Join us for Community Connecting!

Six 3-hour sessions to explore HCBS Requirement #1: Access to Community and learn ways to think creatively about people being engaged in their community and how to make it happen.

Topics to be covered:

January 27: Community and Belonging
February 3: Celebrating Who a Person Is
February 10: Discovering a Person’s Gifts and Capacities
February 24: Making a Contribution Within Your Community
March 3: Finding the Best Fit
March 10: Sustaining Best Practices 

What is Community Connecting? Community Connecting is centered on fostering a sense of belonging and encouraging people to engage meaningfully within their community. Participating in Community Connecting training provides a platform to discover the types of connections people desire within their community and creatively identify how to make it happen. These sessions prompt thinking about what else people might do to build resilient networks of support that are not reliant on a service-customer relationship, supporting HCBS Requirement #1: Access to Community.

What will we do together? In these interactive sessions, you will be provided with practical tools to use when seeking community connections with people you support, practice using the tools with your peers, and develop an action plan to take back to your own communities. During this program participants will:

• Learn how to explore the persons gifts, interests and passions in the community context
• Explore ways to identify what is available in communities
• Learn how to match the person to the available options
• Practice evaluation tools and explore ways to increase the chances of successful and sustainable connections

How Community Connecting will help people thrive:

• Supports people to build resilient networks of support that are outside the traditional framework of services
• Enables people to build real, human connections that matter to them
• Reduces loneliness and boredom
• Increases a person’s sense of agency, personhood and self
• Gives people an opportunity to contribute, increasing feelings of self-esteem and wellbeing
• We are better able to thrive when we’re connected to others and able to contribute to our communities

Who is this training for? Community Connecting training is recommended for service providers, people with intellectual/developmental disabilities, family members, regional center staff, and any interested community members.

How it works: This Community Connecting series will meet via Zoom for all six modules. Participants must attend all sessions to receive a certificate of completion.

To participate in this remote Modules of this course you will want to make sure you have access to the following:

• Computer with reliable internet
• Webcam so you can see and be seen by others
• Computer speaker and microphone (headset or earbuds are recommended)
• Ability to access Zoom.us (videoconferencing app)

Community Connecting has been developed and compiled by Helen Sanderson Associates and has drawn on information from John O’Brien, Beth Mount, The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices, Patsy Davies, Claudia Bolton, and Martin Seligman.

If you have questions contact Holly@helensandersonassociates.com