The Power of Roles

This workshop gives participants a practical introduction to the principles of Social Role Valorization. Through a combination of multimedia presentation and small group discussion, participants will learn about the phenomenon of social devaluation. This event includes discussion of how people with disabilities and other devalued groups have been systematically hurt and harmed by society, and what the impact of that devaluation has been. Participants will also learn about ways to help people have better lives by supporting them to achieve positive valued social roles. We will discuss practical strategies to make this a reality for the people you support.

*Additional dates have been scheduled in many agency regional locations. Please check with your Education Manager for dates in your area.

Introduction to Social Role Valorization

This is an intensive workshop that presents the idea of assisting people with disabilities and other devalued conditions to have positive social roles as a productive and helpful response to wounding life experiences. People wishing to understand the life experiences of people they support and the implications of those life experiences, and who are committed to the work of making life better for them, are encouraged to attend. This foundational material is essential to those wishing to serve others in meaningful ways, and who are impassioned to make a difference in the lives of others. Many participants experience the learning within this event as the most helpful, inspiring, and clarifying body of knowledge they have been exposed to in their professional development, and it assists in long-term understanding and a focus on being of service to others in ways that matter. The workshop includes multi-media presentations, small and large group reflection and discussion, and resource materials.

The Challenge of Being a Good Server When That is Not Made Easy: Presented by Susan Thomas

Join the Keystone Institute for this exciting opportunity to learn from Susan Thomas, co-author of PASSING and teacher, leader and mentor to countless students and implementers of SRV for decades.  

Direct Service is where the "rubber meets the road": it is where the needs of people enrolled in human services of various types get addressed. But the realities of direct service work can get lost in all the other things that surround and impinge on direct service, such as laws, rules, regulations, family concerns and demands, and so on. This workshop is an opportunity for direct human service workers and those who supervise them to reflect on the challenge of trying to be a good server to people in need when, for all sorts of reasons, that is not easy to do.

Community & Culture: A Two Day Reflective Retreat, Part of the Best Part of Me Series

This retreat series includes four experiential workshops; each workshop focuses on exploring our work in human services, what our contributions are, and what we get from the opportunity to serve others. All jobs that support people are important, be they in direct service or of an administrative nature providing essential support to the people doing hands-on work. Additionally, each of us is at a different place in our commitment to the work that we do. This workshop series can help to define and reaffirm that commitment. 

Community and Culture provides a forum for addressing assumptions and attitudes around the work we do. What is our role in society’s evolving understanding of differences between people, their abilities and contributions? What effect can we have on future generations? Held in a beautiful wooded retreat setting, participants are encouraged, though not required, to spend the night.

Pathways to the Good Life

Valued roles are the pathway to the good things in life; things like acceptance and belonging, abiding relationships, a positive self-image, opportunity and experience, growth and learning. For many devalued people, the forces of social devaluation prevent them from having access to valued roles as well as the "good life."

This workshop explores the importance of helping people fill valued roles in the face of vulnerability. Several tools (relationship mapping, personal profile development, culturally valued analogue, and a vision of valued roles) are offered to participants via short presentations, followed by facilitated small group work to use the ideas and craft a plan to move forward in the life of one person. Each prepares for the work ahead of time by learning about one person they serve or know, with permission, and brings that knowledge to fully participate in an action planning process. Come prepared to think and plan on behalf of someone you support– or better yet, come as a team ready to create change together!

Cross Cultural Journeys: Possibilities and Perils in Exporting SRV

Social Role Valorization was developed and discovered in western countries, as a part of the zeitgeist that was "de-institutionalization" and its aftermath. In fact, it was said that Normalization, the predecessor theory to SRV, "broke the backs of the institutions."

Even in western countries where a community of practice in SRV was not explicitly developed, the ideas infused though other thought bodies, such as inclusive education, supported employment, person-centered thinking, asset-based community development, and many other big ideas.

Join KHSI staff from the US, India, and the Republic of Moldova to discuss the introduction of these ideas in Eastern Europe and the global South, and the outcomes. Learn about the ways that "culture savvy" SRV is certainly an elegant theory, and one that contain many universalities. Engage with us about the pitfalls and perils of westerners introducing these ideas, and the challenges of leadership development. Our work at KHSI in these two countries has led to emerging SRV communities in Romania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh and more. What are the implications of this? Join Genevieve Fitzgibbon (KHSI), Betsy Neuville (Keystone Institute India), Geeta Mondol (Keystone Institute India), and Oksana Costandaki (Keystone Moldova) to learn about our international change agentry work and discuss what it all means.