Date: Friday, July 28, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

This training is open to St.Amant staff and Volunteers (exceptions apply). If you are a staff member, please speak to your supervisor to register. If you are not a St.Amant staff member, and would like more information about this training opportunity, please email training@stamant.ca

We are excited to bring in David Pitonyak for this virtual presentation: Beyond “Behaviours”: Supporting Competence, Confidence, and Well-Being

Training Overview

Difficult behaviours result from unmet needs. This workshop examines seven quality-of-life indicators often missing in the life of a person who experiences our services. Based on the idea from Jean Clarke that a person’s needs are best met by people whose needs are met, this day-long workshop examines strategies for supporting not only an individual who experiences disabilities but also the needs of his or her caregivers.

Learning Objectives

– Determining what people may be communicating through their difficult behaviours
– The role of physiological or psychiatric needs in the development of difficult behaviours
– The importance of asking critical quality-of-life questions in building a support plan
– The critical importance of addressing caregiver needs in the development of a support plan
– Ways to support an individual in crisis

About the Trainer

David Pitonyak is interested in positive approaches to difficult behaviours. He believes that difficult behaviours are “messages” which can tell us important things about a person and his or her surroundings. Understanding the “meaning” of an individual’s difficult behaviours is the first step in supporting the person (and the person’s supporters) to change.

David also believes (to paraphrase Jean Clark), that a “person’s needs are best met by people whose needs are met.” Supporting a person with difficult behaviours begins with an honest assessment of the needs of the person’s supporters. Creating more responsive human services is possible only when we take responsibility for problems of the workplace culture. A healthy organization is an organization that invites all of its members to take an active role in decision-making, provides support to each member as defined by the member, and evaluates its success by the degree to which it lives up to its promises.

David has consulted with families and professionals throughout the United States, Canada, England, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Netherlands. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife Cyndi . They have two sons, Joe and Sam.

If you require a specific accommodation because of a disability or a medical need, please email training@stamant.ca with the details, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Please contact us 7-10 days prior to your training event.

Si vous exigez des mesures d’adaptation dues à une incapacité ou une condition médicale, veuillez nous en informez en nous envoyant un courriel à l’adresse suivante: training@stamant.ca. Nous ferons de notre mieux afin de vous accommoder. Merci denous contacter au moins 7 à 10 jours avant votre session de formation.