November 17
3:00-4:30 p.m.—Session 1 Workshops
Welfare to Work Program Updates
Christine Ly
This session will highlight changes in the Welfare to Work Program throughout the 2020 calendar year. If time allows it will be followed with group discussion on how counties have implemented the changes and networking to share solutions they have found.
Calmness and Balance for Wellbeing
Jackie DeLaCruz
During this time of isolation and social distancing, we can develop a mindset of pessimism, doubt and uncertainty. All of this can lead to stress and a lowered immune system. How do we create an environment of hope, confidence and support for ourselves and others? We can engage in self-reflection and perspective-taking by looking at our environment and our thoughts, and by finding ways to be patient with ourselves and others.
At the completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Reflect on their current situation and set intentions and goals.
- Learn and use mindfulness and breathing techniques.
- Understand how to recognize their capacity for empathy and compassion.
- Learn discernment around how they are using their energy and time.
- Use techniques to gain clarity and focus.
Supporting Working Parents
Kate Messina
Designed for the working parent who is also taking on the role of teacher or teacher’s aide for their school-aged child/children due to the pandemic, this evidenced-based workshop will provide strategies to best navigate the challenges many working parents are facing. We will explore a multitude of activities that can be used to increase mindfulness, reduce stress and practice self-care; and will provide tangible tools to support the working parent. The workshop will also address behavior challenges and mental health in children and youth and will demonstrate the importance of teaming up with teachers and establishing a strong support system for best outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify strategies, tools and activities to aid in navigating the challenges of working and parenting/virtual school during COVID-19.
- Acquire tangible skills to improve behavior challenges with children.
- Recognize and know how to respond to potential mental health issues.
Critical Thinking
Mary Orr
This workshop will examine the importance of critical thinking in the leadership role. Participants will explore the role of a leader in building capacity through critical thinking. Strategies will be explored to create a workplace that encourages critical thinking. Participants will build knowledge to connect emotional intelligence to critical thinking in leadership. At the end of this workshop participants will be able to apply critical thinking to organizational culture and strategic planning.
Topics Include:
- Understanding what critical thinking is and the importance to the leadership role
- Identifying and practicing strategies for thinking critically
- Applying strategies for supporting critical thinking across the organization
- Exploring the relationship between critical thinking and emotional intelligence
- Discovering the impact and value of critical thinking in problem solving and the strategic planning process
Leading Your Organization in Anti-Racist Practice
Dionne Puckett
In this 90-minute overview, we will discuss how to assess, plan and engage your agency staff and partners in ensuring your service offerings are fair and inclusive for all. Join us in gaining insight on how you can make a difference for community members who are disproportionately represented and how you can make an impact.
November 18
10:00-11:30 a.m.—Session 2 Workshops
Medi-Cal Program Updates
This session will highlight changes in the MediCal Program throughout the 2020 calendar year. If time allows, it will be followed with group discussion on how counties have implemented the changes and networking to share solutions they have found.
Case Management: Engaging and Coaching for Change
Maggie Guillen
This workshop introduces and refreshes participant knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to implement strength-based case management. Participants will focus on facilitating a client’s recognition and use of individual and family assets, strengths and working with a client and family to maximize the potential for success. This workshop will help participants recognize different types of strengths that can facilitate positive change in families, as well as challenges that could be a barrier to their success. This workshop will also identify the stages of change. Participants will learn coaching strategies and skills to help individuals move through the stages of change to achieve long lasting change.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the principles and key elements of Strengths-Based Case Management & Assessment (SBCM) practice and family-focus.
- Utilize multiple assessment strategies to assess family strengths, resources and identifying needs.
- Interpret assessment outcomes and apply them to case planning.
- Identify the stages of Change and the skills to best address each stage
- Learn coaching strategies and skills.
- Practice and apply coaching skills to different case scenarios.
StrengthsFinder and You
Carl Rabun
Understanding what makes us tick is a passion for many people. Often, most people strive to identify and improve their weaknesses and turn them into strengths. The insights from the Clifton StrengthsFinder help us to dial-in what we have going for us in a way that will not only allow us to capitalize on them as much as possible, but as a way to address any deficits we may have. This session will focus on our strengths and create a strategic plan for career and life success as a result.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn and define the theory and benefits and applications of StrengthsFinder
- Recognize the domains and individual strengths
- Discover your strengths and how they affect your life and career
- Apply your strengths into a strategic action plan
Preparing for What’s Next: Leading Change
Kristen Bennett
If this is you: “I want this change to run as smoothly as possible,” “I want everyone to understand what we are doing and why,” and “I want everyone to understand how they can contribute to change,” then this training is for you. Designed for leaders and managers at all organizational levels, this workshop will help you understand change and improve your change leadership skills—such as how to manage and deal with stress, conflict and resistance and build resilience to help you support your team through change. Leaders will be challenged to confront their mindset related to change and leave armed with the skills and techniques needed to create change from the bottom up.
Understanding the Puzzle of Poverty
Amanda Brum
This course examines different components of Poverty, to include stereotypes, barriers, community and individual contributing factors. It also includes information on how Participants can use self-awareness and empathy to support impoverished communities.
- Defining the puzzle of poverty
- Examining stereotypes & self-awareness
- Exploring community factors & challenges
- Understanding individual factors & the mental models of poverty
- Taking an informed approach to empathy and empowerment
12:30 -2:00 p.m.—Session 3 Workshops
CalFresh Program Updates
This session will highlight changes in the CalFresh Program throughout the 2020 calendar year. If time allows, it will be followed with group discussion on how counties have implemented the changes and networking to share solutions they have found.
