FASawareUK Conference 2004
The 13th September 2004 was the first full day conference for FASawareUK. The conference was well attended by approximately 180 delegates from all sectors of society.
Dan Dubovsky generously gave his time freely, we were honoured to have his expertise. Dan gave two excellent presentations on the impact FASD has on everyday life:
“How can we intervene”
“What are the struggles”
Dr Raja Mukherjee, who is an honouree lecturer at St George’s Hospital London. Raja like Dan gave his time and expertise for free. Dr Raja is the leading figure in the UK for FASD. Raja gave a presentation on FASD:
“Importance and Implications of a UK FASD diagnosis”.
Eileen Calder B.A B.Sc Psychologist, gave her time and expertise freely. Her presentation was well received:
“Drinking, Pregnancy and Parenting”.
Media: Dr Raja acted as FASawareUK’s spokesperson on the day. Media coverage of the FASD conference included: GMTV, ITV News, BBC News, Guardian, Observer, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, and Big Issue.
Tony Blair, Prime Minister, participated in Question and Answer time on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
Supporting the conference Edward P. Riley, Ph.D San Diego State University USA, Dr. Thierry Maillard Reunion Island Indian Ocean.
The conference was funded by West Lancashire Community Safety Partnership, West Lancashire Primary Care Trust (PCT), Alcohol Research and Education Council, Wigan Social Services, which enabled delegates from West Lancashire to attend the full day conference for free.
Thanks to the speakers giving their valuable time so that delegates from all corners of the UK were able to attend for a very low cost.
The overview from the conference feed-back evaluation forms revealed a desire for more training and conferences. What FASawareUK has learned from the conference is the need to develop further conferences in different areas in the UK and FASD training workshops.