Dear NOMC You may, or may not be aware that recently the Alabama Department for the Blind and Deaf has embarked on a new endeavor and has begun a residential training program in Birmingham called The Freedom Center. Their goal is to provide Structure Discovery training to their consumers. I have been brought in to manage a project to help them meet their objectives. I can tell you that they have a long way to go and that their success in becoming a true Structured Discovery center is by no way assured. However, I strongly believe that all blind individuals deserve the best training possible regardless of their ability to relocate to one of the currently recognized training facilities and so I am willing to do what I can to ensure that the administration and staff of The Freedom Center have the tools to function under the spirit and expectations that we espouse under the Structured Discovery Trademark. Toward that end, I'm recruiting coaches like yourself to help in this effort. My ask. I am asking you to travel to Birmingham for at least a few days, preferably a full five-day week to provide coaching and mentoring. By mentoring, I mean encouragement, suggestions, and recommendations. By coaching, I mean being straight with them where their practices are not effective and helping to draw the line between what is Structured Discovery, and what is not. What is my role? I have made it perfectly clear to everyone involved with the project that I will assist in every effort to assist them become a Structured Discovery program. I have been equally clear that I will not recommend that they be recognized by the National Blindness Professional Certification Board as a Structured Discovery center unless they meet the standards that you are familiar with. What I am asking you to do is to communicate with me before the trip regarding any questions, logistics or details and then to communicate with me during or after the trip about your experience and impressions. I will need you to be completely and brutally honest with me regarding the good, the bad, and the ugly. Many of the staff are sincerely dedicated to the spirit and life that is Structured Discovery. Realizing this ideal, however, is sometimes easier said than done. I will keep any communications from you confidential but I will use your valuable input towards developing future training, in my own evaluations of the program, and in the final analysis of the overall health of the center. Compensation. For this work, I will cover your transportation, lodging, and an honorarium for your time. The honorarium is up to $1,000 for the full five days on-site, but I will have to prorate it based on the actual amount of time you can commit. I hope I can call upon you to provide your invaluable experience and professionalism in this project. Structured Discovery is a brand of rehabilitation that we have perfected for more than 70 years, and it is something that you and I have worked very hard to ensure that it does not become bastardized or watered down by those who want the title but not the work. I commit to you that I am dedicated towards this mission as well. Wherever a center like this truly shares in our passion, dedication, and philosophy I am committed to helping them achieve a first-class training program. With equal passion, I am committed to discrediting, disavowing, and calling out all of those who would seek to use our name without merit. I hope you have the time and ability to help me build this program, and as importantly, to hold its feet to the fire that is Structured Discovery. Please call or email me with any questions. I look forward to your active participation in this effort. Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC Director, Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness Louisiana Tech University 210 Woodard Hall PO Box 3158 Ruston LA 71272 Office: 318.257.4554 Fax: 318.257.2259 (Fax) Skype: edwardbell2010 <mailto:ebell at latech.edu> ebell at latech.edu <http://www.pdrib.com> www.pdrib.com ************************************************************** "I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." -- Stephen Jay Gould