The Concord University (CU) Department of Social Work and Sociology, along with the West Virginia Developmental Disabilities Council, will host Coming Home: Before and After Deinstitutionalization in West Virginia.
The October 6, 2025, event is a free, documentary-focused workshop that will take a stark look at the institutions that once housed Mountain State residents with developmental disabilities, as well as the legal and legislative activism that closed the facilities. The event will run from 9 a.m. to noon in the Pais Fellowship Hall, located on the bottom floor of University Point on CU’s Athens Campus.
In addition to West Virginia’s history of closing the institutions, organizers Dr. Samantha Byrd and Dr. Shawn Allen say the film and workshop will explore the challenges of safeguarding community-based services and the broader civil and human rights implications these developments had for the people and families involved.
Presenters for the event will include West Virginia Developmental Disabilities Council Executive Director Tina Wiseman and Program Operations Coordinator Katie Arbaugh. The workshop is open to anyone interested in attending, but social workers in attendance will receive three hours of continuing credit at no cost.
Please register at www.concord.edu/ceofferings.
