Team Leader - Summary - 20 October to 20 November 2010

ROTARY DISTRICT 9750 – GSE TEAM – BRIEF REPORT TO DISTRICT MEETING – 26 NOVEMBER 2010

The following is a summary of our visit from 20 October to 20 November 2010

The Team


Where we went and where were hosted:
Rotary Club of Belleville
District Conference Niagara Falls
Rotary Club of Willowdale
Rotary Club of Cobourg
Rotary Club of Richmond Hill
Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise
Farewells - Toronto - PDG Mike Cooksey, 68th Floor Bank of Montreal
Rotary Club of Whitby - hosted by District 7070 Team Leader Val Wafer and her husband Mark

1          Things I learned/enjoyed/experienced...

§     A very diverse, rich vocational program with each of the five (5) host Rotary Clubs, their particular location and the program  developed, complemented what had gone before.  Each Club organiser had very carefully considered the interests and focus of each of our team, his/her specialisation, the type of work/service that he/she was providing in Australia and what he/she might gain from the experience, including Police and Schools and School Boards.

§     Visited the broadest range of Mental Health facilities, projects, met the most amazing passionate and committed people working in these organisations; the sense of community and working together, sharing their resources; the willingness to continue to make a difference, etc, this was so very special.

§     District 7070 VTT team, opportunities to meet, and hopefully to continue to work together.

§     Have identified at least 1 project for School Students and families which will complement our current Mental Health First Aid course

§     Fund-raising – all clubs raise at least $100K plus

§     Rotarians who are very generous, innovative, full on and so keen to continue to make a difference in their Service Above Self journey.

§     Almost every Rotarian has at least 1 PHF

§     District rich in RI engagement – PRIP Wilf Wilkinson and PRVP and current RI Chair Rotary Plus – Bob Scott;

§     Clubs Celebrating PRIP Wilf’s achievements through an annual fund-raiser District Walk, another short walk at the Whitby Library and other monuments.

§     Clubs meetings are very busy, keep to time, everybody engaged; lots of noise, laughter; a very diverse range of vocations represented in the membership

§     Only 1 club visited, the President wore a collar - Whitby Sunrise

§     Happy Bucks is more the norm than a fine session

§     Fine sessions happen but kept to a minimum

§     More Breakfast and lunch Clubs than Dinner Clubs

§     Rode in a Stretch Limousine x 2;

§     Fund raiser at a Theatre Restaurant owned by a Rotarian who has donated $250K through his business to Rotary and the Community in the last 12 months

§     Stayed in the most amazing host homes and the hospitality was second to none

§     Snow - saw it, drove and walked through as it was Snowing and after it had stopped.

.

2          Clubs visited, number of members, age of club, and presentations made:

2.1       Personal and Professional - 6

Belleville – 135/90yrs

Willowdale – 50/58yrs

Cobourg – 155/89yrs

Richmond Hill – 50/56yrs – 27 cultures

Whitby – 40/75yrs

Whitby Sunrise – 68/22yrs

2.2       District Conference – approx 300 attended – Heath Trenmill - 1

2.3       Health Professionals – 2

Each presentation was tight and in most cases no time for questions

Total 9

3          Presentations – team developed 3:

§   Heath Temnall – case study of a young man’s journey from School to ongoing maintenance of his mental illness

§   Professional – for presentation to other health professionals

§   Personal and Professional – details about family, qualifications, role and sponsoring Club

4          Cultural and Vocational Programs, Hospitality, receptions, dinners, etc

Belleville      

6 plus Mayoral visit and elections; Halloween Pumpkin Carving

District Conference

Conference, Maid of the Mist, Tour of City, meeting Rotarians of the District; Hospitality Suites on the night before the Conference



At the District Conference - photographs Courtesy of District Conference Photographer

 

Willowdale   

5 plus football game; visit to CN Tower; Museum, subway; Painting Aged Care Facility; Halloween Dinner

Cobourg      

6 visits; 1 Mayoral reception; +3 receptions; Cottage by the lake, snow and Ice Hockey Game - $199 per ticket

