Thursday, September 2, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

The reality and impact of social devaluation plays out in the lives of people with disabilities in a whole host of ways and on a daily basis, however, most formal and informal providers of support either do not recognize it or don’t know how to address it. This session, derived from Social Role Valorization theory, will explore what the impact of devaluation is and what service providers can do to combat the ill effects of it.

Presenter

Hope Leet Dittmeier has devoted the last 40 years in a variety of roles, all investigating the question, “What would it take for people to enjoy ordinary lives in lieu of life in segregation?” As a family member, Hope has walked alongside her sister-in-law who experiences intellectual disability, supporting her to have a career, own a home, become an integral part of her church community, fulfil the role of doting Aunt, and enjoy a rich personal social network. In professional roles, she has focused on designing robust supports unique to each individual person. Hope’s life and work have been informed on a consistent basis by Social Role Valorization theory.

Hope is currently Executive Director at Mattingly Edge where she has been instrumental in transforming a large, legacy day program that utilized a medical model into a service that provides only individualized supports, designed to help people enjoy the same good things in life that most people take for granted.

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Thursday, September 9, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

The Charting the LifeCourse framework was created to help individuals and families of all abilities and all ages develop a vision for a good life, think about what they need to know and do, identify how to find or develop supports, and discover what it takes to live the lives they want to live. The framework can be used in personal and professional roles for planning, problem-solving and decision. Join this session to learn more about integrating the CtLC framework and tools into your practices to help individuals achieve self-determination, interdependence, integration, productivity, integration and inclusion in all facets of community life.

Presenter

Jenny Turner is passionate about the development and implementation of best practice that will drive systems change and impact families. Her commitment to advocacy and social justice originates in her first – and most important – role of “big sister” to a sibling with a developmental disability. The experiences she had as a family member launched her trajectory into a career as a social worker, and she has worn many different hats since earning her MSW and clinical social work license in 2009. Previously a Regional Director for a large provider of state funded services to individuals with developmental disabilities and a Support Coordinator, Jenny strives to bring all of these perspectives into her work as a facilitator of strategic thinking and planning. Some of Jenny’s favorite things about working with the LifeCourse Nexus team and partners are the opportunities to collaborate for organizational and systems change, supporting and training professionals to enhance person-and-family centered policies and practices, and co-leading the National Community of Practice for Supporting Families.

Jenny’s good life includes time with her family, cooking and baking for friends, and as much travel as possible. She has visited five of seven continents and four of seven Wonders of the World (so far!), and hopes to hit all seven of each by her next milestone birthday. A good cup of coffee, meaningful conversations, time outdoors, baking competition shows, musical theatre and a good historical fiction novel are some of her guilty pleasures. She is a strong believer in making the most of every experience, and thinks the best way to do this is exploring off the beaten path – so, you can often find her on another adventure … even if it’s just to the newest “hole in the wall” restaurant in Kansas City.

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Reminder: there will be no webinar episode on September 16^th as it is Yom Kippur.

Thursday, September 23, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

Meaghan and Courtney will share details on the experiences of going through a CQL accreditation. They will share how the agency prepared and what was gained from the experience.

Presenters

Meaghan Simpson is currently the Assistant Executive Director, Operations at Progressive Community Services. Meaghan has worked at PCS for 12 years and initially lead the organization through the first, basic assurances accreditation with CQL.

Courtney Cruz is currently the Quality Enhancement Manager at Progressive Community Services. Courtney has worked at PCS for 11 years and has been apart of the accreditation process since 2016, when she was trained as a Personal Outcome Measures interviewer.

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Thursday, September 30, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

Social Role Valorization theory offers us many tools to use in our work toward helping people with disabilities enjoy the good things in life that most citizens take for granted. This session will focus on several of these tools. Each tool will be described along with real life stories of how, when implemented, better outcomes are likely to result.

Presenter

Hope Leet Dittmeier has devoted the last 40 years in a variety of roles, all investigating the question, “What would it take for people to enjoy ordinary lives in lieu of life in segregation?” As a family member, Hope has walked alongside her sister-in-law who experiences intellectual disability, supporting her to have a career, own a home, become an integral part of her church community, fulfil the role of doting Aunt, and enjoy a rich personal social network. In professional roles, she has focused on designing robust supports unique to each individual person. Hope’s life and work have been informed on a consistent basis by Social Role Valorization theory.

Hope is currently Executive Director at Mattingly Edge where she has been instrumental in transforming a large, legacy day program that utilized a medical model into a service that provides only individualized supports, designed to help people enjoy the same good things in life that most people take for granted.

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Thursday, October 7, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

Everyone is talking about getting back to the way it was pre-COVID. However, what was so great then? Do we really want to return to the same old way of doing things or did we learn some new lessons during COVID to help us build something better, do things in a new and different way and maybe get different results. Join service providers from across the US to discuss what we learned and what we intend to do differently moving forward.

Presenters

• Jennifer Lengyel
• LyAnn Grogan
• Hope Dittmeier
• Heather Adams
• Sheldon Schwitek

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Thursday, September 16, 2021 — 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 noon-1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM-12:00 noon Mountain / 10:00–11:00 AM Pacific

Many of us cast about looking for someone to show us the way, not realizing we already have the skills required to be leaders in our own right. We may find ourselves asking, “How might we grow as leaders in our own lives and the lives of others?”

In her newest book Dare to Lead, Brené Brown defines leadership this way: Leader: Anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and who has the courage to develop that potential.

As supportive leaders, we can nurture a culture of kindness and connectedness that creates a fertile ground for people to build relationships and step into their own leadership roles with confidence.

In this session we will:

• Discuss and define the meaning of leadership to understand our own responsibility in nurturing the potential of those we support.
• Explore ways in which we can implement concrete processes and strategies that allow us to bring our best selves forward, in our work and in the rest of our lives.
• Examine the principles of a Culture of Gentleness and how they can assist in developing our own leadership skills, as well as the skills of others.
• Explore how we can utilize The Central Purpose and the 6 Elements of a Culture of Gentleness to deepen our understanding of leadership.

Presenter

Sheldon Schwitek brings more than 30 years of experience supporting people who experience disability which began with the birth of his youngest brother when he was 13 years old.

With a firm grounding in Person Centered Work through long associations with Inclusion Press and the Toronto Summer Institute, Sheldon’s focus has always been on encouraging people to “dream bigger” as a pathway to true citizenship. He is passionate about people living meaningful lives of contribution in their communities. Sheldon is well versed in all areas of Independent Facilitation including self‐determination, community living, person and family‐centered planning, Person Centered Thinking. He is a trained Facilitator in multiple facilitation modalities, including MAPS, PATH, Essential Life-Styles Planning, Solution Circles and many more.

In 2011, Sheldon began to work with The Center for Positive Living Supports and their implementation of a Culture of Gentleness in Michigan. This work solidified his knowledge that relationships and community connections are fundamental to a safe and happy life.

Lately, Sheldon has been working nationally and internationally weaving together his experience in Person Centered Work and mentorship as exemplary tools to assist people to realize full potential as citizens.

The key message in Sheldon’s work is that all people can lead lives that are rich and meaningful and that this is our most important work. He continues to find ways to deepen his practice and understanding of this work. Most recently, Sheldon became the Executive Director at The Arc Community Advocates in Kalamazoo, Michigan; a community that is committed to social justice for all.

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