Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (2010)

NCTSN Resource Parent Curriculum Facilitator Guidelines

Page Contents:

• Purpose
• Terms
• Essential Guidelines
• "Best Practice" Guidelines
• Guidelines for Managing Implementation Challenges

Purpose

These guidelines were developed by the Resource Parent Work Group of the NCTSN Child Welfare Committee with the support of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This group is comprised of experts throughout the United States in the mental health and child welfare fields who work with child trauma victims in foster care.

The Resource Parent Work Group developed these guidelines to help clarify the personal characteristics of successful Resource Parent Curriculum facilitators, as well as the training and preparation required to develop competence in the delivery of the Curriculum. The guidelines are based on the combined experience of leading NCTSN trainers, and have been developed to promote the most effective training outcomes.

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Terms

A Resource Parent Curriculum Master Trainer is a member of the NCTSN (or an NCTSN partner or close collaborator) who is qualified to train other facilitators.

A Resource Parent Curriculum Staff Facilitator is someone who has received training from an approved NCTSN RPC Master Trainer to conduct RPC groups in their local area.

A Resource Parent Curriculum Co-Facilitator is a foster, adoptive, or kinship caregiver or other adult with childhood experiences in the child welfare system who has received training to conduct RPC groups with a Staff Facilitator in their local area.

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Essential Guidelines

This list outlines the prerequisites which are "must-haves" for all RPC Facilitators, including both staff facilitators and resource parent co-facilitators.

• Personal Characteristics
  1. Facilitators-in-training should have a personal investment in the program, as well as a desire to have a positive impact in their communities.
  2. They must be good communicators, who can stay on agenda and true to the curriculum while adding their own style, personality, and professional experience. Effective RPC facilitators bring authenticity, flexibility, and creativity to the training.
  3. Importantly, facilitators-in-training must hold a trauma-informed perspective. They should possess a solid working knowledge of both trauma and the child welfare system, as well as hands-on experience in working with traumatized children. (See the Background Experience section of the “Best Practice” Guidelines below for further clarification.)
• Preparation
  1. Staff facilitators-in-training must have previous experience in training or providing trauma-informed psychoeducation to resource parents.
  2. Facilitators-in-training must be familiar with the content of the NCTSN RPC prior to beginning any facilitator training. Even before observing a training, facilitators need to prepare by reading and reviewing the written and visual materials in their entirety.
• Working Together
  1. In advance of the training, the staff and resource parent co-facilitators should meet to discuss the material and decide how to present the material together. (Some teams determine that it is best to divide responsibilities, while others prefer to have the professional deliver the concepts and allow the co-facilitator to illustrate the concepts with their own experiences.)
  2. Previous experience co-training is ideal but, at the very least, an understanding of how the resource parent will fulfill the co-facilitator role is essential.
  3. Co-facilitators should develop a strategy to keep the conversation trauma-specific, as well as a strategy to balance the needs of participants to talk about their experiences (share their struggles), and the importance of completing the entire curriculum.
  4. Facilitators should be prepared to spend time between sessions processing each training event and modifying delivery of the material to meet the needs of participants.

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"Best Practice" Guidelines

Based on the experience of NCTSN Master Trainers, the following levels of training and preparation will ensure the best outcomes for parents who participate in the RPC training. This curriculum can be challenging—both for facilitators and for the parent participants—and the NCTSN strongly recommends the following guidelines be followed as closely as possible. These guidelines outline the “best practices” for RPC facilitator qualifications and preparation. However, there may be situations when prospective trainers must work under less than ideal conditions. Recommendations for implementing the RPC in these latter situations may be found in the next section.

