Workforce Readiness

Reinforcing the Family Mosaic.

FREDLA offers a suite of companion items to ensure high-quality respite care.  Our consultation can help you develop or strengthen a respite program. Developed under the principles of Wraparound/System of Care, our training is designed to interface with team-based planning, including Hi-Fidelity Wraparound.  Reinforcing the Family Mosaic provides a unique set of applications for respite providers and the youth and families they serve.   Based on nationally recognized best practices, we have tailored training, forms, and processes to yield first-rate respite care.  From establishing relationships to achieving positive outcomes, our product is readily adapted to service descriptions and policies governing respite in your state.  Insight and experience from youth, parents, providers and policymakers across the nation helped to shape these tools.  

• Respite provider training tailored to states/communities  
• Step by step matching process  
• Respite Guide for Families (tailored to state/program)  

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Employing parents with lived experience 

As more organizations and agencies employ a workforce of family members with lived experience caring for children, youth, and young adults with behavioral health needs, it is essential to engage in an intentional process of workforce readiness.  

Workforce readiness ensures that those entering the workforce are adequately prepared with the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to meet the needs of your organization and those you support. It also ensures that the workplace is welcoming and adequately prepared so that those entering the workplace are able to fulfill their duties and receive the necessary support and resources to be productive. 

FREDLA skilled facilitators can help your organization/agency to assess your level of readiness as well as review, revise and implement policies, procedures and practices that fosters equity, transparency, and standards of excellence while building a culture that facilitates family voice in all aspects of care.  

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Agency Readiness, Culture & Operations

Hiring family members to use their lived experience with others calls for a review of (and perhaps shift in) the culture of an organization.  Engaging agency staff throughout the process of incorporating families in the workplace will help agencies avoid pitfalls and promote team success. This process also includes:  

• Alignment of goals with agency mission  
• Review of agency policies & practices  
• Roles & Job Descriptions  
• Workflows   
• Supervision models 
• Upward Mobility (career ladder)

Peer Networking Opportunities

The Family Exchange – A monthly networking group for family leaders with lived experience caring for a child, youth or young adult with behavioral health needs who work in a role that fosters and supports family engagement in agency practice and policy decisions. Monthly peer led discussions on topics determined by the group offer participants opportunities to network, share lessons learned, and seek solutions to barriers. This group is facilitated by FREDLA and offered through the National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) for Child and Youth Mental Health.

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FREDLA’s Parent Peer Support Practice Model

Our Parent Peer Support Practice Model is a training curricula for parent peer support providers and supervisors that includes an option for Train the Trainer and coaching. Developed from research, best practices, and experiences directly from the field and family-run organizations, the PPS Practice Model provides foundational competencies and skills for parent peer support providers, concrete operational supports and tools for supervisors, and a framework for the delivery of quality parent peer support services. Contact us for further information and costs at info@fredla.org and list PPS Practice Model in the subject line. 

FREDLA’s Parent Peer Support Center

Parent Peer Support Community of Practice (PPS CoP) 

A community of practice designed for parent peer support providers with and learning from the field.  The PPS CoP offers ongoing professional development opportunities, peer to peer learning, and topical discussions and strategies to enhance skills and knowledge in core competency areas. New CoP cohorts offered yearly.  

Annual Parent Peer Support (PPS) Institute

A three half-day virtual Institute for parent peers, supervisors, employers, funders, and policy makers to learn about policy level solutions, agency and organizational approaches, and strategies for strengthening engagement and support for all families caring for children, youth, and young adults with behavioral health needs. Participants are also connected to future events that will offer more in depth information about these and other topics identified as important to the field and this work. 

Developing Certification of a Peer Support Workforce

FREDLA offers a customized facilitation process for developing a certification process and manual that includes all necessary components for a sound certification process for peer support providers in your state or region.  Engaging both those doing the peer support work and those involved in policy-making, FREDLA provides a step by step process for defining the service and scope, identifying qualifications and required training, developing clear steps for acquiring certification (and renewal of certification) based on state requirements and regulations, and additional components such as code of ethics and grievance or appeal processes. 

Technical assistance and consultation on program and policy development at the organizational, local, and state levels for peer support programming and workforce development. 

Targeted trainings for both parent peer support providers and their supervisors based on best practices, current research, and trending needs or topics. 

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