Foster Care Training

Sponsored by Lincoln This training will focus on strategies and techniques around engaging youth in the artistic process of creating hip hop music and lyrical expression, especially focusing on free association and improvised rapping. Trainees will review and learn artistic styles within hip hop including lyrical flow, beat creation and rhyming challenges. These techniques will help youth improve and develop artistic skills while building confidence and expressing their thoughts and feelings in a healthy way. Participants will learn how to lead youth through artistic skill challenges and technique improving practices, practice rapping/singing/ written expression of lyrics over several different beats/instrumentals, practice techniques that teach youth artistry skills while supporting development […]

This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in the redwoods and include activities to allow nature to support our resiliency and healing. Participants will be introduced to activities that increase mindfulness and wellbeing. Information will be shared about how these activities affect our neurobiology and reduce stress and trauma. Specific activities will be introduced to integrate nature with youth and families in the community to support their resiliency and healing. This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in […]

This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in the redwoods and include activities to allow nature to support our resiliency and healing. Participants will be introduced to activities that increase mindfulness and wellbeing. Information will be shared about how these activities affect our neurobiology and reduce stress and trauma. Specific activities will be introduced to integrate nature with youth and families in the community to support their resiliency and healing. This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in […]

This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in the redwoods and include activities to allow nature to support our resiliency and healing. Participants will be introduced to activities that increase mindfulness and wellbeing. Information will be shared about how these activities affect our neurobiology and reduce stress and trauma. Specific activities will be introduced to integrate nature with youth and families in the community to support their resiliency and healing. This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in […]

EBAC’s Learning and Education Program Director Alicia Montgomery invites you to a conversation with Bay Area author Crystel Patterson, as she speaks about her “Inspired to Be…” book series in which she seeks to spread Black inspiration to all children.

This training is an introduction to implementing behavioral support strategies with children who present with a variety of challenging behaviors. It includes a discussion of basic principles of behavior modification, behavioral assessment, functional assessment and support methods. The discussion addresses the advantages, risks and limitations of these approaches in various settings including group care settings, classrooms and families.

The purpose of this training is to create a renewed and heightened awareness of boundary issues in work with foster youth. Having boundaries is not just a matter of being professional. Appropriate boundaries are a key ingredient in providing the children in our care with the highest quality of care, which often times requires us to build trusting and healing relationships with them. Frequently the relationships we build with clients can have ambiguous boundaries, making it important to develop an awareness of possible danger signs for boundary issues that might result in poor practice or which might be red flags for potential exploitation of clients.

The training is derived from an evidence-based model called Pro-ACT (Professional Assault Crisis Training), a principle-based safety enhancement program, designed to teach professionals to prevent or respond to potential client assaults in a successful way.    Register Here

This training is intended for youth workers who are interested in learning more about strategies for supporting disabled youth, family members, or colleagues. Participants will build a working definition of disability and better understand the social and ecological factors that perpetuate harm on the disabled community. Participants will be introduced to frameworks, resources and strategies that will support them in considering shifts they might make to their own practice to better support the disabled community.

This training presents the agency’s model for understanding the experience of children presenting severely dangerous or disruptive behaviors. This training focuses on the importance of recognizing the underlying needs that drive crisis behavior and recognizing how developmental level plays into crisis response. This training also explores the how relational disruption impacts foster youth/youth in care. Didactic presentation, group discussion and small group exercises are utilized.

This training presents the agency’s model for understanding the experience of children presenting severely dangerous or disruptive behaviors. This training focuses on the importance of recognizing the underlying needs that drive crisis behavior and recognizing how developmental level plays into crisis response. This training also explores the how relational disruption impacts foster youth/youth in care. Didactic presentation, group discussion and small group exercises are utilized.

This training explores the purpose of actively working with youth in care to help them meet preferred behaviors. The training highlights four things to think about in any given situation before choosing how to support youth: your personal state, the desired outcome, the situation and environment, and which approach to use. Didactic presentation, group discussion, art and visualization exercises are utilized.

