Joseph M. Macbeth
Joseph M. Macbeth is the Executive Director at the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and has worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities for more than 30 years – beginning as a Direct Support Professional. Macbeth is recognized as a national leader in the advocacy and advancement the direct support profession and is a highly sought after speaker on the workforce crisis affecting human service provider organizations. He has co-authored the series of publications titled “Voices from the Frontlines”, produced an award winning Realistic Job Preview titled “Working as a Direct Support Professional: We Get It Done”, and has partnered with the State University of New York (SUNY) by assisting more than 500 direct support professionals advance their college education through the “Disability Studies Certificate”. He currently sits on the board of directors for the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL), The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices (TLCPCP), the College of Direct Support and Relias Learning’s National Advisory Boards and most recently was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as a Member of the Advisory Council for the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. Macbeth is also involved with AIEJI, an international organization based in Denmark that promotes the work of social educators. He lives in Albany, NY.
Keynote Session: Joseph M. Macbeth, Executive Director, The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals.
“Tales from the Road: The Emerging Roles and Changing Expectations of the Direct Support Workforce”: This keynote offers a chance to reflect on what we’ve learned from being “on the road” with our North America’s direct support professionals. We will also reflect on the changes coming to our system that are driven by funders, families and people with disabilities and how service organizations need to adopt some continuous quality improvement practices in their development of direct support. The focus of this session addresses some of the issues that direct support professionals across the country are telling NADSP about their work, what they need to be successful and offer suggestions that promote the notion that “Quality is defined at the point of interaction”. Macbeth will share some stories from the road, and some “uncomfortable truths” to make you consider things a little differently.
Breakout Session
“The NADSP Code of Ethics Encounter”: Joe Macbeth will share real examples culled from decades of practicing in the field of intellectual disabilities in a role play, unlike any other. In learning about ethical responsibilities, he will act out some real dilemmas and ethical decisions that confront direct support professionals on the job every day. Using the NADSP’s Code of Ethics, participants will consider ways that ethical practices can be incorporated into daily practice. The beliefs and attitudes that are associated with being an effective human service professional are critical to understanding this code – it is not the handbook of the profession, but rather a roadmap to assist us in staying the course of securing freedom, justice, and equality for all.
Dr. James Hill
Dr. James Hill is a clinical psychologist registered in British Columbia who has worked with people who have a developmental disability complicated by mental health issues in community, hospital, and correctional settings. Common referral issues involve challenging behaviours, adjustment issues, changes in adaptive functioning, support system issues, and aging-related concerns. Dr. Hill lives in Victoria BC where he works in private practice and as a consultant/trainer.
Presentation Title: “Psychosocial and environmental factors in collaborative behavioural management: The empathic core.”
Presentation Learning Objectives:
- Participants will learn about common psychosocial and environmental factors that influence behaviour.
- Participants will be introduced to ways to empathically analyze and intervene with psychosocial and environmental issues.
Erin Riehle
Erin Riehle is a recognized authority and national leader in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She is a founder and Senior Director of Project SEARCH, an employment and transition program that has received national recognition for innovative practices.
When she started Project SEARCH, Erin was a nurse manager at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center with no particular expertise in disability issues beyond the strictly medical. Her motivation was to offer people with disabilities-who made up a significant portion of the hospital’s patient volume-the same opportunities for training and employment that were available to everyone else. She brought a business perspective to the field of disability education, as well as an ability to bring organizations together for a shared purpose.
Now, Erin is regularly invited to present at national and regional conferences, and has co-authored numerous publications and book chapters. She has served on many national committees and is a past board member for the Association for Persons in Supported Employment (APSE), the Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities, and the U.S. Business Leadership Network. Project SEARCH received the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2004 New Freedom Initiative Award, was the Inaugural recipient of Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s 2010 James W. Varnum National Quality Award, and received a 2011 Inclusion Champion Award from Mitsubishi Electric America.
Erin lives in Terrace Park, Ohio with her partner, Judy, and their inimitable dog, Molly. When Erin grows up, she wants to be a master gardener
The Project SEARCH model for school-to-work transition features total workplace immersion to facilitate the teaching and learning process through continuous feedback and application of new skills. The Project SEARCH High School Transition Program is a one-year, worksite-based school program that provides training in independent living, employability skills, and specific job skills; job placement assistance; job coaching; on-the-job support; and career advancement opportunities. While in the program, students spend their entire school day at the workplace learning in an onsite classroom and experiencing a variety of non-traditional jobs at sites throughout the workplace. The cornerstone of this program is a customized career exploration package for each student. The goal for each student is competitive employment upon graduation. Project SEARCH goes beyond the traditional “easy” jobs, such as food or environmental services, and targets nontraditional, complex but systematic jobs that allow people with significant disabilities to maximize their potential in independent work settings. In addition, the presence of Project SEARCH in workplaces encourages positive institution-wide changes in attitudes about hiring people with disabilities and the range of jobs in which they can be successful.
