In this episode of the Call Me Al Podcast, Al interviews Allan I. Bergman, an accomplished nonprofit community agency and association executive and nationally recognized leader in influencing the development of federal and state policy relating to “best practice” services and supports for persons with disabilities.   Bergman’s career includes significant leadership positions within local, state and national non-profit agencies and associations. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of one of Chicago’s largest community agencies, Anixter Center, supporting more than 5,000 individuals living with disabilities through 400 employees, 72 programs, and multiple sites. His earlier positions in Washington, D.C. included President and CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America, and significant leadership roles with United Cerebral Palsy Associations as Director of the Institute on Disability and Managed Care, Director of State-Federal Relations, and Director of Government Relations. After completing his undergraduate degree in Psychology at Cornell University, Allan’s early career included responsibilities at the Texas State Commission for the Blind, as Executive Director for the Austin (TX) Cerebral Palsy Center, and Executive Director of three Associations for Retarded Citizens in Dallas, San Francisco and the state of Colorado. Bergman is an insightful and perceptive strategic planner skilled at aligning goals, groups and available resources. Allan works with all levels and functions within an organization to build a unified, strategic vision and consistent messaging to achieve long term goals, improve organizational efficiency, deliver meaningful outcomes to customers and a good return on investment to funders. He possesses an extraordinary ability to understand and analyze highly complex problems and to present them and proposed solutions in an articulate and understandable manner to diverse audiences. Allan is astute at building strong relationships and business partnerships with multiple constituencies.   Allan’s expertise includes broad knowledge of Medicaid, Medicare, managed care and long term services and supports policy, practice and financing. He has testified before many state legislative and Congressional committees and his fingerprints are on many bills that now are law. He was invited as an expert witness to testify before both the U.S. Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees on Social Security, employment and health policy issues, and worked with key congressional staff to develop Medicare and Medicaid work incentive proposals that were incorporated into federal law. A passionate and charismatic speaker, Bergman has provided more than 200 keynote addresses and 150 workshops to over 50,000 individuals in all 50 states, Canada, Australia and Israel. Allan is at ease with multiple audiences including customers, volunteers, legislators, legislative staff, clinical researchers and practitioners. A nationally recognized trainer, he has provided leadership training to over 6,000 people.

