Day 1 - Tuesday, November 8
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Coffee Connection
8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Welcome Address
8:45 - 10:00 a.m.
Opening Keynote: Naveen Sangwan
CQI and Transformative Coaching
Organizational culture is the most important determinant in successful execution of any strategy and/or initiative. Research studies have shown that 70% of all new initiatives and transformations fail due to lack of alignment of culture to the vision. Thus, foundational to effective implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) is the development of a CQI mindset and a culture that builds self-efficacy and fosters a sense of personal accountability at every level—from front-line staff to the executive leadership team.
During her presentation, Naveen Sangwan will share how the transformative power of coaching is instrumental in bringing a paradigm shift in the belief system within an organization. She’ll also discuss the role of coaching in creating and embedding a CQI culture within an organization through a coaching framework, tools and methodology.
Naveen Sangwan, MBA, MPH, PCC, has over a decade of international experience in leading change, leadership development and continuous quality improvement. She is a seasoned coach with experience in coaching executives, managers and staff in implementing transformational change projects. She is a recipient of several professional, leadership and academic awards.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Break/Networking (Craft Activity 10:00 - 10:15 a.m.)
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Session 1 Breakout Workshops
CDSS – CalWORKs/Housing Support/Welfare to Work
This session will highlight changes in the CalWORKs, CalFresh and Medi-Cal programs throughout the 2022 calendar year. If time allows, we will conclude with open group discussion on how counties have implemented the changes and found solutions.
California Department of Social Services
Empowering Our Participants to Let Their Light Grow With CalWORKs 2.0
How do we convince our participants the program works, and what does it truly mean to “meet them where they’re at”? Let’s dive deeper into what that means for us and those we serve.
Lisa Bandoni is an employment and training counselor at Merced County Human Services Agency. In this role, she coordinates activities leading to individual success for families receiving CalWORKs/TANF assistance, which includes supporting her coworkers through training and workshops. Bandoni has decades of experience in the human services field, including 17 years as a Family Services representative, with 10 of those years as the only Time Limits specialist in Merced County. She also has experience revamping New Employee Orientation to an all-virtual format and creating a Peer-to-Peer Workshop to allow new ideas and creativity to flow from line staff to management.
SOS! Save Our Staff, Save Ourselves: Organizational and Individual Responses to Secondary Trauma
Secondary trauma is the process of change that happens in us, in response to others’ trauma, because we care about the people we serve. Over time, this can lead to changes in our psychological, physical and spiritual life that also affect our family, our organization and our clients. Qualities that make us effective with others—such as empathy, compassion or caring—may leave us more vulnerable to secondary trauma and may provide us with significant protective factors as well. While always present for helping professionals, pandemic circumstances have amplified and accelerated these secondary trauma experiences and impacts. In this high-level overview, we will explore the sources and individual/organizational impacts of secondary trauma, engage in self-reflection, and conceptualize coping strategies for healing as well as change plans to work proactively with sources of strain from secondary trauma. Participants will emerge with specific ideas for healing and protecting from secondary trauma; those representing organizations will generate ideas they can implement in their settings.
Ali Hall is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a MINT certified trainer and an independent consultant. She currently serves on the MINT board of directors and served as a lead trainer for the International MINT Training for New Trainers for several years. Hall has facilitated over 2,500 Motivational Interviewing (MI) workshops for a variety of social work professionals and is a subject matter expert for the MI demonstration series “MI with Adolescents.” Hall is the co-developer of the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment, a coding and coaching tool for MI skill improvement, and a co-author of the book Motivational Interviewing for Mental Health Clinicians: A Toolkit for Skill Development (2021).
Field Safety for Homeless Encampments
Through this workshop participants will have the opportunity to look at “encampments” from the lenses of the people residing there. They will explore ways to enter the “homes” of those living in an encampment in a respectful, person-centered and trauma-informed approach. Additionally, this workshop is designed to help participants “turn on their light of understanding,” by looking at encampments from the inside out and allow us to shine a spotlight on our own perceptions of homelessness. Participants will be empowered to better serve the population they desire to support in a safe manner for all involved.
