(1)  Listening For Goodness Sake
 Learn how to handle emotionally charged teens and circumstances gracefully and to identify your emotional triggers, deal with explosive personalities, and build bridges that lead to resolution.  

(2)  Boundaries For Foster Parents
This class provides the foster parents with an understanding of the limits that they must put upon themselves in their helping relationships. Actual case examples and ethical relationship situations will be provided.

(3)  Child’s Play:  Therapeutic Use of Play for A/N Children
This experiential workshop will offer techniques that are designed to assist abuse and/or  neglected children with self-expression in the healing process. Various theories of play therapy will be discussed to provide a framework for utilizing the use of play when working with abused or neglected children.

(4)  Parenting The Sexually Abuse Child
Participants will learn the definitions of incest and child sexual abuse, know who the perpetrators are, recognizes behaviors or signs a child has been sexually abused, understand  how to parent sexually abused children, and know how to access supportive services.          

(5)  Connecting With Children of Color
In this workshop, participants will become familiar with the demographic make-up of their community as well as national facts and figures on children of color.  In addition, participants will learn how to communicate with children of color and why this is so important.

(6)  Internet Addiction
Participants will learn how to monitor child’s internet use; establish an understanding of how the internet can become addicting; provide knowledge of how the internet is used as a criminal tool to prey on children. Will learn how to educate youth on responsible use and victim avoidance

(7)  Help!  I Don’t Have Time
Since there is always more to do, if working harder, smarter and faster won't solve the problem, what will?  Learn how to determine what is truly important in your life.  Learn how to achieve and maintain balance in your life.  Identify a time management system that works for you.  

(8)  Tug Of War:  Dealing With Power Struggles
Through this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to identify power sources, discover ways of disengaging and develop discipline authority.

(9)  Why Are We Pointing The Finger At You? Allegations                  
What are third-party investigations anyway?  This workshop will offer participant insight to the complete definition and process of third-part investigations.  Participants will learn the laws governing and pertaining to these types of investigations, as well as learn how to make good choices to avoid this from happening to you.

(10)  Confronting Conflict
In this workshop, you will learn the essential processes and practical skills needed to gracefully manage and resolve most conflicts.

(11)  The Required Intangible Skills of Independence
Participants will discuss and learn the 9 essential connections to help adolescents transition to adulthood. These 9 skills provide the adolescents with a connection to their community and thereby increase their likelihood of success. Participants will increase their ability to help young adults that are leaving care.

(12)  Calming The Storm:  Crisis Intervention
This workshop will highlight characteristics of a crisis and provide participants with basic crisis intervention skills. Techniques will be offered to provide child welfare workers practical tools for intervening in crisis situations.

(13)  Parenting The Children of Substance Abusing Parents
Participants will understand the dynamics of substance abuse, learn how the substance abuse of parents impact the child development and behavior, will learn appropriate parenting techniques and learn how to identify and access supportive services for the entire family.

(14)   Working With Teens Who Are Angry
In this workshop, participants will become familiar with the origins and treatments available for dealing with adolescent mood swings.  Participants will also learn how to communicate with teens in a more meaningful manner.

(15)  Working Children Who Were Drug Exposed In-Utero
This course will give participants an overview of drugs of choice for drug abusing parents. Participants will be exposed the dilemmas that thwart early detection and intervention for children and families. 

(16)  The Brain Rewired:  Communication At It’s Best
As the culture has changed, so has the developing brain.  Learn what changes have taken place and how the brain is being rewired.  Learn how attention, focus, mind chatter, multi-tasking and left-right brain connections affect one’s ability to communicate, develop relationships and to maintain mental health. 

(17)  Should I Be Concerned? What is Normal, What is Nuts?
Kids can act so strangely – is it a phase or is it a sign that they need more help? This workshop will help participants understand what is going on with kids developmentally. With this new knowledge, participants will learn how to discern what is normal and what may need attention from a mental health professional.

(18)  Hip Hop 101
Participants will learn how to use rap music and hip-hop paraphernalia as a gateway to bridge cultural and generational gaps and to examine critical issues that impact today’s youth and families.

