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Activities planned for FASD awareness day

Sunshine Coast Community Services
FASD Circle of Support Team
FASD Circle of Support Team, Jane Gladman and Karen Foley. Not pictured is Jen Davey.

This Tuesday, Sept. 9, is international Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day.

SC Community Services will have information booths at Trail Bay Mall in Sechelt from 10 a.m. to noon and at Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons from 1 to 3 p.m.

Did you know that 30 per cent of women drink during pregnancy and that FASD is the leading cause of preventable developmental disability in North America, with approximately one in 100 babies born prenatally exposed to alcohol?

International advocates and researchers have deemed FASD a pandemic. FASD is not a women’s issue, FASD is a societal issue with huge economic costs. FASD is not limited to any one group and is present across many cultures and economic status. Whenever there is access to alcohol, children are born affected.

The costs for the individual who is prenatally exposed to alcohol are equally burdensome: memory impairment, intellectual delay, impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, difficulty with problem solving and abstract thinking are just a few of the challenges that children and adults living with this brain difference experi ence on a daily basis. The hard est part is the daily struggles of this invisible disability are life long and present enormous strain on families and caregivers who attempt to support their loved ones who are affected by FASD. The outcomes for those living with FASD can be discouraging: unemployment; homelessness; criminality; addictions; mental health problems and suicide.

So what can we do as a community?

Prevention, education and support; several times a year the Circle of Support offers community-based training to both family members and professionals. There are many on-line resources where you can find information, strategies and support networks. It is not the individual living with the permanent disability that must change, it is in the people surrounding them that must shift perspective and accommodate the brain difference.

Researchers have not been able to determine a “safe amount” of alcohol that can be consumed during pregnancy. If you are pregnant, the safest option is to not drink alcohol. Spouses, partners and families can support pregnant women by also abstaining from alcohol.

The Circle of Support at Sunshine Coast Community Services Society offers support to children, youth and families affected by FASD and other complex developmental behavioural conditions. They also offer direct support and consultation to other community support services and professionals who work with individuals affected.  A diagnosis is not required to access the program.

For more information, call 604-885-5881 (ext. 231) or see www.sccss.ca.