Government
Al interviews Dr. Guy Caruso, Ph.D. Guy, who grew up in New York State, is the father of six children - five sons and a daughter. He and his wife, MaryJo, live outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the Western Coordinator for the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, which is Pennsylvania’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service. Guy is responsible for coordinating Institute training and related activities in the western part of Pennsylvania. He works on several Institute grants and provides technical assistance to the Pennsylvania Independent Monitoring for Quality Program (IM4Q). IM4Q is a state funded and statewide program in which over 5000 interviews are conducted by people with disabilities, family members and interested others to discovery how people served/supported view their life and how we can help improve their lives. Guy has worked in human services for 49 years both in institutional and community settings (vocational, educational, residential, and recreational) and in several capacities – advocate, teacher, trainer, researcher, evaluator, and founder of values-based training groups. He has worked in ARCs, private rehabilitation, schools, universities, and as a consultant in the US and Canada. Much of his work has been with families and people with disabilities using person centered approaches in helping family and people with disabilities plan their futures. He received his master’s and Ph.D. from Syracuse University, studying and mentoring with Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D., where he became a teacher/trainer in Normalization and now Social Role Valorization* (SRV), a theory/practice to help people with disabilities, often devalued by society, gain valued roles in life. He is a member of the North America SRV Council and International SRV Association. Guy has been actively involved over the years with L’Arche, citizen advocacy, self advocacy, and Partners in Policy Making. As a Partners teacher he has had the wonderful opportunity to share and learn from Partners in many states and territories. To learn more about Social Role Valorization (SRV) go to (https://socialrolevalorization.com/); and for information on Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger in Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Wolfensberger). Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/280067349420572/ For more interviews subscribe to the Call Me Podcast on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-al/id1441852995 Season 3 of the Call Me Podcast is brought to you by CONNECT Communities. CONNECT’s mission is to Make Lives Better. We achieve this by providing complex and specialized services for people living with brain injury and stroke in a nurturing and innovative community environment. Through our Life Redesign Model™, we empower people by applying our knowledge and experience to coach, challenge and motivate each person to reach their unique personal goals and build a fulfilling life for themselves. CONNECT is one of few organizations accredited through Accreditation Canada using the Acquired Brain Injury standards. For more information visit their website: https://connectcommunities.ca/