The 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

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.  

  

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.

  

MAIN WEB SITE:     www.thelearningclinic.ca

Supplemental Web Site Affiliations:

www.concussionmanagementpartners.ca
www.afterthewhistle.com
www.valleyeasttoday.ca
www.infocomcanada.com

LINKEDIN PROFILE:

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=64736354&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

FACEBOOK PAGE

https://www.facebook.com/RobertTKirwan  

  

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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