Whether a child’s communication is effective or ineffective, it can leave a parent feeling like they are constantly trying to put out fires. Learn how to Interpret your child’s needs,Provide opportunities to make choices, teach appropriate pro-social behaviors. Register Here

This training will provide information and tools to providers working with children ages 3-6 with emotional and behavioral challenges in a classroom setting. The content will focus on understanding the root cause of the emotional and behavioral challenges. Providers will understand more deeply why children may become easily frustrated, and easily angered and provide the knowledge and skills to respond effectively. Specific information reviewed will include: understanding the child’s personality and temperament, tools for de-escalation and boundary setting, meeting the child’s need for control and autonomy, how to initiate collaborative problem solving after the incident, and how to re-enter the classroom and group work.

This training will provide information and tools to providers working with the caregivers of children ages 3-5 with emotional and behavioral challenges. The content will focus on sharing in caregiver friendly language about the root causes of the emotional and behavioral challenges and why their children may become easily frustrated, and easily angered. The content will focus on strategies to increase caregivers’ knowledge about their child’s personality and temperament. The trainer will share strategies to provide caregivers with tools to use at home to support de-escalation and boundary setting, meeting the child’s need for control and autonomy, collaborative problem solving after the incident.

System-involved youth often have experienced one or multiple losses, transitions, and goodbyes as their placement changes. This can make transitions in care and terminations especially challenging when they occur during services. This training will discuss how child welfare professionals can engage in saying “goodbye” in relationships with foster youth both planned and unplanned. Impact on life and system transitions, such as graduations, ending of services, and change of placements will be discussed.

Youth in foster care may be identified with a variety of underlying needs and presentations that can be important to consider in services and in care. In this training, trainees will learn about the neurodiversity model and how to apply this model to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Topics covered will include the strengths and differences model, neurobiological impact of ADHD and the “ADHD brain”, giving feedback, and understanding the importance of identifying ADHD needs. Trainees will incorporate examples into understanding of their work with foster youth in this two week training.

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Play is important work in childhood. This training will highlight how the power of play can help foster children learn important skills and prepare them for the world. This training will also help participants to understand how play can be an effective strategy to better understand a child’s behavioral and psychosocial need(s) through a developmental framework.

This training provides an overview of the Resource Family Approval application process including: an introduction to Aldea, its history, the various Treatment Foster Care programs, as well as support services provided to all Resource Families. We will define what a Resource Parent is and go over the responsibilities that come with the role, as well as the five competency categories guiding a Resource Parent. We will explain the process of becoming an approved Resource Parent: the required documentation, pre-service trainings, submission of background checks via Live Scan, how to prepare your home for RFA approval, and review the purpose of the psychosocial assessment (home study interviews and report).

This training will discuss the various team-based care models and the services they provide to transition age youth. Team-based care programs are centered on participant goals, preferences and needs in which a team of multiple providers coordinate their services toward shared goals. This training will explore the needs of former foster struggling with unstable housing and limited access to supportive services. The training will review the services that participants receive from the team such as therapy, skill development, case management and care coordination. The training will also cover the importance of involving natural supports into case planning as well as the benefits from holistic practices.

A training about the intersectionality of Indigenous cultural competency and LGQBT+

A training about the intersectionality of Indigenous cultural competency and LGQBT+

Reflecting on the realities of homophobia & racism with an emphasis on identifying & celebrating resilience, resurgence & pride in identity.

This training supports professionals in supporting caregivers who reject LGBTQ youth in their care for religious and/or spiritual reasons. It is often difficult for professionals supporting queer and/or trans youth in care to know how to talk to caregivers, whether biological family, resource parents, clinical providers, or other caring adults, about the importance of acceptance and affirmation during and after a young person comes out. Rejection by caregivers and important adults have lifelong impacts on LGBTQ youth on individual and systemic levels. This training will discuss common anti-LGBTQ spiritual/religious beliefs and how to have conversations about caregivers’ values, beliefs, and practices that validate and respect them, while also supporting family […]

A trainings about best practices when engaging with Latino Youth Part 1

A trainings about best practices when engaging with Latino Youth Part 2

This 6 hour training broken up into two 3-hour trainings will educate providers about federal and California state laws that protect LGBTQ youth in care, as well as alert them to procedures for reporting anti-LGBTQ discrimination in educational, therapeutic, and child welfare contexts. Participants will review legal protections for youth in regards to placement, medical care, gender-affirming medical care and therapy, and access to sex-segregated spaces. Participants will learn procedures for how to support a client’s name and/or gender change, whether minor or adult, and how to do so when clients have a legal guardian other than a parent, or one or more parents still listed as guardians. Participants will […]