Richmond Hill        

10; +multi-cultural activities;

 City Tour;

Pot Luck Farewell Dinner;

Remembrance Day Ceremony

Whitby Sunrise      

9 – 2 evenings -  welcome and home host;

Class Act Theatre – fund-raiser for DG’s Club

2 Farewells – lunch and dinner – both very memorable

Lunch – 68^th floor of the 2^nd highest building in Toronto – hosted by PDG Mike Cooksey, Vice President and Regional Director in the Bank

Dinner at the home of VTT Team Leader – Valarie Wafer

Total 34 visits

Dinners – so very carefully organised and too many to count

Farewells from clubs and District – again, each so very special and memorable - 8

Our last day...

View from the 68th Floor of the Bank of Montreal

DG Ted; VTT Chair Hilary and the 2 teams - Outbound and Inbound

 

5          Blog confirms details for each location http://rotarygse9750.blogspot.com/

6          Banners – presented to DG David

§     Belleville

§     Willowdale

§     Cobourg

§     Richmond Hill

§     Whitby

§     Whitby Sunrise – donation to Rotary Foundation – no banner due to loss in flooding of building.

7          Gifts to hosts

§     District and Club Banners

§     Australian Government Packs including CD, DVD, music, constitution, and flags

§     Australian Kangaroo Opal Pins for DG, DGE, DGN, AG’s, P’s

§     Sydney souvenir book – ditto and some site visits

§     Rotary Kangaroo Pins

§     Koalas

§     500 Tourism Sydney brochures – marketing the 2014 Convention

§     Eden Gardens – placemats and coasters, featuring Australian Wildflowers

§     Australian wine – purchased locally in Canada

§     Pamphlets and business cards – 500

§     Team members had their own gifts for host families and various individual visits

8          Gifts for DG David and District Chair Suzanne

§     Australian Flag – autographed

§     Journal

§     Banners from Clubs

§     Pins/badges from Richmond Hill, Cobourg and Belleville

Other gifts we received:

§     Badges

§     Mugs

§     Details and pamphlets about each of the projects we visited

§     DVD’s on projects – AIDS, Youth Enterprise – Sweat Equity Trip

           

I thank our District Selection Team, each Club for their support, and the five (5) members of the team for making possible for me, this once in a lifetime, life-changing experience possible.

As a Rotarian, this is so very special and an opportunity I will always cherish.  A themed program is so rich in opportunity and one I strongly commend for consideration in the future.

Thank you our Rotary Foundation and District 9750.

Dorothy (Dot) L Hennessy

GSE Team Leader

26 November 2010

Friday 26 November - District Combined Presidents' Meetng

The Rotary Club of Belleville

The Rotary Club of Belleville

Group Study Exchange Visit

October 20 – 27, 2010

The Aussies descended upon the Rotary Club of Belleville on Wednesday October 20, 2010 for a week long visit to the Quinte area. The team, comprised of mental health professionals from Rotary District 9750 in Sydney, Australia, included

(clockwise) Dot Hennessy (Rotarian team leader), Matthew Ireland (police officer), Melisa Quig (school counselor), Alyssa Milton (mental health clinic manager), Stuart Balzan (rehabilitation counselor) and Matthew James (mental health nurse)

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) is a vocational exchange involving professionals from another Rotary District who participate in a reciprocal exchange to immerse themselves in their vocations in another country. The intent is to trade best practices with your vocational hosts and to network with other professionals. There is also a cultural component to the exchange aimed at enhancing world understanding and goodwill.

Family hosts were President Sam Brady, Len Kennedy, PP John Cairns, Tracy Bray and PP Karen Baker.

Rotarian Lilly Duffy hosted the team on Thursday October 21^st. They spent the day touring Prince Edward County, having lunch at the Waring House, touring Waupoos Winery and Black River Cheese and Lake on the Mountain.

On Friday the team was greeted by Rotarians Maureen Piercy and Dianne Spencer from Loyalist College. The team spent the morning touring the College and spending time with the College staff and faculty who provide academic and health and wellness support to the students. They also visited with faculty in the police foundations and service worker programs. After a false fire alarm and lunch at the Shark Tank the team took to the 401 for the drive to the District 7070 Conference in Niagara Falls.

