National Mental Health Awareness Month Celebration: Assistance Animals and Mental Health - Home

May 10th, 12 – 1:30 p.m.

In person in Iowa City, Satellite locations in Chariton, Des Moines, Ottumwa, and Cedar Rapids, and livestreamed online.

To register for this event, please follow the link attached below. This link will take you to an outside platform.

Registration

Livestream Link

LIVESTREAM PARTICIPANTS- the livestream link will be emailed to you on the day of the event. It will also be posted on here on the day of the event.

Disability Rights Iowa invites all Iowans with disabilities to attend our second annual National Mental Health Awareness Event in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.

Our panel conversation will focus on the many different benefits and tasks Assistance Animals provide to support individuals with mental health diagnoses. The panel will include legal and mental health experts and individuals that rely on assistance animals to support and mitigate symptoms of their mental health.

We invite all of Iowa as well as those beyond to join us for a personal, impactful and life-altering panel conversation.

If you or a loved one are experiencing a life-threatening mental health crisis please call 911. 
If you or a loved one are experiencing a non-life-threatening mental health crisis please reach out to the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, prestamos Servicios en Español 1-888-628-9454, for deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing loss dial 711 followed by 1-800-273-8255.

Event Description

National Mental Health Awareness Month Celebration

May 10th, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.

Many individuals with disabilities rely on animals that are trained to do work or perform tasks relating to physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disabilities. Some animals by their mere presence provide emotional support for persons with disabilities. Other animals are considered pets. The categories can be confusing. What’s the difference between a therapy dog, HUD assistance animal that works, perform tasks, assists, and/or provides therapeutic emotional support, an animal in training, guide dog, service animal, psychiatric service animal, etc. Attend the session and find answers to these and other questions.

The panelists will focus on Americans with Disabilities Act “service animals” that assist people with mental health conditions. They will explain what types of animals are covered and where they or their handler can go in public places, on public and private transportation, on campus, on-the-job, in the home, and in other places. Audience members will be provided with an overview of ADA definitions, requirements for service animals, rights and responsibilities of handlers, and an overview of the mental health benefits of having a service animal.

Continuing Legal Education and Continuing Education Units

General Admission – free to the public

Small fee for all Credits

CLE Credit (approved) – 1.5 state CLE which includes 1.5 diversity

Habilitation Credit (HAB Credit) – 1.5 hour of credit for Hab workers.

National Association of Social Worker (NASW) Continuing Education Units (CEU) approved credit LMHCs and LMFTs – 1.5 hours

The above logo is the outline of a dog drawn in black ink. The dog is filled with white. The dog looks like a Labrador Retriever. There are three swooping lines drawn starting from the bottom left corner of the image and up to the top right corner of the image.

Panelists

Join us for a lively conversation featuring individuals who train service dogs, individuals who have service animals, and legal and mental health experts on assistance animals. Our panel will be moderated by our Executive Director, Catherine E. Johnson. People are encouraged to email questions for the panel’s consideration to Katelynn Schultz, kschultz@driowa.org prior to the Event.

The panel conversation consists of; Len Sandler, Caleb Thomas, Jodi Tate, Zac and Lindsay, Claudia, and Catherine E. Johnson as moderator. These panelists will be joined by service dogs Kernel and Thor.

Professional biographies are below.

Catherine E. Johnson

Catherine E. Johnson received her Bachelor of Business Administration, Juris Doctor and Master’s in Higher Education degrees from the University of Iowa. Prior to joining the great team at Disability Rights Iowa, Catherine’s work included serving as the Assistant Dean of Students at St. Louis University School of Law, the Director of Student Legal Services at University of Iowa, and a disability rights attorney at Disability Rights Center of Kansas. Before becoming the Executive Director of DRI, she was the Director of the ADA Resource Center for Equity and Accessibility at the University of Kansas. Catherine has devoted her career to impactful civil rights work on behalf of individuals with disabilities.

Jodi Tate

Jodi Tate, MD BS in Biotechnology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND. MD, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND. Chief Resident in Psychiatry, UIHC, Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Resident in Psychiatry, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Licenses & Certifications: ABPN Certification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. Medical License, Iowa Board of Medicine, Iowa. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Caleb Thomas

Caleb Thomas a native of Iowa, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). Caleb has his own private practice, Thomas & Associates Counseling & Consulting located in Iowa City, Iowa. Caleb is an alumnus of the University of Iowa where he earned his B.A. in Teaching, he went onto graduate school to earn his M.A. in Counseling. Before becoming a Mental Health Counselor, Caleb worked as a School Counselor for seven years. Shortly after working as a School Counselor, Caleb started an after-school program for at-risk youth titled “Strive For Success Academic and Enrichment Youth Center”.

Len Sandler

Len Sandler is a Clinical Professor of Law who created and directs the Law and Policy in Action and Estate Planning Clinics at the UI College of Law. Len and Clinic Law students represent individuals and advise lawmakers, local governments, businesses, and community organizations on matters relating to disability, civil rights, housing, aging, healthcare, gender identity, and other issues. He frequently presents interactive workshops on service animals and assistance animals to national, state and local audiences. After stints as a U.S. Navy submariner and a newspaper reporter, he received his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. A Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow, he represented migrant farm workers, abused and neglected children, persons with disabilities, and low-income families before turning to clinical teaching.

Locations

This event will be a hybrid – in-person and virtual – celebration to ensure all Iowans have access to our event.

The panel will be hosted live in Iowa City at the Law School in the Boyd Law Building will be speaking in person in Des Moines, Iowa with Disability Rights Iowa staff present. ASL and CART will be provided in the room.

There will be satellite viewings of the livestream across Iowa. The locations will be:

Iowa City

Location: Room 125, Boyd Law Building

130 Byington Rd, Iowa City, IA 52246

Contact: kschultz@driowa.org | 515-452-0757

Accommodations: contact@driowa.org