The Alliance for Experiential Problem Based Learning at UIS has developed and assisted with many training programs over the years to help better prepare the frontline for working with our communities, especially in the area of improving the lives of children and their families. When working with any family, but especially in rural communities, we must realize that belonging is central to needs. Belonging must include physiological needs, safety needs, love and acceptance, esteem building and resiliency, and self-actualization. Fostering connection and building community support is at the heart of what all families require for success. However, it is important to consider preventative efforts such as healthy parenting, access to adequate services, and being trauma informed as professionals. Partnerships with foster parents, mental health providers, police, educators and former youth in care must equally have a voice in resolutions.
The Alliance has partnered with many entities to build a stronger workforce. Our training focuses on several key components: communication, engagement, trauma informed, identifying bias, and critical thinking. We currently are in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education providing trauma informed trainings to a pilot group of educators across the state and will be expanding these efforts to School Resource Officers and the liaisons who work with foster youth and those with experiencing homelessness (the McKinney-Vento program). The Alliance also recently received federal funding to provide training to multi-disciplinary partners across the state. These trainings will be approached from a trauma-informed lens and will assist professionals with their own resiliency, in hopes those resiliency building skills can be passed to the youth and families they encounter. The Alliance believes strongly in moving our focus to one of child and family wellbeing and shifting our efforts to prevention and community building.
Simulation Training Research
The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois has been conducting program evaluations and other research to support initiatives providing education and training to improve services for maltreatment victims and their families. In February 2016, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) collaborated with a team from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) to implement the Child Protection Training Academy (CPTA) that provided simulation training in which child welfare professionals work with a mock family in a mock residence and mock courtroom, to simulate child protection investigations and interventions. CFRC’s simulation training evaluation team has produced an array of reports, research briefs, presentations and articles about the CPTA program. In 2022, CFRC also begun to evaluate simulation training conducted by the Illinois Department on Aging, designed to improve the response to abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of adults age 60 or older and adults age 18-59 with disabilities.
To learn more about the research visit the Children and Family Research Center's Training and Education of Maltreatment webpage.
Keeping It Real
Get firsthand accounts of simulation experiences, its benefits, and key considerations based on lessons learned. The Keeping It Real video series presents perspectives from program developers, trainers, participants, agency leaders, and other individuals familiar with simulation training in Illinois.
Visit the Keeping It Real website to learn more.