Natalie Newson, M.B.S., is a visionary leader with decades of experience engaging and empowering staff to focus on one objective – serving humanity and changing lives. To facilitate her vision, planning and tools are utilized to empower teams to support customers in creating their successes. Prior to joining UC Davis, she served as deputy project director for San Diego County contractors providing leadership to a team of leaders in the Central Region’s Welfare to Work program. Newson served as project director for WIOA and oversaw a budget of $24 million and ensuring the growth and development of contract deliverables. Her experience offers a broad and deep familiarity in human services.
Day 2 - Wednesday, November 9
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Coffee Connection
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Session 2 Breakout Workshops
This Little Light of Mine
As an agency employee, you have the opportunity to hold up a lamp to illuminate the path for yourself and others. What lights you up and brightens your day when you are being of service in your workplace community? As we explore core beliefs underlying the popular job retention guide Thirty Ways to Shine as a New Employee, beginning with “Livelihood is a journey, not a destination,” we’ll swap stories of ways we focus on our purpose, demonstrating an attitude of gratitude and a growth mindset to (re)ignite our job satisfaction.
Nora Gerber has worked with and for Health and Human Services and workforce development organizations for over five decades in various training, facilitation and coordination roles. She employs customized, dynamic strategies in the delivery and reinforcement of course content focused on training for trainers, staff development, customer engagement, communication, collaborative team building and Integrated service practices. Gerber is the creator and mayor of Welcome to TANF Town and other experiential learning courses for staff in Public Welfare, Child Welfare and Adult and Aging programs. Gerber received the first Distinguished Service in Training Award from the National Staff Development and Training Association, an affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association, an Outstanding Service Award for Teaching from UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education, and the Lewis Hine Award presented by the National Child Labor Committee in recognition of her outstanding service on behalf of children and youth.
Emotional Intelligence Enlightens Relationships
This workshop will help leaders recognize and build awareness of their emotions. Participants will gain a better understanding of their emotional needs that shape their behaviors. Participants will be guided in identifying their journey, goals and outcomes for developing emotionally, socially, and relationally intelligent team leadership. The workshop will provide participants with access to useful skills, tools and resources toward increasing Emotionally Intelligent Team Leaders and Members.
John Parker, M.A., is a facilitator, presenter and instructor for UC Davis Human Services. His areas of expertise include team-building, executive coaching, and guiding business teams and organizations in communication, collaboration and creative planning. He has been part of UC Davis Human Services since 1997.
Spotlight on Foster Care Eligibility
In the state of California, tens of thousands of children enter foster care yearly. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed and changed over the past 2 1/2 years, workers have had to pivot in their workspace, while maintaining caseloads and ensuring cases were processed in a timely manner. In this workshop, you’ll connect with human service professionals from across the state to share best practices regarding Foster Care Eligibility. Learn how to G.L.O.W. within your position as we navigate this new work environment and continue to support children and families.
Gladys Zarate-Operio has over 6 years of experience in Human Services as a provider of direct services and trainer. She served as an Eligibility Services Technician I, II and III. Her passion is to empower both helping professionals and the families they serve. Her areas of expertise include public assistance eligibility trainings such as CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal and General Assistance, as well as a variety of state-mandated trainings. Other areas of expertise include fraud awareness, case planning, curriculum development, coaching and development, self-care, racial equity and inclusion, SOGIE and individual career planning.
Cultivating Psychological Safety in the Learning Environment
Psychological safety is a term coined by Amy Edmondson that focuses on the approach of creating work environments that invited transparency, not being afraid to make mistakes, and to embrace vulnerability to maximize teams. This presentation builds upon her work and the work of Dr. Timothy Clark as it applies to training and development.
Today we will focus on:
- Defining what psychological safety is and what it is not.
- Reviewing the 4 stages of psychological safety and the potential applications utilized in developing curriculum and facilitation of learning.
- Inclusion safety
- Learner safety
- Contributor safety
- Challenger safety
Christine Ly has 15+ years of extensive experience in working with staff and clients to create positive change in order to meet theirs and their agency’s goals, whether through formal or informal leadership roles. She has been with UC Davis: Continuing and Professional Education - Human Services since 2016 as an instructor and recently promoted to Workforce Development coordinator with Custom Training and Services. In her current role, she oversees a portfolio of 1500+ annual training days, development of curriculum for new product lines, and provides instructor development support. Her belief is that as leaders we must model the strength-focused approach, including cultivating psychological safety, that we expect of our staff in their various roles in working with clients and families.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Break/Networking (Craft Activity 10:00 - 10:15 a.m.)
