Learnings from Past Senior Manager, Bev Hills
This piece was written by Rebecca Rubuliak, Senior Leader of Continuous Improvement and Innovation and Paige Reeves, Senior Leader of Research and Social Innovation
As we work together to imagine and build a better future together, we honor and remember shared learning of the past. Bev Hills is a longtime advocate and ally, having worked with Skills Society for over 38 years in various roles. Bev was a senior manager from 2002 until her recent retirement in January of 2023. In honor of her retirement we had a chance to sit down with Bev to learn from her and explore:
What she thinks are some important moments in our Skills history;
What to keep in mind in supporting people to thrive; and
Some key learnings we can’t forget moving into the future.
Reflecting on 38 years with Skills Society, what were some important moments or highlights in our history?
Something Bev has always loved and valued about Skills Society is our commitment to evolving and changing - adapting processes and practices in response to what we’re learning and changing contexts. For Bev what’s led to important moments in our history as a disability service organization, has been our approach.
Skills has a long history of a culture of innovation and engaging in learning by doing. As a fearless leader for change, Bev was instrumental in building innovative approaches to supporting people with disabilities to lead safe, meaningful and inclusive lives in community. One example is her shared stewardship of the Melcor Housing Collaboration, an innovative collaboration with the YMCA Welcome Village that provides safe and inclusive housing for marginalized people labeled as having complex service needs in the inner city of Edmonton. Creative collaborations often play an important role in finding opportunities to try new things and new approaches to our work. So much so, that it’s one of Skills Society’s core values; looking beyond the disability sector for new and different ways to help us achieve our vision.
In our history, what has often spurred the development of innovative approaches has been deep reflection and a mindset - like the Actioner - uncovering the assumptions within our current systems, where there are gaps, challenges, and opportunities. An example is our partnership with Greater Edmonton Foundation (GEF) Seniors Housing to support seniors with developmental disabilities. Historically, and even to this day, our healthcare and PDD systems have not been well set up to support the unique support needs of seniors with developmental disabilities. Seniors with developmental disabilities have often been denied access to ‘traditional’ health run senior services available to Albertans. While at the same time, the PDD system is not built to adequately support the unique and often complex medical needs of this group. This leaves aging citizens with developmental disabilities falling through the cracks. Back in 2001, recognizing this need, Bev, and other leaders from Skills took it upon themselves to find a solution: “We realized we’ve got to figure out a better way to do this”. They worked diligently to broker a partnership between Skills Society and GEF to make a small subset of units in a seniors housing complex available to seniors with developmental disabilities. There were several tensions to navigate in bringing this partnership to life, including how to approach inter-ministerial work between Health and PDD systems and continue to support the inclusion and belonging of the residents. This innovative Horizon 1 partnership continues today and meets the imminent needs of seniors with developmental disabilities whose care would otherwise be falling through the cracks. Bev reminded us that looking to the future, further advocacy, innovation, and imagining is needed to create long term sustainable solutions that systemically meet the needs of aging citizens with developmental disabilities.
What is a significant learning that Skills should keep in mind to support people to have the best lives possible?
“Osmosis isn’t always the best teacher” - Bev Hills
In our conversation, Bev discussed the importance of being intentional about sharing and transferring knowledge of what supporting the good life looks like in our work from one generation of changemakers to the next. This helps build a common language and understanding around What does supporting people to thrive look like? What do we mean when we say belonging? How are we accountable to people’s wishes and dreams? And ensures really important learning is not forgotten. At Skills Society we feel strongly that to be allies, who are working alongside people with disabilities, we can’t forget our history and understanding of past disability rights movements. We continue to explore creative ways we can help ensure this history and knowledge isn’t lost, and that staff have opportunities to explore how they can continue to build off of the work of those who came before us and support people to thrive. Our Skills Illustrated Course and forthcoming Leadership Workbook are two examples.
Building belonging in the lives of people with disabilities
Bev also spoke to the need to reflect on how we’re bringing community members along with us as we work towards a better future, and the ongoing challenge of how just being in community doesn’t always lead to people being of community. We have to continue to dig deep when looking to support belonging in the lives of people with disabilities, because as Bev shared: “just hoping [community members] change their minds and accept people often doesn’t work.” Later in this report we share how Skills Society is taking a creative approach to this complex challenge, what we’re learning, and what it might mean for supports and service providers.
What can’t we forget moving into the future?
“Stay humble and by that I mean listen to the people you serve. We’re not the experts and we need to remember this always.” - Bev Hills
There is no one single understanding of what the ‘good life’ is. Bev highlighted the importance of not adopting one single way of viewing or thinking about supporting people to live the good life. At Skills Society we look to many diverse perspectives, including the people we serve. Every person’s life is unique, and while we have some promising patterns and principles to look to and help guide us, we cannot forget to come alongside and deeply listen to those we serve; recognizing that inclusion and belonging are best understood by the person experiencing them. Practicing in person-centred ways has been at the heart of our collective work since our beginnings. Bev’s call to action as we move into the future is to always keep the voices of those we serve at the centre of our practices.
Our Sincere Gratitude
We are so grateful to Bev for her dedication, advocacy and commitment to supporting the rights and citizenship of people with disabilities. We wish her all the best in her retirement!
