Supported Decision-Making Service

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Supported Decision-Making Service for Persons with Disabilities | Service Model
The Human Rights Center for People with Disabilitis
Summary of decision-making supporter training
incorporated into Article 12 pilot
By:
Dr. Binyamin Hozmi, Academic director, Beit Issie Shapiro
Maya Goldman, social worker, lecturer and counselor, Trump Institute, Beit Issie Shapiro
Background
The international convention entrenching the rights of persons with disabilities includes Article 12
which addresses guardianship. Acknowledging the fact that persons under guardianship are denied
many rights, and based on recent developments abroad in the area of alternatives to guardianship,
Bizchut launched a pilot for "decision-making supporters" intended to offer alternative models
to guardianship. The pilot included a training program to decision-making supporters, delivered
by Bizchut in partnership with Beit Issie Shapiro. The program consisted of a course which was
held during July – September, 2014, followed by support and supplementary training meetings
during a period of one year – until September, 2015. The course was held in David Yellin College
in Jerusalem, and the supplementary meetings were held at Bizchut in Jerusalem. This document
includes an overview of the training course and supplementary group meetings, focusing on main
insights gained from the process.
The objectives of the initial and supplementary training sessions were:
· To enrich the knowledge of decision-making supporters in content worlds relevant to
their work;
· To provide the trainees with relevant skills for the role;
· To identify main relevant elements for the purpose of designing a working model;
· To support trainees' field work and enable them to raise practical issues and dilemmas in
their work.
Target audience: 11 decision-making supporters who took part in the project and provided services
to 22 individuals.
Decision-making supporters: 11 candidates were selected following a screening process which
consisted of a call for applications and personal interviews upon the conclusion of which 50% of
the applicants were accepted. The recruitment process focused on candidates, 25 years of age and
older, who are morally committed to the values of the pilot.
Course coordinators: Advocate Yotam Tolub, program director, Bizchut
Social worker Maya Goldman, lecturer and counselor, Beit Issie Shapiro