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• Motivational Interviewing - Dec 2,4,9,11

  • Start
    12/02/2025
  •  
  • End
    12/11/2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Zoom webinar
  • Spaces left
    7
  • Registered
    24 registrants

  Register

  This evidence-based approach has consistently shown positive outcomes in dealing with resistance and defensiveness. Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person's own motivation and commitment to change. It has been successfully used with populations where resistance is prevalent, including adults and adolescents who deal with legal problems, substance abuse and mental health issues. 

  Motivational Interviewing provides a “tool box” of techniques and strategies which will help you to be more effective in working with clients who bring a wide range of challenges. This is a four-day online training with a four-hour session each day. A broadband Internet connection and working webcam are required for participation. You must be on-camera during the event to receive a certificate of completion.

   Attendees will: 

  • Understand the basic principles and skills of Motivational Interviewing

  • Experience a collaborative versus an authoritarian communication style and see how you can effectively decrease defensiveness in clients​;​

  • Learn and practice resistance skills​;

  • Learn and practice directive skills that help move a client towards positive behavior change​;​

  • Be able to elicit commitment language from a client that is correlated to positive outcomes​;​

  • Explore proven implementation strategies that help improve your Motivational Interviewing skills in the field​.

  _____
  

  Presenter: Avani G. Dilger, MEd, MA, LPC, BC-DMT, CAS 
  Avani specializes in substance abuse prevention and treatment with adults, teens and their families. She is the founder and director of the “Natural Highs – Healthy Alternatives to Drugs & Alcohol” nonprofit program. Avani has been training professionals in in Motivational Interviewing and other evidence-based practices worldwide for over 20 years. Find out more about Avani HERE.

  Eligible for 16 hours MINT Certificate of Completion, valid worldwide.

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• Verbal De-Escalation

  • When
    12/08/2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 2:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Webinar
  • Spaces left
    46
  • Registered
    4 registrants

  Register

  De-escalation of disruptive behavior has become an essential skill, pertinent to all staff providing human services. The need for safe, effective techniques to manage the disruptive client is no longer limited to those who work with severe mental illness in residential or hospital settings.

  To add to the problem, the current de-institutionalization trend has injected thousands of individuals who once were treated on an inpatient basis, into a society which is not quite sure how to manage their behavior. Outpatient mental health facilities are being asked to service clients who formerly had inpatient care. Frequently, staff at a community-based treatment centers do not have the training or experience to manage the aggressive behaviors of clients who were once institutionalized.

  This training provides attendees with a safe, non-harmful techniques, designed to aid human service professionals in the management of disruptive clients. Strategies and specific skills for dealing with clients in varying stages of escalation will be presented and discussed. Non-restraining physical protective maneuvers will be reviewed, demonstrated and discussed. Principles of debriefing and using teaching moments will also be addressed.

  ___________
  

  De-escalation will be presented in three phases:

  • Phase 1 Avoiding escalation through Self Care and Awareness;
  • Phase 2 Anatomy of crisis development and de-escalating skill sets; and
  • Phase 3 Exit maneuvers and debriefing skills.
  

  By the end of the webinar, learners will be able to:

  • Recognize the importance of self-care in how it relates to escalating/de-escalating any situation;
  • Apply de-escalation techniques effective in approaching and reducing the • tension of an agitated person;
  • Understand the impact of their reactions on the agitated person;
  • Utilize tools to control their anxieties during interventions toward maintaining the best possible professional attitude; and

  • Describe nonverbal, para-verbal and verbal skills to maintain the best possible care and welfare, as well as safety and security, for all involved.

  _____________
  

  Presenter: Tracy L. Hutchinson, LPC, MAC, LAC 

  Tracy has been working in the field of Addictions and Mental Health for the past 40 years. Currently, through her Counseling and Consulting private practice, Tracy is a facilitator of professional growth and development for team building. See more information about Tracy HERE.

