Empowering Voices: Importance Of Self-Advocacy For People With Disabilities
Learn Patient Advocacy
January 11, 2024
I consider myself a strong advocate. I take an active role in advocating for kids with disabilities and don’t shy away from asking tough questions.
I’ve taken my advocacy skills for granted until the day I had to stand up for my brother. It realized that what comes naturally to me is a challenge for him. Being raised in the 80s and 90s, he was never encouraged to ask questions, give his opinion or speak up for himself.
Sadly, this is the case for many people with disabilities. While there are now self-advocacy groups and conferences, not everyone feels empowered to use their voice.
Yet self-advocacy skills are key to increasing independence, improving quality of life and creating a truly inclusive world.
While change takes time, it starts with understanding the vital role self-advocacy plays for people with disabilities.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness, Mental Health
4 Reasons Why You Need a Communications Audit
How to Communications
January 08, 2024
Now is the perfect time to hit pause and audit your organization’s communications. While the term audit can be scary, the process doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Rather, it’s getting clear on how your organization communicates and taking stock of what’s working, what’s not and what’s missing.
The scope and detail of your communications audit is up to you. It can be an audit of internal communications, external or a mix. What’s most important in this post-pandemic world is you hit pause and take an honest look at your communications to ensure they’re meeting your audience needs (and your organization’s capacity).
As a consultant who’s conducted many communications audits, I know how they powerful they can be in adjusting course or staying on track.
Still need some convincing? Here are 4 reasons why you need a communications audit.
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Tags: Change Management, Leadership, Public Relations
Why We Need to Include Neurodiversity in the Diversity Conversation
How to Communications
September 26, 2022
I was recently at a workshop about the importance of diversity in the workplace. While I value and appreciate how far we’ve come in many areas of diversity, and the conversation on the work that’s still needed, there was a glaring absence in this discussion – neurodiversity. When I brought it up, a panelist admitted she hadn’t thought about this important group of current and potential employees. I’m sure she wasn’t the only one.
This is why we need to include neurodiversity in the diversity conversation. Approximately 15 to 20% of the world’s population exhibits some form of neurodivergence. This includes individuals with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, mental health conditions, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, Tourette syndrome and more.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Future of Work, Leadership
4 Tips for Going from Boring to Impactful Presentations
How to Communications
June 06, 2022
While it’s great finally being able to get together with colleagues, the downside is more in-person meetings. And boring presentations. At least on Zoom you can turn off the camera and zone out. Not so easy when you’re in person.
I don’t think anyone ever plans to give a boring presentation that has people staring at the clock, hoping it will end. But with up to 75% of people having a fear of public speaking, many of these boring presentations stem from fear vs lack of personality.
Here are 4 simple tips to go from giving boring to impactful presentations.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Diversity and Inclusion, Public Relations
Your Child's Voice A Caregiver's Guide to Advocating for Kids with Special Needs, Disabilities, or Others Who May Fall through the Cracks.
Self Counsel Press
September 17, 2018
Your Child’s Voice will empower parents and caregivers of children with mild to moderate disabilities to be the voice for their children, and advocate for them the best they can. Drawing on the author’s experience as a patient advocate and her ongoing journey getting support for her own son, this book includes personal stories about fighting to ensure files didn’t get lost in the system; the challenges of getting support in school; getting tests in a timely manner; and also includes exercises and checklists to help caregivers prepare for appointments and ask for help.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness, Mental Health
Bed Rest Mom, Surviving Pregnancy-Related Bed Rest With Your Dignity and Sanity Intact
Self-Counsel Press
April 09, 2018
Get the most out of pregnancy related bed rest! Bed rest orders may have snuck up on you, but that doesn’t have to mean months of agonizing, boring time wasting, and feeling like you have lost all independence under house (or hospital) arrest as you await the arrival of your bundle of joy. Bed Rest Mom covers the differences between what you’re allowed to do (or not do) on home-based bed rest versus hospital-based bed rest. uthor Cynthia Lockrey had the unique experience of enduring two high risk pregnancies, with 19 weeks of home-based bed rest and 7 weeks of hospital based bed rest. Her real-life experiences are weaved throughout the book in a friendly and relatable style comforting to readers.
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Tags: Health and Wellness, Mental Health
Raising and Advocating for Kids with Special Needs : Mom advice from the trenches
Learn Patient Advocacy
May 06, 2021
As someone who is passionate about advocating for kids with special needs, I often hear stories from parents and caregivers on the roadblocks they face or obstacles in their path as they try to get support for their children.