A training about the intersectionality of Native cultural competence and youth substance abuse

Everyone is impacted by the system of racism, and therefore has to tenaciously walk against that system. Individuals are impacted by structural racism, though the costs and consequences are significantly different, and our awareness of the system usually also differs greatly. Working for racial equity at the individual level often involves understanding the concepts, building the confidence and skills to work toward racial justice, and being accountable. Accountability is a keystone of racial equity work. Accountability refers to creating processes and systems that are designed to help individuals and groups to be held in check for their decisions and actions and for whether the work being done reflects and embodies […]

Religious and/or spiritual beliefs are often the source of anti-LGBTQ beliefs for many families that struggle to accept & affirm system involved LGBTQ youth. However, there are inherent resources within every major world religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, & Hinduism) that support affirming LGBTQ people. In this training, participants will explore these sources of spiritual strength with a transgender religious scholar who has published academic works summarizing over 4,000 years of LGBTQ-inclusive religious material, with a focus on tools that providers can use with system involved LGBTQ youth & their families. Participants will practice finding local community-based LGBTQ-inclusive faith resources as well as reviewing five vast & fascinating religious histories.

This training will educate those who support system involved youth about how to advocate for transgender, gender expansive, gender questioning, gender nonconforming, and gender creative children & youth in school-based settings. With over 220 laws limiting access to gender-affirming & safe educational spaces proposed since 2021 across the United States, there is a lot of confusion about what practices support not only trans/gender expansive youth health, but the well-being of all children in schools. Participants will learn 3 empirically-based responses to 6 common anti-trans youth myths, review 5 laws protecting transgender and gender expansive children in the educational system, and familiarize themselves with 6 resources that can help them advocate […]

This training will support participants in centering identity in the ways that we engage with each other on our teams. Participants will explore their fears surrounding communication and look at ways that power dynamics impact how we engage with one another. This training will offer frames around calling in as a way to interrupt harm and center our relationships as we work with youth and families. Participants will also engage in somatic based practices to identify the ways that their body responds when they’re engaging in conflict or interrupting harm, and practice strategies to be more somatically grounded in their values.

In our complex, culturally pluralistic, and increasingly violent society a need presents for both the expansion and rethinking of traditional African ancestried approaches to childrearing within the context of historical injustices. If we wish to produce empathic, resilient children fluent in capacious thinking and intra/intercommunity cooperation, then, we must rear them in ever-connecting relationships of dignity. And child welfare professionals charged with assisting struggling families need to work within culturally humble models to understand how intersecting socio-historic inequities inform parenting decision-making.

This training is an introduction to foundational understanding on family therapy using the Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) model based on the healing power of families and connection. This model is attachment focused and extremely useful for softening difficult interactions between children and their caregivers so that caregivers can become a safe base again for their children. The skills highlighted in this training center on the importance of shifting the relational patterns between caregivers and their children. Specifically, working with caregivers to act according to their caregiving values instead of their fears and worries.

This training for service providers looks at Narrative Family service approaches that can be used to externalize problem narratives and utilize strengths within the family system. The training will utilize didactic and experiential approaches to introduce key concepts and techniques of Narrative Therapy. Selected readings that exemplify the use of Narrative Therapy in “real world” situations with families will be provided for participants. Additionally, participants will be referred to additional informational resources and connections to the international Narrative Therapy community.

This training will equip attendees with foundational knowledge about how to best understand and support children with ADHD, autism & other learning differences. Register Here

This training will provide attendees with information about Awareness and Prevention on the topic of Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) in the US and local communities. Attendees will be provided with valuable tools and resources that empowers them to make a difference in the effort to eradicate exploitation of children.  Register Here

This training is designed to introduce prospective Resource Families to the Child Welfare System and the role of a resource parent. Participants will receive an overview of the steps to becoming a resource parent with Alternative Family Services.