Saturday morning and early afternoon had the team attending a variety of Rotary sessions at the Fallsview Resort in Niagara Falls. In the mid-afternoon they ventured outside into the rain for a trip to the Maid of the Mist. Despite very wet, cool and windy conditions, the team was quite taken by the Canadian Falls.

Stuart, Alyssa, Matthew, PP Karen Baker, Dot

(Front) Matthew, Melissa

Saturday’s dinner included a musical revue featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, June Carter and Elvis Presley. The team was seated front and centre for the show and enjoyed the musical stylings and comedy of the performers. Afterwards they ventured to downtown Niagara and the Fallsview Casino for people watching.

    

Matthew, Tessa Bell, Dot                                   Alyssa and Melissa                             Elvis

On Sunday morning, the Team made a presentation to the conference attendees that featured a very unique case study about a young man named Heath. As the case was presented, each team member talked of their professional role in assisting Heath in his battle to acknowledge and then live with his mental illness.

On Sunday evening the team returned to Belleville and enjoyed dinner at Paulo’s Trattoria before returning to their host families.

The team presented to the Rotary Club of Belleville at their regular Monday lunchtime meeting. After lunch they visited City Hall and spent about 90 minutes with Mayor Neil Ellis. It was election day in Belleville and the team managed to get themselves on You Tube as there was a group filming Mayor Neil for the day.

(L to R) Matthew Ireland, Matthew James, Dot Hennessy, Mayor

Neil Ellis, Stuart Balzan, Alyssa Milton and Melissa Quig

After departing from City Hall, the team tried unsuccessfully to see the Belleville Bulls on ice practice in preparation for their Maple Leafs game on November 6^th. The Bulls had finished early but the team did get to wander the Yardmen Arena and see some of Belleville’s recent construction projects. Leaving the Arena, they ventured for the first time over the new Veteran’s Memorial Bridge to Starbucks and the Quinte Mall for a relaxing coffee.

The RC Belleville arranged a Happy Hour Fellowship event at Earl & Angelos for later Monday evening. Many Rotarians dropped in to say hello, including some who dressed up in the spirit of Halloween.

 

            Alyssa and PP John Cairns                                                 Carol Feeney and President Sam

After Happy Hour, the team ventured down

Front Street

to visit the post-election celebrations of Rotarian Richard Courneyea and Mayor Neil Ellis. On both stops they managed to meet many new people including more Rotarians who were supporting friends and colleagues in their election bids.

Tuesday brought day long vocational visits for all of the members of the team. Stuart Balzan and Melissa Quig spent the day at the Hastings Children’s Aid Society with Rotarian Len Kennedy and his staff, Matthew Ireland spent the day with Rotarian Paul VandeGraaf at Belleville Police Services and Alyssa Milton and Matthew James were hosted by Michael Whiteman and the staff at Quinte Health Care. Dot Hennessy travelled to Trenton to spend some time with Quinte Recycling, an area of vocational interest for her. All the team members commented on how much they enjoyed their time with their counterparts in the Belleville area and of the contacts they made and how similarly, yet differently, they practice their vocations in each country.

Tuesday evening PP John Cairns hosted a BBQ for the team. Everyone had a wonderful time laughing and telling stories. Later in the evening, each member of the team carved a pumpkin graciously provided by Rotarian Wayne Dewe. Halloween is not celebrated in Australia so the team was excited to get right into the guts of the pumpkins and carve away. By the end, they were wondering how to get pumpkin seeds to start this annual autumn tradition Down Under.

  

Sadly, Wednesday saw the end of the Aussie’s time in Belleville. They spent the morning packing and saying their goodbyes before heading to Cobourg. Enroute the team stopped at Campbell’s Orchards to grab some goodies and some hot apple cider for the trip.

