Tagged With "Leadership and Partners Teams"
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The results are out … so what’s next for PFE Conferences?
Benchmarks' Partnering For Excellence (PFE) 4th Annual Conference was held on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 and Thursday, September 12, 2019 at the Hawthorne Inn & Conference Center in Winston-Salem, NC. Over 175 participants from across North Carolina gathered to learn more about the long-term impacts of adversities. The audience was inspired by national and state leaders who shared ways to improve trauma-and-resiliency informed responses. The conference offered a variety of...
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The Sacramento Violence Intervention Program, Trauma & ACEs
On May 22, I had the opportunity to experience a presentation by DeAngelo Mack on the Sacramento Violence Intervention Program, Trauma and ACEs. The presentation was at Kaiser Sacramento and was directed to residents in the organization. I have worked with @DeAngelo Mack, @Chris Cooper and @Esmeralda Huerta through Resilient Sacramento for the past few years and have admired their work in the community, this was the first opportunity I had to attend...
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Training: Ways of Sharing Resources
This is saved as a blog post and there's an attachment. Sharing resources as a blog post is easier to make visual.
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Why We Suck (at Self-Soothing & Self-Care): Dr. Dawn O'Malley
Without coffee and yoga, I'm kind of a jerk. These are my personal "puppy uppers and doggie downers" and prevent me from being cranky, quick to cry, and ready for conflict. Coffee and calming make life more manageable. Humans seem tolerable. Without helpers I might veer into hating humans for being so needy which is not a great trait for a parent, partner or a professional. Or a self. My partner says coffee and exercise are acts of kindness, services he does to promote public safety. In...
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A Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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Benchmarks - Partnering for Excellence Job Post - Pitt & Craven County Project Assistant
Hi Everyone! Benchmarks is expanding and we are super excited to announce that we will be hiring for a Project Assistant for Pitt and Craven County’s Partnering for Excellence initiative! Attached is a PDF of the job description and qualifications in detail. We anticipate filling this position by the end of January! Please if you would, share with those that you feel may qualify. Thank you in advance! Lavita
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Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence Save the Date
Benchmarks will be hosting the Partnering for Excellence Conference for the third time this year. The conference is instrumental in bringing together professionals and those with lived experience. Through a combination of experiential activities, panels, and keynote speakers, the audience learns about the impact the Partnering for Excellence initiative can have as well as being encouraged to go out and be changemakers. This year promises to be even better than those in the past as the...
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Congrats to the PFE Team!
Big CONGRATULATIONS to the PFE Team for another outstanding conference AND BIG thanks to all who joined us and supported our very exciting conference and project! We can hardly wait to see you next year. In the meantime, take a moment to watch our slideshow of highlights from our event!
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Craven County Lunch and Learn
Over the past few months, the Benchmark’s Partnering for Excellence (PFE) team has been working diligently to prepare our newest partnership in Pitt and Craven counties to become effective advocates as they become a more trauma-informed community. We have been thrilled by the collaboration and efforts that we have seen coming from The Department of Social Services’ (DSS) Child Welfare teams, Trillium—the managed care organization supporting the PFE implementation locally—and, local mental...
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From A to R: Lessons at the Child Fatality Prevention Summit
Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence Project Director, Jenny Cooper, had the opportunity to talk about everything from ACEs to Resiliency at North Carolina's Child Fatality Prevention Summit. The Summit was the first of its kind in the state and brought together Community Child Prevention Team and Child Fatality Taskforce Teams from throughout the state. While the morning plenary session spoke of ACEs and the high rates of ACEs in North Carolina, Jenny's presentation took the opportunity to...
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Hurricane Florence first responders receive free trauma/resilience training
In a webinar offered this morning by Elaine Miller Karas , executive director of the Trauma Resource Institute in Claremont, CA, leaders from several North Carolina ACEs Connection communities affected by flooding and other damage by Hurricane Florence learned more about trauma response and how to better help their communities find resilience. Karas, who was delivering her Community Resiliency Model (CRM) training at Duke University in Durham, NC, offered the free training and provided...
