Ongoing Learning: Challenges and Benefits

Family Facts: BC Council Blog

Ongoing Learning: Challenges and Benefits

Jan 29

“What are the challenges and opportunities for ongoing learning in BC’s family service sector?” As an organization committed to providing top-quality training and professional development, it’s a question that at the BC Council for Families we’re always asking ourselves – usually followed up by the next question: “How can we provide more value to more people in BC working with parents, children and families?”

In a 2008 survey we conducted of family service staff and managers in BC, you identified a shortage of available funds for training as the biggest barrier to professional education and training. Over 40% of respondents indicated that their organizations set aside less than $250 annually per worker for staff development – insufficient to cover travel or accommodation costs when training can’t be accessed locally.

“Live web seminars and video conferencing would be so helpful for us in the north,” wrote one survey respondent. Said another, “There is a need for more online options. Not just courses, but workshops. Watch a 1-2 hour presentation online, do a short quiz and get a pro-d certificate emailed to you. This would address rural and urban communities”.

We’re asking today: what’s your preferred method of receiving professional development? Follow the links to our blog and send us your comments! And visit us online to read Transforming Training, our report on the provincial survey of family support workers.

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As home visitors, we are

As home visitors, we are constantly encountering very challenging family situatations. In spite of the hardships and challenges, we are often impressed with the resilience families manifest.

To maintain our own resilience and effectiveness as agents for positive change and developmental parenting, we desperately need training in a variety of topics that would assist us in serving families better. This includes training for the supervisors on whom we rely for support and direction. There is exciting evidence-based information out there that should be informing best practice. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to access due to funding constraints and home visiting programs being isolated from one another in the province. We currently feel that we have no collective voice that would help us identify our learning needs and then strategize how to meet them.

We hear from familes that we are doing good work and that they value the service. We want to continue to provide this kind of support to overburdened families, but we can't do it alone. We need advocacy with MCFD who funds our programs and hope BC Council for Families can facilitate this for us somehow.

Submitted by Anonymous on Feb 09.

Thanks for your thoughtful

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. We are hoping to offer more in-person and on-line training this year for home visitors and supervisors. I'd also love to develop a network of people doing this work, so we can support each other and share our successes and challenges, as well as talking about needs for professional development. A few years ago we did a survey of home visiting programs to ask about training needs. Some of the top areas of training requested were: working with high-risk families, safety and crisis intervention, attachment, substance abuse and counselling skills. If people have additional areas they'd like to suggest, I'll be happy to collect them to use in our funding requests - we're also dependent on funding for any training or coordination projects, but hopefully we will have enough support to move ahead this year with this important work.

Thanks for your input, and we'd love to hear from others in the home visiting community on what kinds of support and training you need.

David Sheftel
Program Coordinator
Home Visitor Training Initiative
BC Council for Families

Submitted by davids on Feb 10.

As a mother that has needed

As a mother that has needed assistance and a professional working with children and families. I think it is important that training be provided to educate the BC Family Service workers in what resources ($) are available to families that have disabilites, visible and hidden(mental health). In our community no one was aware that I qualified for extra income for my child who has Defiant Behaviour Disorder or myself who has a similar condition. As I was living in extreme poverty the extra $200 I get for my daughter makes a huge difference. The Disability Tax Credit is available for families whom have children with disablities, this can include ADHD and other psychological disorders and the Federal Government back pays to 2003, which can be a substantial amount of income for families.

Submitted by Anonymous on Feb 01.

BC Council for Families

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