Inspired. Hopeful. Fulfilled. Replenished. Excited. Grateful. Informed. Recharged.
Those were some of the words that participants used to describe how they felt after attending the inaugural Flourishing Families Practitioner Training on August 20 & 21 in Phoenix. The training curriculum, which was designed and taught thanks to funding from Strong Families AZ, was designed to teach early childhood home visitors specific, actionable ways that they can support parents to build protective factors in their families. The five protective factors, which were identified by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, help keep families strong, make sure children develop optimally, and prevent child abuse and neglect from ever happening.
Most early childhood home visitors know about the protective factors, but many do not have specific tools for how to teach them to families. That’s why Sandi Cimino, Rhegan Derfus, Claire Louge, Sara Martinez and Brandi Samaniego, who are all trainers certified to teach the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors Framework, decided to design Flourishing Families, a curriculum that gives home visitors specific activities to teach protective factors to families.
“I’m more confident in my ability to teach protective factors to parents,” said Kim Hampton, a parent educator with Arizona’s Children Association, who participated in the training.
“As a new nurse home visitor, I am so grateful to start this new amazing career with this knowledge. As a nurse, it can be challenging to change your practice as time goes on so I’m very lucky to be able to implement this curriculum from the start!” said Jasmine Marquez of the Nurse Family Partnership.
Participants also said that whether you’ve been a home visitor for 10 years or two months, this curriculum is beneficial.
“It’s realistic, tangible and easily applied. We’ll be able to see its benefits and outcomes right away in our work with families.” said Marie Hibbitt, a home visitor with Southwest Human Development. “I highly recommend the Flourishing Families training for all home visitors.”
