Purpose

A nine-day training event designed to educate professionals on values based approaches to supporting and educating people who experience disabilities who also exhibit difficult behaviours.  Participants are exposed to a sequence of intensive learning experiences covering topics ranging from the impact of loneliness on emotional well-being, crisis support, person-centered planning, and building positive behavioural support plans.

Commitment

It is critical that participants make a commitment to attend all 9 days.  Individuals are strongly encouraged to join others from their home community to form teams.  Those who attend should be people who are in a position to make change happen when they return to their agency.

Featured Instructors

Leaders who practice positive approaches in the host state or community will join David in the course of the training.  Participants will have the opportunity to interact directly with these featured speakers.

       John O’Brien

John O’Brien learns about building more just and inclusive communities from people with disabilities, their families, and their allies.  He uses what he learns to advise people with disabilities and their families, advocacy groups, service providers and governments and to spread the news among people interested in change by writing and through workshops.

He works in partnership with his wife Connie Lyle O’Brien and a group of friends from 12 countries.  He is affiliated with the Centre on Human Policy (US), the National Development Team for Services to People with Learning Difficulties (UK), and the Marsha Forest Centre:  Inclusion, Family, Community (Canada).  They write, create, problem solve, think and explore the future together as a team, as individuals, and in other expanded teams.

      Peter Leidy

Peter Leidy is a consultant, trainer, and speaker on human services.  He focuses on personalized supports and community membership for people with disabilities.  He also writes and sings songs about human services and those who find themselves connected to it.

Al Vecchione

Dr. Al Vecchione and his family have lived and worked with challenging youth and adults for the past 30 years.  Dr. Vecchione founded Resources for Community Living, which provides homes and supports for very challenging adults and youth in 1979.  He also designed and ran The Vermont Crisis Intervention Network, the only statewide crisis service for people with developmental disabilities in the United States.  Most recently he started The Francis Foundation, which serves very challenging youth that would otherwise be hospitalized or institutionalized.  Dr. Vecchione and his wife also live with a young man who has Autism and a history of very challenging behavior. 

About David Pitonyak

David Pitonyak, is interested in positive approaches to difficult behaviours.  He believes that difficult behaviours are “messages” which can tell us important things about a person and his or her surroundings.  Understanding the “meaning” of an individual's difficult behaviours is the first step in supporting the person (and the person’s supporters) to change.  David also believes (to paraphrase Jean Clark), that a “person’s needs are best met by people whose needs are met.”   Supporting a person with difficult behaviours begins with an honest assessment of the needs of the person’s supporters.  Creating more responsive human services is possible only when we take responsibility for problems of the workplace culture.  A healthy organization is an organization that invites all of its members to take an active role in decision-making, provides support to each member as defined by the member, and evaluates its success by the degree to which it lives up to its promises.

Read some comments from those who have attended this workshop.

APPLICATION

The Institute will consist of two sessions. August 5 - 8 and August 18 - 22.  Sessions will run form 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 p. m each day.  Participants must commit to attending all of the sessions as well as completing readings and other assignments between sessions.

The fee for the complete 9 day workshop is $999.00 + GST (includes continental breakfast, break refreshments and all materials).   Participants are responsible for meals, lodging, travel, and incidental expenses.

LOCATION

Positive Approaches is a set of attitudes to invite all people to take one another seriously and respectfully.  - Herb Lovett