It is with great pleasure that the Manitoba Institute of Registered Social Workers nominates John Tozeland for the 2013 CASW Distinguished Social Worker award for Manitoba.
John joined MIRSW and MASW in1974, two years after graduation from the University of Manitoba. He served MIRSW as President in 1982-1983. John maintained membership in both organizations for the past thirty-nine years, serving on the MASW Private Practice Committee.
For the past four decades, John has a record of innovative and outstanding professional Social Work service.
While John’s extensive training made him a valued therapist, he has always sought to go further, reaching into the community, creating groups and programs when existing services fell short. In particular, what we believe merits acknowledgement with this award, is that he has taken his hard earned skill set to not only clients in the Manitoba community, but to a broad range of others in the service provider community. His work exemplifies how the Social Work profession can be used to provide leadership in sharing skills with other professions and other service providers.
Since 1982 John has taught between five to nine classes per year, with a range of less than ten to more than twenty participants. Our estimate is that 2000 people, generally helpers and healers in our community, have been provided an opportunity to overcome limitations in themselves, to share with peers, and to refine their skills that help them transform the lives of their clients.
John’s work has been recognized internationally, providing training in Dubai, Richland, Washington, Texas and London and Stonehenge in the U K. In Davis Inlet, John led healing groups after an epidemic of suicides ravaged the community.
Like many good Social Workers, John’s experience comes from serving mainstream organizations, including many ages, cultures and social classes of people, and some of the hardest hit client groups. He recognized the limitations of his skill set. Taking the challenge of providing the best service possible, John searched out and refined the tools he could bring to empower these vulnerable clients. John seeks to equip people with a belief in themselves. He teaches methods to overcome trauma, injury, fear, hurt and the limitations placed on people by their circumstances. In addition, he expanded his work, sitting on a Private Practice committee for MASW, and established his own company, Trance Action Consultants. As well, he founded a holistic multidisciplinary healing center.
John Tozeland has been leading trainings in the fields of Hypnotherapy and Neuro-linguistic Programming since 1986. John is an internationally known transformational therapist and trainer. He believes learning and growth happen in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. John is certified as a NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) Trainer. In addition, John is a Certified Time Line Therapy™ Master Trainer, and a Certified Hypnotist by the Manitoba Hypnotists’ Association and the American Board of Hypnotherapy.
John’s intensive training in the ancient native shamanic traditions of Hawaii has proven invaluable in his quest to join others in healing the world. John acknowledges and recognizes the importance of the human spirit and it’s connection to the mind and body. He believes that inside each of us is a magical essence, that when tapped has the power to transform your life. All of John’s work is focused on empowering individuals to connect with this essence. Recognizing the importance of integrating Body, Mind & Spirit.
As have many of his peers in the Social Work profession, John has sought to find the spirit of each of his clients, no matter how challenged their situation. He studied Eriksonian hypnotherapy, beginning the life long learning toward methods that tap into the individual’s potential for transformation, and keeping current with more recent studies of the plasticity and power in the human brain. He studied and certified in methods that used the skills of Neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy. His respect for cultural diversity and other traditions led to his work with a shaman of the Huna tradition (Pacific Islands) and earned what would be the equivalent of a Native North American Pipe carrier designation.