UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education is committed to providing a website and learning environment that is accessible to all users, including individuals with disabilities. If you experience any difficulty accessing website content, participating in a course or using training materials, we are happy to help. Accommodation may include alternative formats, captioning or other support services. Please contact us at [email protected] to report an accessibility issue and/or request assistance. We encourage you to reach out as early as possible so we can best support your experience.
Link to Recording: Coming Soon
Links to Handouts: PowerPoint, Resource List, Principles for Difficult and Sensitive Conversations
The nature of our work requires us to have difficult conversations, often. Whether it's placement changes, permanency planning, reunification, service delivery, navigating transitions, or any other sensitive topic, navigating challenging conversations is a routine part of working in human-serving systems. How we move these moments directly shapes the experiences of children, youth, and families, while also influencing trust and relationships in us and the systems we represent.
Moreover, there is a difference between talking, sharing information, and truly engaging. Authentic engagement requires presence, curiosity, transparency, and a variety of practice tools to be done well. While engagement is central to our work, many of us have had varying levels of opportunity to intentionally build these skills over time. Whether these skills come naturally or represent a growth edge, engagement requires ongoing practice, reflection, and intentionality from us all.
This webinar will help expand your toolbox with practical communication strategies to support open, transparent, and developmentally appropriate conversations with children and youth. While the skills explored are broadly applicable across human-serving systems, and with children and youth of all backgrounds and experiences, this session is intentionally tailored for professionals working with youth with complex care needs, where involvement across multiple systems can add layers of complexity to engagement, partnership, and keeping youth voice centered in conversations and decision-making.
Participants will:
- Identify communication skills that support authentic engagement during difficult and sensitive conversations.
- Recognize common barriers to open and honest dialogue with children and youth.
- Describe ways to talk openly and honestly with children and youth about sensitive topics and overcome barriers that prevent uncomfortable discussions.
- Believe that children and youth need, appreciate and deserve to be provided important information that affects their lives.
- Embody a willingness to step outside of your comfort zone and recognize the benefits of honest conversations.
- Believe that with accurate information and support, children and youth can make informed decisions.
Whether you are brand new to this field, have years of experience, or play a role in shaping our human-serving systems, you will get something out of this session.
This session draws from curriculum developed by the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth (QIC-EY), a federally funded initiative focused on strengthening youth engagement practices in child welfare systems. Content aligns with California practice frameworks including the Integrated Core Practice Model (ICPM), Safety Organized Practice (SOP), and Motivational Interviewing (MI).
Presenters:
Thomas Threlkeld brings both lived experience in foster care and 20 years of professional child welfare practice to his national training work. A social worker, public speaker, and APLD Fellow, he is a certified TIPS-MAPP trainer and creator of “Trauma 101.” Thomas serves as a national trainer with the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency (QIC-EY), where he elevates youth voice and advances trauma-informed, youth-centered practice.
Anna Brown, with over 20 years of experience training child welfare professionals, specializes in implementing curricula that strengthen how workers authentically engage children and youth. She has led statewide and national training rollouts—including CORE Teen and NTDC—and has presented at numerous conferences. As a former foster parent, Anna brings practical insight into trauma, loss, and transitions, enriching her work with families and professionals. She continues to mentor teens and young adults, modeling meaningful, lasting youth engagement.