Trainings for Human Service Providers

Note:  Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: 5.0.  CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 Change is difficult for most persons, yet change is the driving force behind most service planning and goal-setting.  Motivational Interviewing (MI), developed by Miller and Rollnick, is an intervention that helps people recognize and address problem behavior (present or potential), and is intended to help resolve ambivalence and to get a person moving along the path to change.  MI serves as an important prelude to other treatment and services by creating an “openness” to change, which paves the way for further important therapeutic work.  This training provides an introduction to the basic principles and skills associated with MI including OARS, expressing empathy, rolling with resistance, and avoiding common roadblocks to change.  It also offers a foundation for Motivational Interviewing Part 2, which expands these skills into actual “change talk” and promotion of commitment to change.  Staff members trained in MI are often able to work effectively with the change process that many service recipients go through in their personal journeys towards recovery. Motivational Interviewing part 1 is a two part series. If you are planning on attending MI part 2 you must attend MI part 1 first.   Read more

Note: Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: 5.0.  CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 Person-Centered Planning is a process designed to assist individuals in making plans for their future based upon what is uniquely important to them. It relies on a collaborative, non-coercive approach that is respectful and responsive to a person’s preferences and needs, ensuring that the person’s values guide all decisions. This training offers information on how to shift from a system-centered approach to a person-centered approach, and shares tips to engage and assess an individual’s person-centered goals. Documentation serves as the blueprint and footprint for the Person-Centered Planning process. The training also offers practical guidance on how to support this process through service planning documentation, as well as other relevant charting issues. Attendees will leave the training better equipped to discover the personal goals of the individuals to whom they provide services, and to incorporate those goals into ongoing documentation.   Read more

Note: Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: 5.0.  CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 Conflicts are an unavoidable aspect of life.  Periodically, conflicts can rise to the level of crisis or violence, leaving staff feeling ill-equipped to respond meaningfully.   Appropriately-trained staff, however, can anticipate and be prepared to use effective strategies to de-escalate situations.  If recognized and dealt with effectively, differences have the potential to inspire, promote positive change, and encourage growth and understanding.  This training offers participants the skills to intervene in the early stages of conflict as a way to prevent violence, and looks at person-centered approaches to establish relationships that help prevent tense situations from intensifying.  This training also describes the different stages of conflict escalation and ways to respond to each stage.  At the end of the training, attendees will have a better understanding of conflict and greater confidence in responding to conflicts. Read more

Note: Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: 5.0.  CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 The philosophy and practice of recovery is transforming the way we look at mental health services, as well as how programs respond to persons who decompensate or relapse.  Utilizing the least restrictive intervention while ensuring that the client is both safe and having his or her mental health needs addressed can be complicated.  This training offers skills and strategies on responding to psychiatric crises, including assessing, engaging, and assisting persons at the earlier stage of decompensation to adhere to treatment.  In cases where the crisis has escalated, the workshop reviews strategies for voluntary and involuntary hospitalizations and for assisting persons returning from the hospital.  In addition, the workshop explores how to support persons recovering from substance abuse and to promote relapse prevention.  In cases where relapse does occur, the training offers strategies to maximize the learning experience and help persons gain motivation to re-engage in sobriety.   Read more

Note:  Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: (This training is not eligible for SW CE/LMHC Hours) CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 In prison and jail, individuals with mental illness often experience a series of traumatizing (or re-traumatizing) events that increase their mental and emotional vulnerability.  These experiences can create challenges with re-entry into the community.  This training is designed for those who are or will be working with individuals living with mental illness who have a justice-involved history.  Specifically, it explores cultural adaptations common during incarceration, and how these behaviors can influence the adjustment to “living on the outside”; it then provides tools for engaging and assisting these individuals as they transition back into community settings.  Case scenarios are presented, as well as a “Prison Survival Quiz” that reviews some of the situations/decisions that an inmate may encounter when incarcerated, and the impact of those decisions after.  Attendees of the training will leave with a clearer understanding of what it means to be acculturated into prison life, and the steps that direct service staff can take to help individuals re-acclimate after release. Read more

Note:  This training is a Webinar, you must complete both days to receive your certificate. Certificates will not be awarded to those who arrive later than 15 mins after the start of the course and who leaves before the course ends. NYS Social Work CE & LMHC Credit Hours: 5.0.  CASAC Renewal Credit Hours: 5.0 Housing First is an evidence-based practice that is a proven method of ending all types of homelessness and is the most effective approach to ending chronic homelessness.  Housing First offers homeless persons immediate access to permanent affordable or supportive housing.  Both federal and local government agencies and funders are prioritizing the housing first model as a means to house chronically homeless individuals and families effectively.  This implementation package offers an overview of the Housing First model and information on the efficacy and principles of this evidence-based practice.  Attendees will explore the philosophical underpinnings of Housing First.  Using first hand experience in adopting Housing First, programs are offered tested strategic planning issues to facilitate the implementation process.  Options for additional training supports are offered to programs adopting this exciting and promising evidence-based practice. Read more