Erica Baker-Tinsley After working at the Brockville and District Association for Community Involvement (BDACI), Erica joined Loyalist College as a professor in the Developmental Services Worker Program. Erica is a graduate of the Ryerson Disability Studies program and has a Masters in Community Development. She has substantial experience teaching Social Role Valorization within the college and at workshops and is a frequent team leader in PASSING workshops. Erica is a member of the North American SRV Council.
Jane Barken‘s early experiences included working with Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger in the early 1970s when he was a visiting scholar at the National Institute for Mental Retardation (NIMR). This undoubtedly contributed to her lifelong commitment to working to promote better lives for people with intellectual disabilities. Jane recently retired after teaching for many years at Loyalist College in the DSW program. She is a board member for Legacy Homes, with BDACI. She has taught SRV both within the college and at workshops and has been a team leader at PASSING. Jane is a member of the North American SRV Council.
Donald Easson retired in 2017 from his role as professor and coordinator in the Developmental Services Worker Program at Centennial College. Like others, he has extensive experience teaching Social Role Valorization within the college and at workshops and has been a PASSING team leader and floater many times. Donald is also involved with many community organizations and has been on a number of boards of directors. Recently, he was involved in a collaborative project between Centennial College and a community agency that is looking at the issue of homesharing arrangements involving disabled and non-disabled people; for this, he recently received an award. Donald is a founding member of the SOTG.
Laura Powell has worked in a variety of roles within the developmental service sector in Ireland and is now based in Oshawa, Ontario with Durham Association for Family Resources and Support. Laura has a Masters in Health through Occupation from the UK and has undertaken numerous workshops and courses to expand her knowledge and understanding of Social Role Valorization. She has taught as part of 4 day introductory events and been a Team Leader at PASSING workshops. Laura has a particular interest in exploring typical ways people give and receive supports with decision making, and the natural means families and allies can enhance competencies and pay attention to the image of their loved one’s perceived capabilities.
Peg Jenner retired in 2013 from her role as the coordinator of the Developmental Services Worker at Centennial College. Currently she plays a key leadership role in four-day Social Role Valorization workshops; she organizes, teaches and mentors new and upcoming presenters. Increasingly, Peg is taking on a leadership role within PASSING workshops as well. Peg has been a member of a number of boards of directors, and has served as a consultant to a number of organizations. She is a member of the North American SRV Council.
Gareth Lloyd has worked as a Direct Support Professional and more recently as Team Leader/Workplace Learning Coordinator at Community Living Owen Sound and District since 2009, and is also a Developmental Services Worker Facilitator (Distance Studies) with Loyalist College. As well as being a long-term member of the Grey-Bruce Training and Development Committee, he has presented at numerous Social Role Valorization events and participated in several PASSING workshops, and is the editor of the ‘SRV Flash’, an intra-agency briefing on the theory and its application in developmental services.
Thomas Malcomson, PhD, taught for 32 years as a professor in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at George Brown College, Toronto. He taught courses in Introductory, Social, and Developmental Psychology, and was a co-author of a Life-Span Development text. Due to his interest in the plight of people marginalized in society, he has studied the history of eugenics and genocide, and has taught courses on those topics as well. Prior to teaching Thomas worked in human services, including serving intellectually and physically disabled people. For over thirty years, Thomas has been involved with the work of Wolf Wolfensberger. In addition to being a member of the SOTG, he is a member of The Personalism Roundtable, an international study and teaching group who present workshops on the Philosophy of Personalism, as applied to human services. He has also contributed to The SRV Journal.
Judith Sandys has been involved with Social Role Valorization for many years, having first been introduced to the work of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger in the 1970s. Since then SRV has had a profound impact on her work and personal life.
Judith is a founding member of the SOTG and a longstanding member of the the North American SRV Council. Over her long career (first within associations for people with intellectual disabilities and later within a university), she has had the opportunity to be involved with organizations of and for people with a variety of disabilities, with family members, with staff and volunteers, and with students. She has held many different roles including Executive Director, advocate, consultant, Board member (and, often, Chair), committee member, professor, researcher, author, and conference and workshop presenter. During the time that she was the Dean of the Faculty of Community Services at Ryerson University, Judith spearheaded the development of the Ryerson School of Disability Studies.
For many years Judith has organized and led two-site leadership-level PASSING workshops in Ontario on a regular basis–usually twice a year. (She expects to resume doing so as soon as the pandemic subsides.)
Judith is very interested in the application of SRV to services and supports for elderly people.
Donna Vanderkloet teaches in the Developmental Services Worker Program at Loyalist College. Previously, she worked at Brockville and District Association for Community Involvement (BDACI).