The following Modules have been developed and are ready for our staff to provide a training:

Module 1 – Communicating and Working with Different Kinds of Parents
Training Overview: 1 ½ – 2 hours training    ETO:  Parenting Education

Home visitors should understand the mindset of individuals from different economic classes so they can be more effective communicating with the families they visit. This training is based on Ruby Payne’s book, “Working with Parents: Building Relationships for Student Success.” Dr. Payne is a notable educator, speaker, author, and is known as an expert on poverty and the mindsets of economic classes. Based on Dr. Payne’s work, this training is designed to help home visitors understand and relate to parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The trainer should make the case that home visitors should not lump parents together as one uniform group, but rather parents should be identified by separate subgroups that have unique needs and issues. The home visitor should then work with parents and families according to their individual needs and situations.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1. To identify personal  communication strengths and weaknesses.
2. To explore how different  economic backgrounds and sub groups of parents have different  communication styles and preferences.
3. To understand and   communicate more effectively with different subsets of parents.
4.  To develop an action plan  based on information learned in today’s training.

 

Module 2 – What Poverty does to a Child’s Brain
Training Overview:  2 ½ – 3 hour training      ETO: Child Development

Home visitors should understand that prolonged exposure to poverty can be harmful to a developing brain. They should also be aware that the brain is able to adapt and change which means that poor children can experience success when they are provided the right kinds of experiences.  This training is based partly on Eric Jensen’s book, “Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can do About It.” Jensen is a notable educator, speaker, author, and is known as a leader in the brain based learning movement. This training is designed to help home visitors understand what poverty is and how it affects children’s brains while also providing information on how the right kind of experiences can change lives for the better.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1. To define poverty
2. To outline four risk factors and specific ways poverty hurts brain development
3. To identify ways to combat what poverty does to a brain
4. To develop an action plan based on information learned in today’s training.

 

Module 3 – Improving Family Health:  The ABC’s of Breastfeeding
Training Overview: 1 – 1 ½ hour training      ETO: Health and Safety

This FUN and interactive session looks at the many advantages of breastfeeding for both baby and mother. This training explores ways to encourage and support mothers in the decision to breastfeed. Since breastfeeding can be tricky and at times, overwhelming, this training offers current information so Home Visitors can learn how to encourage a breastfeeding mother and give them answers to most of the questions an expectant mother might ask.

Training Objectives for Participants:

1. To gain and/or help develop a comprehensive list of the benefits of breastfeeding.
2. To explore methods to encourage and support mothers in the decision to breastfeed.

 

Module 4 – School Readiness Begins in Infancy: Building Foundations for Learning
Training Overview:  1 – 1 ½ hour training    ETO:  Relationships among Family, School and Community

Home visitors need to understand how early experiences affect brain development.  They also need to be aware of the impact of social interactions during the first two years of life as it relates to future learning and school readiness. This session explores how early experiences are built into children’s bodies and brains, and explains the impact of developing skills, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life. One of the most essential experiences in shaping the developing brain is found in the relationships formed between children and significant adults that care for them in the early years as this process is fundamental to the wiring of the brain. Without caring adults to cushion stress caused by extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, or other factors that can derail healthy development, infants and toddlers face long-term consequences in learning, behavior, and health. This session will enhance a home visitor’s understanding of current research on early childhood development and its application as it relates to school readiness.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1. To examine how early experiences affect brain development.
2. To examine the impact of social interactions during the first two years of life on future learning.
3. To identify factors that can derail healthy development.
4. To explore keys to healthy development and school readiness for infants and toddlers

 

Module 5 – Improving Family Health Tobacco Use and Cessation
Training Overview:  2-3 hour training     ETO: Parental Well Being and Stability

Home visitors need knowledge and resources concerning tobacco cessation efforts so they will be able to encourage individuals that are struggling with tobacco addictions. This session will explore the negative effects of tobacco usage as well as the benefits of quitting. It will also delve into why it is such a hard habit to quit despite the benefits and risks associated with usage. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. Tobacco usage includes more than just smoking cigarettes and there is no safe level of tobacco use. Tobacco usage harms nearly every organ of the body. It causes many different cancers as well as chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitis, and heart disease. Quitting smoking has immediate and long-term benefits for both individuals and families. This session will explore resources and techniques to assist home visitors with tobacco cessation efforts.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1.   Home visitors will gain knowledge and resources on tobacco cessation so they can encourage individuals to quit using tobacco products.
2.  This will include information on the health effects of secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure and specific information on tobacco use during and after pregnancy.

Module 6:  Stress: Understanding and Managing Ours While Helping Families With Theirs
Training Overview :  2 1/2 – 3 hour trainig   ETO:  Parental Well Being and Stability

Home visitors need knowledge and resources concerning stress, a natural and normal occurrence in daily lives.  Home visitors encounter families with very stressful lives and their own workloads are often at maximum level.  A home visitor’s job is demanding and they need to be reminded of the importance of learning to cope with stressful situations. While stress cannot be eliminated, home visitors can learn to use skills to deal with it more effectively.

