facilitating change…customizing support

OIFN Looking Back, Moving Forward 2021

Reflections on a year of growth and possibilities for the future

Check out our Year in Review document to learn about OIFN’s work and Community of Practice engagement over the past year and our intentions for the journey ahead!

OIFN Looking Back, Moving Forward 2021


The Ontario Independent Facilitation Network (known as OIFN) envisions people with developmental disabilities being supported to direct their own lives, and live as valued community members and citizens. We are a growing Community of Practice that includes people with developmental disabilities, family members, Independent Facilitators, and other allies interested in creating new ways for people to be supported. We are committed to FACILITATING CHANGE and CUSTOMIZING SUPPORT in the lives of people with developmental disabilities, and their families.

Independent Facilitation

Independent Facilitation is an ongoing process that supports people to create change. Through conversations over time, people and their family members and/or loved ones are supported to imagine possibilities, make their own choices, think about, plan for, and take steps toward creating the ordinary, everyday lives that they want in their chosen neighbourhoods and communities.

Independent facilitators support people to strengthen their voices, share their wants, needs, and gifts, and work toward their visions of a promising future. Independent facilitators work with people and families over time, assisting people to tell their stories, identify and work on action steps, and reflect on learning and new possibilities as they come into their adult lives. As things evolve, independent facilitators support people and families to talk about changes, so that next steps reflect people’s current wishes, preferences, and visions for their lives.

Independent Facilitation is grounded in a set of capacities, core beliefs, and values.
Visit “The Practice” section of oifn.ca to learn more about:

We also encourage you to look through our website and visit the Resources page for OIFN Publications and contributions from others, including the OIFN Scope of Practice of Independent Facilitation.


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What This Time has Meant by Judith McGill

I think what I find most remarkable about living through this global pandemic, is the dawning awareness that I share this experience in common with some 7.8 billion other souls around the world. There has been no place in the world that has not felt the impact of the pandemic, whether it has been big or small. I feel for the first time in my life that I am not a particle floating around in the world alone. ​

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OIFN Reflective Practice Conversation: Exploring the Role of Facilitating Change

OIFN’s Community of Practice continues to gather regularly for opportunities to grow and learn together and contribute to a greater movement for people living with developmental disabilities.

Emerging from feedback shared at previous gatherings, the theme of this Reflective Practice Conversation created space for participants to learn about and reflect on the relational work involved in Independent Facilitation, particularly how independent facilitators work in relation to other systems and service providers and support people to form and build connections in their neighbourhoods and communities.

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OIFN FRAMEWORK FOR AN ORDINARY, EVERYDAY LIFE

This Framework for an Ordinary, Everyday Life is comprised of a number of separate functions that work together to support people to take on valued social roles and to be engaged and contribute to their neighbourhoods and communities:

join the OIFN book club

OIFN Book ClubLove reading? Check out the OIFN Book Club on Facebook, where we discuss books about disability issues and wider ideas of leadership and community. Click the image to learn more!