If you have every thought of fostering now is your chance to learn what it’s all about from the comfort of your home. Please join us a a short presentation to learn about the fostering options to help the children and youth in our communities. Register Here

This training will review the history of how and when youth’s personal rights were enacted, clarify the differences between youth and non-minor dependent’s,  what their personal rights are and the caregivers role and responsibilities to ensure the youth’s rights are protected.  Register Here

Attendees will understand Sexual and Reproductive Wellness Rights for youth in foster care. These rights ensure young people in foster care age 10 and older, including non-minor dependents, have access to education, information, and services about their sexual and reproductive health. Attendees will understand the sexual and reproductive health rights of youth in foster care and the duties and responsibilities as a caregiver as well as those of the case worker, how to engage with youth about sexual and reproductive wellness. Register Here

This training will discuss challenges, statistics, and tips to affirm one’s gender identity, as well as review the importance of using proper pronouns and respecting a person’s gender identity. Join us as we work together to develop empathy and understanding for LGBTQ2IA+ community members. Register Here

In discussion, trainer explores how interacting with seriously traumatized children has the potential to affect care-givers. Trainer begins with an introduction to post-traumatic stress disorder as being one of the possible negative consequences of exposure to traumatic events. Trainer discusses the concepts of vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, burnout and compassion fatigue, as potential adverse consequences for adults who strive to help children who have been traumatized or victimized

In discussion, trainer explores how interacting with seriously traumatized children has the potential to affect care-givers. Trainer begins with an introduction to post-traumatic stress disorder as being one of the possible negative consequences of exposure to traumatic events. Trainer discusses the concepts of vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, burnout and compassion fatigue, as potential adverse consequences for adults who strive to help children who have been traumatized or victimized

This training focuses on substance use as a growing issue with system-involved youth. Youth may use substances as a means to cope with trauma and adversity, because of peer pressure, experimentation, etc. In addition, the growing opioid epidemic has lead to many youth and young adults losing their lives. It is crucial for providers to recognize warning signs and learn how to support youth using substances. This training will provide and overview of how substance use may show up while working with youth, review risk factors for substnace use, and introduce strategies to support youth navigating substance use issues. Please email training@firstplaceforyouth.org by 5/23/2022 to register for this training.

System-involved youth and families require culturally responsive care and services. For those who identify as native or indigenous, there are added challenges for services providers who do not identify similarly to understand individual, familial, and cultural needs. In this training, the lead trainer provides information about infuse holistic and indigenous approaches for work with diverse families. This training reviews mental health approaches that focus on the reclamation, reconnection, and strengthening of ancestral knowledge, particularly focused on native communities.

CSEC 101 is a 1-day training that provides a comprehensive overview of CSEC. The training will discuss CSEC by looking at the victimization of system involved youth as well as the demand side of exploitation. The trainers will discuss risk factors and pathways of entry for all those involved in CSEC. The trainers will highlight populations that are disproportionately impacted by CSEC such as the Native American population, LGBTQ youth, etc. Lastly, the trainers will discuss identifying youth involved in CSEC and needs they have.

ATTENTION: This training will be held in person at the Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland California. Exact location will be announced Via Email This training will allow participants to pause and reflect on the impact of the pandemic past and present. The training will be facilitated in the redwoods and include activities to allow nature to support our resiliency and healing. Participants will be introduced to activities that increase mindfulness and wellbeing. Information will be shared about how these activities affect our neurobiology and reduce stress and trauma. Specific activities will be introduced to integrate nature with youth and families in the community to support their resiliency and healing. This […]

This training will cover who are Mandated Reporters and their responsibilities to report child abuse, types of child abuse and neglect, accidental vs purposeful abuse and what, when and where to report abuse. Protection for reporters and penalties for failure to report. This training is intended for those that work with children and youth within the child welfare system or are at-risk of entering. This includes child welfare workers, resource parents, youth sports coaches, youth mentors, teachers and volunteers/staff working with this population. Register Here

Providers working at the Assessment Center are at the forefront of youth experiencing trauma and undergoing crisis. As a result of the nature of this work, providers and caregivers are particularly vulnerable to experiencing secondary and vicarious trauma. Providers attending this training will explore and discuss how they are impacted by the work.This training focuses on strategies for how to remain sustainable while working with foster youth and practice techniques for practicing self-care.

