IOA Announces Keynote Speakers for 2013 Conference

The International Ombudsman Association has announced that its annual conference will feature keynote speeches by: Ellen Schreiber, Gérard Sueur, and Glenda Eoyang. The eighth annual IOA conference is set for April 22-24, 2013 in Miami, Florida.
On Monday, April 22, Ellen Schreiber, the Ombuds at the University of Idaho, will give the first keynote on "The Sustainable Ombuds: Taking Charge of Taking Care."

Self-care has been long recognized as an essential responsibility of nearly all helping professions; and more recently, various authors and researchers from these disciplines have described it as an ‘ethical imperative.’ Self-care as an area of ombuds professional responsibility is no less essential. For not only does self-care support the continued health and well-being of the ombuds over a lengthening career life-span, but it helps to ensure that the ombuds remains effective and capable of providing quality services. This session draws on a few simple lessons learned from the natural environment and connects the concepts of sustainability and stewardship from natural resource management with a multi-dimensional wellness model to illustrate a practical framework for approaching ombuds self-care and sustainability. 

Schreiber was appointed to the University of Idaho Ombuds Office in 1998. She holds credentials as a licensed professional counselor and as a national certified counselor. She has master's degrees in counseling and human services and in vocational education (with emphasis in adult learning and development). Schreiber is an active member of the American Red Cross and serves on a disaster action team as a volunteer disaster mental health counselor.

On Tuesday, April 23, the keynote will be offered by Gérard Sueur, Pedagogical Director, The Institute of Clinical Osteopaths (IPCO), France: "Ombudsing and Law of Duality" (with a simultaneous translation from French to English).

Duality is an immanent universal law. A conflict situation arises when, in a relationship of authority, one of the two components of a duality becomes disturbing for one of the parties. In this context, an intervention of the Ombudsperson is requested. It is often by dealing himself/herself with his/her own representations, by personal development, that the ombudsperson will break the existential deadlock in which he/she is trapped -by ignorance- by that law of duality.

Sueur is a freelance trainer for the past 22 years, then Manager of FORMAREP training company in Périgueux, France.  Sueur has 28 years of experience as an osteopath and served as Pedagogical director of the IPCO Osteopathy School and the Department of the Osteopathy Academy in Paris. He earned his masters from the University of Tours.  He actively explores various approaches to cognitive development using expansion of consciousness, psycho corporal techniques and visits to indigenous peoples.

On Wednesday, April 24, Glenda Eoyang, the Executive Director of Human Systems Dynamics Institute in Minnesota will present, "Adaptive Action: Beyond Conflict Resolution."

In this time of shared inquiry and practice, Glenda Eoyang will introduce human systems dynamics, a field of inquiry that draws theory, models, and methods from chaos and complexity. She will introduce an adaptive approach that unbraids the bonds of intractable conflict and leads to constructive action in the midst of chaos. Attendees will build their own adaptive capacity and prepare to help their clients do the same.

Since 1986 Eoyanghas pioneered applications of chaos and complexity to improve adaptive capacity of people as they work and play together. She leads a network of 300 scholar practitioners who use her models and methods to engage with intractable issues, including conflict at all scales, quality of life for victims of Alzheimer’s, school transformation, public policy advocacy, healthcare delivery, technical and social innovation, and every other major challenge of the 21st century.

(IOA 2013 Conference Keynotes.)

Related posts:  University of Idaho Ombuds Publishes Annual Report; IOA Announces Keynote Speakers for 2012 Conference.