Update Oct. 26, 2020: The Child Neurology Foundation is pleased to announce that our facilitator Paul Cooper, CPF, alongside CEO Amy Brin, MSN, MA, PCNS-BC, have been honored with a Platinum level Facilitation Impact Award. Read more on our entry about “Shifting to a Convening Model of Operation” here. 

We would like to announce the exciting news that Paul Cooper, CPF, is receiving a 2020 Facilitation Impact Award with the Child Neurology Foundation.

As a collaborative center of education and support for children and their families living with neurologic conditions, the Child Neurology Foundation is a convener for everyone in the community — noting gaps and opportunities, inviting all stakeholders to the table, holding the space for honest conversation, remaining agnostic about any particular outcomes, and supporting new opportunities for connection and collaboration.

Paul’s role as a facilitator is key to the Child Neurology Foundation’s culture of convening and collaboration. His recent award by the International Association of Facilitators is testimony to the power of facilitation to achieve measurable and positive impact.

Paul, who has devoted more than 25 years of his career to improving collaboration and communication, has worked with the Child Neurology Foundation since 2015. During that time, he has facilitated numerous gatherings including internal conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization, CNF’s monthly Community of Practice sessions for leaders of peer organizations, workshops for physicians, day-long multi-discipline meetings between families, clinicians, and researchers, and much more.

“Facilitation is not just another form of meeting management. Paul has taught me that true, authentic facilitation is about preparing and then holding a space for vulnerable, maybe even uncomfortable, but necessary dialogue,” says Amy Brin, MSN, MA, PCNS-BC, Executive Director of the Child Neurology Foundation.

“It’s this blend of organization communication and psychological science, all matched with the beautiful art of humanity. It’s not limited to achieving a set goal because the conversation itself is the desired goal.”

Paul and the Child Neurology Foundation will be recognized at the Facilitation Impact Awards ceremony online on Monday, Oct. 26. Paul will be leading a short break-out session during that time about “Creating a Culture of Collaboration” during the ceremony.

Register here to attend the virtual ceremony.