Keynotes
Surfing the Burnout Tsunami:
Finding Balance for Working Parents (in a post COVID world)
“The Working Parent Problem,” is a term we’re all too familiar with. Burnout and turnover among employees with family responsibilities is reaching record levels in North America- but it’s more than just work and parenting demands causing these issues.
Disability, aging and mental health challenges touch almost every working parent either personally or through their children or parents. While we can’t stop this wave of demands, we can make better use of our resources and adopt a healthier mindset.
Participants will learn:
- How to effectively prioritize self-care and avoid the trap of perfectionism.
- Techniques to mentally re-frame stressful situations and create self-narratives that are both realistic and empowering.
- Strategies to build a network of supporting relationships, including effective boundaries.
- Ways to use humor to build resilience as well as model effective behavior for children.
Once Upon a Team:
Building Employee Resilience & Connection with Storytelling
The past few years have been stressful for both organizations and employees. Between the constant threat of COVID, world conflict and the challenge of remote work, many people are feeling exhausted, anxious and disconnected from humanity. One of the best ways to combat this is by using one of the oldest forms of self-empowerment – the story.
Using the newest strategies from the exciting science of narrative-based therapy, her experience as a senior manager, along with her own personal stories of courage following a car accident that left her paraplegic, Psychologist Marjorie Aunos shows her audience how they can regain confidence, build better professional relationships, and adopt a growth-centered mindset, as well as create teams that will thrive in any circumstances.
Attendees will learn:
- How to identify and connect with their own key character strengths to gain renewed confidence in their abilities
- Ways to use stories to create authentic connections and built positive relationships at home and in the workplace.
- Strategies for using stories to build more effective and inclusive teams.
Recalibrating and Fine Tuning:
Favoring a resilient / growth mindset following a life-altering event
Audience: OT, Physio, Rehab Medecine, Clinical Professionals, Rehab Facilities
We are very good at making people work out their physical bodies – giving them tools and ways to hop on a bed, cook their favorite dish, yet we miss the boat when it comes to empowering them, making them confidence in their skills to do it all on their own once they return home. Teaching our clients the “meta-abilities” or the HOW TO figure it out is more important than any other specific skill we might teach them. This keynote is a starting point of a reflection around what our role, as professional, truly is in favoring a resilient and growth mindset in our clients.
Participants will learn:
- How a sense of Purpose can be used to increase motivation
- How to encourage post-traumatic growth
- How hope is an essential part of the rehabilitation process
- How to reframe rehabilitation into an empowering set of tools
Empower the Underdogs:
Ensuring truly accessible measures are implemented in Academia
Audience: HR, DEI from Universities – Accessibility for Scholars / Academics and Students
University settings are NOT geared towards Universal Accessible Design – and I do NOT mean accessibility in terms of buildings (although I could STILL say A LOT about this). Our expectations of students no longer matches their learning needs and are not geared to assessing their true capabilities. Our expectations of scholars also do not allow for representation according to disability status (and potentially other diverse groups). This keynote is a starting point to an authentic conversation around accessibility, inclusion and adaptations in Academia.
Participants will learn:
- How value should NOT be measured in terms of hours of work or numbers of pages or specific tasks
- How creativity is an under-utilized tool and how we can use it in Academia
- How a framework geared at successful teaming will allow us to be more performant