Melissa Hopkinson-Good – PEI People First
Our Voices Count: Women with Intellectual Disabilities Speak up For Accessible Services
In the 2017 “Our Voices Count” project, funded by the PEI Women’s Inter-ministerial Secretariat, 10 women with intellectual disabilities took part in workshops where they had a chance to discuss violence and abuse that they had experienced or that they knew about. They were supported to map out the paths that they took in accessing supports or services, including the barriers that they faced.
This powerful group of women will present their work, identify gaps and talk about what they feel is important for service providers to understand about how to help women with intellectual disabilities. There will be group discussions based on a set of scenarios, and a chance to share ideas and protocols, all aimed at helping service providers to support women with intellectual disabilities when they experience violence and abuse.
Margaret Gallant
Collaboration – Teamwork – Designing Teams, what do we really need?
We live in a global society that uses teams to create wealth, market share, customer service, competitive advantage, and other markers of organizational success. Teams provide the social “glue” in organizations that melds together people, processes, and technologies to produce services or products. Organizations cannot function without teams; however, teams must be designed properly to fit organizational cultures and vice-versa.
Organizations need teams to produce creative products, just as artists and carpenters need the tools for their work. There may be a science to orchestrating team collaboration, but there also is an art. Management of self and science is necessary and contributes practical theories for teams to work better together.
Margaret Gallant is human resource specialist, conflict resolution practitioner and facilitator.. Having over 25 years working in public and private sector she has a gage on people. She focuses much of her training on the once called soft skills, now deemed permanent skills. Margaret delivers messages of workplace respect, leadership, generation gaps, branding and imaging. She provides facilitation to companies and educates them on being proactive in regards their staff, boards or volunteers. Her energy, sense of humour and ability to connect makes her relatable to all.
Lena MacLure
Dr. Lori Vitale Cox – Research in FASD
Dr. Lori Vitale Cox is a community researcher and clinician who works in Elsipogtog First Nation where she is clinical coordinator and founder of the Eastern Door Center for diagnosis, prevention and intervention of neurobehavioral disorders related to prenatal exposure to trauma, drugs and alcohol. She founded and directed the Nogemag Healing Lodge an alternative school for children and youth in trouble with the law, suspended from school and exposed to high levels of trauma. She has been active in FASD research, diagnosis, and intervention for many years designing the Medicine Wheel Tools in collaboration with FN elders to help provide culturally safe tools for screening, diagnosis and interventions that also take into account the effects of intergenerational trauma. Using a family and system based approach and designing innovative therapeutic interventions such a community gardening involving elders and youth at risk the rate of FASD in the community has significantly decreased and many of the affected youth involved in the programs have gone on to complete high school and to live productive lives.
Lori has traveled throughout North America giving training workshops to diverse groups such as physicians and provincial judges in NB and NS, Innu elders in Labrador and teachers and social service professionals in the Yukon. In the last few years she has been invited to speak about hope and healing of FASD at international conferences in Italy the US and Canada. She presented keynote presentations at the DTES conference in Vancouver and the Ansshinaneck G7 Conference in Sault Ste. Marie and for the FASD Justice & Reconciliation: Tough Questions, New Collaborations” Symposium in February 2017. She is a member of the expert Advisory Committee for the International FASD Conference for Adults and Adolescents. Recently she developed and helped implement an FASD Curriculum for the University of New Brunswick College of Extended Learning..
FASD in a Canadian Aboriginal Community Context-An Exploration of Some Ethical Issues Involving the Access to FASD Service Delivery Lori Vitale Cox in “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Adults: Ethical and Legal Perspectives: An overview on FASD for professionals” edited by Nelson, M, Trussler, M., Springer Publishers: 2015
Alcohol Use and Pregnancy Consensus Clinical Guidelines Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada Vol. 32 #8 August 2010 George Carson, Lori Vitale Cox, Joan Crane et al.
