Jennifer tells about DS in South Africa

Renewed & Reconnected

It was an august occasion on a perfect August evening in Seattle. The first annual Dependable Strength Conference opened with a reception the Sunday evening of the 7th on a patio overlooking Lake Washington.

Our theme was “Renew and Reconnect,” and the setting was just right for the kind of relaxed yet vibrant reconnecting Jean Haldane was hoping for. She is the one who said from the beginning, “Our purpose is to meet again, to renew friendships, to share our experiences, to hear some stories, to have a conversation about how we’ve been doing (about our successes and challenges), to get to know each other again, to enhance our communication and our support for one another.” Can’t you hear her saying that?

Jean takes the podium

Jennifer Tallack, our keynote speaker, had just arrived from South Africa — away from the mid-winter chill of the Southern Hemisphere. Jennifer is the Director of the Dependable Strengths Foundation (Johannesburg), established in 2001 in cooperation with the Center for Dependable Strengths (Seattle). The seeds for the Dependable Strengths Foundation were planted by Bernard and Jean Haldane on a visit to South Africa in 1998.

Today DSF (Johannesburg) is in the forefront of the Dependable Strengths advance with out-of-the-box thinking applied to organization and administration, presentation, application, and advancement. In her keynote address, and as a workshop leader, Jennifer told about DS operating groups and DS modules, the hope DS provides to victims of poverty and HIV/AIDS and how DS is taking hold in cities, towns, and townships across South Africa.

The Center for Dependable Strengths celebrated its First Annual Conference for Practitioners & Partners on August 7 & 8, 2005, in Haggett Hall at the University of Washington, Seattle

Sunday evening included a very special moment for all of us who know how much Cal Crow means to the Center for Dependable Strengths (see “A Conversation with Cal Crow” in the Summer ’05 issue of DSNews). Cal was surprised with a special honor presented by CDS President Allen Boivin-Brown. The CDS Board was recognizing Cal’s dedicated service to CDS and his mastery, implementation, and promotion of the Dependable Strengths philosophy and methods by awarding him the first-ever honorary Dependable Strengths Master Trainer Certificate.

DS Master Trainers lead a panel discussion

Monday morning, we got down to work. Workshops represented the full range of the DS adventure, including DS for middle schools, DS in higher education, DS for churches, DS in social services, DS for women in need, and a demonstration of DS web-based software. During the breaks, you could always catch someone remarking on the high-caliber presentations, and often there would follow something like, “But, it’s just us!”

Jerald (center left) participates in a quad activity

In three general sessions, it was a delight to hear from Jerald Forster (on “DS and the Latest Research”), Jennifer Tallack (on “DSF, South Africa”), and Jean Haldane (on “Forward with DS”). In the afterglow of our big event, email at the CDS office has included comments like this one:

“You did it! I am renewed and reconnected!”