The West Virginia Developmental Disabilities Council is pleased to announce a 4-day workshop on

Social Role Valorization, Including 10 Related Themes: A High-Order Concept for Addressing the Plight of Socially Devalued People, & For Structuring Human Services

·        To be held Monday, June 16 through Thursday, June 19, 2008.

·        Location:  Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center, 100 Hodges Road, Charleston, WV.

·        Taught by Jo Massarelli of the SRV Implementation Project and Joe Osburn of the Safeguards Initiative.

Purpose of the workshop:

Human service workers play a critical role in the lives of the children and adults they serve.  The two workshops (Part I & Part II) described in this flyer together lay out a helpful framework for service workers to use in implementing relevant and effective services in the lives of socially devalued people.

Description of the workshop:

     This workshop is specifically oriented to leadership development and is Part I of a two part workshop.  It introduces the learner to Social Role Valorization (SRV), using the 10 core themes developed by Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger, one of the most influential thinkers in the field of human services broadly, and mental retardation specifically.  His work helped lay the foundation for many current human service trends, including integration, deinstitutionalization, and safeguarding of individual rights.

     A central goal of SRV is to enable socially devalued people to attain culturally valued roles, with an eye towards having a typical life and gaining access to all that typical citizens enjoy.  Competency and image enhancement are essential building blocks of valued social roles.  SRV will be reviewed with the implications of its positive assumptions about the worth of all people and their belonging in our communities.  Participants are encouraged to reflect on the typical life experiences of socially devalued people, with an eye towards deeper identification with the people they serve.  A past participant said of this workshop, “This training has changed my outlook on human services and has provided me with a better understanding of how expectancies can affect success or performance.  Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and educated experiences, it was a truly informative and beneficial training!”

Who the workshop is intended for:

          Paid or unpaid human service workers and managers, service recipients, family members, advocates, teachers, board members, and others interested in the lives of people who are disenfranchised due to mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, poverty, homelessness, age, mental illness, or physical impairment.

The workshop is taught at a college-level, with long hours and hard work.  The information presented is quite complex in its entirety, requiring a systematic exposition of multiple ideas.

Format of the workshop:

          The workshop is taught in lecture format, with extensive use of overheads and slides. 

What participants will learn:

o       To recognize current social trends that affect vulnerable people, including social policies, laws, and cultural values.

o       Positive strategies in support of personal social integration and valued social participation, particularly in different areas of social life.

o       Essential elements of relevant and effective service, including group size and composition, accessibility, individualization, and interactions.

o       A developmental approach to learning and teaching, especially for people with significant intellectual impairment.

For online information about Social Role Valorization:

          Go to http://www.srvip.org/

PART II: PRACTICUM with SRV using the PASSING Tool

The PASSING workshop builds on the PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SRV course by providing a hands-on experience with actual human service programs.  The PASSING workshop emphasizes the impact of services on the lives of their recipients.  This is an opportunity to work with the ideas of SRV to craft a vision of good service, and is particularly helpful for those designing services and/or assessing service quality.

          The work of this course is done in teams under the direction of a trained team leader.  Each team will visit a residential and a ‘day’ service, meeting service recipients and conducting interviews with staff and administrators.  Participants are invited to look at the services ‘through the eyes’ of its service recipients.  This event involves extensive personal reflection and analysis, group conciliation, and thought provoking discussion.  A recent participant said “How I look at and talk about service provision will never be the same.”

          The WV Developmental Disabilities Council recently offered the first PASSING workshop to be held in West Virginia, and will offer Part II workshops periodically.  Persons attending PASSING must have first attended an SRV course. 

Overnight accommodations:

          Individuals are responsible for making their own arrangements if overnight accommodations are needed.  There are several hotels in the near vicinity of the Pastoral Center (a list can be provided upon request).  Rooms may also be available at the Center itself at a very reasonable rate.  Please contact Linda if you are interested in obtaining one.  Remember – it is a “retreat” center, therefore sleeping rooms have no TV or phone.

Tuition:

          Because the WV DD Council is committed to providing valuable and worthwhile information to policymakers, human service workers, and others to benefit citizens who have developmental disabilities and their families, the tuition is only $100.  This includes handouts, refreshments, and 4 lunches.  Some assistance with expenses will be made available to people with developmental disabilities and family members.

To register:

          Complete the registration form and send, with payment, to: Linda Higgs, WV DD Council, 110 Stockton Street, Charleston, WV  25312.  Deadline for registering is May 30, 2008.

          Please DO NOT make checks payable to the WV DD Council.  Follow the instructions given below.  The Council cannot accept checks or credit cards.

CEU Information:  27 Social Work CEUs have been approved for this workshop.

For more information:

          Contact Linda by e-mail at LindaHiggs@wvdhhr.org, or by phone at 304.558.4884.

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SRV-10 WORKSHOP REGISTRATION

NAME:­­­­  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________________________________

AGENCY: ___________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS:  __________________________________________________________________

PHONE:  ______________________________     E-MAIL:  __________________________

We are unable to accept credit cards.

MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO COMMUNITY ACCESS, INC.

MAIL TO: WV DD Council  110 Stockton Street, Charleston, WV  25312

REGISTRATION DEADLINE:  May 30, 2008