De-Escalation & Safety Training: In-person training opportunity for homeless assistance staff
Hosted by the Department for Children and Families, Office of Economic Opportunity
This training is geared towards direct service professionals, particularly homeless shelter and outreach staff. There are five no-cost options in September. Please choose only one & pre-registration is required!
Wednesday, September 6, 9am – Noon Brattleboro
Friday, September 15, 9am – Noon Waterbury
Monday, September 18, 9am – Noon Middlebury
Friday, September 22, 1pm – 4pm St. Albans
Monday, September 25, 9am – Noon Bennington
Training Description
This training focuses on preventing violence through assessment and verbal interactions. Participants will gain skills and knowledge to help them to better identify who is at risk of becoming violent or aggressive, and what the behavioral signs are that someone may be potentially assaultive. Participants will then learn skills and techniques that can help to de-escalate high intensity situations verbally. In addition, Mourning Fox will present methods for improving staff communication around and during a crisis as well as the importance of documentation language. Fox will use information he has gained over the years as a Crisis Prevention Institute trainer, non-Abusive Physical and Psychological Intervention trainer, and as a Mental Health First Aid trainer combined with information he gained as a trained crisis negotiator working with law enforcement. In addition to this information, the role of Respect as a protective factor is discussed throughout the training as well as some basic brain science that can impact our attempts at de-escalating a situation.
Presenter Bio – Mourning Fox
Mourning Fox has over 30 years of experience in the mental health field and was the Deputy Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health (DMH) for four and a half years. He is currently the first Director of Mental Health Programs for the Vermont Department of Public Safety where he implemented and coordinates the Embedded Mental Health Crisis Specialist Program. Fox also currently teaches Verbal De-escalation skills at the Vermont Police Academy for all law enforcement officers in the state of Vermont. For six years Fox was the director of maximum security inpatient forensic units at Bridgewater State Hospital where individuals were placed when they were involved in the criminal justice system and had significant mental health needs. There he provided initial and ongoing mandatory violence prevention/de-escalation training for all the clinical and correctional staff at the hospital. He is also a 2009 graduate and Class President of the Plymouth Massachusetts Police Academy’s Basic Reserve Academy and recipient of the Brian Daley Academic Excellence Award. Fox has worked with the FBI and Special Operations Tactical International as a Hostage/Crisis Negotiator. He was the first non-correctional officer appointed as a Hostage Negotiator for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. He has been certified as a NAPPI (Non-Abusive Psychological and Physical Interventions) instructor, a CPI (Crisis Prevention Institute) trainer and a Mental Health First Aid trainer. Fox created a well-received nationally used webinar training for college and university police/security personnel through the National Center for Campus Public Safety. Fox has provided Violence Prevention and De-escalation training and consultation to many law enforcement agencies throughout all New England, as well as to a myriad of social service providers, educators and others. He helped create the Team Two Vermont curriculum and remains a member of the Team Two Steering Committee. He was also appointed by the Governor of Vermont to be the co-chair of the Vermont Community Violence Prevention Task Force in 2019. Prior to his work in the mental health field, Fox was a special education teacher working with middle and high school students.
Emerging Practices for Supporting LGBTQI+ Young People Across Human Services Programs
September 7 1 – 2:30 PM
Hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Mathematica, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and a young adult steering committee.
Please join for a webinar that will focus on uplifting emerging practices to ensure human service delivery and prevention are more welcoming and accessible for LGBTQI+ young people (ages 10-24) in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, as well as those experiencing homelessness, and those seeking sexual health services. Closed captioning will be available during the webinar.
Read more about the event and register HERE.
Housing First Webinar Series
September 11 2:30 PM
Join National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for a webinar on homelessness and Housing First. Homelessness is a crisis in many communities – one that demands urgent action. To end homelessness once and for all, federal, state, and local governments must invest in proven solutions at the scale necessary to address the problem. The Housing First model is one of the best strategies for ending homelessness.
Community College of Vermont’s Life Gap Plus program and Working Bridges of United Way of Northwest Vermont statewide convening to discuss how we might leverage community partnership to address housing concerns impacting CCV students across the state.
As a community partner that provides housing resources and support, please join us for this virtual meeting on September 19th to share briefly about your housing-related programming with the CCV staff from your region and to hear about some of the basic needs supports CCV’s Life Gap Plus program is offering. CCV staff across the state will also be joining us to hear about regional programs and potential partnership opportunities to create student access to housing resources and to share some of their experiences with student needs related to housing. Connie Beal, Working Bridges Director for the United Way of Northwest Vermont, and Liz Jarvis, Resource Access Manager for the Community College of Vermont, will be sharing data around CCV housing support needs and facilitating discussions around partnering to foster student success.
At the LINK please find a flyer with information on registration. You will receive a Zoom link once you register.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to liz.jarvis@ccv.edu or to Connie Beal at connie@unitedwaynwvt.org.
Healthy Parents Health Babies Webinar
Hosted by the Framework for an Equitable Homelessness Response
September 21 12:30 PM
