CPI offers the Professional Competency trainings, which aims to make state-of-the-art research and practices in the field of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) prevention more accessible to communities throughout California.
The series addresses emerging issues and proven practices in the SUD prevention field. The trainings are in line with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Strategic Prevention Framework, each training covering at least one of the Framework’s steps.
Professional Competency Trainings Schedule
Host a Professional Competency Training
Our trainings are provided at NO COST to groups of at least 25 participants, and offer the following services and resources:
- No cost one-day trainings in accessible locations across the state.
- State-of-the-art curricula developed by leading experts in the SUD prevention field.
- Continuing Education Hours (CEHs) are available to LCSWs and MFTs.
- Participant handbooks containing the material presented, including training exercises and other resources.
- Access to additional technical assistance requested by training participants.
- Networking opportunities with other community members interested in prevention work.
PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES IN SUD PREVENTION
CORE COMPETENCY TRAINING SERIES
The Core Competency trainings provide the prevention field an opportunity to gain or expand their knowledge in the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) model. The following Core Competency trainings are available:
- Assessment – assessing need, resources and readiness
- Capacity Building – building capacity and community organizing
- Planning – using outcome based logic models and developing strategic plans
- Implementation – implementing evidence-based policies, programs and practices
- Evaluation – monitoring and evaluating for improvement and decision making
For more information about the Core Competency trainings, please contact the CPI Team.
PREVENTION IN ACTION: PROGRAMS, PRACTICES, AND STRATEGIES
BRIEF INTERVENTION (BI) FOR SUBSTANCE USING ADOLESCENTS
This training is to build skills of counselors working with adolescents. BI is a short-term counseling intervention that consists of two to four sessions aimed at adolescents who use alcohol and/or other drugs. This approach uses motivational interviewing, cognitive behavior therapy and the stages of change model to meet the needs of adolescents.
ENGAGING YOUTH AND FAMILIES: CULTURALLY COMPETENT RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGIES
Recruitment and retention are critical to the success of any prevention program. This training highlights applied strategies for increasing outreach success and participant engagement. Learn about proactive and reactive recruitment strategies, and social marketing techniques. The training emphasizes youth and parent participation strategies and culturally appropriate techniques for facilitating participation. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
FROM RISK TO RESILIENCE: INSIDE-OUT PREVENTION
How can you promote the healthy development of young people, even those already experiencing problems? This training shifts the focus of prevention from mitigating risk factors to tapping protective factors that enhance youth resilience. Training topics include an overview of the research base, identification of personal assets identified with resilience, examination of the resilience process, and an exploration of prevention strategies that tap youth resilience. Participants will have an opportunity to apply strategies to their circumstances. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
Community-Based and Environmental Prevention Series
MEDIA ADVOCACY BASICS
This practical, participatory training will teach you how to use a wide variety of media more effectively in environmental prevention campaigns. Special emphasis is placed on interactive Web-based strategies that are rapidly gaining influence, such as dynamic websites, blogging, Facebook, and Twitter. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
ENVIRONMENTAL PREVENTION 101: COVERING THE BASICS
Are you thinking about integrating environmental approaches into your prevention efforts? This training focuses on the distinctions between environmental and individual-based prevention, and the theoretical foundation for using environmental strategies. Environmental prevention is the promotion of health and safety by changing the policies, settings and community conditions that contribute to high-risk, unhealthy behaviors. The training also looks at specific types of environmental strategies and ways to effectively engage your community in these efforts. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
ENVIRONMENTAL PREVENTION: STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING YOUTH
Environmental prevention changes the settings and messages young people are exposed to, at a community level. This training offers innovative methods for involving young people in prevention by using proven youth-led strategies. Specific topics include: foundations of environmental prevention as a strategy vs. campaign; presenting environmental prevention strategies to and with young people and adult allies (including approaches using visual and participatory methodologies); concrete tips and strategies for recruiting and retaining young people in prevention activities; and linking the research with the practice. Participants will engage in an action-planning activity to identify follow-up strategies. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
COMMUNITY ACTION TO REDUCE BINGE DRINKING
