Education and Training Committee Breakout Session
Present
Cindi Johnson, Side by Side Clubhouse
Alex Watson, Denbigh House
Deb Wilson-MacLeod, Cornerstone Clubhouse
Erin Rants, Seattle BrainWorks
Mike Hatzenbeler, Seattle BrainWorks
Kathy Martin, Brooks Clubhouse
Eric Powell, Brooks Clubhouse
David Asselta, Brooks Clubhouse
Chelsea Feist, Adapt and Westwood Clubhouses
Abby Keen, Beacon House
Leslie Johnson, Gateway Clubhouse
Cindi asked: How can IBICA best help our Clubhouse? What are our biggest needs concerning
education and training?
Group members replied:
- Vocational services – educating employers, job development, placement, work preparation
of members, training staff to prepare members for work.
- Focus on the Standards. How strict should they be interpreted, is there flexibility
for developing Clubhouses?
- Day-to-day operations.
- Holding our own training (Cornerstone Clubhouse).
- Supporting members in developing and executing person centered plans– asking them
what they want, giving them specific steps.
- Training videos for new Clubhouses who cannot send all staff and members to another
town, and for all Clubhouses on topics such as Return to Work, operations
- Focusing on Employment Development Services as our (Clubhouse’s) next big project.
- Members expectations of staff, how can staff help members more
- Communication within the Clubhouse, especially between members
- Acknowledging that programs in startup mode have many challenges in concurrently
building membership and the work-ordered day while staying within the Standards.
- Educating on making programs member-driven.
- Educating the public about the services Clubhouses offer, increasing community presence
of Clubhouses.
- Educating staff and members on behavioral issues and dealing with them in and outside
of the clubhouse.
- Highlight transitions of members to other phases of life: work, living independently,
volunteering, dating/marriage, starting families, etc.
- Advantages and concerns for Clubhouses operating under auspice/host agencies
Information-sharing
Discussion followed about information-sharing strategies within IBICA, communication
with outside entities to promote IBICA, and how to “share the load” within the organization.
Cindi offered ideas: Re: Communication - Starting a blog or doing podcasts to share
information in addition to the traditional method of writing and sharing articles.
Mike noted that video-conferencing such as Skype is inexpensive, and conference
calls are easy and also inexpensive. He brought up social networking such as Facebook
are easy ways to stay in contact.
Chelsea noted that members are sometimes in the position of teaching staff about
social networking. She also expanded on the Facebook idea as a means of sharing
ideas, discussing issues.
The group decided to set up a way for clubhouses to share forms and documents that
would be helpful to other Clubhouses. The group decided to use Microsoft Office
Live (though when with the larger group, it sounds like we’ll use Google Docs for
to maintain consistency with the other breakout groups).
The group decided to set up a monthly telephone conference on subjects of general
interest to clubhouse staff and members. Day of week and time was decided (Wednesdays,
1:30 Eastern time, 10:30 western time) but the date was not yet decided.
Sharing the Load
Cindi noted that if IBICA hired even a part-time director, that person might be
able to do the follow-up site visits after a clubhouse visits Side by Side for an
IBICA training and after colleague training at another IBICA Clubhouse.
The group discussed the possibility of making a training video to train new Clubhouses.
Video could also be used for sharing best practices and training on specific topics.
Changes to IBICA Standards
The group recommended that IBICA not take on changing the standards this year given
a) the general level of satisfaction and acceptance of the current version and b)
the ambitious goals of this committee for the next year.
New Clubhouse Development Training
Cindi and Jason conducted the first official IBICA NCD training this year and adapted
the ICCD manual for developing new Clubhouses. Cindi will adjust the materials based
on results and feedback from the training. Another NCD will soon be scheduled for
2011 and posted on the website so emerging work groups can plan well ahead.
Colleague Training
The group discussed eventually sending trainees to various Clubhouses that exemplify
best practices in areas they need the most assistance with. While this topic is
certainly an important one to focus on in the future, for the next year our attention
will focus on creating a system for ongoing communication between Clubhouses about
development and training including topics mentioned previously. This will serve
to meet pressing needs of Clubhouses in every phase of development.
2011 Action Plan
- Develop conference call schedule with discussion topics for 6 months and begin monthly
calls on the third Wednesday of each month from 1:30ET-2:30. Cindi will coordinate
the schedule beginning with a topic listed by this group, and will post it on the
list serve. Mike offered the Provail conference bridge line, Erin will coordinate
the call.
- Develop system to share documents, forms, training info related to best practices
and IBICA standards. Alex will set up Google Docs, Eric will organize posted materials
into categories for easy access, Cindi will review proposed material for posting.
- Chelsea will facilitate members building an IBICA Facebook page and sharing that
with all IBICA Clubhouses as a method of ongoing dialogue about operations, standards,
and training.
- Cindi will further develop the New Clubhouse Development Training Manual and coordinate
with Jason to schedule the 2011 training. Since queries by new groups that visit
the website are forwarded to Cindi, she will facilitate connecting groups to various
IBICA Clubhouses for colleague training as needed. Other IBICA Clubhouses may choose
to forward communications received directly to Cindi or continue to mentor interested
callers themselves.