These conversations inspired me to write this e-book, which is a compilation of articles I’ve written on www.learnpatientadvocacy.com. Each of the chapters are written to give you the skills and confidence to be your child’s voice or megaphone.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness, Mental Health
The Power of Storytelling - How to make a personal connection
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
This e-book explores the foundation of storytelling, what personal details we share through our stories, how to create impactful stories as well as getting clear on the elements of a story (and knowing if you really have a story to tell).
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
Social Media - How to go beyond likes to true engagement
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
Social media is essential marketing, public relations and communications tool for all businesses and organization. While there is no cookie cutter approach, there are some key strategies that will help your posts not only be read, but also connect with your followers.
In this e-book, you will learn how to create content that engages with your followers, based on their needs, not yours (don’t worry, this is a good thing).
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How to Make Personal Growth a Priority
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
Practical advice on sharing your voice and expanding your network
In writing this e-book, I read through blog posts I’ve written over the years at howtocommunications.com. I found that many of my most popular posts were on personal development topics.
I have grouped these posts into three sections – Sharing Your Voice, Expanding Your Network and Surviving Work Travel.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Health and Wellness, Leadership
How to Harness the Power of Media Relations
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
From writing a press release to getting the coverage.
Media relations is a key tool in sharing your message or story with a broad audience. It requires understanding the role of the media and your role. It’s about seeing journalists as individuals and looking at media outlets as unique entities with their own audiences and stakeholders.
This e-book takes you through the media relations journey – from understanding what media relations is, to getting the coverage that connects with your audience.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Public Relations
How to Get the Most out of Your Content
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
Content planning tips and tools
Websites, social media channels, newsletters and emails are just some of the platforms that require a constant stream of content. Knowing what content to produce, who it is for, how to share it and the best way to maximize its reach can be overwhelming. In this e-book we look at why content planning is important, how to get the most out of the content you produce and how to evaluate the effectiveness of your content.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
Taking the Pulse of Your Organization – How to conduct a communications audit
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
Although the term audit may sound formal or daunting, a communications audit is about taking a snapshot in time – assessing what’s working, what’s not working and identifying areas of improvement for an organization’s communications. This e-book walks you through the steps of conducting a communications audit.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
Business Communications – How to break through the noise and be heard by your customers and stakeholders
How to Communications
April 01, 2021
Business owners and organizational leaders are expected to be great communicators, yet often have no formal communications training. Communications is the foundation for many areas of business growth and development. This e-book provides tips, insights and ways to ensure your communications efforts are heard and connect with your customers and stakeholders instead of being additional noise.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Public Relations
How To Make Patient And Family Centred Care More Than A Slogan
Learn Patient Advocacy
April 01, 2021
This e-book provides advice, tools and insights into the world of patient engagement from the perspective a patient advocate and volunteer. Learn some simple ways to embed patient and family centred care throughout your organization.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness, Leadership
Patient Advocacy - How to Share Your Story and Make a Difference in Healthcare
Learn Patient Advocacy
April 01, 2021
Learn how to share your patient story while advocating for yourself or a loved one. This includes practical advice on how to stay focused and have impactful conversations.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness, Leadership
How to grow your career on your own terms
How to Communications
March 02, 2021
As I sat down to write this e-book, going through various articles I’ve written over the years, I realized I’ve spent a lot of time giving career advice. Many of the chapters were written after a deep discussion with a client or friend who was struggling with an aspect of their career.
Instead of breaking this into smaller e-books, I decided to compile the articles into 5 parts, looking at various aspects of professional development and career change.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management
How to present like a pro
How to Communications
March 02, 2021
Learn to create engaging and impactful presentations
This e-book will help you identify some common mistakes speakers make, provide some insights and tips on how to create engaging presentations and connect with your audience, while giving you the confidence to share your story and be heard!
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Public Relations
Crisis Communications - How to Take Control When You Feel You’re Losing Control
How to Communications
March 02, 2021
Whether it’s communicating business impacts due to COVID-19, having a board member resign or dealing with a natural disaster, at some point many businesses and organizations will need to communicate in a crisis. Like any business strategy, the key to successful communications is in the planning.
This book takes you through some of the key areas of crisis communications.