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Session 3 Breakout Workshops
Share Your Light Through Collaboration with Probation
A key component of the remarkable work of the human services agency is achieved through the collaboration with other departments. This presentation is part of the half-day course that examines the collaborative efforts of Human Services and Probation. During this session, we’ll examine the similarities and differences between the two agencies and how we can overcome current or potential barriers to “bridge the gap” creating lasting partnerships to serve our clients. This session takes into account research obtained through interviews with both probation officers and human services social workers who have experience working with each other; it is sure to leave you with a better understanding of Probation, answers to common questions, and assumptions demystified.
Lindsay Boyd, MBA, has 14 years of experience as a senior deputy probation officer. She worked a variety of probation assignments in both juvenile and adult divisions, including juvenile placement where she worked closely with the Human Services agencies in her county. Her passion for teaching led her to become one of the first Career Enhancement Academy instructors for her department. She also has experience instructing Probation Core classes and several probation and leadership classes. Boyd incorporates the philosophy of “leading from the line” into her curriculum development, and in early 2022, she left probation and founded her own training company, Next Level Corrections, that provides state-approved training to both probation and corrections officers.
Don’t Let Your Light Go Out: Avoiding Burn Out
Burnout is experiencing extreme fatigue and exposure to ongoing stress & trauma in your line of duty. Burnout and compassion fatigue have similar characteristics. Compassion fatigue occurs when you get preoccupied with dealing with trauma and the emotional stresses of other people you attend to as a professional. Compassion fatigue attributes its roots to you wanting to help others, but you become overwhelmed from being exposed to the trauma that you hear from your patients. Compassion fatigue brings about secondary trauma, and this is where you are affected emotionally and psychologically from being exposed to the traumatic details of your clients. When you are experiencing burnout or compassion fatigue, you no longer draw inspiration from things that excite you and your enthusiasm for whatever you do suddenly drops and you can begin to develop additional physical, as well as emotional complications that require a higher level of intervention.
Melissa Russiano is a licensed clinical social worker who has been in private practice for 12 years, after a long career in non-profit administration. She trains and coaches professionals on how to avoid perfectionism, imposter syndrome and burnout to find the balance they are seeking in their lives and their work with helping others. In addition, Russiano is an active Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator based on the research of Brené Brown. In addition, she offers coaching, consulting, training and speaking both on a national as well as international level.
Serving Older Adults: What to Know About Social Isolation, Mental Health, & Hoarding
This workshop will examine the interconnectedness of social isolation, mental health challenges and hoarding in older adults. Participants will examine the impacts and challenges of social isolation related to health and wellbeing, and how these factors can contribute to hoarding behaviors in adults. We will discuss the myths associated with social isolation, the costs to community and how they can address these concerns. Information presented will highlight triggering events and interventions for hoarding behavior and will distinguish this from Diogenes Syndrome. Finally, participants will identify actionable next steps in support of the communities they serve, including resources to support their efforts in the field.
Maureen Feldman
Customized Communication: Speaking the Languages of Different Personality Styles
Description coming soon
Corry Mendoza is a professional certified coach, credentialed by the International Coach Federation. She specializes in team development, interpersonal relationships, communication and conflict resolution. In her popular workshops, March helps clients tackle essential workplace responsibilities such as giving and receiving feedback, stepping into new leadership roles, and promoting employee ownership. She facilitates the critical process of navigating personal and organizational change, and with her eye for strengths and engaging coaching style, she even helps troubled teams pull together and produce the results they need.
12:00 - 12:45 p.m.
Networking
Day 3 - Thursday, November 10
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Coffee Connection
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Session 4 Breakout Workshops
Collaborative Interviewing Practices for Eligibility Case Managers
This workshop is designed to meet the unique interviewing needs applicable to Eligibility staff. We will explore ways to approach the interview experience through collaborative approach. These skills are focused to assist in establishing rapport with participant; creating a psychologically safe environment to allow gathering of pertinent information to be as painless as possible. No interview is complete without comprehensive documentation! We will also discuss the key elements of effective documentation.
