The 2015 Spring Institute event took place this year in a new venue – the Tatamagouche Centre in Nova Scotia. It was a great opportunity for local facilitators to showcase their region and share their stories. The ISW community is a diverse and increasingly widespread network of people and the Institute included many familiar and new activities for participants. One of the most exciting first-time activities was a teleconference that connected Spring Institute participants with ISW members from BC, California, Ontario and India in a thought-provoking discussion, facilitated by Jacquie Conway.

The Institute participants, in conversation with Diane Morrison (California), David Tickner (BC), Jill Grose (dialing in with her cellphone while pulled over at the side of the road in Ontario!) and Monica Sachdeva (India) were able to identify concerns, discuss issues and alternatives and come up with some targeted “next steps”, despite being unable to meet face-to-face. Cheryl King and Bruce Bennet assisted by capturing a record of the talks on flipcharts and Joan McArthur-Blair provided timely technical support and photos.

The tele-discussions led to the formation of a small group tasked with developing a comprehensive explanation and documentation of the value of ISW for our colleagues in other countries unfamiliar with the model. Coordinated by Jill Grose, ISW Advisory Committee Co-chair, the group is developing a “getting started” package of information that will contextualize the essential components of ISW and FDW, explain how to access logos, sample certificates, helpful resources, and list other places that provide equivalency credit for ISW.

If you’d like to participate in this initiative, please contact Jill Grose, co-Chair, ISW International Advisory Committee.