Upcoming Trainings

Abbreviated training descriptions are provided below. To see full-length descriptions, please click here.

calendar_icon

The Role the Family Plays in Human Trafficking: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

04/03/2024

1:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

Join us to discuss the role the family plays in human trafficking. At times family members and foster parents have been the driving force behind keeping someone out of a trafficking situation. Other times, they are the cause. In this session we will help you better understand human trafficking, how to spot it and what to do when you do. We will go over the basics but focus on familial trafficking specifically. We will share an updated screening tool that will help you identify youth and families that may need additional resources. Finally, we will end with a discussion on how we might move from a reactive to a preventative approach with the family to ensure the best option for a family member is not to offer access to their child for sex or labor in exchange for drugs, rent or other things of commercial value.

Register
calendar_icon

Drug Testing in Child Welfare

04/12/2024

9:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

Drug screening is a tool that can be used as a positive motivator with clients to encourage steps forward in recovery and to help celebrate milestones. The focus of this workshop is on the role of caseworkers and FPM's when reviewing drug screen results with clients. The trainer will work with participants on how to have effective conversations that lead to increased motivation for change, enhanced treatment involvement, better engagement with recovery supports and improved family stability.

Register
calendar_icon

Family Team Meetings: Facilitator Skills

04/16/2024

9:00-10:30

Virtual

, OH

One of the key ingredients in the Ohio START program is Family Team Meetings (FTMs). This workshop is designed to provide and rehearse the skills needed to successfully facilitate the FTMs. The FTM should be neutrally facilitated, engage all participants, and provide a guided format for identifying strengths, needs, and develop an action plan. This training will review the core principles, components, and skills needed to successfully facilitate FTMs. We will utilize break out rooms for groups to simulate the FTM process with opportunities to rehearse their own facilitation. This skill building session is intended for anyone that currently or will be responsible to facilitate a FTM. Participants must have already attended a full day Ohio START FTM training prior to attending this session.

Register
calendar_icon

Trauma-Informed Resiliency-Oriented Supervision

04/17/2024

9:00 - 12:00

Virtual

, OH

Child welfare cases are very complex, multi-system involved and highly traumatized. Thus, our workers are exposed to a high level of secondary traumatic stress in addition to the typical stress of dealing with BH and SUD clients and their families. This newly updated session will address the supervisory relationship as a parallel process of promoting resilience, providing both support to the provider and a roadmap for the therapeutic relationship that the provider has with the family. We will also address supervisory strategies to monitor and prevent SES symptoms related to resilience promotion. Small group breakouts will be used to promote and model reflective discussions around resiliency components and promotion. Intended for Supervisors and administrators only.

Register
calendar_icon

Introduction to START for New Staff

04/18/2024

2:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

This introductory course provides staff new to the Ohio START program with the basics necessary to begin working with families. It includes a brief review of key aspects of START including eligibility, timelines, roles and responsibilities, and engaging clients and family serving agencies. Staff will also need to complete the full day Foundations 4 training when next available. This is not intended for anyone that has already attended Foundations 4.

Register
calendar_icon

Motivational Interviewing Refresher

04/24/2024

9:00-12:15

Virtual

, OH

This half-day refresher deeply reviews and then expands on the Core skills introduced in the prerequisite all-day training. This expansion begins with a more complex exploration of the four Core Skills outlined by OARS, and introduces the fifth Core Skill, Informing and Advising. These five Core Skills are then considered within the acknowledged power imbalance inherent to child protective work that is, blending the person-centered foundation of Motivational Interviewing transparently with the authority and responsibilities of the caseworker. The central message about incorporating Motivational Interviewing into child protective work that this collaborative and guided style of communication offers the opportunity to both support real change for parents and families while also lessening the directive burden for the caseworker is supported throughout.

Register
calendar_icon

Trauma Informed Family Engagement: Understanding the impact of implicit bias and structural racism

04/25/2024

9:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

Join us to explore what it means to be trauma informed in our engagement of families. Together we will explore the cultural and historical context of trauma, learn about structural racism and our own implicit bias. We will unpack the potential impact of those issues on our engagement with families. Participants will identify the six guiding principles to trauma informed care, the importance of authentic family engagement as well as strategies for the implementation of trauma informed family engagement practices.