The training includes an overview of effective and promising practices to address binge-drinking issues, whether on a high school or college campus or in a community. Learn about environmental prevention strategies that are designed to change community norms and environmental factors that contribute to problems resulting from underage and binge drinking. Participants will have an opportunity to apply the environmental approach to their communities by developing an action plan. (ONE DAY TRAINING; ALSO AVAILABLE IN SPANISH)
Mentoring Series
CREATING A SAFE AND EFFECTIVE MENTORING PROGRAM
This training is especially helpful for new mentoring programs. It covers the primary roles of mentoring staff, how to monitor each “match” to ensure that each party feels supported by the program through the creation of a “community of caring.” The basics of how to make a successful match, when to end a match and start a new one, how to provide supervision balanced with support, and how group activities can be used as a tool for support in these efforts will all be included. (ONE or TWO DAY TRAINING)
FOSTER YOUTH MENTORSHIP TRAINING FOR PROGRAM MANAGERS
Prevention programs that serve youth in foster care need to understand the foster care system and the special needs of these children. Learn how to create programs that are friendly and accessible to foster youth and the agencies that serve them. In this training, you will learn to map the resources available to foster youth, understand the role of a mentor, and construct matches with clinical support, and to integrate the mentor into the foster youth’s treatment team. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
MENTORING PROGRAM BASICS
This training is helpful for organizations that are considering starting a mentoring program. It focuses on three important tools for developing new mentoring programs: 1) the Recommended Best Practices, 2) developing a policies and procedures manual, and 3) creating a mentor training manual. In addition, this training focuses on common obstacles that new managers encounter and the solutions to these challenges. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
PREPARING MENTEES FOR SUCCESS: A PROGRAM MANAGER’S GUIDE
Mentoring programs tend to focus on training their mentors but seldom extend the same attention to orienting their mentees. Training mentees helps them to optimize the mentoring experience and ensure that the program operates safely. This training will explore what successful programs are doing to promote safe, healthy, and successful matches by working with mentees before they are matched.(ONE DAY TRAINING)
RISK MANAGEMENT FOR MENTORING PROGRAMS
This training will help program managers and administrators to not only evaluate safety and liability issues in their program, but to institute an ongoing risk management. The curricula is based on the book, “More Than a Matter of Trust: Managing the Risks of Mentoring,” written by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center in Washington D.C. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS, CAPACITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY
GRANT WRITING: DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING SUD PREVENTION PROGRAMS
This training is designed for both beginning and intermediate level grant writers. It offers the nuts and bolts of grant writing, and more. You will learn how to tailor your proposals to different audiences, how to use the Internet in both researching and writing to possible grant sources, and how to develop a Proposal Ready System. Participants will get a comprehensive compendium of public and private funding entities specific to SUD prevention. (ONE OR TWO DAY TRAINING)
FOUNDATIONS OF PREVENTION
INTRODUCTION TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION
This training defines the content and scope of substance use disorder prevention, and explores its foundational concepts. A historical overview is provided to explain how past strategies have progressed and how they continue to inform current prevention practices. The importance of SUD prevention is highlighted, including its health and legal implications on individuals and communities. Finally, the session concludes with a discussion about the future of SUD prevention. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
PREVENTION THEORIES AND FRAMEWORKS
Substance use disorder prevention is founded on proven theories and frameworks to inform its methodologies, strategies, and innovations. This training discusses behavioral change theories, explains how behavioral change theories inform SUD prevention, and reviews those foundational SUD prevention theories and frameworks that promote effective prevention efforts. In addition, this training identifies key prevention strategies that can be implemented across various systems, including behavioral health, public health, and mental health. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING
This training utilizes the eight capacity building factors to highlight the importance of sustainability, a core component in the SPF. This training addresses how an effective organizational infrastructure that cultivates community and stakeholder involvement will support the institutionalization of SUD prevention efforts in the community. Participants will learn how sustainability is connected to each step of the SPF and how to create a sustainability plan that will nourish prevention efforts into the future. (ONE DAY TRAINING)
Evaluation Series
YOUTH IN FOCUS: CONDUCTING YOUTH-LED FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups are an excellent way to gather non-scripted information from community members and to engage young people in a meaningful way. They can be a particularly useful strategy for understanding the “why” behind common norms, attitudes, and perceptions. This training is appropriate for youth who will be engaging in focus group efforts and their adult allies. Participants will learn how to develop focus group questions, to use interviewing and facilitation techniques, and to summarize and utilize the data collected. (ONE DAY TRAINING)