-Jennifer Stein, PCA Georgia Director
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Mandated Reporter Training (90 min)
PCA Georgia has trained professionals throughout the state of Georgia to deliver Mandated Reporter Training to communities, professionals, or groups who wish to have training.
Child serving professionals and volunteers may suspect child abuse or have a child disclose abuse to them through their work with children. However, barriers such as fear of reporting, the inability to recognize all forms of child maltreatment, and vague organizational policies may prevent professionals from making accurate reports of child maltreatment.
Training Objectives:
- Recognize factors associated with abuse and neglect prevention
- Understand how the laws around mandated reporting affect you
- Define types of abuse and related indicators
- Describe the process for handling a disclosure of abuse
- Follow the basic procedure for reporting suspected child abuse
- Discern between the community’s role to support family wellbeing and DFCSs’ role to investigate suspected abuse and neglect
Lean on Me: Creating a Culture of Support (60-90 min)
While it is important for Mandated Reporters to understand their role in recognizing and reporting abuse, expanding their scope to that of Mandated Supporter empowers them to be proactive in their response against child abuse and neglect. The concept of Mandated Supporters replaces family surveillance with a variety of supportive responses to bolster and nurture family well-being. This presentation will help participants better understand strategies to connect families to resources and support to reduce ‘family overwhelm’ and prevent child abuse and neglect.
Training Objectives:
- Understand the shared responsibility for child well-being
- Learn how Overwhelm contributes to reports of child abuse and neglect
- Reflect on assumptions about families and encourage a strengthen based approach
- Discover tools to create a culture of support
- Brainstorm ways to engage families who may need support
To request an in-person or live virtual option, please fill out the form below.
Partners in Prevention: What Can I Do?
It takes a village to raise a child. But how do we apply this wisdom to our children right here in Georgia? To truly support child and family well-being, we must look beyond the family unit, to address the societal and community factors that set families up for success. And we need to do it together — with the help of our friends, neighbors, coworkers, business leaders, and the faith community.
PCA Georgia offers the “Partners in Prevention: What Can I Do?” presentation to any group interested in learning about PCA Georgia programming, the impact of child abuse and neglect, and strategies to prevention child abuse. This presentation is perfect for lunch and learns or coffee chats and ranges in time from 30 to 60 minutes depending on your group’s availability.
This presentation includes:
- An overview of PCA Georgia’s resources and programing
- The impact of adverse childhood experiences
- Prevention strategies at the individual, community, and societal level
- How you can be part of prevention
To request a training, please fill out the form below.
Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE)
HOPE is a new way of seeing and talking about experiences that support children’s growth and development into healthy, resilient adults. Based in the “Science of the Positive” research, the Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences training provides participants an overview of the HOPE framework and the research behind how Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) mitigate the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Participants will learn about the evidence-informed Building Blocks of HOPE and engage in thinking about how they can promote access to the building blocks in their work with children and families. A variety of examples of how to use the HOPE concepts will be provided and participants will have a clear idea of how to begin to incorporate HOPE into their work and community.
The main goal of this workshop is to share the new research that shows the science of how positive childhood experiences affect adult health and well-being. Participants will leave with tangible steps for creating positive experiences in their respective role based on the evidence-informed Building Blocks of HOPE. The building blocks include relationships, safe environments, social and civic engagement, and emotional growth. Those who have experienced family violence or sexual assault have had their access to positive experiences disrupted. Participants will learn how to increase a person’s access to those building blocks where they might have experienced a disruption to achieve positive long-term health outcomes. Additionally, participants will learn how to increase positive experiences for children in their work and community.
- Describe what Adverse Childhood Experiences are and the impact they have on children throughout their lifespan
- Understand the effects of Positive Childhood Experiences on children’s and adult mental health
- Identify at least two ways to create positive childhood experiences for children
Audience: Child and family serving professionals, faith-based communities, family focused coalitions, civic groups, everyone!
Length: can be customized based on your audience’s needs from 30 to 90 minutes.
Request a presentation by contacting [email protected]
Strengthening Families Georgia Protective Factor Training Series
Housed at PCA Georgia, Strengthening Families Georgia (SFG) offers trainings on the Five Protective Factors. The SFG training includes six individual 2-hour SFG modules for face-to-face or virtual presentations. Click here for a description of each module along with the learning objectives.