Hear The Voices, Heal The Pain: Looking at Foster Care From the Inside
KEYNOTE SESSION
 

(20)  Moving Youth Toward Self Sufficiency (AFTERNOON SESSION IS OPEN)                         
 This workshop will give participants a clearer understanding of the challenges facing youth as they age-out of foster care.  Participants will learn specific strategies for teaching self-sufficiency skills as well as learning about existing programs in SW Ohio.

(21)  Behavior Management
The goal of this workshop is to provide the skills to manage such behaviors  from stealing to physical assault with a reduced level of reactivity.

(22)  Beyond the Bruises:  Effects of Dom. Violence on Kids
Participants will be exposed to the wide range of psychopathology that domestic violence may precipitate for children. These include adjustment issues, impairment in cognitive and behavioral functioning, regressive behaviors, and developmental concerns, anxiety reactions and mood disorders.

(23)  Teens At Risk
Drugs and alcohol are affecting all of our children. Foster parents can provide an effective intervention if they know the signs and resources available.  This workshop will educate foster parents on the warning signs of alcohol and drug usage among teenagers.

(24)  Can This Child Be Saved?  Solutions for Families
This workshop offers parents help, hope, encouragement and support.  We will examine what causes children to act and react the way they do, and why conventional strategies and approaches often fail to reach them.  We will also explore techniques that do succeed with disturbed children.

(25)  Drugs In The Community
Training will enlighten participants on how drugs and alcohol affect the community, defined as the family. Training will identify types of drugs and the effects on the body. Training will discuss the roles of the family during this critical time period. Training will identify treatment options.

(26)  Professional Enabling for Foster Parents
This workshop will help answer questions you may ask yourself. Am I being as helpful to my foster child as possible? Am I enabling my foster child to grow or am I holding on too tight to try and protect them? You will learn how to nurture with the right boundaries.

(27)  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Participants will learn the signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Come learn the cause of PTSD and learn techniques to assist children dealing with this diagnosis.

(28)  Adoptions Inside and Out
This workshop looks at the adoption issues for the adoptee.  How does it feel to be adopted and what issues do adoptee deal with in their relationships and interactions?  The second step is to look at the behavior patterns seen by the rest of the world.  Finally, what interventions and support can help the adoptee.

(29) Moving Youth Toward Self Sufficiency                       
 This workshop will give participants a clearer understanding of the challenges facing youth as they age-out of foster care.  Participants will learn specific strategies for teaching self-sufficiency skills as well as learning about existing programs in SW Ohio.

(30)  Relax, It’s Only A Crisis
This lively course brings foster parents to a different level of understanding of their role in a crisis. Parents will learn to better manage their affective responses to the “crisis of the day.” 

(31)  It’s Not the Brady Bunch:  Family Effects of Addiction
Participants will be provided the behavioral characteristics of addictive homes, personality roles of the addictive family as well as interventions for working with children from addictive homes.

(32)  Safety From An Agency Perspective
Foster Parents have you ever wanted to know how placement and removal decision are made. There is a process that is currently being used throughout the State of Ohio.  Come and learn how agencies make case decisions

(33)  Creative Compromise:  Conflict Management
As parents, we know conflict is inevitable; however it can be managed.  In this workshop, parents will learn how to neutralize arguments and avoid power struggles.  They will also learn how to maintain control without anger, threats, or stress.

(34)  Look Out!  There’s A Teenager In Our House
Training will discuss issues associated with parenting teenagers. Training will look at drug and alcohol issues, mental health, peer pressure, communication patterns, community and family issues of teenagers.

(35)  Sexual Behavior In Foster Kids
Is this normal sexual behavior?  What should I do?  You will be exposed to a continuum of four groups of sexual behaviors that children might fall in to.

(36)  Anger Management
Participants will understand how the brain functions when one is angry.  Come learn strategies to manage anger and appropriate ways to manage angry emotions and feelings.

(37)  Diversity in Family Living
In this workshop there will be a facilitated discussion around issues of trans-racial and trans-cultural parenting through adoption and foster care.  The issues of building racial identity based on predictable developmental stages will be addressed with helpful tools to deal with the ongoing challenges.