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Personal stories the set tone of hearing in U.S. Senate HELP Committee on Opioid Crisis Response Act
Jennifer Donahue, Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, testifies before the HELP Committee (Jennifer Perry to her right) ____________________________________________________________ Some seasoned advocates say legislators are influenced by stories while their staffs are swayed by data. There was some of both at the April 11 hearing on the draft Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 of the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee but it was the personal stories that...
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PFE Presents at The 32nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health
Earlier this month, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Program Manager, Jasmine Cain and Ollie Harris Behavioral Health Center's Director, Katie Munger presented in collaboration at the 32 nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health in Tampa, Florida. This collaboration began in an effort to assess the need for trauma-informed behavioral health services for adults in Cleveland County. As a result of Benchmarks’ PFE goal to...
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Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina 2019 Learning and Leadership Summit
Last month, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Chief Research and Development Officer, Jenny Cooper, and Project Coordinator, Julia Holcomb, co-presented at the Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina (PCANC) 2019 Learning and Leadership Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina. Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) is an initiative intended to improve the behavioral health and well-being outcomes for children involved in the child welfare system. It creates a partnership between the...
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Reflections on the Film Suicide: The Ripple Effect
To start off Mental Health Awareness month I attended a screening of the film Suicide: The Ripple Effect. The film is a documentary that explains the events and mind frame that led to Kevin Hines—known widely as “The Golden Gate Jumper”—to attempt death by suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The film focuses on Kevin’s life, advocacy, and influence after surviving such an attempt and the healing process that followed. As someone who is immersed in ACEs science, I could not help...
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Introducing Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol
According to leading research, 99% of children entering the foster care system have experienced trauma in their lifetime, and few of those children receive the trauma-informed healthcare they need to recover and prosper. These children are more likely to not only suffer short-term from their trauma, but long term as well. Children who do not receive effective, holistic healthcare experience a lifetime of mental health disorders, substance misuse, and physical illnesses, including diabetes,...
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Rockstar Partner Highlight: Davidson County DSS
As we all are aware, COVID has presented its own set of challenges to the wonderful work we all do with the children and families we serve and our Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) child welfare partners are no different in this regard. During the pandemic child welfare agencies across North Carolina have had to contend with the ever-changing needs and demands of their communities. From helping families get set up with supportive concrete supports during times of financial...
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Rock Star Partner Highlight: Easter Seals UCP
While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many unique challenges, it has also been a catalyst for creative solutions to help support those who need it most. This week we would like to highlight the work of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partner, Easter Seals UCP. Easter Seals UCP is working in partnership with PFE in Pitt and Craven county DSSes and Trillium, the area’s LME/MCO. Easter Seals UCP has taken on the challenge to help their clients and staff navigate the pandemic,...
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Bridging the Academic Gap During the Pandemic – Tutoring & Caregiver Resources
For most, COVID-19 has completely changed the way people approach their everyday activities, such as attending school. This disruptive turn of events has drastically changed the way education is being delivered, with many school systems switching to a virtual or remote learning platform. For many children and families, these needed yet significant changes have added challenges that many are seeing impact children’s ability to succeed in school. In response to this, our newest Benchmarks’...
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Using Social Determinants of Health to Improve Outcomes for Child Welfare Involved Children and Families
Health can be significantly inconsistent between individuals and populations. Variables called the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) assist in understanding the range of factors that affect a person’s overall well-being. SDoH are defined by the World Health Organization as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” These environments are mostly shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources and have substantial impact on education, occupation, policies,...
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Triumphant Trillium: Medicaid Managed Care Meets the Challenges of COVID
COVID may have created many challenges, but it also cultivated resilience, perseverance, ingenuity, creativity, and solidarity between our Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partners in Pitt and Craven county in eastern North Carolina. As 2021 begins we are still faced with many of the same challenges, but due to strong partnering we have found innovative ways that have allowed us to continue our trauma-informed work in improving the well-being of children and families that are...
