Welcome To The RPC Staff Facilitator Training!

The Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC) Staff Facilitator Training is a comprehensive train-the-facilitator event for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents curriculum. This training is provided by staff at the Center for Child & Family Health and is sponsored by the NC Division of Social Services.

RPC is a trauma-informed, 16-hour in-service training that has shifted the way foster, adoptive, and kinship parents work with youth. The curriculum is publicly available, but can be complicated to deliver to parents.

Our Expert Trainers will help future Staff-Facilitators fully understand the curriculum content, provide ample practice opportunities with constructive feedback, and engage in ongoing consultation as trainees deliver their first RPC workshop to parents in their community.
APPLY HERE

Training Overview

The RPC Staff Facilitator Training year runs from the fall, when the application for the training is released, to the end of the following June (or sooner if workshops are delivered in early spring!)

About 40 hours of virtual training are spread out through curriculum overview webinars, workshop planning calls and a 4-day practice session. Part of the training also involves facilitating a workshop to foster, adoptive or kinship parents with weekly consultation calls hosted by RPC Training Faculty.

Those who successfully complete the training can be listed on the North Carolina RPC Facilitator Roster.
Check out who is rostered and providing RPC in your area now!

Transform Your Approach, Empower Parents, Change Lives

The Unique Benefits Of CCFH's RPC Staff-Facilitator Training

  • Deep Dive Into Trauma

    Deepening your knowledge of trauma equips you to effectively communicate these concepts to parents, helping them comprehend the challenging needs and behaviors of children who have been though really hard things.

  • Better Outcomes for Children and Families

    You'll learn how to give parents the tools to understand trauma and help them adopt empathetic and effective strategies for supporting their kids. This can lead to improved parent resilience, stronger family bonds, and ultimately higher permanency rates.

  • Next Level Facilitation Skills

    RPC can cover complex and sensitive topics. Our expert trainers will guide you through advanced techniques like scaffolding knowledge, managing group dynamics, and holding space for complicated emotions.

  • Community Of Peers

    The training fosters a community of skilled professionals who collaborate to share insights, resources, and strategies. Our frequent use of small groups means you'll get to develop lasting relationships with your co-trainees!

  • Practice Makes Perfect

    Our approach builds in lots of opportunity to practice what you learn! In small, friendly groups, you'll have a chance to present slides, respond to questions, and guide activities. By the time you deliver your first workshop, you'll be confident and prepared.

  • Training With Heart

    Our training team cares about you! We walk you through every step of workshop delivery from parent recruitment until you deliver your final module. Our compassionate, hand-in-hand approach to training means your unique skills as a facilitator will be seen and celebrated.

Who Should Apply To The RPC Staff Facilitator Training?

This opportunity is for professionals from public or private licensed child-placing agencies and mental health agencies in North Carolina.This is a fully virtual training so familiarity with technology is helpful.

There are no prerequisites required to be a staff facilitator. We are looking for applicants who are passionate about helping families and sustaining a trauma-informed approach to child welfare.

Characteristics of Effective RPC Facilitators

Is this training a good fit?

  • Experience working with children in adoptive, foster, and kinship care families

  • Willing to learn to respond effectively to the emotional responses/needs of the participants

  • Open to feedback and direction to enhance the facilitation of a RPC workshop

  • Is a good communicator who is able to stay on agenda while conducting the workshop

  • Has the time, capacity, and support to commit to a 40 hour, nine month training

  • Has access to foster/ kinship/ adoptive parents who currently have children in their home

FAQ

  • How much does RPC Staff Facilitator training cost?

    RPC Staff Facilitator Training is free to trainees due to funding from NCDSS. However there are some costs associated with facilitating the workshop required to complete the training.

  • What is the time commitment ?

    RPC facilitator training can be a significant time investment. The training consists of three phases conducted over nine months. Some of these time commitments include:

    Phase 1

    • 1 hr launch call
    • Three 3 hr curriculum overview webinars

    Phase 2

    • 1 hr workshop planning call
    • 20 hr virtual training week

    Phase 3

    • Weekly 1 hr consultation calls over eight to twelve weeks.
    • 16 hour RPC workshop delivery

    If this sounds overwhelming, please keep in mind that these are spread out over nine months!

  • What are the important training events?

    Applications Due: September 6th, 2024
    Launch Call: September 25th, 2024
    Curriculum Overview Webinars (3 hrs each): 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks of October (dates TBD)
    Workshop Planning Call (1 hr): January 2025 (date TBD)
    Practice Sessions (20 hrs): February 11th-14th, 2025
    Workshop delivery (16 hrs) and consultation calls (1hr, weekly):Spring 2025

  • Can I team-up and facilitate with my co-worker who is also in this training?

    Yes, you can co-facilitate a workshop with one other person. However, if you have three or more people from your agency in this training, you will need to provide separate workshops.
    A typical workshop has one or two staff-facilitators and one parent-facilitator.

  • What is a parent-facilitator? Can I be both staff-facilitator and parent-facilitator if I am also foster parent??

    A parent-facilitator is someone with lived experience as a resource parent (or an adult who was in the child welfare system as a youth). We strongly encourage our staff-facilitators to recruit a parent-facilitator to help deliver the workshop.

    Staff-facilitators will be the experts on the RPC curriculum, trauma, and the child welfare system. Parent-facilitators will offer insight and empathy from their lived experience. Parent facilitators do not need any special training! Many of our staff-facilitators may also have lived experience as a resource parent, but for the purpose of this training, we ask that you only wear one hat and keep the two roles separate.

  • Can my workshop be delivered virtually?

    YES! While there are both pros and cons to virtual trainings, we have had many trainees report great success using Zoom or other virtual platforms.

    Our expert trainers have lots of great suggestions for translating the materials and activities to a virtual format

  • Can I deliver my workshop in fewer sessions or shorter hours?

    No. We ask that you deliver the workshop as it is was developed to be delivered: 2 hours sessions over eight consecutive weeks (16 total hours).

  • Help! I still have more questions!

    We have answers! Please contact the training program manager, Julia Fout ([email protected])

What Past Trainees are saying

“I received a lot of positive feedback this week from the whole class regarding the invisible suitcase. Several of my foster parents even emailed me afterward saying that they felt like the invisible suitcase was one of the most valuable examples they had ever been given regarding trauma and how to think about trauma and the children they've provided care for. I think something about that example just clicks with people. It did with me when I first read the material so I'm glad my foster parents feel like it is just as valuable as I do. ”

Whitney

Visit CCFH.org for more information about the work we do