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Building Friendships and Community

http://youtu.be/SbNEig6HZwE

In this module, leading expert Kay Mills frames her personal experiences with stories of people she has worked with to comprehensively explain how we can help people to build friendships and community. Kay begins by defining both friendships and community and then goes on to explain their value. Finally, she offers a full range of strategies that workers can use to not only build but also maintain friendships and community.

This module features presentations from a range of leading professionals and self-advocates, including Dave Hingsburger, Lynda Kahn, Margaret Cushen, Steve Dymond, Beth Mount, Dave Hasbury, Patti Scott, and Jack Pearpoint.

On successful completion of this module, learners will be able to:

 

    • Explain the discrimination, prejudice and institutionalization that people have experienced and how it impacts on their experience of friendships and community.
    • Define and explain the importance of both friendship and community.
    • Describe a range of approaches and strategies that can be applied to help people to find and build friendships and community.
    • Explain the importance of and how people can maintain the friendships they have in their lives.
    • Detail the potential challenges that you may face and explain how you can help the people you support to tackle negative and discriminatory attitudes.

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DOES YOUR TONE OF VOICE CHANGE?

http://youtu.be/IkLEpi9AAHI

Are you training staff that are new to the field? Check out our module “Introduction to Your Role”. This module , written by David Pitonyak, provides the perfect platform to embed understanding, respect, and person-centered values. Having spent most of his career working with people who are said to exhibit “difficult behaviors”, Pitonyak explains that most people exhibit difficult behaviors because they are misunderstood and/or because they are living lives that don’t make sense.  “Introduction to Your Role” is a great module to help your new and experienced training staff help the people they support better.

This module offers a succinct introduction to the role of the support staff person, and therefore is a great starting place for new employees and people who are new to the field.

This module includes video presentations from Lynda Kahn, Gary Kent, Sam Sly, Dave Hingsburger, David Hasbury, Simon Haywood, Marc Tumeinski, Beth Mount, Bernard Carabello, Simon Duffy, and Margaret Cushen.

On successful completion of this module, learners will be able to:

– Define and describe a developmental disability and its causes.

– Describe other commonly associated conditions.

– Explain how a developmental disability can impact the person’s life.

– Describe a range of experiences that impact the person’s life including segregation, congregation, negative perception and treatment, socal devaluation, loneliness, poor health, poverty and abuse.

– Explain the importance of the person’s history and the involvement of their family.

– Define John O’Brien’s five valued experiences and explain how they can support a good and meaningful life.

– Using the Code of Ethics developed by the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals you will be able to explain the purpose of the following concepts and how they refer to your role:

person-centered support

promoting physical and emotional well-being

integrity and responsibility

confidentiality

respect

justice, fairness, and equity

relationships

self determination

To ask questions or for information about our free trial please email hello@openfuturelearning.org

 

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Active Support

We are excited to announce that our latest module titled “Active Support” is now live!

Active support is an approach that was developed to help combat the lack of engagement in meaningful activities and relationships experienced by people who receive support. Active support is about doing with, not for or to. Active support helps people to have a more active role in their lives and experience a better quality of life.

This module features presentations from Bev Ashman, Julie Beadle-Brown, and Margaret Cushen.

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to

  • Define what active support is and how it can help people have a better quality of life.
  • Describe the importance of engagement and what it looks like.
  • Understand how every moment has potential.
  • Apply the principles of little and often, taking small steps, and providing support at the right time and place.
  • Describe how you can provide just enough support for people to participate successfully.
  • Explain how active support can be used to maximize choice and control while maintaining people’s safety.

Module Length: 130 Minutes

Learn more about all of our modules here.