Author: Brian Speakman, MA, NCC

May 12, 2021

Thank-you, Blessings, & Farewell

Life is marked by a great many milestones. As I watch my son at six months old, I am reminded of how we all begin. At first, it is simply being able to hold your head up, learning to eat and drink, smile and giggle, crawl and walk, talk and write. We grow up, we learn to the best of...

Categories General

April 14, 2021

The HCQU Photo Tour

As we headed into the summer of 2020, we knew a lot had changed. Sure, we looked forward to summer with the normal amount of gladness to once again be able to go outdoors and not have to get all bundled up. And maybe this summer, the ability to get outdoors was especially appreciated, after a springtime in which everything...

Categories Community/General

April 7, 2021

Junk piling up? It’s time for an Emotional Spring Cleaning!

What does springtime bring to mind for you? For me it is thoughts of longer days, more sunlight, warmer weather, opening up the windows, seeing the grass start to emerge from beneath the snow – we’ve had a lot of that this year! Maybe seeing robins bouncing around on the ground searching for worms, flying up into the trees. Songbirds...

Categories General

March 17, 2021

Strengthening Family Bonds While Staying at Home

Cover Image CC 4.0 License Whether you have been confined to your indoor living space during this year’s pandemic or have been braving the ills of the world to continue providing service to those in need, there is no doubt, things have changed a lot. During this time of change, it may be helpful to consider how to make some...

Categories General

February 10, 2021

Winter is Upon Us – Let’s Get Craftsy!

During the long days of summer, time is best spent in parks, on playgrounds, and out in the backyard. The outdoors rule supreme and the warm bright sunshine beckons us out into its glorious glow. Hey! Where’d the sun go?!?! Awwww – come on man – it’s only 5:30 p.m. and it’s already dark! When forced to retreat into the...

Categories General

August 26, 2020

Managing Anxiety in a World of Uncertainty

The very nature of anxiety is to feel worry about things that may not be within a person’s sense of control. To feel worry even when not being confronted with a direct stressor. To feel worry, worry, worry. It’s hard not to worry these days. There’s a lot to worry about. Too many things to even list. So instead, what...

Categories General

May 27, 2020

Everything’s Cancelled and I Feel Sad

 It’s been two months since we were put in quarantine. In two months our world has changed. We watched spring bloom from the confines of our couch. We saw Easter and Mother’s Day come and go. Maybe we got to see some family. Maybe we didn’t. And as the counties move from ‘red’ to ‘yellow’, we can’t help but wonder,...

Categories Community/General

March 25, 2020

Women’s History Month & Developmental Disabilities Month – There’s a reason it’s called MARCH!

Get out your sneakers. Grab your picket signs. Sturdy your convictions. It’s time to MARCH! Or is it the month of March? Maybe both? In a day and age where every day is a celebration of something (I personally like “talk like a pirate day” and “national pizza day”), we stop to pay homage in March to two populations that...

Categories Community/General

November 20, 2019

Thanks and No Thanks: Approaching the Holidays

As I decided on the topic for this blog, I am reminded of the many years of holiday seasons that have come and gone where we have reviewed how to be sensitive to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the holiday seasons. Messages are conveyed to be mindful of the losses that so many have suffered around the holidays....

Categories Community/Everyday Life/General

August 28, 2019

Raise Your Vibration

This past weekend I had an amazing opportunity to go to the Great Rhythm Revival in Sherman, NY. At this event, for four glorious days over two hundred people joined hands and hearts in rhythmic bliss.  We danced, we drummed, we hummed, and we opened up to the health healing that took place all around us and within us. Led...

Categories Community/General/Resources