The BIRCh Project at UMass and the Office of the Child Advocate have partnered to develop the following training modules, which are based upon evidence-based practices, stakeholder interviews, and corresponding materials with the goal of improving social, emotional, and behavioral services for children across multiple settings.
The modules focus on:
expanding the toolboxes of professionals related to culturally responsive and trauma-informed assessment, prevention, and intervention practices
addressing strategies for fostering well-being, behavior management, and skill building of youth
fostering well-being as staff and behavioral health career pathways to explore for those interested
Training Modules
Length: 25 minutes
Description of content: This module will provide an overview of (1) the different roles, types of, duties and challenges paras and mentors face on a regular basis, (2) evidence-based public health approaches, and (3) considerations for more inclusive, culturally responsive and trauma-informed practices.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will be able to (1) define and provide examples of the ABCs of behavior (antecedents, behaviors, and consequences), (2) describe methods for de-escalating challenging behavior as well as prevention and intervention strategies, and (3) demonstrate understanding of trauma in a systemic context and tools to support children who are trauma survivors.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will (1) learn more about universal prevention, (2) gain an understanding of the Prevent, Teach, Reinforce framework and strategies to utilize in each domain of the framework, and (3) learn steps to use in delivering effective directions to youth.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will be able to (1) name 1-2 strategies for collaborating with a youth’s team to develop interventions and monitor the effectiveness of these interventions, (2) increase understanding related to group dynamics to apply to small and large group settings, (3) practice effective goal setting strategies, and (4) learn more about documentation to foster positive youth outcomes and improve collaboration.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will be able to (1) name 1-2 Tier 2 and 3 more intensive intervention strategies to add to their toolboxes, (2) learn more how to monitor to see if these interventions are helping youth through progress monitoring, and (3) understand more about applying a culturally responsive and trauma-informed lenses to our work.
Description of content: Participants will work on (1) defining what well-being means to them, (2) understanding the concept of self-care in context including fostering well-being at work, (3) fostering the wellbeing of youth in practice, and (4) building the coping toolboxes of youth and staff with tools that work for them.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will become familiar with (1) the four common functions of behavior, (2) four steps to use in responding to challenging behavior, and (3) strategies for reinforcing prosocial behaviors in order to decrease the occurrence of challenging behaviors.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will (1) become familiar with assessment processes and tools that can be utilized in community settings, (2) develop a general understanding of the special education evaluation process in educational settings, and (3) understand processes for collaborating with team members and collaborating across systems.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will (1) learn more about additional behavioral health professions that paraprofessionals and mentors can explore that build off of their current skill set, (2) gain an understanding of some of the barriers to retaining paraprofessionals and mentors, and (3) consider some factors when exploring a career path in behavioral health.
Description of content: After viewing this module, participants will learn more about (1) some common mental health symptoms and diagnoses, (2) the overlap between trauma and ADHD symptoms, and (3) the differences between DSM-V diagnoses and DESE educational categories.
The BIRCh team highly values your feedback about our online learning modules. Please complete this evaluation form to give us your feedback after viewing our online learning.
