FIELD SAFETY TRAINING & DE-ESCALATION TOOLS FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS
(2-3-hour program)
The 2-hour training program is designed to maximize the safety and minimize the risk of harm to social service professionals when working in the field. The training consists of an instructor led power point presentation using images, videos, and practical interactive scenarios of actual events. Participants receive current, research-based safety planning, strategies, and resources. Additional topics covered include predictors of violence, managing confrontation, de-escalation techniques, and street violence. (Optional: An additional one-hour training may be added to the program, focusing specifically on gang violence. The added option consists of highly sensitive information that will assist social service professionals in understanding the nature of gangs and their activities; common gangs and their respective structure; how youth are driven to join gangs; and ways to identify gangs, their members and affiliates). Upon completion of the training, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of the correlation between the practical use of the concepts covered and their safety in the field. They will be able to effectively plan for their safety, be aware of potential violent situations, manage conflict, identify gangs and gang related activity (if 3-hour program), and employ strategies to minimize their risk of harm.
NEUROBIOLOGY & TRAUMA INFORMED INTERVIEWING & INVESTIGATIONS
(4-hour program)
Traditional interview techniques used by criminal justice and social service professionals do not always take into account the effect that trauma has on memory and the ability of a victim to recall details. This approach increases the likelihood of alienating and further traumatizing a victim, and misrepresenting or failing to recognize crucial evidence. Trauma Informed interviewing merges principles from child forensic interviewing practices and Neurobiology; the scientific study of how fear and trauma cause changes in the brain that impact a victim’s response during a traumatic event (i.e., sexual assault, child abuse), and memory thereafter. Trauma Informed training provides professionals with a profound understanding of how a trauma victim’s reactions and behaviors during and after a traumatic event, and their fragmented memory of it, are commonly miscategorized by untrained professionals. All too often, those misconceptions lead to victim alienation, and worse yet, to wrongful accusations of false reporting. Trauma Informed training provides professionals with knowledge and methods to accurately identify critical psycho-physiological evidence from interviewing victims of trauma, maximizing accurate information and minimizing any further trauma. Training in Neurobiology and Trauma Informed investigation and interviewing is essential for criminal justice and social service professionals to effectively interview and successfully conduct investigations.
DETERMINING THE CREDIBILITY OF CHILDREN
(2-hour program)
Child and teen victims and witnesses can be easily influenced, and may have a more difficult time articulating details as a result of experiencing trauma. Understanding and using forensic interview techniques when speaking with children and teens in the criminal justice and social service system is essential to obtaining maximum accurate information while minimizing trauma. This presentation will touch on forensic interviewing, the neurobiology of trauma and its impact on memory, and other factors that will assist DSS, members of CACs and MDTs, and local law enforcement in determining the credibility of child and teen victims and witnesses.
INTRODUCTION TO CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATION & FORENSIC INTERVIEWING
(2-4-hour program)
This program is designed for social service professionals who are new to the field, or as a refresher for more seasoned staff. Actual child abuse cases will be explored from the initial reporting through the investigation. Topics covered include: best practices in MDT, CPS and law enforcement response and investigation; methods for obtaining evidence and corroboration; and an overview of forensic interviewing.
PARENTAL ABDUCTIONS & AMBER ALERT
(2 hours)
Child protective professionals and local law enforcement can become involved in a parental abduction events. When a parent takes a child (or children) under circumstances that puts the child(ren) at risk of harm, it is critical for local police and CPS to be familiar with the AMBER program; how it works; the criteria for getting an activation; and, how each of those agencies have a role in the safe recovery of an abducted child. When properly trained and prepared, the likelihood of a safe recovery exponentially increases.
This presentation is based on more than a decade of experience activating the AMBER alert system (60 times, involving 92 children). The vast majority of those AMBER Alerts (93%) were parental cases; ½ of those involved open cases with CPS. In this program, actual parental abduction cases are explored and dissected in order to prepare social service and law enforcement professionals should they become involved in a similar set of circumstances. In many AMBER Alert cases, children are unnecessarily put at high risk because local law enforcement and social service agencies lack knowledge of the program, the process, and their role. Tragically, the outcomes can be fatal.