Trainee’s will gain skills on how to appropriately intervene when a youth or a youth’s family member is having suicidal ideation or attempts, using the QPR skills of: Question a person about suicide, Persuade someone to get help, and Refer someone to the appropriate resource. Trainees will be able to recognize the warning signs and clues and use suicidal communication to instill hope and resiliency in youth and families. Trainees will gain skills to act vigorously to prevent possible tragedy for youth or their families.  Register Here

Relapse prevention planning is helpful with system involved youth struggling with a variety of issues from substance use, self-harm, engagement in the commercial sex industry, etc. This training will provide an overview of relapse prevention planning to help you teach system involved youth about relapse prevention and create a relapse prevention plan.

With social media’s increased prevalence in youth’s lives comes benefits regarding connectedness and community; however, possible concerns regarding safety and effects on self-esteem can arise. This training will provide insight into how social media can affect foster youth specifically, as well as how best to manage safety and foster care specific protocols. We will explore how best to talk to your youth about boundaries and risk regarding what should and should not be posted, as well as briefly discuss cyber bullying. We will further discuss and acknowledge the positive effects social media can have and how it can support continued social ties and self-expression.

This 4 hour course is designed to provide staff serving in Group Homes and STRTP’s behavior management strategies for staff working with traumatized youth and families. The aim of the course is to assist adults working with Severe emotional disturbance differentiate between the variety of Depressive Diagnoses and Co-morbid possibilities, (eg, Major Depressive Disorder, Persistent Depressive Disorder, Disruptive Mood Dysregulation, etc.) Participants will use resources, large and small group discussion as well as lecture to consider best practice treatment options.

This course will focus on suicide risk factors, protective factors, assessment of risk severity, and safety planning. Attendees will familiarize themselves with general suicide risk and protective factors, also exploring factors that are specific to youth. Attendees will use this information to create a meaningful, dynamic safety plan that includes warning signs, formal and informal supports/contacts, supportive environments, and coping strategies. The training will include a brief discussion of suicide assessment tools available to agencies serving youth. Attendees will review the limits of confidentiality, framing these limits at the beginning of the treatment relationship. The training group will review how to most effectively initiate emergency services. The training will include […]

The purpose of this training is to create a renewed and heightened awareness of boundary issues in work with foster youth.  Having boundaries is not just a matter of being professional. Appropriate boundaries are a key ingredient in providing the children in our care with the highest quality of care, which often times requires us to build trusting and healing relationships with them.  Frequently the relationships we build with clients can have ambiguous boundaries, making it important to develop an awareness of possible danger signs for boundary issues that might result in poor practice or which might be red flags for potential exploitation of clients.

By attending this course, attendees will develop new strategies to build client-centered relationships by utilizing Motivational Interviewing (MI). Participants will gain practical skills to collaborate with youth, families, and the community. This training supports participants with developing a plan to implement MI skills with multi-system involved youth and families. Attendees will learn how to engage youth and family’s current motivation to change a particular behavior. This course provides as general overview of MI open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries (OARS) along with the skills and concepts to understand the spirit of MI, the four processes of MI, value work, assessing the client communication (sustain talk, change talk, discord), goal setting/focusing, […]

This training will support participants in developing further tools and strategies to support young people who are experiencing crisis and distress. Participants will explore the ways that behavior impacts behavior by reflecting on their own escalation curve and how it might impact young people’s escalation. Participants will practice de-escalation strategies together and work towards a deeper understanding of non-punitive and non-retaliatory strategies to use with youth This training will support participants in developing further tools and strategies to support young people who are experiencing crisis and distress. Participants will explore the ways that behavior impacts behavior by reflecting on their own escalation curve and how it might impact young people’s […]

Participants will discuss several different categories of behavior support strategies to use with youth including individual and group support strategies as well as crisis communication techniques. Participants will learn how to prepare youth to support themselves and work toward their goals when they are no longer in care. Didactic presentation, group discussion, art and visualization exercises are utilized. 

Participants will discuss several different categories of behavior support strategies to use with youth including individual and group support strategies as well as crisis communication techniques. Participants will learn how to prepare youth to support themselves and work toward their goals when they are no longer in care. Didactic presentation, group discussion, art and visualization exercises are utilized.