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Prioritizing Partnerships with Aligning Values—An Introduction to Youth Villages
Youth Villages opened in 1986, and now provides children’s mental health services across 24 states in over 100 locations. They take pride in increasing positive outcomes for the children and families who participate in their services. In 2018, they reported 88% of the children they previously served are living successfully at home with their families 12 months after completing their programs! Youth Villages offers various programs for children and families involved with foster care. They...
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Resilience: The Foundation of a Strong Child-Welfare System
Resilience, which is defined as the capacity to recover from difficulties, is a vital tool in building a strong child welfare system, but what does that really mean? It is easy to say that resiliency is important, but effectively utilizing systems and tools for children and families as well as the employees who serve them is a different challenge. Through the latest research, we know resilience is made up of many different factors, from one’s genetics to their environment and support...
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TiCTaC: Trauma-Informed & Trauma Aware Communities
Everyone knows about TiCTaCs right? The tiny little breath mint candies that come in the adorable little boxes? They are typically found in the grocery store checkout aisles and gas stations. They’re offered in a variety of colors and flavors! So why are we sitting here talking about candy? This tiny treat is often mentioned during our work with DSS agencies and other community agencies. These fun little candies appear to have very little significance, but they have a much bigger meaning in...
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Book Club: One Way Life-Long Learning is Encouraged in the Center for Quality Integration
Benchmark’s Center for Quality Integration, made up of the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) and Partnering for Excellence (PFE) teams, prioritizes learning about trauma and its effects on the children within child welfare systems. Both PFE and SAP seek to assist children who have experienced trauma in improving their outcomes and access to trauma-informed services. To be a champion of trauma-informed systems, the team must prioritize lifelong learning about the topic. One of the ways...
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Benchmarks’ CQi Team Dares to Lead
Throughout our time working in human services, we realize that people with leadership titles are not the only ones utilizing leadership skills. Having a leadership title does not automatically make for a strong leader. This has been recognized by people in all career fields that require leading and following. Investing in professional development and helping to grow employees is important for all companies. Benchmarks’ Tara Fields, Chief Operating Officer, and Jenny Cooper, Chief Research...
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Rockingham County Youth Services Rockstar Spotlight
Rockingham County Youth Services (RCYS) is a local county government agency in Rockingham County, NC that provides counseling and other community alternatives for school-aged youth and their families. RCYS began in Rockingham County in 1979 as a program for troubled youth. Since then, the agency has evolved to provide programs that include counseling for children and adolescents, parenting classes, as well as programs ranging from teen court to substance abuse prevention. The evolution of...
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Exploring the Impossible Imperative
Every year our Benchmarks Center for Quality Improvement (CQi) team carefully selects books for our team to read as a part of our “book club”. The goal of this book club is to increase our team’s knowledge, expertise, and understanding of the systems and individuals we aim to serve through our work throughout the state. Last week, staff wrapped up the club book “The Impossible Imperative: Navigating the Competing Principles of Child Protection” written by Jill Duerr Berrick. We know when...
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Nazareth Child & Family Connection: Empowering Youth and Families
Nazareth Child and Family Connection has been a vital member to Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partnership since 2012. While they offer amazing services to the children and family involved in the project, Nazareth is also a huge contributor to innovative and best practice in and around their community. Nazareth was founded in 1906 and has since continued to provide an array of services to meet the needs of children and families located in Rowan and Davidson Counties. Their...
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Partners Health Management Spotlight
Without the efforts of a dedicated multidisciplinary team, the work of the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) would not be possible. SAP is proud to be aligned with Partners Health Management—the Local Management Entity-Managed Care Organization (or LME-MCO) for four of the six counties SAP is working with. Partners works diligently to manage services for the behavioral health care needs of those who reside in Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Surry, and...
