Ruby Johnston

Ruby Johnston is Director of the Canadian office of the Institute for Human Services, located in Toronto, Ontario. She has a Masters degree in Organizational Development, and more than 25 years of experience in human services as a manager, consultant, and trainer. Her areas of specialization include supervision and management, organizational change, trainer development, and residential services for children and youth. She is also a trained mediator, and leads mediation, change management, and conflict resolution initiatives. Ms. Johnston was awarded membership in the Academy of Child and Youth Care Professionals in 1999. In 2000, the Board of Directors of the Ohio Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals presented her with an award for Life-Time Achievement and Outstanding Service to Ohio's Children and Youth. Ms. Johnson is a primary or contributing author of several resources and curricula related to child maltreatment, supervision and management, and residential child care. She is the principal developer of the 31-day Core Curriculum for Child and Youth Care Professionals and its associated Individual Training Needs Assessment. She is a contributing author of the IHS Core Curriculum for Supervisors and Managers, and Preservice Training for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents. Others products include: Jessica, a booklet on child sexual abuse; several modules of the IHS Core Curriculum for Foster Caregivers; Systemic Implications for Implementation of Foster Care Core, for child welfare administrators; Conflict Management, Interpersonal Skills - A Values Approach; Training of Trainers; and Curriculum Design and Format. Ms. Johnson is an adoptive parent and a former foster parent. Institute for Human Services Ms. Johnston has worked throughout the United States and Canada as a consultant and trainer in both the public and private sectors. She has provided training to thousands of child welfare and human services professionals in supervision and management skills; management of change; management of conflict; and residential care of children and youth. She has also recruited and mentored trainers for a variety of curricula, and has provided technical assistance to training managers setting up competency-based inservice training systems for child welfare. She designed and facilitated a strategic initiative to reform the system of residential care for children and youth in Manitoba, and has promoted strategic change in a variety of organizations through facilitation and mediation activities with supervisors, managers, and administrators.