Month: March 2017

Training for Family Service Workers: “Empathize, Encourage & Empower: Building Successful Relationships with Parents”

It is essential that families are fully engaged in the lives of their children, including being invested in their child’s education. Establishing meaningful family engagement in your program is critical.  It’s the basis for many other programmatic activities and requirements. The Family Service Worker is the first point of contact for our families. Engaging families and establishing a good working relationship with them is a foundational element in Head Start.

We’ve found that building successful relationships with parents includes:

  • Empathize: Finding the right approach for effective work with families starts with an ability to extend empathy… to understand where they are and where they want to go. Engage and build connection with families by allowing adequate time for conversation and listening with an open mind.  Initiate “rich” conversations with families that get to the heart of where families are and where they want to be.  Create a safe environment for them to share their strengths and open up about areas of challenge.
  • Encourage: To encourage means to “walk along side of” and that is exactly how we want to approach our work with families. Take the time to extend assurance, to work together to create solutions and to offer support in a patient and helpful way. This will lead to meaningful connections.Take time to discover what the family is all about and what is important to them – recognizing their strengths and needs.
  • Empower: Helping families to be involved in their child’s learning is a key component to empowering families. This sets them up for success during their time in Head Start – and after Head Start. Recognize the importance of the parents’ role as their child’s first and most important teacher. Build partnerships as they enter the educational process. Assist as families learn to advocate for their children. Being involved in their child’s education will allow families to grow and be on their way to self-sufficiency.

Are you looking for highly interactive & practice-based training on“Empathize, Encourage & Empower: Building Successful Relationships with Parents”? This training will be custom designed to meet the important role of your Family Service Workers. Give us a call at (704) 451-3255 or email us at kristinecortina@hsessentials.com.

Training for Home Visitors: The Home Visitor as the Coach

Home Visitors have such a short period of time with families each week, yet such a big to-do list. In home-based programs, the Home Visitor is the person who brings all that Head Start or Early Head Start has to offer into the homes of our families. It’s important that Home Visitors are highly organized, focused and clear about their role.

Too often, Home Visitors take over the parents’ role of being their child’s first and most important teacher. They do this by planning the activities, bringing the materials and working directly with the child at the home visit. As a Coach, Home Visitors will be surprised at what happens when they step out of the spotlight and focus on what’s happening between family members. In the role as Coach, Home Visitors will learn to pivot to the parent-child relationship and the everyday interactions that support the child’s development. Coaches stay in the moment, use daily routines and help parents observe, reflect and adapt their behavior to meet their child and family’s needs. The role of the Home Visitor is to empower the parent(s) to support the child’s growth and development. This approach looks for ways that parents can “get it right” so they have more confidence. This confidence will increase the parents’ skills and abilities – and support their child’s readiness for school.

We offer highly interactive & practice-based training that focuses on best practices of Home Visiting – the Home Visitor’s role as the Coach, how to Engage Families during Home Visits,  how to have Successful Socializations … and more! It’s essential that Home Visitors have the skills and confidence needed to lay the foundation for school readiness.

This Home Visitor training includes topics such as:

  • The Home Visitor as the Coach
  • Building strong relationships with families
  • Establishing boundaries; Safety & Awareness
  • Utilizing the Home as a learning environment
  • Motivational interviewing
  • Successful socializations
  • Adult education techniques
  • Working with challenging families

Are you looking for highly interactive & practice-based Training for your Home Visitors on “The Home Visitor as the Coach”? This training will be custom designed to meet the unique role of your Home Visitors. Give us a call at (704) 451-3255 or email us at kristinecortina@hsessentials.com.