Medicine Wheel Student Index and Developmental History Interview Lori Vitale Cox In the: National Screening Tool Kit: for Children and Youth Identified and Potentially Affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder edited by Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres 2010 Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada publications, Ottawa
Screening and Recording of Alcohol Use Among Women of Child-Bearing Age and Pregnant Women Can J Clin Pharmacol Vol 16 (1) Winter 2009:e242-e263; April 16, 2009 Moumita Sarkar, Margaret Burnett, Sarah Carriere, Lori Vitale Cox,et al
Knowledge and Attitudes of Criminal Justice Professionals in Relation to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Lori Vitale Cox, Donald Clairmont, Seamus Cox
Can J Clin Pharmacol Vol 15 (2) Summer 2008:e306-e313; August 4, 2008
FASD Manual for Legal Professionals Lori Vitale Cox, Donald Clairmont, Seamus Cox 2006
Medicine Wheel Difference Game Cards for Goal Setting and Assessment of High-Risk Youth Published by Eastern Door Centre for Diagnosis and Intervention , Elsipogtog First Nation—2004
Sharon Hayward, Lori Vitale Cox Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2001), 7 : pp 112-114 2001 The International Neuropsychological Society
Knowledge and Technology Transition
MW Screening Tools Webinar Lori Vitale Cox : 2011 CAPHC Public Health Agency of Canada and
Available at: www.caphc.org/caphc–webinars/…/medicine–wheel–tools-for-fasd-screening
Nogemag Therapeutic Gardening Program Community Engagement Designed and Implemented Lori Vitale Cox available at: https://youtu.be/9vTttUjYMhk
Dr. Chelsea Temple Jones – Keynote Address
Dr. Chelsea Temple Jones is a prairie woman, scholar, activist, and post-secondary instructor in Toronto. Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Chelsea’s research area of Critical Disability Studies and Journalism focuses on the ways in which disability is publicly represented in Canadian storytelling. Her doctoral research, in the area of Communication and Culture, focused on gathering phenomenological reflections on writing processes involving intellectually disabled people and the motion of freewriting as an entry point toward understanding hidden writing practices. Jones is also an award-winning journalist, and she teaches courses on disability and representation at Ryerson University, The University of Toronto, and Humber College. She is the treasurer of the Canadian Disability Studies Association-Association Canadienne D’Études sur le Handicap, and a past panel organizer for Cripping the Arts in Canada.
Laura Johnson -Montigny
Laura brings a powerful combination to her current roles as management facilitator, university instructor and director of the Canadian Red Cross that includes a passion for learning and practical business solutions. She is deeply committed to facilitating meaningful change and aiding in the creation of safe and respectful workplaces and communities.
Laura’s past work experience includes over 15 years of Senior Management positions with non profit organizations. Laura has also worked as a private learning consultant to a variety of organizations including the Innu Round Table, the Native Council of PEI, Prince Edward Island Public Service Commission and Vector Aerospace. Most recently, Laura has been working with a number of First Nations communities in Atlantic Canada focusing on leadership and capacity development. Throughout her career a consistent theme has been relationships: building relationships with clients, students, colleagues and staff. She has honed her executive skills in relating to others with honesty and integrity. She is an advocate of experiential based activities and believes that the most important asset any organization can have are its people. Laura’s undergraduate degree is in Business Administration and her Masters is in adult education. Laura also works as a lecturer with the University of Prince Edward Island where she teaches interpersonal communication, change management, and business administration.
Her unique style of facilitating combines learning activities, academic theory, practical application, passion for people and a drive to create lasting results and impacts.
When not working, Laura can be found carting around her three little girls or trying to bake the ‘ultimate chocolate chip cookie’.
Meaghan Jones
Following up Erin Riehle’s keynote address on Project SEARCH, an international best-practices recruitment model, the teacher for Project SEARCH Winnipeg’s programs, Meaghan Jones, will discuss the Canadian experience of implementing the program. Meaghan will outline the Project SEARCH Winnipeg’s growth from an idea to two programs supporting up to 24 interns; discuss how the programs differ from the typical model through the unique role a community-based service provider plays in program execution; and share employment outcomes and success stories.
Meaghan Jones has been a teacher for ten years and worked within human services organization supporting people labelled with developmental disabilities in a variety of capacities for fifteen years. She helped pilot and develop the school to work transition program, Project SEARCH, in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2011, run in partnership with the Government of Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro.
Meaghan was hired as the inaugural teacher by SCE LifeWorks, the lead organization for Project SEARCH Winnipeg. In 2016 she began the implementation process for and, later, launch the second Project SEARCH program in Winnipeg at the city’s largest tertiary hospital, the Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg. Meaghan has been a key player in the collaboration between participating school divisions and the program’s business partners, also liaising with unions, families and adult funding agencies to ensure a smooth transition to the world of work.
