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Service Hospitality Presents… Operating During COVID-19 – LIVE Panelist Discussion
Join Service Hospitality on Wednesday, June 3rd 1:00 – 3 pm (CST) for a FREE LIVE Virtual Event on Operating during COVID-19, presented by Service Hospitality!
“We have heard your concerns and struggles about operating during COVID-19. Service Hospitality is bringing together a panelist of industry leaders to share how they have operated their organizations throughout the pandemic. If you are struggling to navigate the uncertainty of returning to work and what comes with operating an organization and employees during COVID-19 you are going to want to tune in!
Our panelists are here to share with you their stories of how they have operated during this time and how they will continue to operate after COVID-19. They will share insights, tools and resources with you on how you can continue to move forward during these uncertain times.” – Service Hospitality
Line up of special guest speakers includes:
Liz Horvath, B.A. Sc., CRSP
Manager, Workplace Mental Health
Opening Minds, Mental Health Commission of Canada
https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English
Liz joined the Opening Minds Team of the Mental Health Commission of Canada in August 2019, where she leads the development and delivery of the Workplace Mental Health Program. For nearly 25 years, Liz has been guiding organizations throughout Canada to achieve better business outcomes through the implementation of occupational health and safety management systems.
Jim Bence
President & CEO
Saskatchewan Hotel & Hospitality Association
Jim has a strong passion for safety and brings expert advice to the table, specifically when it comes to the hotel and service industry. He has played a critical role in the establishment and growth of the Hotel Best Practice Group as well as the designation of a Youth Safety Education day in the province. He will discuss more on the hotel industry and the impact it has felt during this time.
Kevin Danchuk
Director of Health & Safety
Athabasca Catering Ltd. Partnership
Kevin brings a wealth of experience to setting strategy, driving execution and creating best practices for safety, health, and the environment and quality services. He is truly dedicated to providing a safe workplace for all employees, wherever the location and whatever the job. Kevin will be discussing the challenges of operating during the pandemic as they are considered an essential service and directly support the mining industries up North.
Phyllis O’Connor
Executive Director
Canadian Mental Health Association – SK Division
Phyllis is the Executive Director at the Canadian Mental Health Association; she has been with CMHA for over 20 years. Phyllis is an advocate for mental health and works towards reducing the stigma that is associated with mental illness and mental health. She will be discussing how COVID-19 has impacted our mental health and shedding light on the emotions and uncertainty that comes with it while providing tools and resources to navigate it.
Michael Lavis
Executive Director
Creative Options Regina
Michael is an accomplished, passionate leader who puts safety and the care of his employees first. He has extensive experience when it comes to organizational management, capacity building and training. Michael is passionately committed to strengthening the disability services sector in Saskatchewan and to forge out new beginnings for the province’s most vulnerable citizens. Michael will be discussing how to work and feel safe while providing essential care.
Mark Von Schellwitz
Vice President, Western Canada
Restaurants Canada
https://www.restaurantscanada.org/
Mark is a leading expert in the restaurant industry and brings over 20 years of experience forward. He is passionate about the industry he works in and strives to better it through conversation and collaboration. Mark has worked closely with many organizations to help improve the industry and doesn’t believe it stops there. Mark will be discussing safety around take-out and delivery options with restaurants during this time.
“As we look towards life after the worst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has passed, business recovery will be paramount. Service Hospitality has put together a Return to Work Plan Guide for Service and Hospitality Industry employers to assist them and their employees in returning to work safely. The guide has been developed to give employers a series of best practices and other necessary measures that will help to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus.” – Service Hospitality
Never TMI website promotes accessible and comprehensive sexuality education for people with disabilities
February 13th, 2019, Saskatoon — Saskatoon Sexual Health, Creative Options Regina, and Inclusion Saskatchewan are pleased to announce a new companion website for our modern and innovative sexual wellness initiative Tell It Like It Is! just in time for Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week 2019.
Tell It Like It Is! is a revolutionary program—It is sex-positive, inclusive, and comprehensive; the purpose is to assist diverse learners in making life choices that promote optimal health and wellness in all dimensions of life. Using a compassionate approach, each module offers various learning opportunities through topics such as: communication skills; hygiene; online safety; developing goals and dreams; building healthy relationships; as well as sexual health education on topics such as STBBIs. Evidence indicates that people with intellectual disabilities do not receive adequate health information and education. “It has been our experience that when health education like Tell It Like It Is! is provided participants experience positive outcomes such as identifying healthy relationships, having the capacity to make informed decisions, and have fewer vulnerabilities to abuse.” Michael Lavis, Executive Director of Creative Options Regina.
This project reaches further than the individuals who participate in the programming, as it aims to support caregivers, educators, healthcare professionals, and the disability services sector by sharing information about existing resources and supports related to sexual health and well-being. The demand for this one-of-a-kind program continues to grow, with interest from all over Canada and North America. To increase access to the project, the Instructor’s Manual is available at no cost online at our new website www.nevertmi.ca. The website was created in collaboration with Strategy Lab (Regina), and will continue to grow as a resource hub for sexual health and wellness education for diverse learners.
The goal with this project is to develop a community of individuals and organizations that will respect, value and celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of people with intellectual disabilities and their collective lived experiences. “We are all entitled to loving, fulfilling, and healthy relationships— Tell It Like It Is! promotes an environment where there’s never too much information, and participants are encouraged to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and gain vital life skills” said Heather Hale, Executive Director, Saskatoon Sexual Health.
To learn more about Tell It Like It Is, we invite the community to join us at an upcoming Community Collaboration and Learning Opportunity in Saskatoon on March 15, 2019: Sexual Health Education and People with Developmental Disabilities.