  
  

  Eligible for 5 hours Certificate of Completion
  

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• Advanced MI Training to address Trauma in Clients and prevent Vicarious Trauma in Professionals

  • When
    12/15/2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Webinar
  • Spaces left
    12
  • Registered
    18 registrants

  Register

  Trauma is increasingly recognized as a driving factor for causing major mental health and addiction symptoms and can create challenges and obstacles in our work with clients. There is also a growing awareness that professionals get impacted with secondary trauma which can lead to serious symptoms and burnout. A lot of agencies are struggling to help their staff in dealing with trauma in their clients and to help their staff in preventing burnout.

  
  

  Motivational Interviewing is an evidence-based practice that is proven to support positive change for clients, but it is also an excellent skillset to prevent secondary trauma and burnout for the practitioner by changing the dynamics of not taking on the tension from our work.

  
  

  After this training you will:

  • Be able to understand and identify secondary trauma symptoms
  • Understand the neuroscience of trauma & PTSD
  • Learn how to turn trauma into resilience
  • Gain confidence in working with clients experiencing trauma

  
  

  Presenter: Avani G. Dilger, MEd, MA, LPC, BC-DMT, CAS, ADS

  Avani specializes in substance abuse prevention and treatment with adults, teens and their families. She is the founder and director of the “Natural Highs – Healthy Alternatives to Drugs & Alcohol” nonprofit program. Avani has been training professionals in in Motivational Interviewing and other evidence-based practices worldwide for over 20 years. Find out more about Avani HERE.

  
  

  Eligible for 3 hours Certificate of Completion

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• How to find Housing when there’s no Housing?

  • When
    12/17/2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Webinar
  • Spaces left
    46
  • Registered
    14 registrants

  Register

  

  As we are all painfully aware, homelessness and the lack of affordable housing are major issues in the metro Denver area. A point-in-time study conducted by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative in January of 2023, showed 9,065 people were homeless on Monday, January 30, the night local volunteers, municipal and county leaders, outreach teams and people who were formerly homeless scattered across the metro Denver region to conduct the annual survey. That’s a 31.7% increase in homelessness compared with the survey’s findings in 2022, which counted 6,884 people.

  Come join us to learn about approaches that can be used to ensure safe and affordable shelter for all. We will:

  • Discuss current local affordable housing resources.
  • Identify and discuss ways to improve support for families in need.
  • Explore additional communication streams for up-to-date resources to best support clients.
  • Discover ways to improve community partnership opportunities for other housing resources, programs, and agency support.

  Workshop Outline

  A Deeper look at affordable housing in Colorado

  • Building a plan to locate housing resources.
  • Finding funding opportunities to help strengthen housing resources for your families.

  Create a plan to obtain specific housing resources.
  

  • Temporary housing
  • Transitional housing
  • Permanent housing
  • Affordable housing

  Types of affordable housing resources.
  

  • Preparation and timelines for housing assistance.
  • Building Partnerships to stay up to date on changes.

  Review the specific need to help match housing resources.

  • Identifying additional organizations that address specific requirements for eligibility.
  • Identify existing programs to help increase opportunities.

  Building housing resources for the most up-to-date information on affordable housing.

  • Lottery for Section 8 /Housing Choice Vouchers and other resources.
  • New affordable units and programs for eligibility.

  Two Break-Out sessions will build upon the five topics above.

  Eligible for a two-hour certificate of completion.

  

  Presenter: Marsha Brown, CORE Inspirate LLC

  Ms. Brown has a multifaceted career history that allows her to serve the community she lives in. She brings her sharpened skills and experience to help inspire and empower others. Ms. Brown has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Her career has moved from Customer Service Manager over accounts like The Detroit Zoological Institute to NA Manager for TransUnion LLC., overseeing relationships with homeowners and FEMA guidelines. Ms. Brown’s diverse career path and "lived experience" has allowed her to build a wealth of knowledge- focusing on; advocacy for resilience, job creation; and enhancing self-sufficiency programs. Ms. Brown teaches others how to maximize best practices, advocacy, financial health, and home ownership. She served as a former Commissioner for DHA Board, an Alumni of Warren Village Transitional Housing and a seasoned Storyteller for the Close to Home Campaign to end homelessness.

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