The Shining Beautiful Series Podcast

From Army to Advocate. From Job Coach to Cultural Creative.  If you are looking for ways to help people with different abilities transform their lives, it might be best to start with your own. Oh, boy!  Did Jim and Katherine cover a lot of territory in this week's episode which captures the essence of the human potential and transformation experience?   One of Katherine's favorite moments--learnin...

You probably need to do it.  We just did it. De-cluttering that is...time to make room for new opportunities, quit wasting time searching for things and create an environment ready for learning new things.

In this episode, you meet the youngest member of Mikelle's team, Mary Ann.  Sweet, sassy and like Mikelle, a little bad assy!  Mikelle interviews Mary Ann on why she chooses to be a member of the Shining Beautiful Community. Friendship grows by the day as these two ladies take on Denver. 

In this episode, you meet the youngest member of Mikelle's team, Mary Ann.  Sweet, sassy and like Mikelle, a little bad assy!  Mikelle interviews Mary Ann on why she chooses to be a member of the Shining Beautiful Community. Friendship grows by the day as these two ladies take on Denver. 

Join Mikelle and Katherine as they explore new ideas and set new goals for 2020 using the "Life Planting" metaphor of planting new intentions/seeds and goals for this next year using various planning and reflection tools for Mikelle's life, technology and business. Salena Salinas and Gretchen Storm join them in tilling the garden for future success for Mikelle.

Tis' the night before Christmas and we are settled in watching Christmas movies and gazing fondly at the Christmas Tree remembering Mikelle's kick-ass holiday party last week!  What a blast we all had.  Our smiles are shining beautifully and we hope yours are too!  Love and light to all of you!

Recently, Katherine keynoted the Louisanna Developmental Disabilities 2019 Conference. Katherine focused on the steps and stages of navigating the system from birth to adulthood to get the best out of the educational experience to create the most meaningful life for family members who experience different abilities. Navigating the system is essential not just to gain supports but to ignite a compe...

This episode is a shorty filled with love and laughter as Mikelle and Ian reminisce about old times and develop a plan to do some "fixin' up for the holidays".   Celebrating friends, family and all of you listeners!

Arghhh!  After 25 years of receiving Long Term Care Benefits, suddenly MIkelle is no longer disabled enough to receive them.  Had she suddenly become "less disabled"? No. So why was she kicked off the very benefits that make her life work?  And, why were other people like Mikelle getting the same bad news? Learn how we found out why and what we needed to do to restore them.    Referenced book on n...

As founder and president of Warrior Society Development, Jim incorporates traditional Warrior Society philosophies in his daily life. "Many think of a warrior only in physical terms, but a true warrior is a protector, guardian, educator, and advocate guided through integrity." We speak with Jim about the Native American Medicine Wheel Philosophy as a model of balance and inclusion. Plus we talk a...

In our final episode on our series on leadership and customized employment with Cary Griffin and Bob Niemiec, Griffin Hammis & Associates, we discuss advice to emerging leaders in the field of Customized Employment for people with disabilities. With their usual sense of humor and brilliance, they lay out a roadmap for the 21st Century version of Customized Employment.   Here's to two national trea...

Customized employment revolves around creating a job that is just right for the job seeker. Cary and Bob discuss strategies helping those supporting job seekers to set the job seeker up for success with their new employer, how to help organizations build support for customized employment and so much more.  Cary and Bob are masterful storytellers in part because of their incredible success. 

Wow! Almost two hours of storytelling and wisdom for leaders Bob, Niemiec, Cary Griffin and Beth Keaton!  These experts in customized and supported employment were some of the early pioneers in getting people with disabilities working in the community.   Whether you are a parent, a person experiencing a disAbility or a professional in the field, this is a great episode to become inspired and motiv...

Mikelle and Katherine welcome Salena Salinas to the Shining Beautiful team!  Talking with Salena touches your artist's heart and gives yet another reason to believe in the younger generation. Salena is one of our youngest team members.  You will enjoy the maturity and wisdom these two ladies share in their almost instant bond.  Welcome, Salena!

Why do we like this app?  Because it is more like a real conversation and it gives Mikelle time to compile her message with a video expressing her nonverbal communication. And, it is fun!! Here is a link to Mikelle using Marco Polo with Salena, one of her team members who is going into one of Mikelle's favorite stores.  Target!

We wish our best people would stay forever. Simply put. They don't. We have been down this road before, but this time we are losing a 7-year veteran of Mikelle's support team--Taylor Mason.  You have met her before.  She is wonderful and here is one reason why.  The Mikelle Bootcamp for new team members .  Listen and learn how to minimize the impact of turnover on the person receiving support serv...

Since our last posting on EVV, folks from the State of Colorado reached out to us to learn more about our frustration and the Center for Medicaid Services changed the requirement for live-in caregivers letting states decide what direction they want to do on this issue. Laurie Phipps and Katherine Carol recently met with the folks at Healthcare and Public Financing (HCPF), Colorado's Medicaid agenc...

We hesitated in recording this episode. After all, we have had a wonderful relationship with Colorado's state leaders. Together, we have attempted to work out the bugs with Colorado's efforts to comply with the Federal Electronic Visit Verification Program rollout on January 1, 2020. The effort to reduce fraud in Medicaid Waiver programs includes our cherished Consumer Directed Attendant Support S...

We rarely talk about grief in our society.  It seems an even more distant discussion if you have a disability and lose your parents. This is the first of episodes to talk about grief in an intimate and loving way.  It needs air to breathe, it needs time to transform and it needs our attention. Our listeners may remember Win Charles from an earlier episode titled "Extraordinary Women".  Win recentl...

Finding the right title for this podcast was a bit challenging. The experience of living with disAbility impacts families and communities for generations to come. Grandson and nephew, Jackson Learned , joins us at the kitchen table to share his experiences growing up with Auntie Mikelle and the impact she has had on his life and his future as a filmmaker and young man. 

We had hoped in doing our podcast, others might be inspired to start their own.  Lucky us, Colorado Apse decided to start podcasting and started with interviewing as their first episode.  Never to miss and opportunity, we were delightfully accepted.  This episode is full of laughter sprinkled with a good dose of community.  Enjoy.  Please share!

Yahoo!  The Shining Beautiful Series Podcast has inspired Colorado APSE to begin their own podcast series.  Their first interview is US! Interestingly enough, this is a simulcast.  We are interviewing them at the same time they are interviewing us.  Together, we discuss the future of Employment First for Colorado citizens with disabilities and the new Office of Employment First... more about that...

First of all....Happy 4th of July!  This podcast is short and focused.  We all want to spend time with family and friends, play games and eat burgers and barbeque.   Next week we are back on track.  We have several excellent episodes to share with you this month.    

A few weeks ago, Katherine attended the Washington Initiative on Supported Employment's Community Summit in Wenatchee, Washington.  She just happened to sit in on a session on person-centered planning and was blown away by Presenter and Senior Program Manager, Debra McLean's approach to finding genus and competence in daily activities using Person Centered Planning. Debra shows us how to build on...

We are so sad when team members move on. We dread looking for new folks but do it because we have to fill a vacancy. Our newest team member comes from an unexpected source. The Navy. On this podcast episode, listen to how this former sailor sailed into our lives and our hearts. And, why it is nice to think outside the box when hiring team members.