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Tags: Management, Public Relations, Risk Management
Sharing My Entrepreneurial Journey
Canada's Podcast
April 06, 2023
I was profiled on Canada's Podcast about my entrepreneurial journey. Following the interview, I was asked to join the show as a host. I'm grateful for the opportunity to interview entrepreneurs across BC who are making a difference. This is the #1 entrepreneurial podcast in Canada.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Public Relations
Why You Need to Stop Saying I'm So Busy
Nonprofit Conversations podcast
August 08, 2022
Have you ever said "No, I'm too busy!"?? If you have, then watch my podcast interview on Nonprofit Conversations. Did you think about the message this sends when you tell someone you are "too busy"? From hurt feelings to damaged relationships, these phrases we all use too often are not necessarily what we want to communicate. Do you ever say "that's my 2 cents"? If so, you NEED to watch this episode to find out how much more that "2 cents" is REALLY costing you.
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Tags: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Public Relations
How to Tell Your Story and Advocate for Change
How to Communications
April 04, 2024
We all have a story to tell, but too often the emotions, fear or frustration gets in the way of sharing our story and advocating for change. Cynthia draws upon her 25+ year career working in public relations as well as her personal experience advocating for a child and sibling with disabilities. She’s living this journey and knows the importance of advocacy.
In this presentation, Cynthia shares the power of speaking your truth and sharing your story – helping people understand that small actions can make big changes. While there tends to be much focus on large advocacy activities, she’s found the biggest impact can come by simply sharing your story. You never know who is listening and where it will go – the power of the ripple effect.
This presentation will help participants feel more confident, prepared and focused when sharing their stories.
Topics covered
• The power of storytelling – how our brain processes information through stories
• When to tell your story – are you ready to share? Is it safe?
• Audience – understanding your audience, how they receive information, what information they need and their ability to act upon what you’re sharing or make a change
• Key messaging – being clear on the essential information you want to convey
• Emotions – role of emotions and valued based communications
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Healthcare
How to Communicate with Families
How to Communications
April 03, 2024
Schools, hospitals, non-profits and healthcare providers all want what is best for the individuals and families they support. However, there are a number of barriers that can block clear communications - including personalities, emotions and understanding of the information being conveyed.
This presentation will unpack how to be clear in your communications to avoid confusion and make a personal connection. Participants will feel more confident, prepared and focused when communicating with families.
Key learnings
Topics covered include:
• The power of storytelling – how our brain processes information through stories (why storytelling is a powerful way to communicate with families)
• Key messaging – being clear on the essential information you want to convey
• Audience – understanding your audience, how they receive information, what information they need and their ability to act upon what you’re saying
• Emotions – role of emotions, valued based communications, and how to respond to heightened emotions
• Facts – getting clear on the relevant facts, finding common ground
• Call to action – what do you want the listener to do
• Importance of body language - gaining confidence
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Tags: Education, Healthcare, Public Relations
How to Present Like a Pro
How to Communications
April 02, 2024
With over 75% of people having a fear of public speaking, it’s no wonder many struggle to create engaging presentations. Reading from slides filled with lots of information is more comfortable for many people. The problem – it results in boring presentations with a tuned-out audience.
This presentation will help participants feel more confident, prepared and focused when presenting. We’ll discuss how to create presentations that connect with your audience, how much information is too much and the role of storytelling. Other areas covered include an understanding of body language, best use of Power Point, as well as active listening skills.
Cynthia draws upon her 25+ years of experience presenting to governments, non-profits, corporations, post-secondary students and peers. As a communications manager and consultant, she’s watched countless people struggle through presentations. Her goal is to help increase people’s confidence and decrease the number of dreadful presentations.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How To Manage Crisis Communications
How to Communications
April 02, 2024
A crisis can happen at any time, throwing an organization into a tailspin. How you communicate to your internal and external audiences is key to limiting the severity, impact and duration of the crisis. It can also make the difference of protecting your reputation or having your reputation destroyed.
In this presentation, Cynthia will breakdown the elements of a crisis – pre (planning), during (managing the crisis) and post (lessons learned), walking through the role of communications at each step. Learn how to prepare, take control and ensure lessons learned are implemented to help your organization plan for the next event. Don’t let a crisis be the first time you think about your response, resulting in confusion and mixed messages.
