Wisconsin was one of three states to participate in a federal pilot project to develop and deliver abuse and neglect prevention training for caregivers in long term care settings. The primary goal of the training was to reduce the incidence of abuse, neglect and misappropriation by giving direct caregivers the tools to appropriately deal with challenging situations. Wisconsin's innovative training approach utilized multiple modes of delivery, including an experiential component and a series of topical workshops. The pilot project ended in September 2007.

In order to sustain the training, the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services is offering a limited number of free train-the-trainer workshops through June 2008. These sessions are appropriate for long-term care facility trainers and supervisors and will provide participants with the background and materials needed to conduct the training for their own direct caregivers.

This 6-hour Train-the-Trainer provides participants with tips and tools to successfully train the following 4-hour classroom trainings:  

• Keys to Professional Caregiving (for direct caregivers)
  This topic explores communication skills that result in improved client care and professional boundaries that caregivers must observe to maintain a therapeutic relationship with clients.
• Supporting the Professional Caregiver (for supervisors)
  This topic is the supervisor’s version of Keys to Professional Caregiving, and additionally offers insight into providing support and mentoring to direct caregivers.
• Conducting Internal Investigations of Caregiver Misconduct (for supervisors)
  This topic covers the legal definitions of caregiver misconduct in Wisconsin, and demonstrates how to develop an investigation protocol with in-depth discussion of investigative steps and interviewing skills.
• Responding to Challenging Situations (for direct caregivers)
  This topic provides information on the physical changes of the brain due to dementia; identifies the 10 most challenging care situations associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease; and offers person-centered approaches to resolve difficult situations. 

Experiential Training for Trainers

Learn to conduct the experiential training in a special 1 1/2 day session with the Caregiver Project staff! Technical assistance and training materials will be provided by experienced facilitators of this engaging and popular training for caregivers on abuse and neglect prevention.

We will provide participants with an overview of the experiential training model. Experienced facilitators will explain each scenario including the topic, settings and learning points for each.  We will focus on consistent outcomes, common conclusions and challenges that are unique to each scenario.

Trainees will then facilitate part of a scenario and receive coaching/mentoring from the experienced facilitators, and will have an opportunity to ask questions of the experienced trainers to gain insight into providing the training in a safe and effective manner. Trainees will also learn how to access all training materials.