Helping Caregivers of System Involved Youth (SIY) to be Effective Change Agents Within Their Own Family

Robert Dousa

Training Description

One of the most significant challenges for supporting caregivers of system involved youth (SIY) is helping them recognize, promote and enhance their ability to meet their own needs, solve their own problems, and mobilize the necessary resources to feel in control of their own lives. Another challenge for caregivers is to find and get comfortable with an effective leadership style that will strengthen their parental influence and teach/coach their children how to be successful adults. To be successful change agents within their own families, caregivers need self-regulating techniques so they can minimize the influence of negative personal history while being “present” to guide their children to be successful in life’s important activities. In this training, we will explore how to enhance the caregiver capacity for empowerment and advocacy. We will also explore situational leader coaching points that can prepare us to foster caregiver ability to effectively influence their children’s developmental behaviors that are sustainable and lead to healthy community engagement and favorable outcomes, which will in turn strengthen their resilience and their ability to heal from traumatic events. Practicing and sharing the methods outlined by this workshop will allow us to improve the practice of how we empower the families of SIY.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

● Identify at least 2 methods to build capacity in caregivers for empowerment and advocacy;

● Identify at least 2 facilitative leadership strategies which can be taught to caregivers of SIY to support improved outcomes; and

● Identify at least 2 effective self-regulating strategies which can support caregivers as they become effective change agents in their own families.

Agenda

10:00-10:05am  Sign-in and Introduction

10:05-10:15am  Explore caregiver parent empowerment challenges and some solutions designed to to support caregivers to feel in control of their own lives.

10:15-10:30am  Learn how to teach/coach caregivers capacity building strategies for personal empowerment.

10:30-10:45am  Practice & Roleplay with Colleagues teaching/coaching capacity building strategies that support caregivers in recognizing, promoting and enhancing their ability to solve their own problems.

10:45-11:00am   Learn how to teach/coach caregivers on how to lead by facilitation when guiding their children towards favorable outcomes.

11:00-11:15am  Practice & Roleplay with Colleagues teaching/coaching caregivers on how to lead by facilitation.

11:15-11:30am  Learn how to teach/coach caregivers self-regulating techniques to support being actively engaged in modeling healthy control of their own lives.

11:30-11:45am  Practice & Roleplay teaching/coaching caregivers self-regulating techniques to support being actively engaged in modeling healthy control of their own lives.

11:45am-12:00pm  Questions & Answers + Wrap Up

Meet Our Trainer

Mr. Robert Dousa, for the past 26 years has been working on researching how to support the healing of people, especially young adults suffering from Complex Post Traumatic Disorders (CPTSD) while experiencing and receiving various healing modalities on himself and reading several alternative healing books for personal freedom from trauma. Prior to retirement from the public education system (22 years paid, 3 years volunteer) and most especially (2003-2022) as a Program Manager in the Behavioral Health Department for the Oakland Unified School District’s Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs Intervention program, Robert developed a strengths-based life coaching program, grant funded by the CA Dept of Education, that utilized 15 life coaches (diversity of gender, multi-ethnic, with individual hobby strengths) who utilized a variety of interventions and approaches while implementing inside Oakland schools. Currently, he offers services designed to empower young adults struggling with inner negative talk to find their own inner guiding light and individual gifts, talents, and passions in support of their future… and to also coach parents of SIY to re-establish a positive influential relationship with their children, guiding them towards healing their own inner child in the process. Currently, he is providing individual life coaching, training of intervention approaches, coaching training, and teaching to those individuals and organizations that support system involved youth.

This course meets the qualifications for (2.0) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.