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Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic |
 Robert Kirwan has
worked as an independent business consultant primarily in the fields
of marketing, public relations and business management and
development since 1978.
In June 2001, he decided to retire from a 28-year career as a
classroom teacher to devote full-time to his practice. He
founded The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic in 2007, specializing in
the fields of education, training and career development.
Mr. Kirwan now works as a Program Development Consultant helping
employers and managers create an effective professional development
and customized training program that will empower employees to keep
up-to-date with advances in their industry and enable them to
advance their skill levels, thereby improving overall productivity.
Services
provided through The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic:
Training
& Staff Development Programs for Corporations and Institutions
Education
& Career Planning for Secondary & Post-Secondary School
Students
Mental
Health & Wellness Strategies for Parents of Children & Youth
Return
to Learn Consulting & Advocacy for Parents of Children &
Youth with Concussions
Business
Development & Growth Management Consulting
Marketing
& Public Relations Consultation for Small Business |
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EDUCATION,
TRAINING & CAREER DEVELOPMENT
The
Role of A Learning Coach
by Robert Kirwan
As a
specialist in education, training, and staff development, I find
myself changing roles from time to time in order to focus on the
task at hand.
For
example, it is important to know the difference between education
and training; between training and coaching; and between coaching
and mentoring. Many people think those terms and roles are
interchangeable, but they are not, especially when it comes to
working with adult learners, with individuals who have not found
success in traditional educational institutions, or with employees
who depend on you to help them develop the skills necessary to be
successful in their chosen career.
What
is education?
Education
involves the learning of knowledge. It is up to instructors to find
the most effective way of helping their students acquire the
knowledge they need in order to be successful in achieving their
goals. If you are working with an adult learner pr employee who
wishes to work in an electrical career, then he needs to know
something about electricity before he begins. There is basic
knowledge that is needed.
What
is training?
Training
is the teaching of skills to generate consistent competency in your
student or employee. So once you have the basic knowledge, you then
have your student perform the necessary skills over and over again
until he gains the confidence and competence needed to perform the
job. Furthermore, you don't just do the skill once and move on. You
perform the skill over and over again until you can say you are
consistently competent in that area.
What
is coaching?
Coaching
is all about enhancing performance. Therefore, in order for training
to be successful, you need a competent coach working with the
students or with the employees. You need a person who can help the
student/employee while he is learning the skills and who can do this
in a way that will assist the student in acquiring the skills that
will make him competent enough to do the work on his own. No matter
how skilled you become in your job, you can always use a coach who
can observe what you are doing and give you practical advice on how
to enhance your performance.
What
is mentoring?
Mentoring
is a thread that should weave throughout education, training and
coaching. Mentoring is about helping an individual identify his/her
purpose and passion. It is about helping a person achieve their life
goals and aspirations. It is also about helping a person match
his/her strengths and talents with realistic goals and passions so
that it is possible to successfully achieve those goals. It is about
making the right choices in life and being motivated to make a
difference in this world. It is about realizing your potential and
becoming the best you can be in this life. Mentoring can make a huge
difference in the bottom line for any company. It is a matter of
finding the right person for the job and then helping each person
become the best he/she can be to achieve their maximum potential and
maximum level of job satisfaction.
What
is my role as a Learning Coach?
As a
Learning Coach, my role is to combine all of the above roles and
responsibilities in coming up with the right plan for the people
with whom I am working. Whether they be young students or older
adults; educational institutions or corporations; my job is to
determine the education needed, develop the most appropriate
training program, and then find the right coaching team to help with
the training. But perhaps my most important role is to help
individuals discover their natural talents and abilities and their
true passion for life in order to make the right choices in the
first place when it comes to selecting a career they wish to pursue.
I can give you the education you need. I can develop a training
program for you. I can find good coaches. But if your heart is not
in what you are doing, all of this will mean nothing and you will
never achieve success. |
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PERSONAL
PROFILE
Robert Kirwan, M.A. (Ed), OCT
 Robert
Kirwan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from
Laurentian University in 1972. He graduated with a Master of Arts
degree in Education from Central Michigan University in 1984. He has
been an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) since 1973 and is a member
in good standing of the Ontario College of Teachers. In 2010 he was
elected as a Trustee with the Rainbow District School Board which
operates 37 elementary schools and 10 secondary schools over an area
of 15,000 square kilometers, including Sudbury, Espanola, Manitoulin
and Shining Tree.
After
a 28 year career as a classroom teacher, Mr. Kirwan decided to open
a full-time private practice as a Program Development Consultant. He
founded The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic in 2007, specializing in
the fields of education, training and career development.
Student-Athlete
Concussion Management Specialist
Since
the summer of 2011, he has been working in partnership with Dr.
Michael Czarnota,
Ph. D., a licensed neuropsychologist from Detroit who is a
specialist in sport-related concussions. Together they have
developed concussion management protocols and procedures
for children and youth which can be adapted by school boards and
minor sport organizations. Mr. Kirwan is committed to helping raise
the standard with respect to the identification and rehabilitation
of concussions. He also feels strongly that formal
"return-to-learn" protocols are critical to the successful
treatment of concussions experienced by children and youth.
Affiliation
with the Pure Wellness Group
Mr.