- Strengthening Families Georgia: An Effective Approach to Supporting Families and Communities (overview)
- Strengthening Families Through Parental Resilience
- Strengthening Families Through Social Connections
- Strengthening Families Through Knowledge of Child Development
- Strengthening Families Through Concrete Support in Times of Need
- Strengthening Families through the Promotion of Social and Emotional Competence in Children
Audience: family and child serving professionals, community agencies, school or early care employees, or anyone who is interested in supporting families in their area.
Request an in-person or virtual training: You can request a training for your group using the form at the bottom of the page.
Online Training:
- Online training through the National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds
- Georgia Quality Rated programs are able to get BFTS credit for taking the online SFG courses through ProSolutions at no charge
Every day connections are more important than we ever believed. Science tells us that relationships have the power to shape our brains. Relationships help us learn better, work better, parent better. When we experience tough times, they help us heal. With each connection, we develop a healthier stronger community.
Connections Matter Georgia is an in-person training designed to engage community members in building caring connections to:
- Improve resiliency,
- Prevent childhood trauma (Adverse Childhood Experiences), and
- Understand how our interactions with others can support those who have experienced trauma.
The Georgia Connections Matter initiative is a collaboration between the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy and PCA Georgia.
Helping Families Thrive through Concrete Supports- 75 min Training
Description: It takes parents, caregivers, and supportive RESOURCES to help children thrive. As professionals you know parents are often in complex situations and need professional and community support. This session explores barriers to meeting families’ basic needs, and linking families to resources through concrete support and www.FindHelpGA.org to help prevent child maltreatment.
Objectives:
- Explore basic needs and how they affect parent-children interaction.
- Understand the relationship between child maltreatment prevention and providing concrete support to families.
- Learn how www.FindHelpGA.org works to connect professionals and families to programs in their neighborhoods.
If Not Me Then Who? Poverty-Informed Training- 1 hour Training
Description: Have you ever taken a class on poverty? Growing up in poverty has life-long consequences for a child’s physical and mental health and economic well-being. Using first-hand stories and perspectives, participants will learn the facts, underlying myths, expand their perceptions, and be able to enact tangible strategies to uplift our community’s vulnerable populations. Just as we believe in a trauma-informed approach, we also believe that poverty-informed practices will greatly change our communities’ ability to assist those facing poverty.
Request a Poverty-Informed Training by contacting [email protected].
Objectives:
- Help professionals remove barriers, improve practices, and promote better communication and relationships with vulnerable families.
- Educate on types of poverty and communication styles of people experiencing poverty.
- Present facts to address common myths of people living in poverty.
- Encourage workgroups/coalitions, working within local communities, who are eager to work to change practices and policies around serving their neighbors experiencing poverty.
Stewards of Children Training
The Stewards of Children training curriculum is a sexual abuse prevention training program developed by a Charleston, SC based nonprofit, Darkness to Light (D2L), and is the only adult-focused, evidence-informed curriculum proven to increase knowledge and attitudes about child sexual abuse and to change behaviors promoting protective factors. The Georgia initiative is led by the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy.
The one-time 2 ½ hour Stewards of Children program is available through a group session led by an authorized facilitator as well as online. The training is appropriate for parents as well as professionals and volunteers in youth-serving organizations such as schools, faith centers, camps, child care centers, sports leagues, and clubs.
Program Outcomes:
- Increased awareness of the prevalence, consequences, and circumstances of child sexual abuse
- New skills to help adults prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse
- Positive change to organizational policies and procedures
- Individual empowerment through a personal prevention plan
Child Trafficking Training
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), also known as child sex trafficking, refers to a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value (including monetary and non-monetary benefits). CSEC is a crime that is impacting children and youth across the State of Georgia. This training provides a foundational understanding of CSEC and identifies steps that can be taken to spread awareness and respond to this issue in communities.
Training delivered by the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, who lead the statewide response to CSEC, and the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy.
To report suspected or disclosed child sex trafficking please call 1-866-END-HTGA (363-4842).
The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (GCADV) provides both on-site training to domestic violence programs as well as web-based courses. The web-based courses increase access to continuing education for advocates who cannot attend “live” trainings. You can find a hub of previously recorded webinars as well as registration for upcoming in-person training and live webinars.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding trainings.
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| Physical: | 140 Decatur Street SE 1st Floor, Suite 178 Atlanta, GA 30303 |
| Mailing: | P.O. Box 3995 Atlanta, GA 30302 |
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PCA Georgia is not a child abuse and neglect reporting agency. To make a report of child abuse and neglect in Georgia, visit cps.dhs.ga.gov, or call the 24/7 reporting hotline 1-855-GACHILD (1-855-422-4453).
Looking for resources to help a family? Visit Find Help Georgia.