CALSCA - Canadian Alliance of Life Skills Coaches and Associations

General Meeting Minutes - May 16-18, 1997

Star of the North Retreat Centre, St. Albert, Alberta

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In Attendance

Alberta:
Paula Drouin,
Francine Wilson

BC:
Lauchie Gillis, Rod Paynter, Devra Poitra, Bea Rhodes, Colleen Zeller, Dave Zeller

Ontario:
Paul Bagordo, Sande Gunning, Rosemary Murray,
Sally Palmateer, Ron Sluser, Faye Walters (Jamaica)

Saskatchewan:
Althea (Tia) Shynkaruk, Marilyn Waldner

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1996 Minutes

Colleen Zeller was recognized for the excellent minutes. There is a brief discussion of CALSCA's history in the 1996 Minutes - Rod and Paul will compile history and put on the net. 1997 minutes taken by Sally Palmateer, Paul Bagordo, Devra Poitra and Marilyn Waldner - typed by Sally Palmateer.

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Treasurer's Report

Treasurer's Report circulated. Balance on hand as of May 9/97 - $331.29. The membership year will now run from annual meeting to annual meeting - i.e. May 1997- May 1998, as it is more practical to renew memberships at the annual meeting.

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Administrative Issues

  1. Feedback from some group members about discomfort with location of meeting in a religious institution. While they appreciate the efforts of the organizers, many participants would like advance notice of location details and affiliation. Ron suggested this issue is symptomatic of a larger issue of systemic oppression. Question arose about who makes the decision about location.
  2. Website for CALSCA costs $136.50 per year. Rod paid $275 for 2 years up to August 1998. Rod reimbursed for $75 expenditure. There have been 334 visits to the CALSCA website from Aug 21-May 16 (9 months)

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State of the Profession

(Editor's note: The minutes of this discussion aren't yet available to me. I'll let you know when they arrive. Rod.)

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Structure of CALSCA

Points for discussion:

Conclusions:

Must be clear who we are and what we are doing. Brainstorm who we are - why does CALSCA exist?

In the end, the group proposed a structure identifying major goal areas, some short and long term tasks and a method for making decisions. The structure the group agreed upon that would serve us at this point was an informal one composed of 6 committees, each with a coordinator and co-coordinator. The model is a wheel with the membership and Administrative Committee at the hub and the other 5 committees represented by circles surrounding and intersecting with the hub.

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Committees

The committees represent the identified goal areas described below. Decisions will be made by consensus (before trying alternative decision making systems) at membership meetings. The committees will research, complete some tasks, report to AGM the following year. Committee coordinator ensures a representative attends AGM and reports from his/her area. AGM give direction to committee for work to be done. May need an executive body if we become large. Discussion of name change from CALSCA to include consumers of our services - may need to revisit in discussing membership.

We focused on six major goals and assigned some short-term tasks for the year to report back to the AGM in 1998 in Saskatchewan.


  1. Administration (hub)
    coordinate the administrative functions of CALSCA in the spirit of the
    CALSCA Mission Statement.
    Tasks:
    accounting
    record keeping (archives)
    ensuring arrangements made for AGM
    facilitating communication between committees (e.g. conference calls 4-6 times/year)
    research not-for-profit status
    How? - continuity of role -e.g. coordinator + assistant
    Sally & Marilyn

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  2. Professional Excellence
    promote professional excellence in Life Skills Coaching by:
    developing a national code of ethics
    establishing a national accreditation process
    Goal:
    establish a mechanism promoting integrity of Life Skills Coaching and Life Skills Coach training
    Tasks:
    suggest guiding principles
    gather and compare existing codes
    present working paper (for 1998 AGM)
    complete in-depth comparison of existing provincial accreditation documents
    (Editor's note: Does anyone remember who's working on this committee? Please let me know. Rod.)

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  3. Information and Communication
    resource centre - data base
    promotion, marketing, brochure
    chat line
    newsgroup
    guest book
    Dave and Rod

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  4. Membership
    defining criteria (eligibility, fees, levels)
    increasing numbers through promotion
    strengthening services and supporting membership
    data base (for members)
    rights and responsibilities
    Goal:
    present CALSCA to potential and existing members as an exciting professional growth experience (marketing).
    propose membership criteria, fees and levels.
    Task:
    draw up a draft of the above.
    Bea and Paul

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  5. Advocacy
    whereas Life Skills is concerned about inequities and systemic oppression, the CALSCA advocacy committee will establish an active lobbying network.
    Tasks:
    prepare an advocacy activist's "how to" kit and establish an "Action Alert" section on the website
    This committee's mandate continues, though no-one is presently working on it.

    While the major goal areas and structure were agreed upon, the goals and tasks for each area were not all discussed thoroughly or agreed upon by the group. Controversy arose with discussion of CALSCA's advocacy role. Rod threw a marker forcefully to the floor. Ron, Rosemary and Sande withdrew from the room and eventually from the remainder of the meeting when it seemed that agreement was not possible. (Editor's note: I've asked Ron to consult with Rosemary and Sande about writing a summation of their position re CALSCA's role in advocacy and activism for publication as an addendum to these minutes. Ron is checking with Rosemary and Sande and will get back to me. Rod.)

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  6. Professional Development
    support ongoing professional development for coaches with a Homecoming Conference next year in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
    Tasks:
    invite CALSCA membership to facilitate workshops at the Homecoming Conference.
    liaise with and support SLSA in hosting the 1998 Homecoming Conference.
    Dori Britski(not present), Marilyn and Tia

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The final morning was spent processing the events of the conference.

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Resources (from resource sharing session)

Some recommended books:

Dealing with People You Can't Stand - Dr. Rick Brinkman & Dr. Rick Kirschner ISBN 0-07-0007839-4

Core Lessons for Life Skills - listed in Resources page in CALSCA website

Helping Adults Learn - Moore & Waldren

The 5th Discipline Fieldbook: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization - Peter Senge
(
Paula Drouin recommends the lessons on listening and assumptions)

Positive Addiction - William Glasser ISBN 0-06-091249-9

Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning - Francis Watanabe Dawer ISBN 0-76070-137-7

The Tao of Leadership - By John Heider

Discovering Life Skills: The New Volume - Warm Ups and Group Building - New manual in 1997. Collaborative effort of George Brown University and YWCA trainers. (416) 487-7151.


Tia Shynkaruk recommends:

The Sacred Tree - Four Worlds International Institute for Human & Community Development - on native culture and spirituality. Good for diversity training. 1224 Lakemount Blvd. S. Lethbridge T1K 3K1 (403)320-7144

Traditional Teachings of the Medicine Wheel - White Bison - audiotape on applications of the medicine wheel - can be obtained through Six Nations or other sources specializing in Native publications. 1-800-347-6440.


Marilyn Waldner recommends the following for work with adolescents:

Restitution: Restructuring School Discipline - New View Publications

My Child is a Pleasure - Diane Chelsom Gossen, Chelsom Consultants Limited, Saskatoon. 1-800-450-4352.
Also
The Person I Want to Be: Restitution Self-Discipline.

Living Juicy-Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul - Sark. ISBN 0-89087-703-3.


Paul Bagordo recommends these videos:

Educating Rita for managing change,

Eye of the Storm and The Color of Fear for dealing with racism,

12 Angry Men for problem-solving and consensus.


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