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Child Life Specialist Work within Child Welfare
There are many human services professionals who work within the child welfare system to help improve the lives of those involved in that system. One such professional that assists children and families in some of their most difficult times are Certified Child Life Specialists. Certified Child Life Specialists are professionals who strive to reduce the negative impacts for children and families caused by trauma in different settings. Their training and education come from educational courses,...
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Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Initiatives [CTIPP]
CTIPP CAN Call - Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Initiatives - September 15th, 2-3:30pm ET/11am-12:30pm PT - Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/742183645 Meeting ID: 742 183 645 One tap mobile +19292056099,,742183645# US (New York) Please join us for next week's CTIPP CAN Call, which will focus on building mental well-being for infants, toddlers and preschoolers and the adults who care for them. This month's presentation will feature Drs. Kaitlin Mulcahy and Gerry Costa, and Kelly...
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Me & My Emotions: A New, Free Resource for Teens
The pandemic has had a lasting effect on youth mental health. Moved by a desire to reduce youth’s toxic stress and increase their resilience, The Dibble Institute, in partnership with a team of students and alumni from ArtCenter College of Design and author Carolyn Curtis, PhD, is releasing Me & My Emotions —a new, free adaptation of our beloved Mind Matters Curriculum. The mobile-friendly Me & My Emotions website features engaging graphics and bite-sized lessons teens can access and...
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Pitt County Department of Social Services Hosts Annual 'Bready Bear' Event
Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) project works closely with local child welfare agencies to implement trauma-informed shifts in the community. This is done through educating the community on the effects of trauma while also working with local child welfare agencies to screen youth who become involved and connect them with a Trauma Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessment (TiCCA). As a result, we know many of our youth in foster care experience higher rates of trauma than their...
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All Systems Go! Vaya Health and Benchmarks Kickoff Child Welfare Project with DSS Directors
Earlier this month we announced Benchmarks will be working on a new project with Vaya Health, a Medicaid managed care organization in North Carolina, to improve the lives of children in the child welfare system. Benchmarks will provide consulting and training services regarding the alignment of practices of the local child welfare system and the behavioral healthcare provider system. To jumpstart this effort, Vaya and Benchmarks invited each DSS Director from Vaya’s current 22 counties as...
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Spotlight: Surry County SAP Taking Its First Solo Flight
Today, Benchmarks is spotlighting our first Standardized Assessment Project participants, Surry County Department of Social Services (DSS) and Partners Health Management (Partners). In January 2022, Surry County DSS and Partners will embark on sustaining the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) process on their own. Benchmarks implementation staff will step out of the picture and the partnership will take over local management of all project aspects. For the first 18 months of the project,...
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Partnering to Care for Families: Highlighting the Work of Integrated Family Services
Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (CQi) would like to say Happy Anniversary to our partners at Integrated Family Services! A year ago, the agency made the decision to join the Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) initiative between Trillium Health Resources and two of their partnering child welfare organizations in Pitt and Craven counties. Since joining, Integrated Family Services (IFS) has been more than just a stellar partner. Their commitment to collaborating with...
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Opportunities for Healing: Exploring Strategies to Improve Racial Disproportionalities & Disparities in Child Welfare
Research shows that due to substantial histories of abuse, neglect, and increased exposure to trauma, youth in foster care have exceptional concerns regarding their mental health needs. “Rates of psychiatric symptoms and disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and reactive attachment disorder, are much higher in children in foster care” (Lohr & Jones, 2016). When we couple this knowledge with data on racial disproportionality and...
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Saying Farewell: Rockingham County Continues SAP Independently
Rockingham County Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services (RCDHHS-DSS) began their journey with the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) in 2019. During this time, the DSS staff have worked to increase their knowledge of trauma-informed practices to best meet the needs of children entering permanency planning. The SAP process includes timely screening for trauma in order to quickly identify a child’s need for further assessment, so that they are more likely to...
