Training

Community Leadership Forum

A LEARNING COMMUNITY FOR ALL

AT UCCO, we believe that one of the most effective ways to support people and help improve their lives is by providing them with information and knowledge. To help us put this belief into practice, we established the Community Leadership Forum in 2001. The Forum gives opportunities for participants and their families, our staff, and others from within the sector and the wider community to learn about international developments, new ideas and methods, and alternate ways of providing service.

Each year we run six or more workshops exploring issues around community care. We hope that through these workshops we can empower people to take control of their lives and give people the knowledge they need to better support themselves or those around them. Over the past 12 months, more than 120 people have attended workshops presented by local and international experts. This year the focus of the workshops has been on Inclusive Communities and the values, processes and practices that enable inclusiveness to happen.

Our intention is for these workshops to be available to anyone with a genuine interest in attending. To ensure that participants and families with limited financial means can take part, we offer scholarships and reduced attendance fees where appropriate.

Some of our more recent workshops include:

Visions for Community Care (the Wisconsin Experience)

Presented by Donna McDowell, the Director of the Bureau of Ageing and Disability Resources in Wisconsin, USA, this workshop discussed the experiences made in Wisconsin, USA, the site of the first Community Options program. Donna’s workshop discussed topics including integration of health and social care to improve outcomes, ensuring the protection of vulnerable adults, and planning outcomes for people.

Optimal Individual Service Design

This ten-day service design course provided a unique, in-depth and hands on experience aimed at bridging the gap between what we may hope to achieve, and what is actually realistic for people and services to deliver on. Facilitated by international consultant for human services and community work, Michael Kendrick, the workshop covered such topics as the role of assumptions and values, and discerning and meeting fundamental personal needs in a normative manner.

P.A.S.S.I.N.G

John Armstrong and Rob Nicholls, both of whom have extensive experience with the theory and practice of Social Role Valorisation, presented a five-day workshop in which participants employed the Program Analysis of Service Systems Implementation of Normalisation Goals (P.A.S.S.I.N.G) tool to understand the nature of different services and the impact they have on service users. The workshop aimed to highlight how service design and structure can be altered to support and empower individuals that have been marginalised. Attendees visited a number of different human service facilities and spent time with those using them in order to gain an understanding of the lives and needs of the people served.

Please contact Julia Butler on ph: 9239 2530 or email: julia.butler@ucco.org.au to receive information on upcoming events.

Ellen Clacy & Deb Rouget enjoy learning & conversation at a Community Leadership Forum event.

Michael Kendrick & Joyleen Thomas facilitate a Community Leadership Forum event.