Cindy Caruso served for over 30 years with the State of California in the departments of Mental Health, Health Services, Alcoholic Beverage Control, and with Sonoma State University. After retiring from state service, she worked for the County of Marin Health & Human Services, for 10 years, primarily in Public Assistance Eligibility. Caruso spent three years there in a training role, teaching Eligibility to both new and continuing eligibility staff. Her training philosophy is to provide “on-the-ground” training.
Succession Planning: Growing the Lights of Your Staff
Employee turnover creates challenges that can negatively affect the agency, the populations the agency serves and the remaining employees. While not all turnover is preventable, practices can be implemented to help mitigate the effects. The direct effects of high employee turnover include: stress, exhaustion, decreased organizational commitment, as well as job satisfaction. In this workshop, we will review and discuss crucial steps to help organizations prepare for succession planning. These future-focused practices will train and develop multiple individuals to meet and perform all functions needed to successfully implement the agency’s mission and vision, while increasing job satisfaction and employee retention.
Misty Kerrigan is a business psychologist, author, international speaker and podcaster. She creates and directs programs to empower leaders to make a difference in our most vulnerable populations in the mental health field, such as foster and at-risk youth and economically disadvantaged families. For over 10 years, Kerrigan has been consulting and training at UC Davis, as well as working with the State of California to design and deliver skill-based workshops to empower leaders and decrease burnout in their mental health and children systems. In her role as a business psychologist, Kerrigan is dedicated to assisting and inspiring entrepreneurs to execute all aspects of their life and business with purpose and vision.
Being the Calm in the Chaos
Description coming soon
Tiffany Salcido has 14 years of experience in human services and foster care programs. She has experience in reception, CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, Foster Care, Aid to Adoptions, Kin-GAP, CAPI, Linkages and Welfare to Work. She has been a staff development trainer, providing induction training and continuing education for eligibility, C-IV and Welfare to Work programs. She has also been involved in policy development and change management. She has developed curriculum and taught classes for the Independent Living Program, designed for foster youth 16-24 years of age. She is a certified instructor for World Class Relationships for Work and Home.
Light is a Prism of Colors! Understanding the Importance of Gender Inclusivity
We will explore and develop a deeper understanding of the Gender Identity and Inclusion Prism by examining four different capacities:
- Policy: The state policy guidelines and values around gender inclusion
- Terminology: Understanding of terms to be used in a professional capacity
- The Why: The equity impacts of leading with gender inclusion values
- Tools and Practice: Skill building of tools and applying it to real life scenarios
Andrea Mariano Pomicpic seven years developing a Training and Staff Development program at the City of Oakland. During that time, she has also served as an instructor for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education - Human Services. Her work in the personal and professional development of the workforce stems from the belief that any type of culture and systems change in an organization starts with a learning and growing culture. Pomicpic has over 15 years of experience and subject matter expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion training and program development. She holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Break/Networking (Craft Activity 10:00 - 10:15 a.m.)
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Closing Keynote: Kendrick Dial
Engaging the Soul of Cultural Humility
In this presentation, we’ll explore developing personal awareness to navigate our interactions with cultural humility. Through leaning into communication and creativity, participants will explore how identity and culture challenge us as well as allow us to engage with each other. We’ll delve into how to navigate conversations around culture and conflict that may arise through diverse cultural experiences.
Kendrick Dial, M.S.W., is professional and creative coach and trainer, whose personal mission is to find ways to blend mental health and social justice with the arts. He currently works with the Academy of Professional Excellence and also serves as a contract trainer and coach specializing in DEI/Culturally Responsive Engagement, Gallup StrengthsFinder, working through conflict and engaging with our creativity. While in the U.S. Navy, he served as a substance abuse counselor, bridging his passion for the arts with mental health workshops. Dial leans into helping others work through navigating professional spaces as their authentic self. He received his Master’s in Social Work from the University of Southern California. He is also an accomplished artist serving as a front man, songwriter and producer for the award-winning band, The Lyrical Groove.