Training

The UMBC Home Visiting Training Certificate Program is a six module hybrid series that is offered over a twelve-week period once a year. The training program will kick off with a virtual one hour introduction session where trainees will meet UMBC HVTCP staff who will outline the expectations of the training program. Training days are held in person at UMBC’s South Campus, covering two (2) topics a day, for a total of three (3) full days of training per cohort. Participants will be required to watch a series of training videos during the month (6-7 hours/month) prior to attending the in-person day. Trainees may also be asked to complete knowledge checks, handouts, and other activities corresponding with the remote training videos. The following topics are covered in our training program:

  • Effective Communication
  • Cultural Sensitivity
  • Parenting and Child Development
  • Healthy Family and Partner Relationships
  • Mental Health
  • Substance Use

More details about each module can be found under curriculum. 

Participants will receive one of two certificates:

  • A Home Visitor Certificate (43 hours) or
  • A Home Visitor & Supervisor certificate (45 hours).
  • Please note these certificates are NOT CEU’s. 

We suggest that participants in our training have at least 6 months of home visiting experience.

SUPERVISOR TRAINING & COACHING PROGRAM

This training provides a framework for coaching home visitors over two training days, 5 hours per day. Coaches are trained in reflective practice, negotiation, and providing feedback, and are given a coaching manual to guide sessions over a 12-week period.

  • Defining coaching and explaining how it differs from supervision and other professional roles.
  • Discussing the characteristics and benefits of coaching.
  • Understanding barriers to coaching and practicing strategies to address common challenging situations.
  • Providing feedback and evaluating performance through the use of motivational communication skills.
  • Preparing for and implementing coaching manual.

Please contact the Center Director, Dr. David Schultz for training related inquires and questions.

Email: dschultz@umbc.edu

SUBSTANCE EXPOSED NEWBORNS (SEN) TRAINING

Please note we are unable to conduct the SEN Training at this time. 

A regional training for Home Visitors, DHS Child Welfare, Reunification, and Protective Services, and Infant and Toddlers program staff to be more effective and helpful to substance-exposed mothers and children. The regional trainings allow workers in related areas to better connect and collaborate to benefit and serve substance-exposed mothers and children. The training includes an online component of seven (7) modules, which participants must complete within 2 weeks prior to the one-day in-person training. This training is not eligible for CEU’s for social workers or other professional organizations

  • Understanding issues of substance-exposed mothers, infants, and children from a multi-professional, multidisciplinary perspective.

  • Developing trauma-informed perspectives and conversation skills, and understanding compassion fatigue and its impact on one’s ability to work with populations that have experienced trauma.

  • Understanding the challenges of addiction and dynamics of recovery (slips, relapse, recycling, using stages of change perspective).

  • Developing better understanding of treatment options, the role of courts and legal system, and child welfare.

Currently, this training is not open for public registration.

Please contact the Center Director, Dr. David Schultz for training related inquires and questions.

Email: dschultz@umbc.edu

GOAL PLANNING STRATEGIES (GPS) TRAINING

Please note we are unable to conduct the GPS Training at this time. 

This two-day training emphasizes a collaborative process for goal planning with families who are home visited. GPS focuses on using motivational communication to set, plan, implement, and revise/evaluate SMART goals. Coaching of the skills provided in this training occurs over a 12 week period to improve skill use and retention.

  • Foundations of goal setting (SMART goals, characteristics of good goals, differentiating goals from values).
  • Applying the stages of change model and motivational communication strategies to the goal planning process to increase understanding of how people change.
  • Developing a better understanding of the goal planning process and collaborating with a family to meet their goal by recognizing family and caregiver strengths, barriers, and resources.
  • Identifying challenges to implementing goals and strategies to overcome these challenges.
  • Providing feedback to evaluate and revise goals, as well as understanding common challenges that interfere with GPS.
  • Practicing goal setting and planning skills with role plays.

This training has not been offered since 2019. 

Please contact the Center Director, Dr. David Schultz for training related inquires and questions.

Email: dschultz@umbc.edu

EVALUATION

As part of training, home visitors and supervisors participate in an evaluation. This is embedded in the 42 hours of in-class curriculum content and will involve completing short surveys and interviews at the beginning and end of each training day. It may also consist of completing a more time-involved evaluation (e.g., responding to standardized mothers as if in a real home visiting scenario) at the beginning of the first day of training and end of the last day. Receiving a certificate is contingent upon completing all the course activities and course evaluations and demonstrating adequate performance during the course of the training programs. These evaluations will also help Training Center faculty and staff to continuously monitor training success.