Arriving in Cobourg, the last item on the Belleville agenda was a presentation sponsored by the Northumberland Hills Hospital Association – a presentation by Bill MacPhee, a schizophrenic who talked about his life pre- and post-diagnosis of his illness and how he has made a success of himself as a survivor of, and proponent for, schizophrenia and as the publisher of SZ Digest, a magazine for and about the disease.

When that was complete, the team was handed off to Mike Parker of the Rotary Club of Cobourg who took the team to meet their next hosts, the Rotary Club of Willowdale.

Mellissa, Matthew, Dot, Matt, Stuart and Alyssa with the Big White Beast (van)

graciously provided to the RC Belleville by Mike Parker of the RC of Cobourg.

For the remainder of their time in District 7070, the Aussie team will be hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Willowdale, Cobourg, Richmond Hill and Whitby Sunrise.

When leaving us, the team said that they had a great time in Belleville and that we are a wonderful and fun group of Rotarians who enjoy our community, how Rotarians connections and what we do for a living. They will miss us all and felt that we have set a very high bar for the remainder of their hosts.

We will miss them.

To continue to follow their District 7070 adventures, follow their blog at http://rotarygse9750.blogspot.com/

District 7070 also has a mental health team in District 9750 in Sydney. Follow their daily adventures at http://www.vttaustralia2010.blogspot.com/

To learn more about the Group Study Exchange, now called the Vocational Training Team, click the following:

http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/fv_global_grants_vtt_participant_application_en.pdf

http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/100608_news_vtt.aspx

The Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise - 14 to 20 November 2010 - No 5

WHITBY SUNRISE – 14-20 November 2010 - BLOG

 

What we did...

Cultural/Social/Hospitality

Sunday - So the journey began with a Whitby, wildly, whacky, warm welcome by PDG Doug Byers – (MD of Fakanal Culture) appropriately ensconced in black stretch limousine, courtesy of Rotarian Rocky Varcoe (owner of this special vehicle and the Class Act Dinner Theatre), champagne, nibblies with Whitby Wisdom flowing freely with flamboyance

Home Hosts met each member at the Class Act Dinner Theatre

Dinner at our home hosts, followed by...

“Welcome to Whitby” Get together at the home of Rotarian Andrew Butterworth and his wife, Helen, President of the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise.  We were joined by members, wives/partners and families – a great welcome and induction into Whitby Sunrise hospitality

Monday - Social Hour Get Together – AG Brian and Karen Thompson – after our visit to Ontario Shores – also included were those we met during the day also together with our home hosts. 

Dinner at the Mandarin Restaurant for many and their hosts, followed.  There is a chain of these restaurants and the buffet caters is wall-to-wall with every type of culture and food available.

Tuesday - following another busy day at Ontario Shores, Police and Durham School Board we were entertained for

Dinner at “De Siam” Restaurant hosted by Rotarian George Punyaprateep – absolutely delicious

Wednesday - Dinner and Show at the Class Act Dinner Theatre, hosted by Rocky Varcoe – Fund-raiser to Oshawa/Parkwood – home club of DG Ted Morrison.  Great night – lots of laughs

Thursday – dinner at home

Friday – our last was one everybody both our hosts and our team will always remember:  we travelled to the city by GO Train to the 68^th floor of the Bank of Montreal where

PDG Mike Cooksey, Vice-President and Regional Director, Sales, GTA, hosted our team, DG Ted, DGE Bob, DGN Ted, PDG Doug; VTT/GSE Chair Hilary; VTT Team Leader Val; Whitby Sunrise Host PP Linda

Farewell Party - Following lunch we returned to our homes then on to the home of VTT Team Leader Val and her husband Mark Farewell to the inbound team.  The evening was full of much laughter, sharing of the most amazing stories about our experiences, opportunities to further network; chance to catch up with Rotarians from both Whitby and Whitby Sunrise and were entertained by PP Jeff Collery, of Whitby Club - vocal and guitar, just fantastic.

This was a wonderful chance for all  to personally express our special appreciation to those who made our VTT/GSE programs so successful.

The photo tells the story...