Given the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many others, it is has ignited social injustices that have existed in the United States. In this two-part training, the trainers will build up baseline knowledge of structural racism and how it may impact youth in care. Participants will learn how structural racism exists within the child welfare system, the healthcare system and educational system. Participants will also learn about implicit biases. The training will end with strategies to address these issues within our organizations. It is important for social service providers to have discussions with foster youth about social injustices stemming from systemic racism that impact their families […]

Given the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many others, it is has ignited social injustices that have existed in the United States. In this two-part training, the trainers will build up baseline knowledge of structural racism and how it may impact youth in care. Participants will learn how structural racism exists within the child welfare system, the healthcare system and educational system. Participants will also learn about implicit biases. The training will end with strategies to address these issues within our organizations. It is important for social service providers to have discussions with foster youth about social injustices stemming from systemic racism that impact their families […]

Meeting ethical and legal standards is foundational in the provision of competent mental health and recovery service. Many dimensions of these standards are clear and have remained constant over the years. Yet others continue to evolve, and social workers and mental health professionals (MHPs) routinely confront complex and ambiguous ethical and legal situations. The purpose of this course is to give MHPs an opportunity to renew and sharpen their ability to engage in knowledgeable and effective ethical decision-making, and to understand and apply ethical and legal standards to challenges inherent in clinical work. The course also has the goal of assisting participants in better managing the risks of clinical practice. […]

This course explores legal and ethical issues for licensed professionals working in youth and family services and child welfare. Topics include an overview of liability issues, with a specific focus on consent, confidentiality, involuntary confinement, and mandated reporting laws for children, elders, and dependent adults.

This 6 hour training broken up into two 3-hour trainings will educate providers about federal and California state laws that protect LGBTQ youth in care, as well as alert them to procedures for reporting anti-LGBTQ discrimination in educational, therapeutic, and child welfare contexts. Participants will review legal protections for youth in regards to placement, medical care, gender-affirming medical care and therapy, and access to sex-segregated spaces. Participants will learn procedures for how to support a client’s name and/or gender change, whether minor or adult, and how to do so when clients have a legal guardian other than a parent, or one or more parents still listed as guardians.

This 6 hour training broken up into two 3-hour trainings will educate providers about federal and California state laws that protect LGBTQ youth in care, as well as alert them to procedures for reporting anti-LGBTQ discrimination in educational, therapeutic, and child welfare contexts. Participants will review legal protections for youth in regards to placement, medical care, gender-affirming medical care and therapy, and access to sex-segregated spaces. Participants will learn procedures for how to support a client’s name and/or gender change, whether minor or adult, and how to do so when clients have a legal guardian other than a parent, or one or more parents still listed as guardians.

This training for service providers looks at Narrative Family service approaches that can be used to externalize problem narratives and utilize strengths within the family system. The training will utilize didactic and experiential approaches to introduce key concepts and techniques of Narrative Therapy. Selected readings that exemplify the use of Narrative Therapy in “real world” situations with families will be provided for participants. Additionally, participants will be referred to additional informational resources and connections to the international Narrative Therapy community.

Service providers working with youth in care must understand basics for youth and families accessing services, such as the nature and scope of the services provided and ways to navigate service systems in order to access those services. This training will review some basic foundations of the systems in which foster youth receive services including funding and eligibility, documentation standards, and pathways for service provision. This training will use didactic and practical approaches to facilitate learning for participants.

This training will support participants in developing tools and strategies to engage in somatic based practices in their work and everyday life. How can somatic practices move us toward liberation by centering our bodies rather than our minds? Through this exploration, participants will identify all that is available to us when we move towards embodying our anti-racist and liberatory values. Participants will collectively practice these strategies in session in order to use them in their work with youth and families.

Timely management of paperwork and meeting productivity requirements, while making positive connections and impact with clients – that’s being a true SUPERHERO. Learn strategies for sustainable “superheroing” so you can provide super care and interventions to your system involved clients and their families. We will cover strategies to address challenges with paperwork and productivity, and will develop a sustainable superhero plan to address the barriers to successfully meeting your clients’ needs while staying calm and focused.

An effective team starts with a strong foundation where every team member has essential foundational skills that support team synergy. Empowering every team member with the tools they need to do their best is essential for the overall success of the team. Learn how to get everyone on the same page and onboard with foundational skills using common sense strategies. Create a more cohesive team by giving them the “team glue” to build trust and communication, minimizing drama, gossip and sabotage. Learn how to coach team members to support one another using simple tools to improve listening skills, communication skills, basic emotional intelligence, and outcomes for system involved youth.

