CASE MANAGER TRAINING – December 2011
Daryl Cooper, Chauffeur, Quartermaster and sometime Session Presenter, reports….
In previous years, ISADD’s intensive two-week training course for prospective Case Managers has been held in February or March. This often conflicted with beginnings of University courses, and was disruptive to the children’s programs with which the trainee’s were involved.
A decision was therefore made to move the date to early December, a time which did not conflict with Academia, and when many children’s programs were “winding down” for the Xmas break. The training was conducted in our Brisbane Street neighbour’s Training Room (our own being just a little cramped for the activity) which they generously provided at a discounted rate, given the nature of our work. Thank you, Ron
and your team at CASM. This worked well, with Trainees having access to ISADD’s office resources while minimizing disruption to normal activities.
Interstate and Overseas attendees who needed it, were accommodated at the nearby Billabong Backpackers Resort: basic but clean, comfortable and convenient. Being only a fiveminute walk away meant that morning sessions got started on time, and at the end of the day, trainees did not have far to go to be able to have
a lie-down to recover from the huge volume of intellectual input their brains had to process during the sessions. As in every course, we have met a varied and interesting group of people, each participant bringing her peculiar (ie individual, not strange!) personality to contribute to the distinctive “atmosphere” which develops in the group. For example, there was “Quiet Kelly” from New Zealand, who, despite her modest demeanour had a repertoire of great non-PC jokes with which to entertain; there was “Rowdy Rebecca”
from Adelaide, whose devotion to her studies in Speech Pathology was only matched by her devotion to the study of Perth Pub Culture; “Swift Susan” from Melbourne who decided to strain her body as well as her brain during the course by running every day in preparation for her next Marathon; there’s more, but well, I won’t go on and embarrass anyone else!
Perth’s normally super-reliable good summer weather let us down for a couple of days during the course, with one day providing the worstever storm Perth has seen in the month of December! The lightning was spectacular, however, and the storm probably helped to make the course even more memorable for those
attending.
Despite the above, we anticipate early December will now be the preferred time for Case Manager Training. So therapists who intend to make a career with ISADD, don’t book a holiday for December!
