Summary of Individualized Skill Building Trainings

• DATA COUNTS! Using Evaluation and Information Systems to Build Systems of Care
• Facilitating Together: A Course for Facilitators and Facilitative Leaders 
• From the Beginning: Building an Early Childhood Mental Health System of Care
• How to Hire a Leader
• Mediating Together 
• Negotiating Together
• Transformational Leadership: Creating Cultural and Linguistic Competence in a System of Care

DATA COUNTS! Using Evaluation and Information Systems to Build Systems of Care

Evaluation is a key component in building an effective system of care. Evaluation and information systems provide feedback that helps guide program design, improvement, and sustainability. In today's world of limited resources, systems that can document achievement of goals and objectives at the clinical, program, and system level and efficiency in using resources are at an advantage for continued support and improvement.

This course will provide the "nonevaluator" with an overview of evaluation basics and information systems. Key topics will include the various uses, purposes, and benefits of conducting evaluations within systems of care, involving diverse stakeholders, theories of change, continuous quality improvement, and the multiple uses of data. The course will involve a mix of short lectures, case studies, and some individual and small group exercises. Participants will develop evaluation plans, using the information discussed, with examples from their own work.

Facilitating Together: A Course for Facilitators and Facilitative Leaders

In this world of complex systems, ever-expanding knowledge bases, and intricate webs of human relationships, diverse groups of people often are brought together to make decisions and solve problems.  At times, it is a challenge for these groups to work together effectively to address the interest of all those at the table, and to reach decisions that will lead to mutually acceptable actions.  In these situations it is usually helpful to involve a neutral person who is skilled in processes that promote group successs, a facilitator.

This course is an opportunity to explore, through the use of facilitation, ways to enhance the collaborative decision-making of community groups, work teams, and other gatherings of people who must work together to solve problems.  This course builds upon a series of courses that address effective processes for coming to common ground and mutually embraced solutions: Negotiating Together and Mediating Together.  While this course can be pursued independently of the series, the additional learning from the other courses in the series enrich the teachings of Facilitating Together. 

Through this training participants will:

• Understand the role of the facilitator;
• Identify the learnings and skills necessary to be effective in that role;
• Practice special techniques for managing group processes; and
• Explore the emerging notion of facilitative leadership.

From the Beginning: Building an Early Childhood Mental Health System of Care

Compelling research evidence shows that a child's early relationships and experiences set the stage for life-long social and emotional success or failure. Systems developers, clinicians, administrators, and families play a key role in promoting a system that supports the emotional well being in young children and their families.

This course will prepare leaders to collaborate in the development of an early childhood mental health system of care. Early childhood mental health is the social, emotional, and behavioral well being of young children birth through five and their families. Infants and very young children, along with their families, are served in a variety of community settings, and by diverse agencies and providers--both formal and informal. Primary care settings, childcare, Head Start, foster care, playgroups and home visitation programs provide settings in which mental health can be infused. This course will highlight promising approaches used in these settings, such as mental health consultation, family-mentors, and evidence- based practices.

This course is based upon an early childhood system of care framework developed to help states, communities, and neighborhoods conceptualize, organize, and integrate services and supports to meet the mental health needs of young children and their families. Since every state and community is unique with differing needs and capacities, this system of care construct is meant to be used flexibly by your state or community.

How to Hire a Leader

Hiring individuals who can serve in leadership positions in systems of care is a challenging task.  Most job descriptions do not typically outline the skills that are necessary to lead change efforts.  This half-day course presents a set of leadership competencies employers should be looking for in hiring family and professional leaders in systems change efforts.  The competencies build on the work of the Leadership Academy and focus on skill sets related to vision and values, risk taking, shared decision making, and leading change efforts. 

Through this training, participants will continue their previous learning from the Leadership Academy and be able to:

• Review elements of the leadership framework;
• Reflect on and identify their personal leadership strengths;
• Describe ways they have applied their personal leadership qualities, skills, and strategies in their work; and
•  Conceptualize hiring practices that focus on leadership strengths.

Mediating Together

Resources are diminishing and laws are changing for children with special needs.  As a result, conflict among families, agencies, and administration is on the rise. People are finding themselves in costly battles with each other over how to provide for these children.  Mediation is a way to resolve conflict with the help of a neutral person.  The mediator helps people in conflict understand the needs of all of the participants and engage in collaborative decision-making.  The goal is a mutually-acceptable, durable agreement.  The Conflict Management Program at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development Center (GUCCHD) has developed and implemented a curriculum to train neutrals to mediate in education, child welfare, and other child and family serving areas. This course can provide participants an overview of mediation and and skill building for those who will be mediators.

Negotiating Together

The Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development Center (GUCCHD) has been a proponent of collaborative decision-making between and among agencies who serve children with disabilities and family members for almost thirty years.  Collaboration has been sought after and attempted over the years, but for the most part has been difficult to sustain.  The missing piece is often the mind-set and the tools to collaborate.  The Conflict Management Program at the GUCCHD has developed and implemented a curriculum to train educators, agency personnel and family members to use a defined set of skills and a step-by-step process of negotiation in situations of conflict.  The goal is to achieve mutually satisfactory, durable solutions and enhanced, problem-solving relationships.  This presentation will give participants an overview of interest-based decision making and an outline of the negotiation process.

Through this training, participants will:     

• Understand the definition of interest-based decision-making and be able to differentiate between that and other types of decision-making;
• Be aware of processes for dispute resolution; and 
• Be aware and begin to utilize a defined set of skills that apply to the various forms of conflict management.

Transformational Leadership: Creating Cultural & Linguistic Competence in Systems of Care

Building culturally and linguistically competent family-centered systems of care for children with mental health needs and their families in racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse communities is a challenge that needs critical attention. Building such a system of care requires a unique blend of leadership skills. To effectively lead in this context, it is important that all leaders have: awareness, knowledge and skills to effectively weave the concepts and principles of cultural and linguistic competence with that of leadership to transform and create an inclusive, respectful and trusting environment for children and their families.

Through a two-day forum participants will:

• Define and interpret the conceptual frameworks and guiding principles of both transformative leadership and cultural competence;
• Apply these concepts and principles to the current and prevailing situations in their communities;
• Analyze a current leadership challenge though this worldview;
• Develop a plan of action for continuing a personal "leadership journey" that embraces this framework; and 
• Develop a system of care plan of action for leadership to promote the next level of cultural and linguistic competence in your community.

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