This 4-hour course is designed to provide staff serving in Group Homes and STRTP’s behavior management strategies for staff working with traumatized youth and families. The aim of the course is to assist adults with an understanding of who the youth are, where they come from and why they do what they do, through an exploration of multiple forms of abuse often suffered by the youth. Participants will examine issues such as mandated reporting (to CPS or Police), developmental effects of abuses and the cycle of violence as it pertains to both parents and children.

Youth in the foster care system at times experience relationship losses with primary caregivers, while at the same time attempting to develop new relationships and family bonds with resource families or kin. This training helps providers look at ways to screen for challenges or disruptions within attachment relationships of foster youth and families. Providers will have opportunities to look at case examples to identify and examine the development of relationships, and explore strategies for fostering healthy relationships within families.

This training supports professionals in building awareness around their biases related to body size, becoming familiar with research on weight and health among youth and the connection between Body Mass Index (BMI) and its use in health care, as well as its relationship to white supremacy and systemic discrimination. We will explore how body size-base microaggressions can impact rapport and access to appropriate resources for youth, explore the Health at Any Size model, discuss best practices, and apply our learning through roleplay.

This 4 hour course is designed to provide staff serving in Group Homes and STRTP’s behavior management strategies for staff working with traumatized youth and families. The aim of the course is to assist adults working with System-involved youth and families to differentiate between Bipolar Disorder I, Bipolar Disorder II and symptoms related to histories of trauma. Participants will use resources, large and small group discussion as well as lecture to consider best practice treatment options.

In order to understand and assist clients with trauma histories, providers need to understand how trauma impacts individuals, families and communities and learn skills for intervening with those impacted by trauma. In part 3 of this three-part workshop, attendees will take a deeper exploration into the trauma systems-involved youth and family clients they serve may be experiencing. In this session, we will examine the topic: Vicarious Traumatization: o what is it o how does it impact work with clients o how to address it

Communities are continually impacted and challenged in addressing complex trauma in their settings. Children may display a range of symptoms and behaviors that are difficult to organize and understand. Teachers, providers and caregivers need frameworks for interpreting behaviors and expanding practices that build a more attuned and responsive environment. This course will offer providers a framework of understanding traumatic impact in terms of arousal and attachment behaviors that can guide response and support improved functioning in the community, participation in tasks required for daily functioning. Facilitated discussion, didactic material, and experiential exercises will be used to discuss the themes and address class objectives.

Telehealth expansion has occurred out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trauma-informed virtual care has the potential to ensure continuity of services for foster youth by creating safe and collaborative interactions between youth and caregivers on the service team. This training will explore the complexities of connecting with foster youth and their families via virtual platforms.

This 4 hour course is designed to provide staff serving in Group Homes and STRTP’s behavior management strategies for staff working with traumatized youth and families. The aim of the course is to assist adults working with severe emotional disturbance figure out possible prognosis and healing strategies. Participants will discuss effective tools and techniques for treatment.

As we work in a field of providing therapeutic and supportive services to individuals and families who have and continue to experience individual, community, and historical trauma, we eventually become fatigued and experience traumatization from hearing the stories of others, witnessing the harm of our clients, and from feeling the weight of the sociopolitical factors that contribute to harm that reaches the communities that we are trying to heal. This traumatization is often referred to as secondary trauma and it may lead us to experience doubts about continuing in the work, we may engage in unhealthy coping skills, and we may feel that we must cope with our secondary trauma […]

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Many mental health professionals recognize the importance of healthy attachment as well as making sure that each child has a secure base from which to learn about themselves and the world. This is especially true in our work with children and youth in foster care. When trauma interrupts secure attachment, the child will experience actual or perceived abandonment by those meant to protect and not harm them. In this course, participants will examine affects of experiencing abandonment; legal, actual and perceived abandonment as well as symptoms in adolescence and adulthood. The group will explore core recovery skills and treatment options, as well.

This training provides an introduction to complex trauma, the impact of complex trauma on the development of the brain in adolescents, and how trauma creates vulnerabilities for youth at risk for exploitation is provided. Youth with experience of exploitation at times may have difficulty identifying that they have been exploited. Providers working with these youth face special challenges around supporting youth’s safety and healing process. Special focus will be placed on the relationship between youth in foster care at risk for exploitation and the impact of complex trauma.