FY24 Course Launches

Course Launches

Click each title for a description of courses launched this year.

Advanced Practice in Motivational Interviewing further support learners in achieving competence in the use of Motivational interviewing with families. During the Advanced offering they have multiple opportunities for practice and skill development as well as the opportunity to begin the process of being coded to fidelity through the use of the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment (MICA)  tool. 

This course helps participants understand the importance of self-care and practical ideas for how to do it. Participants will understand signs of stress and burnout and recognize the importance of maintaining their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. The course also covers parental resilience, why resilience is important, and how caring for children who have experienced trauma, separation, or loss can impact a caregiver’s own well-being. Participants will also learn about the behaviors that foster a protective environment for parents and children.

This course helps participants understand typical child development as well as disrupted child development. Developmental delays and how to meet children’s developmental needs are also covered in this theme. The unique challenges associated with parenting children from each developmental stage are highlighted.

This course provides participants with an overview of cultural humility and helps participants recognize the importance of honoring a child’s cultural identity. Content also covers respecting families from varying races, religions, ethnicities, and economic statuses. Openness to a child’s sexual orientation and gender identity and expression and viewing these differences from a strengths-based perspective is highlighted. Course learnings include strategies for parents who are fostering or adopting to respect as well as navigate differences in values from the children and families while acknowledging imbalances of power and inequities.

The “Engaging Youth In Group Care” series is composed of seven modules for those working with youth in a group care setting who have moderate to severe emotional and behavioral challenges.

Foundational Module 1 helps develop an understanding of the underlying causes of a youth’s behavior, which is one of the first steps in supporting their well-being.

This multimedia-driven course will expose learners to a variety of composites of youths facing trauma and discusses how events can affect long-term behaviors.

Foundational Module 2 focuses on adapting engagement tools to meet the unique needs of the youth learners work with.

The second module of “Engaging Youth in Group Care” focuses on tailoring approach to respect the impact of trauma. This course starts with a self-assessment exercise, which leads to a conversation about the science of brain function.

This discussion will prepare CPS FAR and CPS FVS caseworkers who wish to expand their practice in developing case plans with parents/caregivers, children, Tribal representatives, and other family identified supports. Participants will learn how to make the most of meeting with families in building a working relationship geared toward reducing or eliminating safety threats and increasing the parent or caregiver’s protective capacities to ensure child safety, well-being, and permanency. Participants will be provided with tools to improve the quality of case plans and will be provided an opportunity to staff a case with peers.

These sessions will provide participants of the Advanced Motivational Interviewing training an opportunity to deepen use and practice of Motivational Interviewing, focused on everyday child welfare.  You will focus on your role as a facilitator rather than an expert to collaborate, evoke and honor the family’s autonomy. These sessions will provide opportunities to apply strategic responses to move families toward change without coercion and avoid practitioner responses that trigger resistance. 

This course helps participants understand the child welfare experience from the perspective of the child’s parents and supports finding compassion for parents and the challenges they may be facing. Strategies to nurture children’s relationships with their parents and to integrate and maintain ongoing communication and connection between parents and children are covered. The course also covers potential challenges in partnering with the child’s parents and looks at how to help children prepare for Family Time, including understanding and managing reactions.

Foundations of Motivational Interviewing for Child Welfare Staff will introduce learners to the Spirit of MI; provide the opportunity to begin developing core skills, including using OARS (Open Ended Questions, affirmations, reflections and summaries) responding to the way people talk about change; and understand how to work with resistance.

The Foundations of Practice Modules are an in-person, one-day training that was developed by DCYF program managers to support the implementation of HB 1227 into practice for DCYF field case workers. These modules were adapted by the Alliance to deepen new case worker knowledge following the completion of Regional Core Training beginning with the June 16, 2023, RCT Cohort.

There are 4 modules:
• Module 1: Removal Standards – Defining Imminent Physical Harm Using our Safety Framework
• Module 2: Harm of Removal
• Module 3: Kinship Caregivers – Identify, Locate, Inform and Evaluate
• Module 4: Preparing for Shelter Care

This course helps participants understand the short- and long-term impact on children exposed to substances prenatally. This includes FASD and issues that may be present if parents use(d) substances, and medical issues that can arise due to substance exposure, including higher risk of later addiction. The genetic component of addiction and addiction as a chronic disease is described. This course also shares parenting strategies for children exposed to substances prenatally.

During this training, you will enhance your decision-making in child welfare by employing objective evidence, identifying behavior patterns, considering family perspectives and utilizing collateral information. This course will explore techniques for integrating new information effectively and recognizing biases, such as confirmation bias, to enhance decision-making abilities.

