聽Media portrayals of these parents range from depicting them as villains who take the lives of their children into their own hands, to committed and tireless advocates.聽The social science literature presents a similar range of images:聽parents as depressed, overly anxious, overprotective and over involved caregivers who cannot separate out their own needs from those of their child, to parents as resilient caregivers whose capacity to rise to the challenges of 鈥榗oping鈥� with their child鈥檚 needs by far surpass our imagination.
Social workers in Canada are beginning to step into this debate, using research to systematically document caregiver outcomes and experiences. Dr. Lach will present findings from her program of research as well as those of her colleagues. This lecture will illuminate the basis for this debate by highlighting where these assumptions come from, presenting the current status of research on this topic, and discussing the implications for policy and practice.
Lucyna M. Lach, MSW, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and is an associate member of the Department of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine at 黑料网爆吃瓜.聽After spending 17 years as a front line social worker at the Hospital for Sick Children, Dr. Lach joined the faculty at 黑料网爆吃瓜.聽Dr. Lach is the co-principal investigator of the CIHR Team in Parenting Matters! and has received tri-council funding to pursue her program of research related to caregivers of children with chronic health conditions and disabilities.聽She is a member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Child Health review committee and is currently the Director of the MSW program in the School of Social Work.
To RSVP, please contact Maria Pacheco at 514-398-7070 (maria.pacheco [at] mcgill.ca).
For up-to-date information, please visit the School of Social Work's website at www.mcgill.ca/socialwork.