Training Objectives:
1. To define stress and identify common stressors
2.  To expand awareness of skills that will encourage a more relaxed life style and prevent stress related illness
3. To identify ways home visitors can help families cope with stressors in life

Module 7 – Parents, Children and Stress
Training Overview:   2 hour training  ETO:  Parental Well Being and Stability

Home visitors need to understand that early adversity has long been known to increase the risks of disease and life-threatening behaviors later in life. Toxic stress is when a young child experiences frequent or prolonged adverse experiences. The more adverse experiences a child has will raise the risk of later health problems. A child’s sustained exposure to toxic stress may also result in behavior patterns that are difficult to change later. This can  lead to a vicious cycle of toxic stressed children growing up to be adults with chronic stress that raise children with toxic stress.

Home visitors can help with this cycle by identifying the stress levels in families and by using strategies to build resilience in children and families.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1.  Define chronic stress and explore its relationship to adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress
2.  Describe adverse childhood experiences and how they affect children’s development
3.  Identify toxic stress and effects of abuse and neglect in childre
4.  Discuss resilience and evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies to build resilience in children and families

 

Module 8 – Improving Family Helath:  Family Planning
Training Overview:  1-1 1/2 hours    ETO:  Parental Well Being and Stability

Home visitors need to learn about birth spacing, pregnancy planning, birth control options, and the 39 week initiative to be able to advise families and give them accurate information. Legislation establishing MIECHV requires quantifiable, measurable improvements in the benchmark areas. One benchmark is improved maternal and newborn health. This training is designed to provide information to aid home visitors as they help families prevent unintended pregnancies.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1. Provide families with pregnancy planning and birth spacing information.
2. List accurate birth control information and help families prevent unintended pregnancies.
3. Describe why it is best to wait until at least 39 weeks to have a baby.

Module 9 – Building Helping Relationships
Training Overview:   2-3 hours   ETO:  Parenting Education

At the heart of home visiting is the relationship between the home visitor and the family. This relationship serves to provide a foundation for help that will be offered. Through this relationship the home visitor can provide the family with support, information, and encouragement. The importance of the helping relationship has been supported in research. This training is designed to provide information to aid home visitors in their capacity to help others. Since helping skills are something that must be applied and practiced, activities are included to allow opportunities to try out the concepts.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1. Describe how  to prepare for a first visit with parents/families.
2.Correctly define empathy, respect, and genuinessess and desdribe their role in the helping relationship.
3. Identify strategies for active listening.
4.Explain techniques for building rapport with parents and families.

Module 10 – Understanding How Others Feel
Training Overview –  1 -1 1/2 hours   ETO:  Diversity in Family Systems

This module is designed to accompany other modules as a method to extend training time and learning. It will especially accompany Modules 1 and 9 very well as they deal with the topics of communication and helping characteristics. At the heart of home visiting is the relationship between the home visitor and the family. This relationship serves to provide a foundation for help that will be offered. This training is designed to aid home visitors in their ability to understand the parents/families they serve. It includes a brief simulation exercise and further teaching on empathy and active listening.

Training Objectives for Participants:
1.  Better imagine how another person might feel.
2.  Define empathy.
3.  Identify ways to achieve empathy and methods of being a more active listener.

 

Other training topics available:

1. Impact of Domestic Violence on Families
Futures Without Violence:  Health Moms Happy Babies:

Training Overview:             3 hour training              ETO: Dynamics of Family Relationships

The curriculum provides tools and resources to help home visitation staff address the complex and sometimes uncomfortable issue of domestic violence.
When it comes to promoting health and safety outcomes for women and children impacted by domestic violence, there is a methodology to effective assessment, primary prevention, and anticipatory guidance messaging during home visits. What one says and how it is said—whether by direct assessment or through universal education—matters and can make a difference for women and children living with domestic violence. First, home visitation professionals need education about the impact of violence on families. They also require tools to support assessment and conversations about domestic violence. This curriculum provides simple tools to support assessment and education through the use of scripts and safety cards during home visits. These tools have been designed to facilitate safety planning and supported referrals to domestic violence programs

Training Objectives for Participants:
a. Become more aware of the effects of domestic violence on women, children, and families.
b. Become more comfortable with identifying and addressing domestic violence and reproductive coercion with families.
c. Demonstrate competency in educating parents about how their childhood experiences of victimization can be triggered or re-experienced and where to turn for help and support

2. Reflective Supervision (limited to coordinators, supervisors, and administrators)

3. Reducing Home Visitor Attrition (limited to coordinators, supervisors, and administrators)