Staff Facilitator Best Practices

• Background and Experience
  1. Facilitators should have a minimum of a master's degree in social work, psychology, or a related field.
  2. Facilitators may be mental health clinicians, child welfare workers (including, but not limited to, foster care licensing and child protection services), or therapeutic foster care workers. If a clinician is not available, clinical consultation must be secured.
  3. Facilitators should have experience in either providing or participating in providing evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment with children and families exposed to trauma, including trauma-informed psychoeducation for parents, as described in the Preparation section of the "Essential Guidelines."
  4. Facilitators may enhance and update their child trauma knowledge by completing the recommended child trauma coursework on the NCTSN Learning Center site (http://learn.nctsn.org) prior to conducting their first independently-run groups.
• Face-to-Face Training
  1. As a first step, facilitators-in-training should make contact with an NCTSN RPC Master Trainer, in order to hold a consultation and, ideally, to make arrangements to observe a full NCTSN RPC workshop (approximately 16 hours) conducted by a Master Trainer affiliated with the NCTSN.
  2. Following this observed group, it is recommended that facilitators-in-training co-facilitate a workshop with an NCTSN Master Trainer prior to conducting their first independently-run groups.
• Implementation
  1. Administer all of the modules in the order provided in the curriculum.
  2. Utilize two facilitator co-leaders: 1) a staff facilitator as described in the guidelines above, and 2) a resource parent.
  3. Lack of adequate preparation can result in ineffective training, as measured by pre-/post-evaluation results.
  4. Lack of adequate trauma knowledge can lead to the mishandling of sensitive situations with resource parents, many of whom may have their own trauma histories. For example, facilitators who are inexperienced with the trauma perspective may inadvertently introduce trauma reminders for individual participants or reinforce ineffective or harmful parenting techniques.
• Ongoing Consultation
  1. It is recommended that all facilitators-in-training obtain regular (at least monthly) consultation from an NCTSN Master Trainer, particularly for their first two independently-conducted groups.
  2. Facilitators-in-training should consult with Master Trainers regarding issues such as:
     • The size and composition of groups, as well as the frequency of sessions
     • How to maintain fidelity to the model while making any needed adaptations
     • Common challenges and questions that arise in the RPC training
     • How to address issues related to sustainability
  3. Facilitators-in-training should discuss evaluation data collected from their first two independent groups with the Master Trainer.

Resource Parent Co-facilitator Best Practices

• Identifying Resource Parent Co-facilitators: Resource parent co-facilitators may be identified in the following ways:
  1. Recommendations from program staff
  2. Successful completion of the NCTSN RPC training
  3. Participation in a resource parent train-the-trainer or informational session that demonstrates pieces of the curriculum to prospective co-facilitators
• Personal Characteristics
  1. Demonstrates an enthusiasm for the trauma perspective
  2. Demonstrates an ability to apply the concepts in their own parenting
  3. Possesses an ability to engage with participants by sharing their own experiences and also encouraging others to share theirs. Resource parents with their own trauma histories, or who have difficulty containing their stories, may need help in structuring their input.

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Guidelines for Managing Implementation Challenges

• When the facilitator-in-training is less experienced with clinical issues relevant to traumatized children and families. It is recommended that facilitators who are less experienced in handling trauma, or who have had less extensive clinical training (e.g., less than a master’s level), consider a longer period of consultation before conducting trainings independently. External resources and supports should also be available for parents who become distressed during the training. This may include having clinical referrals available, or screening parents before beginning the training.
• When a Resource Parent Co-facilitator has not completed the RPC curriculum themselves. It is recommended that a Resource Parent Co-facilitator has successfully completed the “Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma” training or, at a minimum, observed at least part of the training before attempting to co-facilitate. If this is not possible, then other types of preparation that include familiarity with key trauma concepts (e.g., participation in trauma-focused therapy) may be substituted.
• When a facilitator-in-training does not have access to an NCTSN master trainer. If an NCTSN Master Trainer is not available in the facilitator-in-training’s local area (e.g., to make arrangements to observe a training and/or co-train together), then regular, ongoing consultation by phone and/or email is recommended. At a minimum, prospective facilitators should make contact with an NCTSN master trainer to review implementation questions and proposed adaptations to the curriculum before beginning to train independently. Extensive resources to support facilitators-in-training are also available on the NCTSN Learning Center site.
• For additional assistance, email: help@nctsn.org.

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