We have great news! Pressley Ridge Treatment Foster Care Pre-Service Training Curriculum received Evidenced-Based Status by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare!
Now what exactly does all of this mean, especially for HSC Foster Parents?
Let’s break it down. First off, who is Pressley Ridge? Pressley Ridge is an agency based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that supports foster families, community based-mental and behavioral health, residential treatment, specialized education for both autistic and deaf students, and most relevantly they have created a Pre-Service Training Curriculum for Therapeutic Foster Parents. Pressley Ridge explains that the goals of the Pre-Service Curriculum are to:
- Increase knowledge, empathy, and insight regarding treatment foster care, child development, trauma-informed care, and effective behavior management techniques
- Improve parenting skills for working with youth with behavioral and emotional issues
- Improve ability and commitment to succeed in their professional role as a treatment foster care parent
What does it mean that this training received Evidence-Based Status? And who is the California Evidenced-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare? The goal of the California Evidenced-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare is to research and measure curriculum in child welfare related fields to ensure that the must effective implementation of the information is being provided to families involved with child welfare. Their research and studies of the Pressley Ridge curriculum resulted in a, “designation that affirms Pressley Ridge’s commitment, capability, and depth of sound research to deliver services that produce positive outcomes for youth and families.”
Why does this matter to us? First of all, this is great news for the Therapeutic Foster Care Community because there is increasing pressure from state entities for agencies to implement trainings that are evidence based, and unfortunately there have been few options for Therapeutic Foster Care Pre-Service trainings that are evidenced based. With the addition of Pressley Ridge to this esteemed list, Therapeutic Foster Care licensing agencies have a new great option to share with their families. This is important secondly because HSC is ahead of the curve! This past summer our Executive Director, Lauree Copenhaver and Elizabeth Murray our Training and Licensing Supervisor attended a Pressley Ridge Train the Trainer conference certifying them as Trainers of the Pressley Ridge Pre-Service Curriculum. HSC is currently the only organization in Arizona utilizing this amazing evidenced based training! Elizabeth and Lauree are eager to pass on their knowledge to HSC staff, and even more eager to share this important evidence based training with all of our foster parents!
To read more about Pressley Ridge and their new Evidenced Based rating visit https://bit.ly/2M2Thnv.