Relationship-Based Practice

Imagine Insitute for Learning (IIFL) offers relationship-based practice workshops for early childhood educators. AECEA professional and student members receive 15% off public sessions and associate members receive 15% off on-site sessions. 

Creating Healthy Professional Boundaries: When Personal Work is Done Professionally (1/2 day or full day)
Many challenges within relationship-based practice come from the lack of healthy boundaries or the rigid application of boundaries. This session explores the characteristics of porous, rigid, and healthy boundaries within a variety of contexts.  Participants have the opportunity to reflect on their own strengths and challenges related to setting healthy boundaries. In addition, we take a closer look at tools to have challenging conversations and some strategies to set healthy boundaries. The session helps answer the question, “Why, when we fail to set boundaries, do we feel used and mistreated?” 

Engaging in Challenging Conversation (3 Hours)
This three-hour session supports participants in exploring what can cause conversations to become difficult as well as ways to maximize conversation effectiveness. Whether they involve a colleague, client, friend or family member, challenging conversations are an inevitable part of life. Fortunately, there are ways to engage in more effective conversations with anyone. This is a practice-based session, so come prepared to practice strategies for not only engaging in challenging conversations but increasing conversation confidence.

Introduction to Group Facilitation (1 Day)
This one-day session is for anyone who leads groups in learning, formally or informally. The foundational skills of facilitation will be covered including creating a safe group environment, monitoring and debriefing activities, delivering content, and effectively engaging in challenging group situations. Both in-person and virtual facilitation will be discussed. The final portion of the day will be spent putting these skills to use, so come prepared to practice!

Group Facilitation: Using Brain Science and Storytelling (1 Day)
This session is for the facilitator that is looking for tools to engage with participants with the use of brain science and storytelling.  The uniqueness of this session lies in the focus of implementing a trauma informed approach when facilitating, through the lens of being kind, empathetic and generous in presenting information. This heavily interactive session gives participants the opportunity the opportunity to explore their own special tools and skills sets. This session is recommended for facilitators that are experienced with group facilitation.

Intergenerational Wisdom (2 days)
Intergenerational wisdom can be described as the sharing and transmission of knowledge, beliefs, and experiences from one generation to the next. Part of this includes intergenerational trauma where trauma and pain are transmitted through generations. However, there is more to intergenerational wisdom than passing on the hurt; it also includes the transmission of hope, strength, and resilience, which helps break the cycle of trauma. This Intergenerational Wisdom training is an extension of our Trauma-Informed Care training and will take on an Indigenous perspective. This training was built with the belief that there is resilience in education. Through the sharing of knowledge, it is possible to learn, grow, and find the capacity to create stronger relationships and a healthier future for everyone residing on the lands we share. Join us on this two-day training to reframe the way we think about intergenerational trauma and develop a deeper understanding of the trauma and resilience continually experienced in Indigenous communities in Alberta. This training will include a combination of science and narratives from Indigenous peoples, allowing for an informative and humanizing experience.

Relationship-Based Practice: Foundational for Human Service Providers Level 1 (3 Days)
This 3-day foundational training is geared to professionals who work in supporting other human beings as part of their job: social workers, home visitors, family support workers, early childhood practitioners, educators and health professionals.  It focuses on key competencies required to build strong and trusting relationships with complex individuals.  The three days are scaffolded to build on the learning of the previous days.

Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Challenge ™ (2 Days)
Immensely practical and hands-on, The Leadership Challenge® Workshop is designed to inspire, engage, and help emergent leaders develop the skills needed to meet whatever leadership challenges lay ahead. The core curriculum is structured around seven components, including five independent modules that focus specifically on each of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®. Each module describes the practice, reviews the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) items related to that practice, and ends with techniques that asks participants to reflect on how to apply what they have learned to a current leadership challenge of their own. With a plan of action in-hand for taking the key learnings from the workshop back to the workplace, leaders will be prepared to implement these new leadership practices back on the job, beginning Day 1. 

Understanding Loss and Grief in a Pandemic (3 Hours)
This three-hour training will focus on identifying the various forms of loss that have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as their accompanying grief responses. Through discussion and stories, participants will walk away with strategies for supporting themselves and others during this pandemic and beyond. Loss and grief exist across the human experience and this session will contextualize that within participants unique pandemic experiences.

Understanding Loss and Grief during the Holidays (3 Hours)
This three-hour training will focus on identifying the various forms of loss that occurred during the holiday period as well as their accompanying grief responses. Through discussion and stories, participants will walk away with strategies for supporting themselves and others during this pandemic and beyond. Loss and grief exist across the human experience and this session will contextualize that within participants unique pandemic experiences. 

Communication Strategies using Neurolinguistics Meta-Programs (3 Hours)
This NLP training is completed in half-a-day. Are you always running late for meetings?  Do you struggle with seeing the big picture?  Are you risk averse or do you tend to jump into the deep end with both feet?  This half-day training explores the concept of how our brain attunes to information, the patterns of attention and how those shape the decisions we make, how we relate to others and how we understand the world.  Using the science of neurology and language, participants will gain an inside look into their strengths, how flexible they are, and areas where they might get tripped up. We will focus on 8 meta-programs (ways in which we view the world) and how they apply to our relationships, as well as our communication and interaction patterns. 

Reflective Supervision (1 Day)
Reflective supervision and reflective practice are terms used for the supportive approach now considered best practice for programs in relationship-based practice where stress, high turnover, and service quality are significant issues. This one-day immersive, experiential workshop is designed for both supervisors and supervisees working in relationship with others as support workers, family home visitors, early childhood professionals, and social workers. Utilizing video, role play, and small group exercises, participants will develop a comprehensive framework for understanding reflective supervision. Participants will also be able to define parallel processes and its relationship to reflective practice, and work on developing reflective practice skills.

For more information, and to register for an available workshop, click here.

Release time funding may be available. Please contact IIFL for more information.