Believe it or not, the average person has about 700 hundred different skills! Many people struggle to identify even a few. Our unique skill sets are developed and demonstrated in everything we do, whether it is at work, at school, or in our communities. When the Neil Squire Society’s Atlantic Region presented to staff at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation (new window) on October 17, 2012 that was precisely the message they were trying to convey. Even as patients go through the rehabilitation process, they are building important employability skills that they can carry with them into future endeavors. It is essential that these individuals be able to “name and claim” these skills. The staff at the Stan Cassidy Centre, who works so closely with these patients, can play a vital role in helping these individuals recognize their skills. 

Julie Chamberlain and Diana Hall of the Neil Squire Society (new window), in collaboration with Jody Beresford of the Government of New Brunswick’s Workplace Essential Skills Program (new window), presented to the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation on the subject of skills. In total, fourteen professionals from varying backgrounds attended the presentation, including occupational therapists, recreation therapists, psychiatrists, and social workers. The presentation was both interactive and informative, outlining two well-respected frameworks for understanding and talking about skills— The Conference Board of Canada’s (new window) Employ-Ability Skills 2000+ and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s (new window)Workplace Essential Skills. The presentation was framed at the beginning by a great warm-up activity on learning style preferences and ended with a brainstorming exercise that gave presentation attendees the opportunity to come up with real-life examples of how employability skills appear during the rehabilitation process. While the importance of working with a professional career practitioner was reiterated, the focus was on the role that family, friends, and Stan Cassidy Centre staff can play in helping patients recognize that they are building skills in everything they do.

Overall, the presentation was a huge success. It provided a very real sense of the value of the employability skills that could be acquired during the rehabilitation process. As one attendee stated, the presentation resulted in “a mind shift in thinking about how we all have daily opportunities to learn employability skills.” Another said that she will be able to “use the focus on essential skills to help how we frame therapy and work towards goals.”

At the end of the presentation, all parties involved were very optimistic, but also realized they were only scratching the surface on what needs to be done to improve the lives of persons with disabilities. After a very successful day, the Neil Squire Society and the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation are excited about their continued collaboration in other initiatives for persons with disabilities.