Connected Educators Webinar: Enhancing Brief Helping Conversations in Schools: Strength-Based, Solution-Focused Strategies

“Every contact, no matter how brief, is an opportunity for change – that change can occur quickly and with limited practitioner time.” 

There is an increased demand on school-based personnel to offer appropriate advising, counselling, and coaching services in very brief formats.  This webinar will showcase strength-based, solution-focused approaches to enhance the usefulness of the helping conversations that you have not only with students but also with colleagues, parents, and community partners.  You will explore techniques that will help you become more effective in identifying and using people’s existing strengths and resources to help them find solutions to a wide range of challenges.  

The Solution-Focused approach represents a paradigm shift from a traditional problem-focused and symptom-based paradigm to a strengths-based, solution-focused paradigm.  The solution-focused approach is future-oriented and activates strengths, resources, hopes, and positive goals to enhance learning, change, performance, and wellbeing.  

Join us as we explore:

1. Finding and activating strengths and resources in students, colleagues, families, and self

2. Using the Tri-Phase approach to enhance the very brief helping conversations that occur daily

3. Ways to increase positive listening skills, mindset, and coping strategies

Guest Experts: Dr. Ron Warner, EdD, CPsych, CSFT, B.Ed and Joanna Boutilier, M.A. 

Dr. Ronald Warner is an internationally renowned educator, psychologist, a Professor Emeritus at Ryerson University with 30 years’ experience, and the Founder and Director of the Solution-Focused Counselling & Brief Therapy Program at the University of Toronto, which is currently in its 17^th year.  Dr. Warner is the author of a book on the Solution-Focused approach called Solution-Focused Interviewing: Applying Positive Psychology, which was published in 2013 by the University of Toronto Press. Dr. Warner is the Chief Examiner for the Canadian Council of Professional Certification for Solution-Focused Practitioners and provides supervision for counsellors, social workers, therapists, and other practitioners seeking certification in the Solution Focused approach. 

Joanna is an educator, facilitator, consultant, and coach with over twenty years’ experience and a passion for promoting customized strength-based educational solutions for children, youth, girls, women, helping professionals, communities, and organizations.  As an educator who teaches communication skills, writing, and life skills, and a graduate of the Solution-Focused Counselling Program at the University of Toronto, Joanna is also the recipient of awards for excellence in both teaching adults and mentoring youth. Joanna has designed and facilitated customized workshops, training, curriculum, mentoring, and coaching solutions for schools, colleges, universities and community organizations.  


Notes
Registered learners will receive the webinar link and login instructions one day before the scheduled webinar. You can attend the webinar online from your computer, smartphone or tablet. The webinar will be recorded and shared with registered learners after the webinar.