Community Recreation Initiatives Society (C.R.I.S.) Adapted Outdoor Adventures is one of CONNECT Lake Country's favorite community partners. This is an inclusive program designed to make the outdoors accessible to people of all levels of ability. C.R.I.S. runs adapted hiking, cycling and kayaking trips all throughout the Okanagan using special equipment and trained staff and volunteers.
Connect Langley has undergone some major renovations since late April of this year. The 3 main projects are now in their final phases, and Connect Langley will soon be back to business as usual with more capacity and improved environments for our residents, their families and our employees. We would like to thank John Kits, Designer extraordinaire, Keith Kowlson, General Contractor bar none and all the sub trades who have worked tirelessly to bring our vision to reality. Keith and his crew did everything they could to minimize the projects' impact on residents and staff.
The Interdependence Network is a collaborative effort between six disability-based human service organizations from Canada and the United States. The Interdependence network was formed over three years ago to explore the concept of social capital and community engagement and its role in the field of rehabilitation and the lives of people with disabilities.
Karen Tims, Leader CONNECT Lake Country and Patti Flaherty, CONNECT Executive Director will be speaking at the upcoming Alberta Brain Injury Conference. The title of the presentation is: Connect Lake Country: A New Service Model - Building Resources for Life. The conference is being held at the Hyatt in Calgary from Nov 11-13th, 2011. For more info about the conference go to www.biaa.ca/abic2011.
Lance RB Bethell - Work and Trades Coach - Connect Langley
In January of this year I joined CONNECT Langley after a career path that has been wide and, to say the least, varied in nature. I have renovated homes (custom inlayed hardwood flooring being my specialty), have had fun in various areas of the hospitality industry (cook, bellman, front doorman, VIP chauffeur), worked long hours in the high-stress film industry (location manager, production coordinator, 2nd assistant director on commercials) to name a few. I am a graduate of BCIT’s Sales and Marketing Diploma program and have an honours diploma in Film Visual Effects. So the next obvious step was to join a stable and reputable company specializing in the area of acquired brain injury right?
Jim was one of the first residents to move into CONNECT Lake Country. His first comment upon seeing his new home back in Jan 2009 was “I’ve slept in $300 a night hotel rooms that weren’t this nice!”. Jim believes he has carved a path for others to follow. He recently celebrated his fourth year of sobriety with Alcoholics Anonymous. Jim is proud to be an AA member and feels there is an interlinking connection this membership and his new found independence. He has also spent the last two years working with the Coordinated Okanagan Brain Injury Services division of Braintrust Canada during which he was a guest speaker and he was also a mentor of Substance Abuse for the Brain Injured.
J.P. Forest is an experienced skydiver with over 1800 dives under his belt. J.P. is the founder of a highly successful surveillance system company and is an avid videographer. He combined the skills he obtained at work with his hobby and became a Camera Flyer. Camera Flyers are the guys that jump out of the plane with a camera attached to their helmet and record the proceedings on the way down.
