More on RESPECT Institutes Schedule a RESPECT Speaker
Creating Communities of Hope begins with RESPECT. Joel Slack, an international consultant and trainer and founder of Respect International, LLC, is working with Missouri’s transformation initiative to help transform the culture of organizations and communities across the state by teaching people about the powerful impact that respect (and disrespect) has on a person recovering from a mental health disability.
Joel’s work in the field of mental health combines 10 years of experience as a senior manager in a state mental health agency with his experience as a person recovered from a psychiatric disability. Following Joel's first year as a collegiate basketball player, he spent seven years battling his toughest opponent - a psychiatric disability that included clinical depression. Following Joel's recovery, he continued with his education and earned a degree in International Economics and Business Psychology from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Today, his dreams of helping others overcome their disabilities are unfolding in many communities around the globe.
Joel is available to provide training to Missourians through the RESPECT Seminars and the RESPECT Institute as well as consultation to organizations who desire to incorporate respect principles, policies and practices into their organizations.
The RESPECT Seminar is designed to train professional caregivers, family members, peers and others in the fundamentals of caring for persons with mental health disabilities. Frequently, people are instructed to respect persons without being offered an operational definition of the word. The RESPECT Seminar emphasizes the dynamic relationship between the caregiver and the consumer and illustrates critical experiences that lead to empowering relationships and healing, or conversely, to disrespect and prolonged pain. Joel presents personal experiences and shows that RESPECT impacts all of us in our daily lives. His message is relevant to anyone interested in gaining a consumer’s perspective regarding mental health and the relationship between caregiver and participant. Free public Seminars (see below) are available to interested communities and organizations willing to sponsor them locally.
In 2008, more than 1000 Missourians attended these public seminars across the state. One participant who attended a seminar in Farmington stated that he was “planning a staff meeting to incorporate more respect in our ISL home. I plan to be more respectful to everyone. This has been very life-changing…It was perfect! Very informative.” Additionally the Eastern Regional Health Behavioral Health Initiative incorporated RESPECT into its “Reducing Stigma and Increasing Cultural Competency Project” that ultimately resulted in the adoption of region-wide RESPECT Principles.
The Respect Institute is a four-day training program designed to teach consumers of mental health services how to share their own personal stories to educate others. In 2009, Missouri will be working in partnership with its state psychiatric regional hospital system to develop an infrastructure to support statewide expansion of the RESPECT Institute and a RESPECT Speakers Bureau in each of its five regions. The Institute and Speakers Bureau will be developed based upon the successful model established by Chaplain Jane Smith at Fulton State Hospital in Central Missouri and will be expanded to include consumer participants from the broader community and across disability groups. Graduates of the program will be provided opportunities for public speaking. The DMH Office of Consumer Safety will work with Joel, Jane Smith and regional designees to coordinate this statewide expansion.
Missouri Transformation also has partnered with NAMI-Missouri to promote statewide expansion of both RESPECT Speakers and NAMI’s signature In Our Own Voice (IOOV) Speakers Program. Transformation grant funds will help to support IOOV trainings and NAMI has agreed to waive membership fees for RESPECT graduates who wish to become IOOV speakers.
For more information on the RESPECT Institute, contact Leigh Gibson at leigh.gibson@dmh.mo.gov.
For information about scheduling a RESPECT Seminar or consultation, contact Vickie Epple at vickie.epple@dmh.mo.gov.
To register for a Community Seminar scheduled in your area, complete the on-line registration form below.
Free RESPECT Seminars
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