Website: www.nevertmi.ca
Further Information:
United Nations Population Fund: Young Persons with Disabilities: Global Study on Ending Gender-Based Violence, and Realising Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
The pillars of Gentle Teaching (safe, loved, loving, and engaged) have taught me the difference between equal and equitable.
Dr. John McGee’s Gentle Teaching has transformed the person I am by helping me to understand that everyone deserves the help that they require. This is beneficial to me as I start my internship at a local inner-city school through the University of Regina Faculty of Education. As I start this journey, the teachings of McGee will continue to guide and shape my thought process by helping me to understand that there are reasons behind any action, as well as by helping me recognize the difference between equal and equitable. Together these teachings help me to better support those around me.
The realization that there is a reason behind any action will help to guide me in the future. The importance of recognizing things like attention seeking behaviours helps me to understand that some “negative” behaviours may stem from a negative experience or that a person may be lacking positive attention so they are seeking that attention through behaviours. A key for me to deal with this is to remember the four tools of gentle teaching; presence, words, hands, and eyes. By having a welcoming presence, words of encouragement/recognition and to spread conversation throughout the class, using my body language to show that I am calm and accepting, and my eyes to recognize everyone’s presence I will be able to provide positive attention to all students.
Along with the tools, the pillars of Gentle Teaching (safe, loved, loving, and engaged) have taught me the difference between equal and equitable. This will guide me in supporting individuals who I serve with COR as well as in school. This is important because the pillars can be used as categories of self-fulfillment. When considering a person’s level of content with their pillars, there may be pillars where that persons level of content is higher than others. This is similar to using a wellness wheel to measure different areas of health like physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. By using the four pillars of gentle teaching I am able to better understand that everyone feels more content and less content in different areas so everyone needs equitable treatment that focuses on the pillar(s) that they need to improve the most in order to make that individual feel fulfilled in all four pillars. Where as equal treatment would focus on helping everyone progress in the same way without considering individual needs. Considering the four pillars will help me to make sure that people feel fulfilled in those areas and are able to say “in this place I feel safe, I feel loved, I am able to love and I am engaged with the people and things around me”. This helps me to better understand that everyone needs support in their own specific way.
Gentle Teaching has helped to transform me into the person I am today. The teachings help me to better comprehend the idea that every person needs a different form of support. Through critical thinking I am able to understand that there are reasons for any action and that people deserve to have support that suits their needs instead of one uniform approach. Gentle Teaching has helped me to grow as a teacher, support person and most importantly as a person.
Andrew,
COR Family Member
I was inspired by these interactions and how the 4 pillars of gentle teaching were incorporated into everyday interactions almost seamlessly.
Before I started working at Creative Options Regina I had never heard of the term “Gentle Teaching.”
I had never worked with people with disabilities before – and to be quite honest – I was afraid.
I was afraid because my entire life society told me to disregard and disengage; to completely forget about what it means to show compassion, friendship, and above all else, acceptance to those with disabilities. After taking Gentle Teaching Level 2 the first week working in the office I can’t tell you that I was “changed” or “different,” in fact I was quite the same. Gentle Teaching started to shape my inner self through the interactions and observations of those around me: the supports, the office team, and, most importantly, the people we serve.
I was inspired by these interactions and how the 4 pillars of gentle teaching were incorporated into everyday interactions almost seamlessly. How gentle teaching opened this door to interactions I had never thought I would WANT to have. Slowly, I was able to incorporate myself into the lives of the people we serve, learning about them, caring about them. I also didn’t realize this was happening outside of COR with my daily interactions with family and friends. Gentle Teaching doesn’t happen over night and it is something you can never master. But, you learn everyday a little bit more and grow a little bit more. That is what I love about Gentle Teaching and that is how I move forward to engage, to love, to be loved, and provide safety to all those around me.
Tom
COR Family Member
Vulnerabilities of Caregivers – John J. McGee
“Although our vulnerabilities and the external threats to our wellbeing are in many ways nothing compared to those of the persons whom we serve, it is important that we recognize our own before dealing further with the vulnerabilities of those whom we serve.
We are all vulnerable to breakdowns in our personal values. Sometimes these can be due to how we feel and what we are experiencing within ourselves; at other times we can be part of a system that makes it harder for us to respond to our shared values. If a caregiver is afraid of being hurt, he/she then becomes more likely to use restraint to control violent behaviors. Or, if a caregiver is depressed, then it is extremely hard to bring joy to others. If we are being beaten and de-valued at home, it is hard to bring non-violence into someone else’s home.
Many of our vulnerabilities are worsened by lack of adequate training and hands-on supervision. Some caregivers are quite isolated and seldom have the opportunity to discuss their problems and search for new responses to challenging situations. It is critical that caregivers recognize their weaknesses and find ways to overcome them. Community leaders need to listen to caregivers and find ways to offer support and encouragement.
Caregivers need to find their own self-worth from themselves, talking frequently, sharing their anxieties, and pointing out their goodness. Our own worth has to be generated from within ourselves. We need to form strong communities.
The question of burnout seems to be always present. Some caregivers give up and attribute their burnout to poor supervision, working in violent settings, receiving little guidance, or low pay. Since we are not only teaching feelings of companionship, but also a sense of community, it is important for caregivers to look at themselves, question their reality, and search for ways for themselves to feel safer, more engaged, and more valued. The first step in this is to step back and examine those things that make us vulnerable.
Let us take a moment to reflect on these aspects of our lives — recognizing these will help us understand better the needs of those whom we serve.”
~Excerpt from John J. McGee’s “Mending Broken Hearts” — CPLS Newsletter.