In this episode of the Call Me Al Podcast, Al Condeluci interviews Robert Stack. Mr. Stack worked in the nonprofit and government field for the last three decades. Over the past 30 years he developed one of the largest nonprofits in his state and one of the largest nonprofits in his field.   His knowledge as an entrepreneur, manager and successful businessman has earned him countless awards and recognition from government and corporate leaders. He has successfully managed and built a nonprofit with over $200 million in revenue annually from his kitchen table with very little resources.   Robert is an adjunct professor for public policy, has an MBA and currently manages his multistate operation with offices in Arizona, Maryland, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York from both the Empire State building and his national headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.   He is an expert in nonprofit development, management and fundraising. Robert Stack has operated offices in Cairo, Egypt and is consulted by governors and government leaders on public policy and nonprofit development.   For more interviews subscribe to the Call Me Podcast on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-al/id1441852995   Season 3 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews Genia Stephen. Genia Stephen is a speaker, host of the Good Things In Life podcast, and founder of Good Things in Life which helps parents support their kids with intellectual disabilities to build good inclusive lives at home, at school and in the community.    Genia has a sister with an intellectual disability and a son with an intellectual disability. Her mother introduced her to important ideas and thought leaders early in her life. She is a Registered Midwife, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and is currently completing her MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care at the University of Oxford.   For more interviews subscribe to the Call Me Podcast on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-al/id1441852995 Season 3 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews Cindy Vogan. Cindy Vogan is the founder and CEO of Whole Life Services Inc. (WLS) in Hermitage Pennsylvania.  She graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and Robert Morris University in 2013 with a Master’s Degree in Non Profit Business Management. Cindy’s career began a Residential Program Worker, providing supports to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. She then went on to be Program Specialist in a Sheltered Workshop environment. Having developed a passion for this work, Cindy founded Whole Life Services, a Non-Profit organization specializing in providing person-centered supports to meet the unique needs of individuals and their families.  The agency opened in her home in 2001 with two employees, serving one individual. The agency now has grown to employ 133 employees and is serving 93 individuals.  The Administrative Offices are at 1565 East State St. in Hermitage Pa.  Also located at East State is our consignment store Studio C.  The Licensed Adult Training Facility is located at 3199 Innovation Way, at Linden Pointe in Hermitage.  Whole Life Services Inc. operates (8) individualized residential homes in Mercer County. Whole Life has established other locations in the community that are owned and operated by private owners or operators. Included are:  Olive’s Boutique, a gift shop in Sharon Regional Hospital, Get 2 Work Productions, and The Valley Fab Lab. Cindy is passionate about building teams that will work together to achieve positive outcomes.  In order to accomplish this, she strives to empower others to utilize their gifts and talents.  She credits her leadership skills to her involvement in several programs during her youth including Upward Bound, Junior Achievement, and a Presidential Classroom for Young Americans, believing that early intervention and support for teens is key to a successful adult life. Cindy resides in Hermitage with her son.  She also has a daughter and two grandchildren. For more interviews subscribe to the Call Me Podcast on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-al/id1441852995 Season 3 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews Dr. Guy Caruso, Ph.D. Guy, who grew up in New York State, is the father of six children - five sons and a daughter. He and his wife, MaryJo, live outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the Western Coordinator for the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, which is Pennsylvania’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service. Guy is responsible for coordinating Institute training and related activities in the western part of Pennsylvania. He works on several Institute grants and provides technical assistance to the Pennsylvania Independent Monitoring for Quality Program (IM4Q). IM4Q is a state funded and statewide program in which over 5000 interviews are conducted by people with disabilities, family members and interested others to discovery how people served/supported view their life and how we can help improve their lives. Guy has worked in human services for 49 years both in institutional and community settings (vocational, educational, residential, and recreational) and in several capacities – advocate, teacher, trainer, researcher, evaluator, and founder of values-based training groups. He has worked in ARCs, private rehabilitation, schools, universities, and as a consultant in the US and Canada.  Much of his work has been with families and people with disabilities using person centered approaches in helping family and people with disabilities plan their futures. He received his master’s and Ph.D. from Syracuse University, studying and mentoring with Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D., where he became a teacher/trainer in Normalization and now Social Role Valorization* (SRV),  a theory/practice to help people with disabilities, often devalued by society, gain valued roles in life. He is a member of the North America SRV Council and International SRV Association. Guy has been actively involved over the years with L’Arche, citizen advocacy, self advocacy, and Partners in Policy Making. As a Partners teacher he has had the wonderful opportunity to share and learn from Partners in many states and territories.  To learn more about Social Role Valorization (SRV) go to (https://socialrolevalorization.com/);  and for information on Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger in Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Wolfensberger). Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/280067349420572/  For more interviews subscribe to the Call Me Podcast on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-al/id1441852995 Season 3 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews Janelle Breese Biagioni. Janelle is a Registered Professional Counsellor with the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (No. 3066) and the widow of Constable Gerry Breese. She specializes in traumatic life losses arising from a death or catastrophic injury. The year before the life-altering loss of her husband, she had lost her brother (39), who sustained a brain hemorrhage. And two weeks before her husband died, one of her closest friends (43) who also suffered a brain injury three years prior, succumbed to a brain tumour. Within 18 months three of the most important people in her life were gone—all due to brain injuries. Janelle’s survival ignited a passion to serve and help others to heal from their deep losses. She calls herself a “hope generator,” and has dedicated the past 26 years to learning, developing skills, and helping others heal their broken hearts through grief and bereavement. Janelle has published seven books including A Change of Mind: One Family’s Journey through Brain Injury and Life Losses: Healing for a Broken Heart. Her vignettes are published in Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul and Chicken Soup for the Father & Daughter Soul. Janelle’s articles have also been published in the Grief Digest, Living with Loss, Headline and Brain Injury Journey magazines. Janelle also appeared in A Change of Mind; a documentary on the societal impact of brain injury. For more information please visit her websites: http://traumaticlifelosses.com/ and http://janellebb.com/ Janelle is married to Lyle and resides in Victoria, BC. She is mother of Myriah and Dale and grandmother of Sampson, Atticus and Greyson.  Season 2 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews Patti Flaherty. Patti is the President and COO of Connect Communities in Canada. Patti lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and has worked in the field of brain injury and rehabilitation for 25 years. Before joining CONNECT as Executive Leader in 2007, she was a Senior Operating Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health responsible for the site operations of the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. Patti has a degree in physical education, a Master’s of Education and completed the Executive Health Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management. Patti has helped develop and promote CONNECT’s Life Redesign Model, an approach that emphasizes social capital and resident-centred goal-setting in a creative and flexible environment. Season 2 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews John Murphy. John works at Disability Rights Nebraska, which is the designated Protection and Advocacy organization.  Disability Rights provides consultation, training and technical assistance to the boards and coordinators of the five independent Citizen Advocacy offices in Nebraska.   Season 2 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al interviews David Isitt. David Isitt is the Founder of Better Connected in Queensland, Australia. Better Connected was established to counteract these situations, to walk beside you, to listen and provide support and guidance. Season 2 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al sits down with Dori Ortman. Currently, Dori serves as Family Faculty at LEND (Leadership Education in Neuro/Developmental Disabilities) of Pittsburgh, a program affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. She is also LEND’s Family and Self-Advocacy Training Director and Clinic Coordinator. Season 2 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/

