Practical Learning for Everyday Support
Laurel Supports offers a range of capacity-building opportunities designed to strengthen the skills, confidence, and understanding of service providers, families, and support networks. These sessions focus on enhancing quality of life and supporting individuals in ways that are meaningful to them. Grounded in strengths-based, person-centered, and neurodiversity-affirming approaches, participants will explore how to create supportive environments, foster autonomy, and promote well-being, connection, and participation in everyday life.
Our learning opportunities are fully customizable, with flexible options for content, length, and group size, offered both in-person or virtually. If you are looking for a topic that is not listed, we would be happy to work alongside you to create a customized learning experience that reflects the unique needs of your team, organization, or community.
Please see below for a brief overview of our available learning opportunities.
Workshops
This session explores person-centered thinking through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, recognizing and valuing the many ways individuals think, communicate, and engage with the world. We’ll look at how person-centered approaches can support autonomy, identity, and a meaningful quality of life for people with diverse abilities.
Using videos and real-life examples, participants will be introduced to seven practical person-centered thinking tools that can be used in everyday practice. These tools focus on strengths-based perspectives, respect for individual preferences, and working collaboratively to provide support.
Participants will also receive resources to help their teams take part in inclusive, person-driven planning and decision-making, ensuring each person’s voice is heard and respected.
In this session, participants will explore positive behaviour support as a way to understand and respond to behaviour as meaningful communication. The focus will be on recognizing each person’s strengths, needs, and differences, and supporting individuals in ways that respect their autonomy and lived experience.
Participants will learn practical ways to reduce distress and support regulation by adapting environments, building skills, and working together to develop meaningful, supportive strategies. The session will also look at how positive behaviour support can enhance quality of life through collaborative, person-directed approaches. Several real-life case examples will be shared.
In this session, participants will deepen their understanding of trauma and how it can shape a person’s experiences, responses, and ways of engaging with the world. Grounded in a neurodiversity-affirming approach, we’ll explore how trauma can intersect with different ways of thinking, feeling, communicating, and responding to the environment.
Participants will reflect on how to recognize signs of distress and respond in ways that support safety, choice, autonomy, and emotional well-being. Together, we’ll look at practical, compassionate strategies to reduce the risk of re-traumatization by creating supportive environments and building trust-based relationships.
This session invites participants into a collaborative conversation focused on respectful, responsive, and individualized support practices.
This session explores CLBC’s updated Behaviour Support and Safety Planning policy (April 2024) through a neurodiversity-affirming, person-centered lens. Participants will reflect on how the policy is grounded in values like dignity, autonomy, and respect for diverse ways of being.
We’ll review the guiding principles that shape practice, including considerations around restrictive practices, medical interventions, and prohibited approaches, with a focus on minimizing intrusion and promoting quality of life. Using real-life case examples, participants will critically reflect on how to align their practice with the policy while supporting individual rights, choice, and meaningful participation.
This interactive workshop focuses on understanding anxiety as a meaningful and individualized experience, and exploring supportive strategies that promote regulation, safety, and well-being. The focus is on recognizing each person’s unique cues, strengths, and ways of communicating distress.
Using a real-life case example, participants will learn how to observe and understand patterns of escalation, gather meaningful information, and identify supportive approaches that align with the individual’s preferences, needs, and lived experience. The session highlights collaborative, person-directed strategies that build capacity, reduce distress, and support individuals in navigating anxiety in ways that feel safe and empowering.
This workshop introduces foundational concepts in positive behaviour support through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, recognizing behaviour as a meaningful form of communication. Participants will explore how individual experiences, environments, and support needs can influence behaviour.
The session covers the ABCs of behaviour and the different functions behaviour may serve, with a focus on understanding context and supporting regulation rather than trying to change the person. Participants will learn proactive, respectful strategies to create supportive environments and reduce distress.
Interactive activities are included to deepen understanding and encourage reflection. This foundational workshop is a good fit for individuals who are new to the field of social and community services and want to build compassionate, person-centered approaches to support.
Social connection plays an important role in building meaningful relationships with family members, peers, coworkers, and community members. This session explores the diverse ways people connect and communicate, recognizing that social engagement can look different for everyone.
Rather than focusing on “teaching” social skills in a fixed way, we’ll look at how to support authentic connection, shared understanding, and inclusion by tailoring support to each person’s preferences, strengths, and communication style. Participants will review practical, respectful strategies and resources to support relationship-building, with a focus on creating opportunities for belonging and meaningful engagement.
Case examples will be shared to highlight responsive, individualized approaches that honour each person’s unique way of navigating the social world.
Compassion and empathy are at the heart of caregiving and support roles, and the emotional demands of this work can build up over time. This session explores how ongoing stress and relationship-based work may contribute to feelings of fatigue, overwhelm, or reduced capacity.
Participants will learn to recognize their own responses and needs, and reflect on how to maintain balance while continuing to provide thoughtful, person-centered support. Through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, we’ll explore practical strategies that support regulation, resilience, and sustainable practice—such as accessing supports, setting boundaries, and building supportive team environments.
Resources and practical tools will be shared to help support ongoing well-being.
People with diverse abilities often face barriers to accessing inclusive and meaningful sexual health education. When information isn’t adapted to a person’s learning style or communication needs, it can limit understanding and increase vulnerability.
This workshop explores sexuality as a natural and important part of human experience, with a focus on respecting autonomy, identity, and individual values. Participants will explore key components of sexual health education, common misconceptions and biases and strategies for engaging in respectful, meaningful conversations.
Participants will also be introduced to practical tools and credible resources that support accessible, affirming sexual health education.
This presentation explores essential skills for support workers and care providers through a neurodiversity-affirming, person-centered lens. Participants will focus on building authentic connections, offering meaningful choices, and using supportive strategies that respect each person’s communication style, preferences, and autonomy.
The session also looks at how language and relationships shape people’s experiences and outcomes, with an emphasis on respectful, strengths-based interactions. Interactive activities are included to encourage reflection and help participants apply what they learn in everyday practice.
This workshop is a good fit for those new to the field, as well as anyone looking to strengthen their ability to provide responsive, individualized, and inclusive support.
As members of the support network, we are committed to supporting individuals in ways that honour their strengths, preferences, and autonomy. Rather than focusing on “maximizing potential,” this session focuses on supporting people to live meaningful, self-directed lives based on what matters most to them.
Participants will explore how to identify and support personally meaningful goals, recognizing that growth and learning look different for everyone. We’ll look at how to create responsive learning environments that reflect each person’s communication style, interests, and support needs.
This session also guides participants through collaborative goal-setting, a range of flexible teaching strategies, ways to determine what is a good fit for the individual, and respectful methods for observing and reflecting on progress. The focus is on supporting engagement, choice, and meaningful participation across all aspects of life.
This workshop is designed for those supporting individuals with diverse ways of communicating, learning, and processing information. Grounded in a neurodiversity-affirming approach, it explores how visual strategies can enhance understanding, autonomy, and meaningful engagement.
Participants will explore practical, creative tools—such as accessible visuals, infographics, and personalized supports—that help make information clearer and more responsive to each person’s preferences and needs. The session emphasizes adapting communication in ways that honour individual strengths, promote clarity, and support connection.
Participants will also gain insights into creating supportive environments that foster understanding, participation, and inclusion.
Let’s Connect
If you’re interested in any of these learning opportunities, please reach out to us.