Mindfulness at Work
Carl Rabun
Mindfulness is an effective strategy to increase wellness, as well as to improve focus and efficiency. This workshop will discuss the benefits of mindfulness and will provide strategies to establish and sustain mindful practices in the workplace. Additionally, participants will deepen their understanding of how they can practice mindfulness to promote satisfaction and reduce stress in the workplace.
Topics Include:
- Recognizing and understanding factors and habits that contribute to mindfulness
- Learning techniques to support living a healthy lifestyle
- Developing strategies to improve productivity, efficiency and overall job satisfaction
- Discovering better ways to handle job stress
- Exploring relaxation and focus techniques
Mastering Financial Wellness
Heidi Glunz
Money touches every part of our life and yet very few of us have been taught how, and more importantly why, we should manage our money well. When our money is out of control, we feel out of control and experience a huge amount of stress that follows us into the other areas of our lives. The sooner we can learn the skills of good money management, the easier it will be to use our money to live out our dreams and be our most productive, relaxed selves. In this workshop, participants will learn the steps to creating a budget that encompasses their values and priorities and works with their unique lifestyle. Participants will also learn the role giving plays in successful money management, the importance of saving and spending their money well, why and how to protect their money and ways to reflect on their money to maximize their long-term success with personal finance.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to create zero-based budgeting system that participants can take home to practice and refine over time.
- Understand how the role of giving plays in managing your money well and the potential health benefits of incorporating giving into our personal finance systems.
- Recognize the benefits of learning to save for ourselves, as well as our family and community, and how to start saving for emergencies, purchases and retirement using the zero-based budget as a guide.
- Analyze how to spend money well–on purpose and within our personal priorities, while balancing needs, fun and wants–and why debt steals our peace of mind.
- Examine the common types of insurance and what they cover and learn the common terms and documents used in estate planning that protect our money and assets.
- Increase awareness on the benefits to reflect on our monthly budget system to make improvements and better align with our priorities over time, as well as learn to reflect and assess progress towards long-term financial goals.
Maintaining Relationships in a Digital World
Angelica Salcido
As helping professionals battle ever-increasing workloads, it can be difficult to balance customer service and stay on top of all of our tasks. This workshop will examine small changes we can incorporate into our interactions with customers to better serve our communities and put the “human” back in human services. We will explore customer service and how to add the human touch. This interactive workshop will provide tips, tools and activities to show how you can still manage your workload while providing stellar customer service and treating each customer as an individual, not a case number. This workshop covers communication skills that establish and maintain rapport with customers. Participants learn skills that help elicit information while motivating clients to become self-sufficient.
As a result of this workshop participants will:
- Have a better understanding of how to be objective and non-judgmental when dealing with clients
- Learn ways to respond to difficult situations in a professional yet sensitive manner
- Practice effectively establishing a strong and positive rapport with clients.
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders
John Parker
This workshop helps 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.
Learning Objectives:
- Discover my story within teams and engage in self-awareness
- Exercise self-management
- Nurture team success by my delayed gratification
- Exemplify empathy
- Practice professional development building and how to maintain trust
- Realize our teams’ stories of success
2:15-3:45 p.m.—Session 4 Workshops
CalWORKs Program updates
This session will highlight changes in the CalWORKs Program throughout the 2020 calendar year. If time allows, it will be followed with group discussion on how counties have implemented the changes and networking to share solutions they have found.
Supporting Clients in Budget Management
Heidi Glunz
In order for our clients to succeed in achieving their goals, they must also learn to manage their money with intention and thoughtfulness. Money touches every part of our life, and yet very few of us have been taught how, and more importantly why, we should manage our money well. However, when client’s take control over their money, they feel less stress, and can take control of other areas of their life. In this workshop, participants will learn the steps to support a client through creating a budget that encompasses the client’s values, priorities, lifestyle and circumstances. Participants will also learn key concepts to share with their clients on how and why to save, and methods for getting out of debt.
The Successful Teleworker
Steve Cozart
Working from home or from a remote office can seem like a wonderful opportunity – reduced commute time, a quiet space to get things done. However, working remotely also comes with a great deal of responsibility and has some unique challenges, particularly around communication with management and team members. This full-day course is designed to help remote staff stay motivated in their personal offices and help them identify ways to stay connected and engaged with their supervisors and their work teams. A deeper dive and insights into promoting success as a teleworking professional will be offered.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the skills needed to work outside the normal workplace office
- Learn the keys to self-management
- Discover ways to manage time effectively, despite the distractions of the remote office
- Understand the importance of and methods for organizing and planning for working remotely
- Learn best practices for using various types of communication
- Address and provide resolutions to the pitfalls of working remotely
Effective Communication with Families in a Virtual Environment
Gina Ehlert
We have all struggled, at times, trying to communicate with people who have challenging behaviors. Add on a virtual environment layer and we are talking possible chaos! This interactive virtual workshop focuses on the strategies we can use to be effective with challenging behaviors in a virtual environment. Reflecting about specific challenging behaviors and exploring communication skills will have participants considering changes to approaches and engagement strategies that could have a meaningful impact on the reactions and behaviors of others.
Equity LAB
Kristen Bennett
In the wake of the outpouring cries for social change, and with the growing demand for leadership philosophies that work in the 21st century, we invite you to step into The Equity Lab. In this workshop, we will discuss what leaders at all organizational levels can do to tackle a variety of inequities in their organizations and in society. The Lab will provide tools, strategies and space for open discussion by encouraging learners to view themselves, others and our communities through a lens of love, appreciation and belonging (LAB).