Hope Haven, a nonprofit agency in Jacksonville that provides direct services for children and families with a range of educational, developmental and mental health concerns, serves about 3,800 families a year – and is recognized as one of the community’s leading nonprofit providers of these specialized services for children and adults.
From its campus on Beach Boulevard, the agency works with clients from toddlers to adults with a range of developmental disabilities including autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), learning differences and other developmental challenges – providing tailored therapies, education and counseling services.
With funding assistance provided through the CareerSource Northeast Florida (CareerSource NEFL) Customized Training Program, Hope Haven now has a Certified Professional Crisis Management (PCM) Instructor on staff – saving the agency both time and money.
Although she was familiar with CareerSource NEFL, Hope Haven Chief Executive Officer Stella Johnson said she wasn’t aware of the training funds available until she connected with Carol Cullen, the organization’s industry manager for healthcare.
“Carol came to Hope Haven to attend an early-learning roundtable discussion that we held on campus and she and I were at the same table,” Johnson said. “We started talking about what she does and what we do, and conversation bubbled up from there.”
Johnson said Hope Haven was faced with sending all its 20-plus direct support personnel, (who work directly with clients) either to an off-site training program or hiring an external trainer to receive PCM training – which would be both time consuming and expensive.
PCM is a comprehensive system for managing crises, particularly in settings involving individuals with challenging behaviors, that emphasizes a proactive approach focused on prevention, de-escalation and safe intervention techniques.
“We realized that if we could get one of our team members credentialed as a trainer for this crisis intervention program, a curriculum that we need to successfully work with those clients who have challenges on our campus, we could avoid having to send each of our staff members for that training off-site or hiring an external trainer,” Johnson said.
Also, with an on-site PCM trainer, Johnson said new employees could receive the training sooner after they were hired – rather than waiting months for a training date.
Hope Haven Program Services Manager Jasmine Adams completed the PCM training certification earlier this year. Since that time, Adams has trained about a dozen direct service personnel at the nonprofit.
Johnson said she would encourage other businesses and nonprofits to engage with CareerSource NEFL to find out more about its Customized Training program and the other support the organization has to offer.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Johnson said. “While the project we did was relatively small, it’s going to have a great impact in providing our direct service team with the learning they need to offer the best care to our clients. And, now that we’ve done a project and have a better understanding of what the potential is, we can see many opportunities on the horizon to partner with CareerSource Northeast Florida again.”