Program Training
Jan Miller & Associates offers individual and group training. We serve a diverse group of students with a variety of abilities and disabilities. We do this by custom designing our programs to meet the unique needs of the individual, where students can choose one or a combination of programs to meet their needs. Our programs focus on the ‘soft skills’ needed to have successful participation in life. Soft skills are the non-technical skill abilities and traits that students need to function in an educational setting.

Factors such as self-confidence, self-awareness, self-control, commitment, and integrity not only create more successful students but also more successful schools.

Soft Skills Assessment Report
This assessment is for students who want a profile of their learning and motivational traits. It gives insight into a student’s “soft skills”. Soft skills refer to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that we each express to varying degrees. Students who understand their own “soft skills” can often present themselves more effectively.

Comprehensive Program
This program is for students who want to take advantage of multiple programs. Our Comprehensive Program is custom designed and includes sections from each program. It focuses on overcoming the many barriers that have prevented successful participation in life.

Individual or group programs (ten hours):

Self Esteem and Confidence (Managing Expectations)
This program is designed for students whose lack of confidence and self-esteem is hampering their ability to function in the world around them. They will learn how to communicate self-respect and respect for others, how to present a confident image, how to identify a support system within and outside of their home and school environment, and the language of confidence.

Personal Hygiene
This program is designed for students whose level of personal hygiene is not appropriate for social, school or placement situations. They will learn the value of personal hygiene, the consequences of inappropriate personal hygiene, and to be motivated to attain and maintain an appropriate level of personal hygiene.

Interpersonal Skills for Effective Relationships
This program is designed for students who have had difficulty using appropriate social skills. They will learn the importance of appropriate boundaries, how to differentiate between social skills at leisure, verses those used in other places such as school or work, appropriate behaviours and conversations for different contexts, and how to establish healthy relationships.

Good Employee / Good Employer
This program is for a student with no work history or has a history of negative work relationships. They will learn appropriate behavior and relationships for the workplace, employees’ rights and responsibilities, employers’ rights and responsibilities, problem solving on the job, how to develop healthy attitudes towards their employer, work standards and how to ask for what they need and how to understand and be understood on the job.

Coping With Anxiety
This program is for students unable to fully participate in life because of excessive levels of anxiety or shyness. They will learn techniques for reducing anxiety and panic attacks, and skills for handling anxiety

Coping With Shyness
This program is for people experiencing problems in the workplace because of excessive levels of shyness. They will learn how to understand shyness traits, techniques for managing shyness and skills for handling shyness in the classroom or workplace.

Anger Management
This program is for students who are having difficulties because they have problems managing their anger responses. This often makes it difficult for them to maintain involvement in structured activities and to have healthy relationships. They will learn techniques to handle anger, awareness of their own triggers, how to handle criticism effectively, how to change their perspective on other people’s behavior, appropriate expressions of dissatisfaction or anger, and effective strategies for changing attitudes, theirs and others.

Manage Your Chronic Pain and Stay Involved
This program is designed for students who are dealing with chronic pain causing difficulties in staying involved in different aspects of life. They will learn how to manage their chronic pain conditions on a daily basis, strategies that reduce symptoms, and understand and cope with their symptoms.

The Art of Assertiveness and Negotiating
This program is for students who need to learn effective assertiveness strategies while negotiating and interacting with others. They will learn communication rights and responsibilities, beliefs and attitudes that support assertiveness, assertiveness skills, techniques for Win/Win negotiating, how to express clearly so they can be understood, and how to be a team player.

Influence and Persuasion as a Leader
This course is for students who are preparing to start a job search and will be looking for work or work placements. They will learn how to present themselves as the prepare for interviews by learning techniques for successful interviews, developing skills for influencing people and practicing effective interview skills

Sales and Practical Skills for Retail
This program is for the student who wants to be involved in sales. It includes customer service for employees, employers and entrepreneurs. The participant will learn the framework for successful sales, beliefs and attitudes required for effective selling, building relationships that ensure sales and the fundamentals of customer service.

Components that can be added to these programs (eight hours):

Coping with Depression
This component is for students who are struggling with depression. It helps them to understand depression and to learn effective strategies for coping in the learning environment, as well as how to unpack depression and use motivational techniques to break its pattern of depression.

Making Your Disability an Ability
This component is for students who feel their disability is a huge obstacle for them to participate fully in life’s various aspects. It redefines disability, recognizes personal strengths that have emerged from coping with disability, identifying accommodation needs and learning effective methods of requesting them, and making places and situations work for you.

Addictions
This component is for students whose addictions get in the way of participating fully in life. They will learn how to access community resources that work with addictions as well as about the process of behavioural change, key triggers of addictive behaviours, new ways to disrupt negative patterns and creating personal support networks.

Improving Memory
This component is for students who are having difficulties with memory or want to enhance their memory skills. It helps them understand memory, be in charge of their own brain, recognize beliefs and attitudes that support remembering, develop strategies for effective memory work, use language that supports remembering and being effective.

Stress Management
This component is for students having difficulty managing the stress of educational environments. It helps them understand the difference between good stress and bad stress, identifying individual stressors, and also finding effective strategies for dealing with personal stress.

Inclusive Workshop
This is for people who are working or plan to work with a member of the Deaf Community. They will learn signs for basic courtesy, how to make deaf people as well as themselves, feel more comfortable while interacting with each other, and some basic information of the Deaf Community and people who are hard of hearing.