Allison's Blog

The birds...they will not leave me alone...

The past several weeks have been insane! I’ve been onsite training during the days, doing web conferences in the evenings and traveling on the weekends.

Oh.Emm.Gee.

As some of you have seen, we have begun posting some Certified Trainer Webinars so SIGN UP NOW…get them while they are hot off the presses from our smart, good looking group of smarty pants.

I was in Kennewick, WA, all last week with Tri-Cities Residential who should be going live TOMORROW!

Tomorrow, I’ll be in Keizer, OR, hanging with Nathan as we get the rest of State Operated Community Programs rolling…most of this week.

Then Archie will give me the hairy eyeball because I’ll be packing my suitcase again…

The suitcase face...

‘cos on Saturday, I’m headed east to see the Therap universe converging in New Jersey for the national conference. See you there!

Hugs and Tlogs,

Allison

My trip is almost finished. It has been a long one, but a fun one with The Arc of Anchorage. They are planning to fire off the Therap rocket on January 23. Alisha is hustling and getting equipment and connectivity ready to go. She is the new official Therap guru for The Arc of Anchorage…She is the go-to smarty pants.

Tomorrow, I’ll be in Wasilla with Mat-Su to bug Melissa and Trish. And then I’m off home on Wednesday, to get training all over again with Tri-Cities Residential next week. (At least I’m still in Washington!)

And once again, I have fallen in love with Alaska…even with its sub-zero temperatures and piles of snow. It’s a really magnificent place with equally magnificent people. They are a stalwart, hearty bunch and have big, hospitable hearts. I don’t need much of an excuse to come back here, that’s for sure. Sign me up.

More soon.

Allison

Snowing like crazy. Training like crazy. Very tired.

How about a story on a snowy afternoon?

Depending on the story’s origin, Raven may steal the sun, the moon, or take the light from Seagull (similar to the story below).

This is my personal favorite…

Long ago, near the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the guardian of the Sun, Moon and Stars, of fresh water, and of fire. Gray Eagle hated people so much that he kept these things hidden. People lived in darkness, without fire and without fresh water.

Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and Raven fell in love with her. In the beginning, Raven was a snow-white bird, and as a such, he pleased Gray Eagle’s daughter. She invited him to her father’s longhouse.

When Raven saw the Sun, Moon and stars, and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle’s lodge, he knew what he should do. He watched for his chance to seize them when no one was looking. He stole all of them, and a brand of fire also, and flew out of the longhouse through the smoke hole. As soon as Raven got outside he hung the Sun up in the sky. It made so much light that he was able to fly far out to an island in the middle of the ocean. When the Sun set, he fastened the Moon up in the sky and hung the stars around in different places. By this new light he kept on flying, carrying with him the fresh water and the brand of fire he had stolen.

He flew back over the land. When he had reached the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and there became the source of all the fresh-water streams and lakes in the world. Then Raven flew on, holding the brand of fire in his bill. The smoke from the fire blew back over his white feathers and made them black. When his bill began to burn, he had to drop the firebrand. It struck rocks and hid itself within them. That is why, if you strike two stones together, sparks of fire will drop out.

Raven’s feathers never became white again after they were blackened by the smoke from the firebrand. That is why Raven is now a black bird.

(This version comes from Ella Clark’s Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest)

More later from snowy Anchorage.

Allison

Standing room only...and a pug was there in spirit

Snow. Pretty cold. And windy. But beautiful nonetheless.

I have been back in Alaska since Sunday afternoon. I’m here with Brent and we are training The Arc of Anchorage all week and weekend and into next week. They will be aggressively launching Therap on January 23rd across all of their programs. Barbara Rath and Alisha Felder are leading the charge (Alisha has proclaimed The Arc of Anchorage’s alias as the bomb dot com) and thus far, the trainings have gone magnificently. I was also very pleased to see that in the very first management training, we were joined by Gwen, their executive director. You do not see that level of involvement consistently from executive directors and when they show up, it definitely sends a strong message that the train has pulled into the station and Therap is the way it is going to be. And that is definitely cool.

The Raven...who stole the sun (one of my favorite myths)

We have also been joined by Kevin Dierks, who had a bunch of meetings with (even) more Alaska providers. Last night, after a walk through the ice sculpture park, we went to Humpy’s (as seen on Man Vs. Food). We tried to get Brent to take The Kodiak Arrest challenge but he wasn’t certain he could eat seven pounds of crab legs, salmon cakes, and stuffed halibut. Coward.

