What I know in my Bones
A four-part Webinar with Denise Bissonnette
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm PDT
August 20 & 27, September 3 & 10, 2021
With the desire to expand our technical understanding in the arena of employment counseling and job development, we appreciate sound hypotheses, seek out educated theories, and value evidence-based practices. Sometimes, however, the inspiration we need to grow deeper in our work comes in a simpler package, more like kitchen-table wisdom than conference-style information gathering.
Such is the spirit of Denise Bissonnette’s newest webinar series, entitled “What I Know in My Bones”. In each of these four one-hour sessions, she dishes up distilled insights, practical advice, and hard-won wisdom garnered from three decades of her work in the field of employment and training. With warmth, humility, and unending passion for her work as a job developer, career coach, writer, trainer and curriculum developer, Denise will share what she has come to “know in her bones”, in the following four areas:
- The Art of Creating Opportunity
- Working with Employers
- Individual Assessment and Motivation
- Working with Job Seekers
Delivered in a no-nonsense, conversational style, Denise bases each session on guiding principles and/or core beliefs that have informed her writing and teaching in that area, the most common questions/concerns she has heard from employment professionals, and her best advice to people who are new in the field, and to those who are well-seasoned and need renewal.
The ideas and concepts covered in this webinar will include excerpts from two of her most popular publications: Beyond Traditional Job Development and Cultivating True Livelihood.
This webinar series was designed with for individuals who are engaged in (or training for) careers focused on helping people with disabilities or other employment barriers to successfully participate in the workforce.
Friday, August 20th, 1:00 – 3:00 PDT
Session One: What I Know in My Bones: Applying the Art of Creating Opportunity
Topics include:
- Distinguishing between job placement and job development;
- Employing six new questions for spotting opportunities in the local job business community;
- Utilizing the concept of an “employment proposal” for creating new opportunities in a wide variety of workplace activities including paid employment, volunteer work, work experience, job shadowing, and seasonal full and/or part-time work; and,
- Implications of entrepreneurial job development for working with the applicant: prompts and questions for assessing and identifying job seeker skills, interests, values, and work preferences.
- Q and A
Friday, August 27th, 1:00 – 3:00 PDT
Session Two: What I Know in My Bones: Employer Engagement
Topics include:
- Dispelling “employer myths”;
- Unlimited opportunities for partnership;
- Employer assessment and the importance of having questions over answers;
- How language is everything, and practical tips for communicating with employers; and
- Uncovering and resolving employer concerns about hiring individuals with disabilities and other employment barriers.
- Q and A
Friday, September 3rd, 1:00 – 3:00 PDT
Session Three: What I Know in My Bones: The Mosaics of Work Motives, Values and Preferences
Topics include:
- Eight work motives that satisfy basic human needs;
- What keeps us in a job, and adds to our sense of satisfaction in the workplace;
- How work motives and values change over time and according to one’s circumstances;
- Creative ways to assist a person in identifying their abilities, gifts, values and work preferences;
- Perspectives on work and how we name it; and,
- The importance of metaphors we use for work and how they reflect our relationship with it.
- Q and A
Friday, September 10th, 1:00 – 3:00 PDT
Session Four: What I Know in My Bones: Working with Job Seekers
Topics include:
- Buffering the challenges of the job search with “the power of the group”;
- The difference between selecting and settling in the job search;
- Distinction between coaching and counseling in job search assistance;
- Encouraging job seekers to “mix it up”;
- Employing the philosophy of “hiring yourself the right employer”, and how to put it into practice;
- Assisting job seekers to maintain momentum and resilience in the job search; and,
- Debunking the myth of “motivation”.
- Q and A
Denise Bissonnette is an internationally renowned writer, trainer and keynote speaker. For two decades, she has inspired people and organizations throughout North America to look beyond traditional concepts of career development and to craft livelihoods rooted in the individual "genius" of each person. Denise has authored several publications on creative job development, state of the art job search techniques, the cultivation of the human spirit, and how to "shine" on the job. Her work is a rich tapestry of her talents as a poet, writer, storyteller, teacher and career developer.
(For more information on Denise's work, please visit www.denisebissonnette.com
After each webinar, participants will receive a pdf copy of Denise’s PowerPoint slides used in that presentation.
Webinar will be presented on Zoom.
Attendees with any special needs are urged to contact us as soon as possible to give us time to respond to requests.
Upon request, CRC Continuing Education Credits will be granted to eligible participants.
Registration for this series is free and limited to individuals who are confirmed as one of the following:
- Students in the SDSU Rehabilitation Counseling Program.
- Employees of the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR).
- Employees of a DOR vendor organization.
To Register, please complete and submit the form below!
For additional information, please contact Dr. Charles Degeneffe at: cdegenef@sdsu.edu.