Building Relationships with Families

Establishing a good relationship with each family is key to a home visitor’s effectiveness.  In this workshop, we discuss ways to establish warm, supportive, and empowering relationships with families whose culture, beliefs, values, and priorities may not be the same as the home visitor. We will also discuss how to build a trusting relationship with the parent(s) and learn about and respect their culture. Finally, we reflect on how recognizing how one’s own personal values, experiences, ethics, and biases may affect the ability to develop trusting, respectful relationships with some families.

Using HOVRS to Coach HVs

HV Coaches will better understand what best practices look like during a HV. Using the HOVRS home visit quality measurement tool, supervisors/coaches/mentors will be better able to reflect on practices and identify professional development needs. We will discuss ways to use the measure to support effective practices and improve program quality through self-reflection and mentoring. Coaches and supervisors will have the opportunity to practice scoring HOVRS scales with the use of videos. They will also have the opportunity to ask questions about using HOVRS in PBCs and TLCs.

Being Responsive to Family Strengths

Do the parents in your program feel more or less confident after a home visit or socialization? Building parent confidence is key to supporting skills that lead to parenting competence. Building parent confidence also leads to increased parent engagement and collaboration. In this workshop, we discuss ways to help parents see their strengths and support them in using those strengths more often. Finally, we introduce PICCOLO and discuss ways to use this tool to identify and share parenting strengths.

Planning Home Visits with Parents

According to the Head Start Performance Standards, the purpose of the home visit is to help parents improve their parenting skills and to assist them in the use of the home as the child’s primary learning environment. The home visitor must work WITH parents to help them provide learning opportunities that enhance their child’s growth and development. In this workshop, we discuss why we plan with parents and how to engage them in the planning of home visits. Finally, a list of steps/tips to plan with parents will be shared.

Using Materials in the Home & Daily Routines on HVs

Key to facilitating parent-child interactions that support child development and that continue throughout the week is using the materials in the home and the family’s daily routines. Using what is familiar and routine can also be less intimidating and more culturally appropriate and often leads to more engagement during the activities on the visit. In this workshop, we discuss why we use what is in the home, how to facilitate using what the family has, and how to wean ourselves off the bag. Finally, we reflect on why family routines are a missed opportunity for supporting parents in supporting their child’s development on a day-to-day basis.

Individualized Training

We offer a variety of training options for home visiting programs. We can develop individualized training packages with readings, assignments, and webinars. Contact us and we can work with you to customize training to meet your program’s needs.

Healthy Boundaries in Home Visiting

Understanding and implementing healthy boundaries is essential to providing a safe space for you and the families you serve. Without healthy professional and personal boundaries, home visitors can burn out and families can feel judged. But, having healthy boundaries can be hard in this intense work.

In this course, you will learn about boundaries, how to establish and maintain them and how to adapt them when needs change.