The Inherent Strengths in Kinship Families is a training series developed by Dr. Joseph Crumbley for kinship caregivers. The series takes a strength-based perspective in outlining different topics that are unique to kinship families and providing strategies for caregivers.

This webinar acknowledges the complexities associated with caring for children who are related, including: divided loyalties, redefining roles and relationships, setting boundaries with parents and other relatives, and the range of emotions including anger, resentment, guilt and/or embarrassment that caregivers can feel. Strategies for how to manage family dynamics and conflicts, identify triggers and effectively manage stress are shared.

 

In this eLearning, you will gain a better understanding of LGBTQIA+ culture, history and civil rights to become more culturally respectful and supportive of youth and individuals in this community. By using inclusive vocabulary, current definitions of laws and policies, and examining the social attitudes around LGBTQIA+ lives, you will learn how to affirm and support the lived experiences of youth in the community and empower them to thrive.

This course builds on knowledge-based learning objectives and related information presented in the pre-requisite LGBTQIA+ Basics for Supporting Youth eLearning for general audiences.  You must first complete that course before registering for this one.

In this course, licensing staff will learn to center the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth in conversations with licensed providers, both in childcare and out-of-home care systems.

You will have the opportunity to look at your own assumptions, biases, and reactions related to LGBTQIA+ youth, as an opportunity to build your confidence in guiding providers through similar processes to prepare them to better serve these youth.

You will practice skills for self-awareness, self-regulation, challenging conversations, and documentation.

This course helps participants understand the importance of integrating and maintaining ongoing communication and connection between siblings, including understanding sibling dynamics and the importance of sibling bonds. Tips for how to navigate and support visits with siblings are shared. This course also helps participants recognize the importance of maintaining connections with extended family members and the community at large (i.e., schools, church, friends, sporting teams) and identifies strategies to keep children connected to their community. The role of out-of-home Caregivers in maintaining these connections is highlighted.

This course provides a foundational understanding of mental health disorders and conditions that commonly occur in childhood. Content is shared to illustrate that not all “survival” behaviors or symptoms of grief are connected with mental health disorders. Commonly administered psychotropic medications are described and information about how to obtain consistent, adequate and appropriate access to mental health services is highlighted.

Our Naloxone Storage and Usage eLearning is designed specifically for caregivers in Washington State to equip them with essential knowledge and skills to respond to opioid overdose emergencies effectively. This comprehensive eLearning provides critical information on the storage and administration of naloxone, a life-saving medication for opioid overdoses.

This course helps participants understand the impact of parenting children from different racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds and to know how to honor and incorporate child’s race/ethnicity/culture into their existing family system. Strategies are identified to help children develop positive and proud identities and to help children and families prepare for and handle racism in all forms.

This eLearning is Part 1 of a two-part introduction to service referrals. This course offers step-by-step guidance on utilizing the Service Referral tool in the FamLink case management system, specifically focusing on In-Home or Reunification service types. Participants will navigate through the basic workflow, covering the process of creating, completing, and submitting a referral for approval, and ultimately service delivery.

 

CaRES’ newest two-part book club covers Robyn Gobbel’s book “Raising Kids with Big Baffling Behaviors.” 

Big Baffling Behaviors Book Club, Introduction: This two-week book club is an introduction to the concepts in the book. The weekly discussions are focused on section one. Throughout the guided conversations, learners have the chance to consider how the neuroscience of behavior can help better understand a child’s actions and needs.

Big Baffling Behaviors Book Club, Continuation: This four-week book club is an extension of the Topic Support Group: Big Baffling Behaviors Book Club, Introduction. The weekly discussions will cover sections 2 and 3. Throughout the guided discussions, learners have the chance to consider how the concept of the Owl, Watchdog, and Possum brains impact a child’s behaviors, develop parenting strategies, and build their self-regulation toolkit.

This course helps participants learn the three Rs (Regulate, Relate, Reason) and other practical trauma-informed parenting strategies. Trauma support resources for children are described. Participants will recognize the importance of finding activities to have fun with children; recognize the importance of connected parenting and the relationship as the foundational cornerstone; understand how to promote healthy behaviors; and recognize the importance of a parent’s self-regulation. Also highlighted are ways to be proactive versus reactive and the difference between discipline and punishment.

Through a series of interventions and strategies, learners explore how to interrupt unconscious bias and address subtle acts of exclusion. They will develop behaviors that reflect cultural competence; engage in discussions about the negative effects of stereotypes, microaggressions, and bias on effective case work; and practice courageous conversations to develop appropriate responses to these issues.