Therapeutic Recreation Leadership Summit Sessions

My goal is to inspire people to embrace their true genius at work no matter their role. Doing this will organically enhance their commitment, buy in, and dedication to their role serving their community. Being vulnerable is difficult especially at work. I will walk my audience through how vulnerability has opened up incredible possibilities for connection and for content/coverage here in Arlington Heights School District 25. Whether it be on social media, in an email, or face to face, I've come to realize that I have incredible power in my job to model and spread vulnerability, and this has created deep connection to our community. We are often trying to find ways to connect tens of thousands of people we don't know with a bunch of people we don't know ( our staff, students, administration and community). Let's start here. Let's start with vulnerability.

Therapeutic Recreation professionals are extremely compassionate about the work they do and the services they provide to their participants. Along the shared journey, professionals experience many of the same hurdles and successes as their participants. That rollercoaster ride can sometimes include experiencing professional burnout or empathy fatigue. Through acceptance and self-awareness, we can identify the signs of burnout and use self-compassion to balance our overall wellbeing. Discover practical mindfulness tools to use anytime our mental, emotional, and physical health is impacted by empathy fatigue.

Miscommunication, assumptions, and lack of effective feedback can wreak havoc on rapport, collaboration, and productivity in an organization. Tackling communication roadblocks can lead to stronger rapport, cohesive teams, and success in your organization. Using humor, laughter, and improv tools to help break tension and add levity to a situation, we can break down walls of tension and miscommunication. And, as a result, we can begin to build or re-build trust and connection. Julie Ostrow's interactive programs are tailored to the needs of your organization. 'I believe that we are all trying our hardest and that most of us want to work effectively as a team.' To do that, people need to be able to express themselves in a non-threatening setting. Humor, laughter, and improv allow us to do that. By sharing challenges and practicing supporting each other in a playful yet effective way, the group can then restructure into a more collaborative organization and move forward in a positive way. Learn how to use improvisation skills to connect, communicate, collaborate, and truly listen-a key leadership skill for navigating relationships. If you're not an actor, comedian, or if you've never taken an improv class, all the better! lmprov skills allow us to be in the present moment to practice reflective listening, while encouraging others to do the same. When we're listening to each other, we are tuned into each other's needs and qualifications. Listening as a skill means not having our own agendas to drive conversations that will lead to deeper connections. Join the fun and learn the skills and tools that can be applied to your professional, business, and personal relationships.

Child behaviors are at an all-time high! Learn about how CHAMPS can help you be proactive to set up expectations for the groups you are working with. Champ is an acronym that reflects the types of expectations used by the teacher to clarify the activity and transitions occurring in class. The acronym stands for Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, and Participation. Randy Sprick, the co-author of CHAMPs, designed this program to help classroom teachers develop a pro active and positive classroom environment so that learning time can be maximized.

This fast paced, experiential session will focus on immersive activities for the attendees to identify the unique characteristics of veteran culture for programming purposes within therapeutic recreation.

Do you still want to learn more about embracing your vulnerability at work? Join Adam for a continuation of his keynote session that will include discussion and time to navigate workplace situations with your peers and colleagues. Connecting with your colleagues, staff, participants and families take vulnerability and honesty and Adam is excited to share more about how this has worked and allow attendees to put their own vulnerabilities into action.

It all starts with the program blurb. Work with an adult and youth programming expert to brainstorm program titles, places to visit, and out of the box program ideas. After you have the blurb, learn about the importance of a plan (and a backup plan), how to adjust when problems arise, and ensure that the program meets the goals you set out.

Quality trainings create quality staff. Park Districts and Special Recreation Associations rely on hundreds of part-time staff to provide safe, inclusive, and fun programming for the community. Supervising, training, and mentoring are all job responsibilities that are rarely taught to us. We must figure it out as we go along. Or do we? This session will explore how to organize, overhaul, and revamp staff training for your part-time recreational staff and day camp counselors. We will address training content and delivery methods and provide you with tools and resources to use at your next staff training.

Chaos and stress can play large roles in our professional and personal lives. This seminar will help you learn to handle and manage chaos and stress in order to minimize the toll they take on your wellbeing. You will gain practical tools and strategies to ground yourself, prioritize self-care, prevent burnout, and build resilience. We will also explore how to support others. Don't miss this opportunity to transform chaos into calm and take control of your stress.