Inspiring leadership
By James Janzen, President of the Abbotsford Self Advocacy Group
For the last 11 years, an annual Leadership Retreat for self-advocates has been held at the Edenvale Retreat and Conference Centre in Abbotsford. Everyone who comes here loves this place. It has a lot of hospitality, excellent staff, very comfortable and relaxing environment and the food is always delicious, healthy with very generous portions too.
Police Detective Mike Macfarlane gave a presentation on Internet and Community Safety which was interesting and also very funny. I also attended a workshop called “Who’s the Boss?” This was a workshop by Counsellor Dorothy Hyslop about how to stand up for yourself. I thought the video presentation of different situations about being taking advantage of by other people, and the discussion afterward, were useful and informative.
Gregg Schiller did his workshop called “Expression Through Music” where we listened to him play the piano and we drew pictures and then we had a chance to talk about our pictures. Everyone had interesting drawings and stories to tell on how the music made them feel.
I also took part in the Self-Advocates Seeding Innovation (SASI) Group Project where I acted out skits. I was a little nervous acting in front of the crowd, but once each skit started I was fine. I also really enjoyed “The Self Advocacy Game Show” on Saturday night which made me laugh hard too. Each time a self-advocate picked a category on the wall, they had to answer a question or act something out. I thought the whole experience was pretty cool.
I saw everyone at breakfast and we talked about how much fun we had the day before. We also met some great friends from all over the province who still keep in touch regularly through the internet and phone calls.
I am already looking forward to the 12th Annual Leadership Retreat at Edenvale next year which is going to be on the Thanksgiving long weekend from October 7 to 9, 2011. I hope to see more new people again from everywhere in the province. Thanks to Gregg Schiller for organizing this fantastic event every year for us.
