The Historical Development of
DIRECTIONS Council for Vocational Services Society
A. Historical Overview
Through the decade of the 1970’s, it came to be recognized by those involved in the provision of vocational services to persons with a disability that there was a need for the establishment of an organized forum for the consideration of all matters pertaining to the establishment and operation of adult service centres in the Province of Nova Scotia. This recognition was followed by efforts directed at developing an association and in 1981 the result was the formal establishment of the Workshop Council of Nova Scotia. Subsequently, in August 1984, the Workshop Council of Nova Scotia was incorporated as a Society under the Societies Act.
A name change was officially approved in 2004 to DIRECTIONS Council for Vocational Services in Nova Scotia.
Membership
Regular membership in the DIRECTIONS Council is open to the several adult service centres in the province and each member centre has voting privileges vested in two persons: the centre's executive director/manager and a representative of the Board of Directors of the centre. This mechanism is intended to provide for both professional/managerial direction and private/community direction. An Executive and Board of Directors elected by the membership at large attend to the business of the Society as prescribed by its Memorandum of Association and By-Laws. Currently, twenty-seven adult service centers in the province participate as regular members of the DIRECTIONS Council for Vocational Services.
Objects
As a duly incorporated Society, DIRECTIONS Council has articulated its “Objects” in its Memorandum of Association and By-Laws.
These include, among other things, the following:
¨ to develop and promote vocational opportunities for persons with a disability within Nova Scotia;
¨ to develop standards for vocational opportunities;
¨ to provide support to members;
¨ to adapt and promote programs of education for members;
¨ to facilitate liaison with other provincial agencies and organizations;
¨ to enter into discussion and negotiation with government and civic bodies to obtain their support in carrying out the aims and objectives of the Society;
¨ to develop ongoing community support and recognition through education and public relations.
B. The Development and Current Status of Adult Service Centres
Beginning in 1962, and continuing through the ensuing years of the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was a relatively rapid development and proliferation of then called ‘workshops’ in Nova Scotia. Frequently, these ‘workshops’ were established by or with the assistance of local branches of the then Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded or other concerned advocacy/service groups. This development of community-based vocational programs for the person with a disability corresponded in a broad sense with a general trend towards a model of service which embraced as a principle the notion of deinstitutionalized, non-segregating services.
To a large extent, the focus of programming in the evolution of services was on “training” and “activity”. Participants were involved in making craft-related items and occupied their time in constructive activity.
Beginning in the mid 1970’s and continuing through to the mid 1980’s, our programs were involved in significant transition and expansion. On the whole; adult service centres moved towards adoption of what might be termed a “quasi-industrial model” of operation. Attempts were made to pattern our centres on workplaces in the community and to engage participants in work which was relevant and meaningful. Individuals were trained and expected to produce in accordance with assessed abilities and to follow the rhythms and routines of daily work.
Concurrent with this transition and growth came equally significant developments in other facets of programming: individual program planning was introduced, assessment and counseling services and life skills training were provided, systematic program audits were conducted, staff training was provided and there was, in general, movement towards greater sophistication and professionalism in relation to program development and delivery. Increasingly, adult service centres came to provide, and came to be expected to provide, a multiplicity of rehabilitation/vocational services to the persons with disabilities, and often, relative to other needed services, to play a facilitating, coordinating role.
In the 80’s/90’s, adult service centres in the province have entered a period of further transition; this time driven by the need to secure community-based, competitive employment for the person with disabilities. For many years it was understood that if adult service centres were providing vocational training to the person with disabilities and rendering them “job ready”, then the obvious objective of such endeavours was the placement of the persons in competitive employment. In point of fact, this is a goal which adult service centres had been pursuing since their inception. As the various approaches to models of making community-based, competitive employment accessible to the person with disabilities have become more clearly understood and defined, adult service centres have demonstrated creativity and leadership in developing these options.
For more than two decades, adult service centres in Nova Scotia have been involved in a rational process of evolutionary development. They have adapted to shifting economic forces, to a growing awareness of the needs, rights and responsibilities of the person with disabilities, to changing conceptions of what constitutes an appropriate model of service delivery and to a myriad of other factors and contingencies. Quite beyond being simply places of “training or activity”, adult service centres have become “partners in industry”. As well, with support and guidance from various quarters, adult service centres are evolving into the “base of operations” for various community-based, competitive employment options. They are seeking to expand their focus, to meet the needs and aspirations of persons with disabilities as well as providing persons with disabilities opportunities for greater self-determination.
As the centres have evolved, the DIRECTIONS Council has played an integral role providing support, leadership and direction. In our early years we came together as agencies with common goals and no support staff. Gradually we aspired to and received funding for a networking function. During the mid 80’s we vested this work in an Executive Director position. In the 90’s we shifted to a more supportive staff position as an assistant and the Board and Executive assumed the primary leadership role within the Council. Currently we operate with one executive assistant position that supports the elected Executive and Board of Directors.
This leadership is evidenced by such activities/projects and initiatives:
¨ Provincial Pension Plan (1984)
¨ Creation of Vocational, Prevocational and Community Employment Manuals
¨ Guidelines for Vocational Services NS
¨ School to Work Transition Manual and Video
¨ Industrial Adjustment Service Project – Provincial Marketing Initiative
¨ Future Directions for Vocational Services NS
¨ Standards Document for Vocational Services NS
¨ Audit Services
¨ Strategic Planning
¨ Website/Newsletter
¨ CSA Renewal Initiative
¨ Internal DIRECTIONS Provincial Survey – Presentation tool
¨ Provincial Staff Development Initiatives
Our most recent effort is our membership position paper “One Voice” speaking for the future of vocational services in light of the pending vocational review 2005. Look for this position paper on our website at www.directionscouncil.org
PRESIDENTS