Register
calendar_icon

Substance Use Disorders 101

04/26/2024

9:00-12:00

Virtual

, OH

This training provides an opportunity to learn information regarding substance use, definitions and classes of different substances and medications utilized for stabilization and support recovery. It will provide an overview of the impact on the brain, family roles and recovery process.

Register
calendar_icon

So Done! Polyvagal Strategies When It Just Won't End

05/06/2024

1:00 - 4:00

Virtual

, OH

This is the newly updated self-care session for So Done! Polyvagal Strategies When It Just Won't End. In this highly interactive and practical program participants will learn how the autonomic system works through the lens of Polyvagal Theory. We will learn about the qualities of each of the states of the nervous system. You will also be asked to complete the ProQOL and bring it along for small groupwork. Once you have worked through this material related to yourself, it will inform you of your engagement with both your co-workers and your clients.

Register
calendar_icon

Trauma & Resilience: Identifying children, parents and families at risk

05/09/2024

9:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

This training includes an overview of the Childrens Trauma Assessment Center Trauma Screening Checklist (CTAC). We will also look at how to assess the trauma exposure of their parents, using the Adverse Childhood Experience survey (ACE). This training is required for staff administering the CTAC and/or ACE including: START CW caseworker, FPM, CW supervisors, and BH Supervisors/service coordinators.

Register
calendar_icon

Family Team Meetings

05/13/2024

9:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

One of the key ingredients in the Ohio START program is Family Team Meetings (FTM). This training will describe the core principles, components, and skills needed to successfully facilitate FTMs. This training is required for staff that will take active role in FTMs including: START CW supervisors, START CW caseworkers, FPM, and BH Supervisors/service coordinators.

Register
calendar_icon

Introduction to START for New Staff

05/16/2024

2:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

This introductory course provides staff new to the Ohio START program with the basics necessary to begin working with families. It includes a brief review of key aspects of START including eligibility, timelines, roles and responsibilities, and engaging clients and family serving agencies. Staff will also need to complete the full day Foundations 4 training when next available. This is not intended for anyone that has already attended Foundations 4.

Register
calendar_icon

Supervisor Professional Learning Community

05/16/2024

9:00-10:00

Virtual

, OH

SUPERVISORS ONLY: This 1-hour Professional Learning Community (PLC) for supervisors will meet monthly. Supervisors who attend will be asked to practice the new skills and return to future sessions to learn, share and continue to hone their skills. This is open to both PCSA and BH supervisors participating in Ohio START.

Register
calendar_icon

Nurturing Parenting Refresher

05/20/2024

9:00-12:00

Virtual

, OH

Participants will revisit the philosophy, values and constructs of the Nurturing Parenting Programs. This training is recommended for PCSA caseworkers, family peer mentors, behavioral health providers and anyone else in the county that may be working with Ohio START families. Must have completed the three day training to participate.

Register
calendar_icon

Introduction to Motivational Interviewing

05/22/2024

9:00-4:15

, OH

Motivational Interviewing is a guided style of communication child welfare professionals can utilize to assist parents or caregivers in identifying reasons to and pathways toward change. Motivational Interviewing attends closely to engagement and is well-matched to working with families involved with the child welfare system. This six-hour training is an introductory course to Motivational Interviewing. This course is a requirement for Ohio START caseworkers, family peer mentors and supervisors.

Register
calendar_icon

Family Toolkit: Genograms, ecomaps, and more!

05/29/2024

1:00-4:00

Virtual

, OH

Participants will obtain useful information in terms of assessment tools and techniques that promote engagement, build rapport, and gather information critical to understanding of both individual and familial experience within the family system and as part of the larger culture. Participants will learn how to effectively engage individuals and families with experiential activities using genograms, ecomaps and other tools.

Register

Technical Assistance

Ohio START provides technical assistance to all Ohio START PCSAs through our Ohio technical assistance consultants in collaboration with our national model experts Children and Family Futures (CFF). Technical assistance is delivered by TA consultants who will each cover a region of the state. The Family Peer Mentor TA works to recruit, train and mentor the family peer mentors working within the model. The technical assistance consultants are:

  • Tim Beasley – Southwest Region TA
  • Diana Hoover – Northwest Region TA
  • Pam Meermans – Central Region TA
  • Sheila Shafer – Southeast Region TA
  • Kathi Kurtz – Northeast Region TA/Ohio START Coach
  • Mindy Fehrman – Ohio START Coach
  • Carly Mesnick- Behavioral Health TA
  • Brychelle Mullins- Family Peer Mentor TA