Walk Beside Me

Cultivating the Possibility of Friendship

Stories from the "Circles Initiative" in Southern Australia

March 3, 2009
9:30 am – 4:30 pm

The Canadian Memorial Church and Center for Peace
1825 W 16th Avenue Vancouver

Cost: $85 per person. Partial subsidies may be available for family members.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Pre-registration is encouraged -- limited seating.

TO REGISTER

Contact: Judy Wong
Spectrum Society for Community Living

(604) 323-1433. Local 101

judy@spectrumsociety.org

Click here for an evening seminar with Jayne Barrett on the ‘Circles Initiative’

For more information, contact
Cheryl Hughes at (604) 542-4817

“Don’t wa l k in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me, and be my friend”.
- Albert Camus.

This day-long workshop will offer an opportunity to learn from the work of Jayne Barrett, parent leader and community practitioner. Jayne is committed to the creation of highly personalized supports for people with disabilities that support valued, inclusive lifestyles. Since 2005, she has led the “Circles Initiative”, an effort of Community Living Inc, which establishes and nurtures the intentional creation of 'circles of friends'.

For more than 20 years, Community Living Inc., a parent-led initiative in Southern Australia, has provided services that enable people with intellectual and/or multiple disabilities to achieve purposeful, valued, and inclusive lives.

This inspiring workshop will offer a detailed overview of the steps needed to develop and sustain 'circles of friends'—as means of cultivating the possibility of friendships in the lives of vulnerable people.

Family members, advocates, agency staff, executive directors, and everyone interested in creating greater opportunity for meaningful inclusion, will find this event of interest.

Our Mission:

• To restore, inspire and renew people dedicated to supporting others.
• To be a catalyst for leadership development, lifelong learning, innovation, and growth within community services.
• To nurture understanding, compassion and love in our sphere of influence.
• To empower people to work with greater imagination, flexibility and awareness in creating services that are respectful, personalized and highly empowering to the people who receive them.
• To engage with leaders who engage our commitment to personal and social transformation.

Some of Our Beliefs and Values:

• Everyone matters.
• We each belong and are equal.
• All people deserve support to live a life of value, inclusion and quality in the community.
• Every person has unique gifts and a contribution to make. We have a responsibility to support each other to discover and fulfill individual potential.
• We choose to “dwell in possibility”, living from a perspective of abundance,  by focusing on our resourcefulness and capability to discover solutions to the challenges we face.
• When people are aligned with their values, passion, and purpose; together, they can accomplish the extraordinary.
• “We are each angels but with one wing, and only by embracing each other, can we fly”. 
  - Luciano De Crescenzo.
• It takes all of us: family members, practitioners, people who rely on services, and ordinary citizens, to create a better future. Together, we have the resources we need to think, expect, believe, dream, and create the future we imagine.
• Creating a better future demands that we nurture the excellence within ourselves and each other.
• We must strive to ‘be the change we wish to see in the world’.
• Our communities are rich in hidden capabilities for caring, creativity , contribution and untapped potential.
• Beauty, enjoyment, renewal  and celebration are essential to our lives and work.