Therap freaks I work with

This morning begins a twelve hour day of training…a hundred plus staff for the next few days. Fortunately, they have a coffee shop onsite…They do think of everything, these Alaskans.

Allison

Jeff Mau works for Mosaic (and WHERE have you heard that name before? Maybe here, here and here !)…And guess what?

(Long pause)

You got it! He is the newest certified trainer.

Jeff hails from Des Moines, Iowa, and is the Regional Therap Coordinator for that region..There are lots and lots of regions, I’m finding.

He is working on the basics, The Big Three, with the one agency he has launched thus far. His wife works in Human Services and his background is as a database nerd…perfect fit, non? (That is French for “no.” We are a global company after all.)

I found we have a lot in common as well: we both have organic nerdy aptitudes, we both have (high) standards when it comes to documentation and we both wear cool glasses.

And having talked with Jeff for a while, there is no doubt that his blogs will be straight to the point!

Allison

Oh em gee. Mosaic has added yet another smarty pants to Therap’s wild and woolly group of certified trainers: Matthew Rice is the Therap Regional Coordinator for Kansas. He has rolled out one agency thus far and five more are in the pipeline for summertime launches. They are moving into what we affectionately refer to as “The Big Three:” Tlogs, General Event Reports and Secure Communication. He looks kind of tough, no? Click here or ELSE.

Along with Matthew…is a Colorado-ite. Is that a word? It is now because I said so. Linda Medina is the Care Management Director from Envision in Evans, Colorado. She has been primary in their implementation so far which began in 2009. They started with billing (‘cos we interface with Colorado dirrrrr-ectly for electronic submission of claims) and then moved into Tlogs, General Event Reports. Their next step is Health Tracking and MARs…

Matthew will be Jerseylicious along with the rest of us at our impending national conference. Where will you be?

Allison

Heather (center) at the Oregon Conference with Brent (left) and Anna (right)

Heather is the newest smarty pants to join the League of Extraordinary Trainers. She resides in Pendleton, Oregon, and for those of you keeping track, that makes six certified trainers from Oregon.

She is the administrative assistant and super-duper Therap guru for Trendsitions. They began using Therap last year and are using the vast majority of the system with the exceptions of the Training Management System and billing. Heather is working on those now.

I’ll plan on seeing her in New Jersey with the pod/herd/pack/murder/gaggle of other trainers. We had better see you there, too!

Allison

Hey, everyone…happy holidays! Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa and all of that good stuff.

Archie and I hope you get some nice treats and give them out as well.

Allison

Ben Ferguson is the newest Certified Trainer and YET ANOTHER Oregonian…I think Oregon is winning the Certified Trainer thing. He makes the fifth trainer…and more to come…who reside in the lovely Pacific Northwest.

Ben works with Nina and Sheena over at Community Support Services in Salem, OR, and has been in the field as a Direct Support Professional for about five years. He helped them implement MARs and is well-versed in both medication administration and health tracking. He definitely has a unique perspective…and has already shared with you on the Certified Trainers’ Blog (he beat me to the punch!).

More from the Certified Trainers in 2012.

Allison

Gregg Staroscik works for Mosaic (and if that sounds familiar, you may remember Lorelei Lascko who ALSO works for Mosaic). Apparently, Therap geekiness is communicable over there. Gregg also states that Lorelei is indeed his hero…makes sense that he would emulate his hero in such a  PROFOUND and THERAPIFIC way (it is a word ‘cos I say so).Gregg used to be a drug and alcohol counselor and also has a long history as an IT guy; he likes the mixture of human services and technology. Perfect, given he is the Regional Therap Coordinator for Nebraska. Lorelei has him busy over  there, launching multiple agencies all over the plains…He definitely has an interesting take on GERs, that is for sure…and he looks like a novelist in his picture so that makes him even more awesome…

Nathan Kennedy works for State Operated Community Programs in Oregon and is their super duper Therap provider administrator. They are already live with a handful of their residential programs and are ramping up to implement it across all of their locations (with a little help from me ). Nathan quickly won me over with his love of all things Apple…so it is clear that he knows what’s up. And Nathan has some very interesting ideas regarding GERs as well.

And we are not done yet…there is one more:

Michelle Steele is the Human Resources Coordinator and Therap Administrator for Renew Consulting in Albany, Oregon. She has bounced around quite a bit in the past few months from support to quality assurance to human resources and to Therap. That is because she is a smahhhhhty pants.

Watch for blogs and webinars in the new year from these guys and all the other exceptionally brilliant, good looking, and warm and fuzzy group of Certified Trainers.

Allison