iNFo Fair 2018: Man Who’s Had 25 Surgeries to Speak at Symposium
We almost have all our presenters set for our October 20th NF Midwest Symposium and iNFo Fair. To see the line-up so far go to www.nfmidwest.org/symposium.
We’re very excited to tell you about our first speaker, Erik Riklin!
Eric will be talking to our symposium audience about resiliency, or the ability to overcome adversity and “bounce back”, when faced with difficulties, and maintain healthy physical and emotional functioning.
Eric is unique in that he has “walked the talk” as he has a craniofacial condition and has had 25 surgeries starting at birth until his last surgery at the age of 22.
His talk will explore various strategies and skills to enhance resiliency and overall well-being, including his own personal insights for adults and parents. He will discuss the benefits of resiliency and provide examples of ways in which individuals with NF can become more resilient.
Eric loves helping others who are going through similar situations and believes that we can all learn to become more resilient, we just need to learn the skills to do so.
Currently, Eric is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Fordham University specializing in health psychology, specifically with children and adolescents and is a clinical extern at the Child Mind Institute in New York City. As a psychology extern, Eric provided individualized treatments to young adults and college students with a range of presenting problems including learning and attentional difficulties and mental health conditions.
Prior to starting graduate school, Mr. Riklin was a clinical research coordinator at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he taught mindfulness skills and stress management techniques to adults and adolescents with chronic physical and emotional difficulties, including those with NF. Additionally, Eric has assisted with group therapy sessions and narrative video projects for pediatric patients at NYU Langone Medical Center. Eric’s research interests primarily focus on intervention development and psychological well-being of pediatric and adolescent patients with chronic health conditions. Currently, Eric conducts research examining the psychosocial needs of adolescents with craniofacial conditions and determining effective psychotherapeutic interventions for this population.
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