Training

Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI)
LSCI is a five-day training which empowers staff members to intervene effectively when confronted with patterns of self-defeating behavior in troubled and troubling youth. This intervention training provides specific skills needed to respond successfully to a student’s crisis, and create caring, supporting relationships between the students and the staff.

Response Able Paths to Grow (RAP2Grow)
RAP2Grow, the new generation of the well-known Response Ability Pathways (RAP) course, takes a developmental approach, drawing on positive psychology, solution-focused work, and strengths-based practice to further empower those who work with children and youth.

The Art of Kid Whispering: Reaching the Inside Kid (KW)
This course will prepare adults to decode the offensive and defensive language of adult-wary youth and discover meaning in their non-verbal communication in order to develop a trusting partnership and a strong platform from which they can grow.

Three Pillars of Transforming Care: Helping Kids Who Hurt (TPTC)
When children act out, it can sometimes trigger unexpected reactions in adults that may be uncaring or even harmful. This workshop will review the evidence of the impact of trauma on the brain and explore the types of behaviors that are the result of pain in traumatized children. Educators and direct care givers will gain skills to respond in ways to help bring healing and hope to the children and youth they serve.

Schools that Matter™: Educational Well-being for Staff & Students (STM)
Many adults in school settings want to refocus their energy and efforts in ways that matter to their students. Schools that Matter provide a road map for building places where children and adults experience belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. Participants in this two-day workshop will learn how well-being is created through emotional intelligence, discipline focused on relationships and not punishment, best practice instruction, and cultivating talents and interests.

Cultures of Respect: Creating Prosocial Climates (COR)
COR provides strategies for leaders and youth workers who are ultimately responsible for creating prosocial climates with and among youth. Participants will learn about the core elements of the organizational DNA necessary to develop cultures that support positive youth development and promote caring, helping, and empowerment.

Effective Leadership & Supervision (ELS)
Leadership of a unit or an organization presents many challenges to the individual in those positions. This two-day training will introduce participants to an overview of the very effective approach to leadership, Situational Leadership II. The formula for confident, directed leadership will set the stage for creating a more comprehensive approach to professional development of staff in essential tasks. Participants will be guided from that overview to application in their specific settings and focus on staff they supervise and will begin to apply this approach to specific positions and staff.

Planning Restorative Outcomes: Transforming Assessment (PRO)
PRO helps participants gain specific skills in this strength-based alternative to traditional, deficit-based assessment. In the transforming (strength-based) assessment, the young person is seen as the primary expert on his or her own life and collaborates in exploring challenging life events, identifying strengths and needs, and developing a plan for growth. Schools use the assessment for making informed decisions with students whose behavior is leading to failure or restrictive placements. Courts and treatment agencies use the Assessment for assessing risk and restorative planning.

Growing Resilient Kids: Lessons from the past and our hope for the future (GRK)
GRK provides an overview on the philosophy that sparked a revolution in resilience and strength-based interventions, as outlined in the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future. This one-day presentation will explore the causes for discouragement in today’s youth and how to mend lives, foster resilience and reclaim our youth who are troubled and lost. Building on past foundational models including research on the Circle of Courage, participants will be introduced to the recently developed Model of Leadership and Service.

Rolling with Resilience (RWR)
RWR explores practical strategies to build resilience in families and communities. Youth thrive and develop strengths and self-worth with enriched relationships, positive expectations, and encouragement. The universal values outlined in the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk provide a springboard for learning together and identifying opportunities for growth for all family members.

The Resilient Brain: Genes Are Not Destiny
The Resilient Brain explores how epigenetics is challenging the dogma of genetics as destiny. Participants will learn how chemicals and caregiving change genes, the adaptive and maladaptive roles of stress, and the amazing resiliency of the juvenile and adolescent brain.