Kirwan is pleased to be a member of the Pure Wellness Group, which
is Directed by Dr. Allan Price. He will be available to provide
individual consultation services to parents of children and youth
who are suffering from the effects of a concussion. He will help
parents and classroom teachers develop an individualized education
plan that will help them better understand how to identify the
signs, symptoms and behaviours consistent with concussion so that
they are able to implement an appropriate personal rehabilitation
program for the injured child/youth which will have the best chance
of achieving full recovery and a return to pre-injury academic
levels.
Founding
Director of the Sudbury Wellness Group
In
September 2013, Robert Kirwan and Dr. Allan Price decided to become
the Founding Directors of the Sudbury Wellness Group of Affiliates.
They wanted to develop an alignment of professionals from the fields
of medicine, education, science, finance and law. The goal is to
empower people with autonomy for their personal overall health and
wellness by providing a referral base to an elite team of
proficient, compassionate and results-driven affiliates who are
operating their own clinics and practices from a variety of
locations within the community.
The
Sudbury Wellness Group therefore represents a virtual model of an
integrated health and wellness clinic where associated professionals
unite in a community focused approach dedicated to the provision of
services and products designed to assist families improve their
quality of life through the attendance at special workshops and
through easy and free access to a variety of online and clinic
resources. Our goal is to evolve into a virtual teaching
“institution” where the community is the classroom and our
patients and clients are our students.
As the
Founding Director of the Sudbury Wellness Group, Robert Kirwan is
responsible for the growth and development of the organization with
respect to adding new Affiliates, expanding the “virtual hospital
model” and facilitating educational workshops for the general
public through schools and organizations across the City of Greater
Sudbury.
PERSONAL
BACKGROUND
Robert
and his wife, Valerie, are both life-long residents of the Greater
Sudbury Area, having grown up in the towns of Lively and Creighton
Mine respectively. They were married in 1972 and raised three very
active, sport minded sons who all graduated from the Business and
Commerce Program at Laurentian University. They now have seven
grandchildren, two wonderful daughters-in-law and consider family as
their top priority in life. |
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Private
Practice:
Education, Training, & Staff Development Consultant.
I have worked as an independent business consultant primarily in the
fields of marketing, public relations and business management and
development since 1978.
In June 2001, when I decided to devote full-time to my practice, I
began focusing more on the areas of Education, Training, Career
& Staff Development.
I now work as a Program Development Consultant helping employers and
managers create an effective professional development and customized
training program that will empower employees to keep up-to-date with
advances in their industry and enable them to advance their skill
levels, thereby improving overall productivity.
I also provide services in the area of career planning for youth in
secondary and post-secondary schools. It is very important for young
people to receive effective guidance when making critical life
altering choices about their education and career path.
In the areas of Public Relations & Corporate Image Enhancement,
I will continue to develop and implement a variety of strategies
which will help create a public education program that will
effectively utilize print, video, radio and the internet. This is a
service that will be popular with business owners, professionals,
and public sector institutions wishing to create more public
awareness of their goods and/or services. This should be of
particular interest to companies that are seeking to establish a
greater profile in Northeastern Ontario in order to expand their
market base or to recruit employees for their international
operations. My knowledge of the Ontario education sector will serve
me well when it comes to implementing strategic plans for the
companies with which I become involved.
For
more information go to www.thelearningclinic.ca
Rainbow
District School Board
Elected School Board Trustee
I was
elected to office as a Rainbow District School Board Trustee for
Area 3, Wards 5 & 6 of the City of Greater Sudbury on December
1, 2010 for a four year term that will end on November 30, 2014.
My previous experience as a classroom teacher; a local union
president; and working with children and parents through my private
practice as a tutoring agent has allowed me to bring a new
perspective to the board, enabling me to make a difference in the
education and learning landscape in the Greater Sudbury Area.
For
more information go to www.rainbowschools.ca
Concussion
Management Partners Inc.
President & CEO, Principal Partner
Dr.
Michael Czarnota, is a practicing Neuropsychologist from Detroit
with extensive experience in sport-related Concussions. I am an
Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) who holds a Master’s Degree in
Education and is currently serving as a School Board Trustee. We are
the founding partners of a private practice which provides
concussion management program development workshops to school boards
and minor sport organizations in Canada and the USA.
Dr. Czarnota and I will be providing coaches, parents, volunteers
and teachers from school boards
and minor sport organizations establish the foundation for a new
and/or revised concussion management program for young athletes and
will include the most practical, effective and up-to-date procedures
and protocols for sport-related concussion identification and
rehabilitation.
We
will also be available to take on various responsibilities for the
implementation and management of the board or organization-wide
concussion management program if desired.
For more information on this service, you should go to the web site
at www.concussionmanagementpartners.com
The
Learning Clinic Radio Show
Live Talk Radio Show Host
I host
The Learning Clinic, a live talk radio show that is broadcast from
the CKLU 96.7 FM studio at Laurentian University in Sudbury every
Monday afternoon from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
The show is also streamed live over the internet from www.cklu.ca
and most of the shows are archived on the web site at www.thelearningclinic.ca.
The show features interviews with special guests who provide insight
into the world of education, training, career planning and
development, employment agencies, private career colleges, and
pretty well anybody from the public and private sector who can add
some information that may be helpful to people from secondary school
to retirement who are interested in entering or advancing in their
career path. |
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