        

Vocational visits:

• Ontario Shores (OS) Centre for Mental Health – tour of facilities; welcome by Medical Director and staff about the range of services
• GSE team presented about each of his/her roles/workplace/s.
• OS – Job Sharing with a staff member – 5 of the team were given a 1/1 work-shadowing program through each service applicable to his/her vocation.
• Durham Regional Police Service x 2 days – service operates with OS Nursing staff providing a response service across the DRPS region – Matthew Ireland
• Frontenac Youth Services – this is the workplace of Jill and Brenda who were part of the District 7070 outbound team.  We visited two residential facilities for children; pot luck lunch and had a full day discussing and sharing information about programs and services.
• Durham District School Board - Melissa
• CMHA – Matthew James
• TAMI Project, 40 students from All Saints Catholic Church High School are facilitated by staff at OS to working to develop a plan to “Stamp out Stigma”
• Tour of Sick Kids Hospital, Toronto City

Rotary Presentations:

Whitby Club – meets Tuesdays 7am; approx 40 members, 75 years young and mature; team presentation personal profile about their families, qualifications and their role in the organisation in which they are practising.

Whitby Sunrise Club – 22 yrs young – meets 7 15am – approx 68 members - President does wear a collar - not usual in Canada as it is in Australia; team presentation - the same as for District Conference – the journey of a young man, Heath from diagnosis to ongoing management of his mental illness.

In summary, this, our last week was action packed -  not only amazingly different to but also built on each of the wonderful program specially developed for each of the locations where we were hosted and visited.

Culturally, Vocationally, the hospitality and from a Rotarian perspective, as a Group Study Exchange perspective, the program was exceptionally sound in every respect and exceeded all expectations.  Our reports, presentations and feedback will continue and provide further details where possible.

Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences – 15 November 2010 – summarised by Dot

Tour of Facility by Sandy Ravary – photos to come...

Welcome and Clinical Structure presented by Dr Phil Klassen. Chief Medical Officer

Policing and Mental Health – Ruth Lawrence (Nurse employed by Ontario Shores; Constable Scott Logan – Ontario Police)

Community – Maxine Mann

Adolescent Services – Teresa Sheppard, Cynthia Weaver joined during the presentation an updated current staffing and availability of beds.  Teleconferencing facilities used to assist with access into communities.

LHIN network and demographics explained

Psychology – Dr Pamela Wilansky-Traynor – talked about psychology in OS; quals need to have PhD; different types need to specialise – which foci – children, adolescents, adults, geriatric; mood, disorders, anxiety, etc.

Psychologists v Psychotherapist – people in community re difference; what is therapy?  Fit well with the MD team as OS

Act 1991 – practice defined – assessment etc – see slides

Research is not included in Act.

Service covers number of areas – OS 90% on assessment.

Students have access to range of programs

Research – forensic and adolescent opportunities explained

Nursing and Recovery Initiatives – Joanne Jones, Clinical Educator; mental nurse for whole of career

Large team just under 600 – various levels determined under scope of practice

Practice responsible to College of Nurses and OS practice

CFMHN Standards

Holistic approach, ethical practice

Vision – leaders in MHN – making a difference – differentiating HOPE

Program – Our Shared Journey – Recover and Rediscover was covered by a number of slides which addressed/covered the following:

Mental Health Strategy – Prime Minister initiated research

Report Out of the Shadows at last – 1^st review of MHC in Canada

Lens should have been focus 20 yrs ago

Framework – recovery is peppered throughout whole document

What is Recovery was explained – person can re-cover life without recovering from health

Began...

We had a Dream

Recovery Oriented care

Recovery Education to all staff

To re-discover the passion of our practitioners

Strategic Direction from top down.

Dr Lindsay Oades and Dr Trevor Clodes – UOW have developed a model which has been adapted and adopted into the culture – 18 months to complete to date – March 2012 – Research measures – every 6 months measures are collected and analysed

Collaborative Recovery Model – included non-clinical support staff

Vision

Guiding Principles

Clinical staff 5 days training – see points covered

Non-clinical staff – half day

Research measures

ON-going sustainability plan

Experiential learning around strengths rather than negatives