Our Philosophy

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South Peace Community Resources Society is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to Meeting the social and personal needs of the community by providing services that assist people to develop to the full extent of their potential. The purpose of this Philosophy Statement is to articulate the fundamental ideas which guide practices in the programs operated by South Peace Community Resources Society.

PREMISES

We believe that:

All people are worthwhile and highly valued.

All people deserve opportunities to develop in all dimensions of their being (physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual) to the fullest extent of their potential.

All people deserve services that are considered valued within the larger context of society and culture, and services that are personalized and responsive to individual needs.

The above are true regardless of a person's behaviour, personality, developmental stage, family, neighbourhood, appearance, competence, or any other characteristic of the person.

Conflict will arise with the ideal of these premises and will direct our future development of services.

NEEDS AND PROGRAM PRACTICES

Every person is an integral member of a larger social and cultural milieu and not separate from it. Therefore, there are three categories of needs, priorized as follows:

The needs of the person as a unique individual.
The needs of the person and her/his family.
The needs of the person and her/his community.

To meet these needs, program practices are:

To be used consciously and deliberately to meet actual needs.

To be socially and culturally valued practices used to establish and/or maintain, as much as possible, experiences, characteristics, personal behaviours, social roles and social images that value the individual within society and culture.

On the basis of these statements, the following service goals are defined. These goals define both the process and the end results of program practices.

These goals are in a one-to-one correspondence with ratings in the Philosophy-Based Staff Evaluation, providing the linkage and ensuring connectedness between philosophy and practice.

GOALS OF SERVICE

1. Physical Well-being Enhancement

To enhance the physical well-being of clients - This goal recognizes that physical well-being is the foundation of personal growth and development. It refers not only to the provision of safe environments, but also to the teaching, helping and supporting of tasks, responsibilities and routines related to physical well-being, and the modelling of these by S.P.C.R.S. employees.

2. Educational and Vocational Enhancement

To enhance the educational and vocational experience of clients - This goal is to support the person's positive experience of a valued educational program or vocational experience. It recognizes the value of education and vocation in the achievement of a valued social role.

3. Social Competency Enhancement

To enhance the social competency of clients - The acquisition of social competence is the goal. That is, to teach, help and support the person to acquire socially, culturally and age-appropriate behaviour, and to enable the person to remove inappropriate, self-defeating behaviour from her/his repertoire. This goal is in contrast to simply managing and controlling behaviour.

4. Quality of Interaction

To interact with people solely in ways which enhance their self-concept and self-esteem - This goal encompasses all interactions, including consequence oriented interactions with people in our care.

5. Names and Labels

To use value enhancing names and labels when speaking to a person, or when speaking to others about the person - This goal recognizes the power of names and labels in actively influencing thought and feeling about ourselves and about others.

6. Relationships

To enhance the quality of the client's relationships with others - This goal is to assist in developing skills that build healthy relationships, assist in the identification of and recovery from self-defeating relationship attitudes and behaviours,the modelling by staff of healthy relationship skills and the establishment of opportunities to engage in positive relationships between the service recipient and others.

7. Social Image Enhancement

To enhance the social image of clients - How a person appears to others makes a difference in how others react to her/him. Social image includes grooming, posture, hygiene and personal presentation. This goal is to help the person be aware of her/his appearance, be aware of how others react to her/him, and of choices available to that person. This goal has three dimensions:

Teaching, helping or supporting skills and awareness relevant to social image- hygiene, grooming, clothing, personal presentation.

Modelling a positive social image.

Through association--that is, when representing the person to others, to present a social image of one's self that contributes to the value of the person.

8. Pace, Rhythm and Style

To provide a culturally and socially valued pace, rhythm and style for clients - Routines and scheduling processes can be supportive or non-supportive to service recipients. Services will strive to provide a pace, rhythm and style that fits within those of the larger community.

9. Quality of Physical Setting

To provide a valued physical setting - This goal concerns the provision of physical settings which express and reflect the value of service recipients. In the case of residential programs, this goal also includes the fostering of skills, responsibilities and values towards the maintenance of it. It asserts that quality of the physical setting can support or diminish the value of the people in it.

10. Family and Community Integration Enhancement

To enhance the quality of clients' participation in family and community life - This goal states that South Peace Community Resources Society is in an interactional relationship with the families of its clients and with the community. It looks at all activities within the programs, considering whether or not they are supportive of valued participation in family life and in the community. Adjustment and adaptation to program norms are considered secondary to supporting positive experiences in family and community life. This goal sees family and community as essential parts of the milieu for acquiring valued social roles. However, while the family and community are important, the needs of the individual are paramount.

11. Teamwork

To enable an optimum collective effort to be made on behalf of the person by program staff, in concert with all other involved professionals.

12. Organization

To establish and maintain a level and style of organization that enables an optimum effort to be made on behalf of service recipients.

13. Coherency of Practice

To use practices which truly make sense to the service recipients, and that are consistent with her/his needs and with the Society's philosophy and programs.