Harman Singh
Harman Singh as Senior Leadership Team Member of the Breton Ability Centre assigned a pilot project to align the organizations current programs and support services to the NS Government’s Transformation agenda for Persons with Disability. The Transition to Community Division of BAC will design and deliver programs based on evidence based learning and behavior principles to help people with varying abilities acquires skills necessary for independence, thereby preparing people, when ready, for community living.
My portfolio also includes providing leadership to managers of two neighborhoods, a professional team (Behavior Interventionists, Occupational Therapist, Social Worker’s, Recreation Therapist) and oversee the Learning and Employment Center.
Harman has a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. Skilled in Management, Behavior Management, Anxiety Management, Health and Wellness, and Training. Strong healthcare services professional with a Master’s degree focused in Clinical Psychology and advanced training in Pivotal Response Approach, Low Arousal Approach, TEACCH, and Pain Disability Prevention.
Harman holds a Masters in Clinical Psychology, Bachelor of Education; Special Education and currently lives in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Carrie Drake – MSc. OT Reg
Carrie Drake graduated with a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy from Dalhousie University in 2015. Carrie has experience working in residential care, post-stroke rehabilitation, home care and community-based rehabilitation. Carrie currently works as an occupational therapist employed with Health PEI at Home Care Montague, Kings County Memorial Hospital and the Provincial Palliative Care Centre.
This presentation will focus on the role of occupational therapy with adults living with development disabilities and autism and outline possible deficits in the categories of self-care, productivity and leisure that may be apparent. Topics will include: functional assessments, in-home accessibility, community accessibility, sensory profiles and behavior management.
Carla DiGiorgio, Ph.D
Dr. Carla DiGiorgio is a professor of education at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia Canada. She has been interested in diverse learning since childhood, and has been a teacher for 22 years and a full time professor for twelve years. Dr. DiGiorgio specializes in learners with exceptionalities from childhood to adulthood, and has worked with public and private schools, home learners, families, communities and governmental agencies to better the lives of all learners with challenges. She has done research on learning disabilities, minority language learners, cultural diversity, and international education. She presently teaches courses to preservice and inservice teachers on inclusive education, teaching methods, and research methods.
Teaching coping skills to those with developmental disabilities
- Introduction to developmental disabilities and associated coping challenges
- Treatment interventions for behavioral challenges
- Anxiety
- Family and community supports
- Work experiences and coping
- Access to health services
- Educational opportunities
- Practical strategies for communication and learning
- Questions
Patrick Ledwell
“Patrick is one of the funniest people in Canada, period.”
-Steve Patterson, Host of CBC’s The Debaters
Raised on PEI, and then returned to it, Patrick Ledwell draws on his experiences growing up in an Island family and the funny trials of staying true to his roots. He successfully delayed entering the workplace with degrees in literature and technology. After six years of teaching college, he had build up enough casual days, and e-mail nights, to supply material for a comedy career.
Patrick’s smart, quick-witted comedy has brought him national recognition with multiple appearances on CBC Radio’s “The Debaters.” He has performed at the East Coast Music Awards, the Halifax and Moncton Comedy Festivals. His stand-up comed has been featured on “Laugh Out Loud” and “Madly Off in All Directions.” His comic monologues have been featured on CBC Radio morning and afternoon shows, across the country.
“I Am An Islander”, Patrick’s first book of collected humour was a bestseller and his second book “An Islander Strikes Back” was recently released.
Patrick co-created several original stage shows. He hosted and wrote all comedy material for the hit Charlottetown Festival show, “Come All Ye.” He also appeared with poet and musician Tanya Davis in two productions of “The New Potato-Time Review.” In 2017, for the 5th year running, he is co-starring with Mark Haines in the hit PEI variety show: “The Island Summer Review”.
He has become a go-to voice to represent his province at signature events. He hosted an 8-stop national tour to promote the PEI 2014 year of celebration, and performed for the Royal Visit to Prince Edward Island.
Patrick received his Masters in Information Design and Technology from Georgia Tech, where he co-produced the award-winning interactive film project, Griffith in Context. While in Atlanta, he taught in the Georgia Tech New Media Education Center, delivering hands-on technology training sessions for leading corporate clients such as UPS and Coca-Cola.
Patrick lives on a hobby farm outside Charlottetown, PEI, with his wife Tara and young son Nathaniel.