About P.N.A. Change Consultants
P.N.A. Change Consultants was established in 2010 in order to service the unique needs of individuals who have multiple employment barriers. Applying cognitive and motivational methodologies that have become well accepted in other fields of human intervention, P.N.A. Change Consultants focuses on assisting vocational rehabilitation services, social service and employment agencies to become more purposeful and deliberate in their efforts to support those “difficult to employ” to move towards employment.
P.N.A. Change Consultants bring a rare blend of academic rigor and practical common sense to their assignments, with an excellent understanding of the operational contexts of social service organizations. One of our key areas of success has been in working with individuals who deliver services to difficult-to-serve populations within the human service fields. We have made important new contributions to this field and have been involved in a number of system-wide initiatives for implementation employability programs and services. Our work in this area has included the design of a range of structured motivation-based programs, casework and case-management approaches and assessment techniques for casework and case-management approaches for a range of social service professionals.
Each of our programs is grounded in the principle that the appropriate services should be extended to the right clients. We believe the quality of our program designs and the dynamic nature of our training has imparted a new sense of enthusiasm about the potential of service delivery among frontline and other professional staff with whom we have worked. We see the satisfaction of our clients as the singularly most important aspect of our marketing strategy.
What Sets Us Apart?
- Longevity … The Executive Director of P.N.A. has worked in the field for over 25 years;
- An International Perspective … we have provided staff training and consulting services throughout Canada, in over thirty U.S. States, and internationally in dozens of countries;
- A Balanced Evidence-Based Approach … we bring what we believe is a rare blend of academic rigour and down-to-earth, seasoned practicality to all of our consulting, training and program development assignments;
- Integrity … we accept the limits of our own knowledge and will not take on assignments that we cannot complete competently. We will not work for agencies or organizations if we believe that they will not seriously attempt to improve practice and support practitioners;
- Enduring Enthusiasm … working with hard to serve clients is de-motivating for many practitioners. We have sustained our own personal enthusiasm knowing that social service staff “want” to make a difference … and that we can help them “make that difference”.
- Curiosity for New Ideas … in our program development and consulting work over the years, we have strived to remain cutting-edge and revise, revisit and re-infuse our work with the most respected findings in the field;
- Focus … our preference is for small projects that are exciting or innovative and big projects that are important. We try to focus on working to make a contribution, not to make a profit.
- Respect for Clients … we have genuine respect and appreciation for the realities faced by social service organizations, including:
What We Respect?
- The overwhelming workloads and unique information requirements of managers, policymakers, and line staff;
- The obstacles and challenges of program implementation and delivery in social service settings;
- The sources of resistance for field staff who must push initiatives forward;
- The structure, functions and accountabilities of public and private sector agencies and the difficulties that are encountered in offering services hard to serve clients.
Among the services provided P.N.A. Change Consultants design, develop and implement cognitive and motivational based programs, design and deliver specific needs based training and workshops and motivational interviewing training, structured motivation based assessments and case work strategies and consultancy services in individual and organizational change management.
Some of the highlights include …
- The design of custom tailored Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Training – Cognitive Motivational Tools for Negotiating Behaviour Change to help these professionals learn to work “motivationally” with their clients; Add a tab that they can push to go to workshops/training
- Design of motivational-based programs that can become a core aspect of the Vocational Rehabilitation process (for example, for individuals with disabilities, injured workers, displaced workers – cf. Contemplating Change)
- Special focus program for clients with mental health issues who need employability support (cf.Ready, Set, Go! Moving Towards Employment); and
- Designed work reintegration counseling and programs for individuals on social assistance (cf. N.O.W.: New Outlook on Working);
These specifically designed programs and interventions are currently being widely applied in the social service and employment counseling fields across Canada and the US. These include:
- Contemplating Change — a short motivational intervention of 4 or 5 sessions that aims to get individuals to consider what the title implies; to contemplate change towards employment. See more…
- N.O.W. – New Outlook on Working — an intervention that marries both cognitive and motivational principles to assist and engage individuals who have been on long-term social assistance to develop personal skills and resources for a new outlook regarding employment. See more…
- Ready Set Go! Moving Towards Employment — R.S.G. is a unique group-based intervention program that adopts a radically different approach in assisting individuals with mental illness move towards employment. See more…
About the Executive Director