by Abigail Farley
Faculty mentor: Dr. Virginia Mackintosh and Dr. Laura Wilson
This project aimed to better investigate why individuals with intellectual disabilities are at a higher risk for experiencing interpersonal violence, why traditional therapeutic approaches are typically ineffective, and to provide alternative psychotherapeutic options that may be more beneficial and tailored to this population’s abilities/needs. EDMR, IBT and supported employment are hopeful interventions for dealing with post-traumatic symptoms for intellectually disabled trauma survivors, although further research and replication is essential as there is a clear void in this area of research. Lastly, this population must not be viewed as hopeless and we must understand that they are capable of participating in therapy, if it is tailored to their level of functioning. The strides made by this research are coupled with the hope that interpersonal violence against individuals with disabilities will become less frequent as they continue to become further accepted by our society and that these alternative approaches to trauma therapy may lead to more hopeful post-traumatic trajectories.
Abby – I admire your advocacy for individuals with intellectual disabilities. I enjoyed listening to your presentation about ways to minimize or prevent traumatic events for individuals in this population.
I am so happy that my passion is shining through in my academic work! I am glad you enjoyed and thank you for taking the time to leave feedback!
Great job! I am really impressed with this presentation and all of the great research you did on this.
Abby, after hearing about your project earlier this semester, I was so glad to be able to see your final product. It was a great presentation on an important topic.
Excellent presentation! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and post!
Very well presented! You did a great job organizing and presenting the literature in this area.
Good presentation!! You did a nice job presenting all this info!
Great topic and great presentation! Thank you!