Al sits down with Keenan Wellar. Keenan Wellar co-founded the LiveWorkPlay organization in 1995, and has served as the Co-Leader and Director of Communications since 1997. LiveWorkPlay helps the community welcome people with intellectual disabilities to live, work, and play as valued citizens. 

Al sits down with longtime friend Dr. Janet Williams. Dr. Janet Williams is the founder of Minds Matter LLC.  Dr. Williams has dedicated her life to working with individuals with brain injury since 1982. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Providence College, her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College and her PhD from the University of Kansas in Family Studies and Disability.

Al sits down with Jamie Curran, Community Living Mississauga and Jeff Fromknecht, Side Project Inc. to discuss the impact that loneliness and social isolation has on their own lives and the lives of those we serve. 

Al sits down with Joyce Steel Director of Family Advocacy at Starbridge Inc. supporting families in Rochester, New York. Joyce talks about her development as an advocate for inclusion that started with the birth of her son Adam. Al and Joyce talk about her work as an advocate and mother, what kinds of things are working, where are the challenges, and what new things lay ahead.

In this episode, Al Condeluci sits down Betty Batt, Sylvia Doane, Jane Huff, and Aga Karst the authors of "I'm the Bob & Cathy's Kid: Emotions, Love, and Fury (https://www.imthebobandcathyskid.com/). The authors worked directly with Suzy and her family and share their struggles and success in helping her to gain interdependence in the community. 

Al Condeluci interview’s Kimberly Gavan, Executive Director at the Brockville and District Association for Community Involvement in Brockville, Ontario. Kimberly share stories about how she got into the field and how her organization is working to make sure the community provides equal opportunity, full participation, respect and value to all individuals.

Al Condeluci interview’s Jamie Curran and discusses Community Living Mississauga work building an inclusive community in the biggest city you have never heard of.

Al Condeluci is joined by co-founders of the Interdependence Network, Jamie Curran and Jeff Fromknecht to help launch the new CALL ME AL PODCAST.