The Circle of Trust[R] approach (www.couragerenewal.org) is dedicated to principles and practices that support exploration of the inner landscape of one's life. Participants share time in a trustworthy environment, connect with inner wisdom, and seek harmony in their personal and professional selves. In this chapter, the author describes her…

Few formal post-secondary educational programs in the United States focus on youth work, thus youth workers often enter the field with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience working with youth. Drawing on mounting evidence that quality youth service requires skilled staff, professional-development opportunities have received…

Partnerships for Autism through Collaborative Community Choice and Empowerment (Project PACE) was developed to empower parents and professionals (e.g., general or special education teachers, therapists, social workers, school counselors, psychologists) through training and education. Project PACE was designed to provide participants with basic…

This article explores what it takes to prepare practitioners to work effectively in the infant-family field and describes efforts to meet training needs. A multifaceted effort to prepare and support practitioners who work with infants, toddlers, and families has been central to the growth of the infant-family field. Part C of IDEA and Early Head…

Describes the roles of judges and social workers in Dutch child welfare. Briefly outlines training efforts designed to help social workers give their assessments greater structure, case-planning scope, and clarity. (BB)

Identifies factors contributing to difficulties involved in developing ethnic sensitivity training for child protective services caseworkers. Examines frameworks for training caseworkers in ethnic sensitivity. Proposes a new approach to improving caseworkers' ability to complete ethnically sensitive assessments and discusses implications of this…

Summarizes the objectives, conceptual model, results, and implications of a project called Foster Care Training: A Comprehensive Approach, in British Columbia, Canada, which was designed to illustrate ways in which a networking model can provide increased support and training for participating foster parents. (BB)

As mentoring programs have proliferated, considerable variation in approaches to programmatic mentoring has emerged. Concomitant confusion exists about the context, structure, and goals that constitute mentoring as a distinct intervention. This article presents a brief summary of what is currently known about different approaches to mentoring and…