Welcoming International Visitors

Last week, (April 3-5) at the request of Marianne Farkas, the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at the BU Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Kelley Gamble and Michael Seibold presented a three-day overview of BU’s Psychiatric Rehabilitation model at Boston University for four visitors from Singapore. The group included two psychiatrists, a psychologist and an occupational therapist. They are on a learning mission as they prepare to open a new rehabilitation wing to their hospital for individuals with major mental health challenges. The group was delightful to work with and had many questions about how to implement this approach “back home.”

In addition, our new Singaporean friends visited The Whitin Mill on Monday (4/8) hosted by Dennis Rice and Kelley Gamble. They spent the afternoon hearing about the techniques and approaches developed by Open Sky’s affiliated partner, Alternatives, to generating community membership for the people we serve. They explored various methods to creating community partnerships and supporting individuals to develop valued roles with a sense of truly “belonging” in their local communities. The BU Center regularly refers its international visitors to visit us at The Whitin Mill as a featured stop on their learning missions. All in all, Dennis, Michael and Kelley did a great job representing Open Sky and adding to our growing list of professional connections and friends from around the world.