Associate
Karin Bonesteel currently works as the Training and SRV Implementation Coordinator for The Nemasket Group, Inc., in Fairhaven, Massachusetts (US). Karin has a BA in Psychology and an MA in Social Work. Karin began her work in human services as a direct care worker in northern New York at an Intermediate Care Facility for 12 people. She moved on to work at Rensselaer County ARC in 1986; first as a direct support worker and then as a case manager. It was there that she first began to study the principles of normalization and attended a PASS workshop. She started teaching Wolfensberger’s work while in New York, and currently sits on the North American SRV Council.
Karin moved to Massachusetts in 1992 where she went to work for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation as a Program Director, directly involved in the closing of the Dever Developmental Center and the building of the community system. Karin has studied Citizen Advocacy in depth and was involved with a group of citizens on Cape Cod trying to start a Citizen Advocacy Program. Karin coordinates and teaches workshops for families, direct support staff and other concerned parties on how to help vulnerable people to have socially valued roles. Karin has a particular interest in working with people who receive services to share their own stories.
Since beginning at The Nemasket Group in 2012, Karin has worked to help the people served by the organization to have valued social roles and to embed the practice, language, and principles of SRV within the day-to-day operational culture of the organization.