Key learnings
Participants will learn how to:
• Effectively plan – having approved and consistent messaging
• Understand common pitfalls and how to avoid them
• Get out early and be seen as the reliable source of information
• Appreciate the role staff play in communications
• Work in collaboration with key partners
• Maintain information flow during a crisis
• Update leadership in a manageable way
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Tags: Business Continuity, Public Relations, Risk Management
How to Share Your Stories with the Media
How to Communications
April 01, 2024
While many organizations seek media coverage, few have a clear plan or understanding of how to work with the media. As a former journalist and newspaper editor, Cynthia shares insights on how to share stories that will actually get picked up and give interviews that make people tune-in.
This presentation helps people gain the skills and confidence to work with the media, pitch stories and conduct impactful media interviews. Content covered includes an overview of media relations (who are the media, what interests them), understanding key messaging, how to pitch to the media, interview techniques as well as responding to difficult questions. We will also look at what makes an interesting story, making the human connection.
Prepare your organization and media spokespeople will the tools they need to cut through the noise and be heard.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How to Harness the Power of Storytelling to Make a Personal Connection
How to Communications
March 31, 2024
We now have countless technologies and ways to share information, yet the age-old tool of storytelling is still the best way to make a personal connection so people tune in and understand what you’re saying. Storytelling is a powerful tool to use in presentations, meetings, one-on-one conversations and other communications.
Too often we focus on what I think is important, what I want people to know instead of taking the time to understand the other person’s needs and interests, and craft messaging that connects to them, not you.
Cynthia draws upon her 25+ years of public relations experience to help people use storytelling to breakdown walls, make a personal connection and be heard. She has given this presentation to organizations across North America, ranging from healthcare, education, non-profit, government and corporate clients, adapting the presentation to meet the unique needs of the audience.
Key Learnings
Participants will learn:
• How storytelling changes the way our brain processes and connects with information;
• The elements of an impactful story;
• The role of emotions and facts to help ensure different personality types make a connection; and
• How to integrate storytelling to improve your communications style (in both your professional and personal life).
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How To Make Your Website Work For You
How to Communications
May 01, 2021
Gone are the days of putting up a website and walking away. For your website to get traffic and connect with your customers it needs to be updated regularly as well as referenced on social media and other websites. This helps increase your SEO (search engine optimization which means it’s not lost on Google searches), and shares your content with people who don’t visit your site. You’ll learn tips on maximizing content, distribution channels (Medium, LinkedIn articles, social media) and how to keep your website fresh.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How To Conduct A Communications Audit
How to Communications
June 08, 2020
A communications audit is used to take the pulse of an organization’s formal and informal communications processes, while measuring their effectiveness and identifying gaps. This package not only walks you through the planning and execution phases, but also includes sample interview, survey, CEO and focus group questions to get you started. To avoid spinning your wheels and getting frustrated by ineffective communications, download the How to Conduct a Communications Audit bundle to figure out what is working, what’s not working and where you can make meaningful improvements to communications processes in your organization.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Public Relations
How To Write A Press Release The Media Will Actually Read
How to Communications
May 01, 2020
Learn how to write a press release the media will actually read, with insights from a former newspaper editor. Learn what grabs the reporter’s attention and what common errors encourage the reporter to hit delete. This package will walk you step-by-step through each element of writing a press release, outlining common mistakes and tips on improving readability. Don’t waste your time writing a press release that reads like a sales sheet. Instead, download this package to learn how to tell a story that interests reporters and resonates with your target audience.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
How to Communicate with Different Personalities
Cynthia Lockrey
August 06, 2024
We all have someone who rubs us. But it doesn't mean they're a bad person, rather they're a stretch for our personality. Clear communications starts with taking the time to understand different personalities and adjusting how you communicate to meet their needs.
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Tags: Change Management, Entrepreneurship, Public Relations
How to Make Your Content Work For You
Radio Free 501c
November 06, 2023
This episode: We all generate content -- social media posts, blogs, articles, presentations . . . the list goes on! But how can we make our content best work for us? My guest Cynthia Lockrey of Lockrey Communications is back sharing her wisdom on creating content and sending it out to the world! We discuss communication tools, identifying audiences for our unique content, and tips on repurposing content into e-books, infographics and more. If you have ever wondered how to be more strategic with your content, this is the episode for you. How do you get the most out of your content? Share a comment!
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Public Relations
Keynote Speaker
How to Create a Crisis Communications Plan
How to Harness the Power of Storytelling to Make a Personal Connection
How to Advocate for Kids with Disabilities and Complex Needs