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Sandhills Center Dives into TiCCA Work in the Midst of Change Whirlwinds
Change is difficult anytime an organization must undergo it, but it is doubly hard when that organization is navigating multiple systemic changes. Add in growing the organization’s number of consumers and partner agencies to the mix, and things can feel downright impossible. In the past year, North Carolina’s Local Management Entities-Managed Care Organizations (LME-MCOs) have weathered re-alignments, with some North Carolina counties choosing to shift to another LME-MCO catchment area.
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Pamlico Child & Family Therapy - Partner Spotlight
Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) project works to align local private providers, LME/MCO partners, and local Departments of Social Services, as well as the community to better address the trauma-related needs of children and families encountering the child welfare system. Research shows that addressing trauma early on is imperative to bettering the outcomes of those who have experienced it. With so many children and families having trauma exposure, we recognized a need to...
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A Full-Circle Moment
Approximately every six weeks, each Benchmarks Center for Quality Integration team member is responsible for a blog post on our PACEs Connection page. Each month, one blog is a Partner Spotlight which highlights the incredible work happening across the state of North Carolina. For the month of May, Benchmarks Consultant, Sharron Roberts authored our partner spotlight blog where she shared about her “full-circle moment” below. My search to highlight a partner in our Pathways to Permanency...
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The Impact of Trauma on Physical Health Part II
A few weeks ago, we looked at how trauma can impact one’s physical health in the “Impact of Trauma on Physical Health” blog. Today, we will look further into the work that Benchmarks is doing to support multidisciplinary collaboration in order to improve the physical health outcomes for children across the state. Benchmarks develops and implements specific pilot projects across various catchment areas in North Carolina. These pilot projects are designed to encourage multidisciplinary...
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Benchmarks' CQi Staff Take a Daring Journey to Leadership
Over the last year Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (CQi) staff have been working through leadership training using the Brené Brown Daring to Lead book. Unlike many books on leadership, Brené tackles the concept through the lens of vulnerability and courage. Both are notions which do not typically come to mind when most people think about leadership. While the book does touch on concepts like effective supervision and management techniques, the foundations are grounded in helping...
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Spotlight: SPARC Services & Programs
SPARC Programs & Services provides children and family mental health services in a variety of locations across North Carolina, from the Piedmont to the Western areas of the state. SPARC has become the most recent private provider to have clinicians trained to administer the Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) Trauma-Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessment (TiCCA) to children over the age of 4 entering foster care. SPARC was selected by the Burke and Rutherford SAP...
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Partner Spotlight: Cleveland County DSS
In this month’s Partner Spotlight, Benchmarks would like to highlight our partners at Cleveland County DSS. Since 2016, Cleveland County has been working with Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Improvement to implement Partnering for Excellence (PFE), a project that aims to ensure child welfare involved youth are appropriately screened, assessed, and treated for trauma in a timely and effective manner. Recently, Cleveland transitioned to the sustainability phase of the project which means all...
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Changing Policies: A Trauma-Informed Approach
Pathways to Permanency Project, a Vaya Health initiative created to align the work of the child welfare and behavioral health systems, continues to develop solutions to improve outcomes for child welfare involved youth and families. Child welfare stakeholders utilize monthly workgroup sessions to explore the impact and feasibility required of each potential solution to identified problems. As the project managers, Benchmarks’ staff often hear that a potential solution is to create new...
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TiCCA Train the Trainer Training
Two major components of implementation work are ensuring fidelity and sustainability. Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) focuses on fidelity when implementing the use of Trauma-Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessments (TiCCAs) through a rigorous training and certification process as well as ongoing continuous quality improvement processes. The project also focuses on the sustainability of TiCCA completion in local communities after Benchmarks is no longer providing...
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Training the Adult Learner: Lessons from Benchmarks CQi Team
When many of us think about education, we may picture children sitting in a classroom and a teacher at a chalk board. But many adults take part in educational opportunities and trainings throughout their personal and professional lives. Some participate in mandatory trainings to enhance skills while others seek learning opportunities for their own personal enjoyment. No matter the reason, adults learn differently than children, and their trainings and educational opportunities should reflect...