David Mandel and Associates

1. Overview of Safe and Together Training/ Community Meeting (1 day)

In order to develop understanding and support within agencies and within communities for the implementation of the Safe and Together model, David Mandel & Associates provides day long community meetings to introduce the model. The overview includes a 1) presentation on the assumptions, principles and critical components of the model and 2) an introductory exploration of concepts and skills associated with successfully intervening with domestic violence perpetrators and partnering with domestic violence survivors around the safety and well being of children.

Target Audience: Key managers, administrators and supervisors from child welfare are encouraged to attend along with various community partners to these meetings. These partners may include domestic violence program advocates/managers/trainers, batterer intervention specialists, mental health providers/managers who primarily work with trauma survivors or children who have experienced trauma issues, family preservation providers, in-home parenting or other in-home providers, or other providers regularly utilized for domestic violence cases. Dependency court personnel including judges, GALs, evaluators and other court related personnel are highly recommended to attend. Law enforcement including prosecutors, probation, police and others can be invited as identified as important by the organizers.

Target Audience Size: 15-200

2. Basic Safe and Together training (4 days)

This is the basic skill building Safe and Together training. These training days consist of lecture, group exercises, and other media to provide participants with an improved understanding about batterer behaviors, the impact of those behaviors on children, safety planning with survivors of domestic violence. In addition, the participants of the core training learn practical skills and interventions for each family member to enhance the safety and well-being of children.

Target Audience: Child welfare workers, supervisors and trainers. In addition, it is strongly suggested that child welfare invite one or more local domestic violence advocates to the training to share in the information and develop collaborative relationships that can improve work towards the safety and well-being of children.

Target Audience Size: 15-60

3. Subject Matter Expert Training and Technical Assistance Package

This training package has been used in several Florida DCF circuits. The focus of this approach is intensive training for a number of Child Protection Investigators/Intake Workers and ongoing workers to become “subject matter experts” in domestic violence. This means that they would be better equipped to handle domestic violence cases and also provide “consultation” to their colleagues in their units. The intensive training would provide them with content expertise in domestic violence and also “consultation” skills.

The package includes:

• Nine (9) onsite training days. This would include the core Safe and Together training (as outlined above), advanced training in working with perpetrators and survivors and training on consultation skills. This training would also include a day of training for supervisors and a presentation to child welfare’s community partners on the model.
• Multiple conference calls between trainings dates to discuss implementation of the model.
• Access to the Safe and Together website.
• Technical assistance on protocol development.

Target Audience: 30 child welfare staff. We also strongly recommend that you open up a few seats to your local Domestic Violence agency so it can help build cross system collaboration.

Target Audience Size: 30 for the core group of SMEs.

4. Safe and Together Model for Supervisors (5 Days)

This is the basic skill building Safe and Together training specifically for supervisors. These training days consist of lecture, group exercises, and other media to provide participants with an improved understanding about batterer behaviors, the impact of those behaviors on children, safety planning with survivors of domestic violence. In addition, the participants of the core training learn practical skills and interventions for each family member to enhance the safety and well-being of children. In addition, participants will learn specific skills for supervisors related to assessing workers’ capacity related to domestic violence, assessing risk and safety for children, addressing worker biases, and providing specific directives to staff in domestic violence cases.

This training package includes 3 days of training and 2 days of on-site technical assistance and coaching.

Target Audience: Child welfare supervisors and In addition, it is strongly suggested that child welfare invite one or more local domestic violence advocates to the training to share in the information and develop collaborative relationships that can improve work towards the safety and well-being of children.

Target Audience Size: 15-40

5. On-Site Technical Assistance/Consultation

The following is a menu of technical assistance and/or consultation that David Mandel & Associates, LLC can provide to training groups who have attended at least the basic Safe and Together model training:

1. Legal Staffing/Consults: David Mandel & Associates, LLC staff can sit in on legal staffing and provide input on case practice as well as support Subject Matter Experts (if applicable) in their role of using the Safe and Together model to influence case practice.
2. Case consultation: David Mandel & Associates, LLC staff can meet with child protection workers and/or groups of workers to discuss cases and provide feedback and recommendations on practice.
3. Supervisory sessions: (see advanced or wrap-around training on coaching supervisors)
4. Community or Policy Related Meetings: David Mandel & Associates, LLC can sit in community or agency meetings related to 1) implementing the Safe and Together model, 2) strategizing community outreach, 3) addressing policy or practice issues that arose during or after the implementation of the Safe and Together model.

6. Advanced or wrap-around trainings

The following is menu of trainings that can be added could be free standing or added to any of the above trainings:

1. Consultation Skills
2. Advanced Training on the Intersection of Substance Abuse, Mental Health, and Child Behavioral Issues
3. Advanced Training Day on Working with Survivors
4. Advanced Training Day on Working with Batterers
5. Advanced Supervisors Training
6. Mentoring for Supervisors
7. Training on Batterers as Parents
8. Case Planning with Children