Coaching in the Field of Child Welfare - News
Background | Approaches | Models | In Organization | Framework and Foundation
MONDAY, JULY 1, 2013
More News from Our Summer 2013 eNewsletter...
Coaching in Core
We are pleased to announce we now have coaching support available to all new social workers attending Core training in their first year of hire (non-Title IV-E). Participants will be eligible to receive three hours per month of coaching support throughout the five modules of Core training.
What to expect
- All coaching will be one-on-one for up to three hours every month
- Coaches will (usually) be the Core Transfer of Learning specialist
- Coaches will travel to your office and coordinate phone calls and/or web-based meetings with you
- The coach, staff and his/her supervisor will meet prior to the first coaching session to ensure the supervisor can provide additional support and is an integral part of the learning process
Research indicates that coaching is a great way to enhance the transfer of learning from the classroom environment to on the job practice in the field. A recent graduate of the Core program wrote the following about her coach, Chellie Gates:
“The Coaching program has been a lifesaver for me. I work in a small, rural county with high turnover. Without Chellie's guidance through the California Child Welfare System I would have been lost. I also have a contentious court case that is a full time job and Chellie has been a tremendous help. I would not still be working as a social worker without Chellie’s encouragement and assistance.”
Criteria to be assigned a coach
- You must be a non-M.S.W. Title IV-E participant
- You must be at your position less than one year
- You need to commit to attending all five Core modules
The Role of the Supervisor in Coaching
Research and common sense tell us that the supervisor plays a key role in ensuring a successful coaching program, whereby the learner/social worker increases their skill development and improves practice with families. The work of the supervisor can be: a) to support staff being coached by an external coach, peer or other staff member; or b) to actively coach the staff, either informally or formally. In either scenario, supervisors must provide staff with the time to attend coaching sessions, ensure learners’ goals are aligned with agency policy, and provide additional resources and support as needed.
Practical tips for supervisors to improve the success of coaching
- Strongly encourage social workers to partake in coaching. Coaching can be intimidating for social workers, especially new social workers. Supervisors should consider the extra steps necessary to calm fears or anxiety about the coaching process.
- Meet with the coach and staff. This will help to ensure that staff know you will support them in their coaching, and that coaching will not be punitive.
- Request a coach yourself, or speak with staff about your experience in having a coach.
"Supervisors influence virtually everything in child welfare. They affect how policies are followed and what practices are encouraged. They set the tone and expectations in the work environment to such an extent that they are sometimes called the ‘keepers of the culture’ for their agencies. They influence employee turnover (or lack thereof) more than any other factor… How well supervisors do their jobs affects nearly every outcome the child welfare systems seeks, including the timeliness with which we respond to reports of child maltreatment, the well-being of children in foster care and the rate at which children are reunified with their parents."
— North Carolina Division of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resource Program, 2008, p. 1
Upcoming Trainning/Events
COACHING INSTITUTE FOLLOW-UP
Oct. 2, Davis
This special follow-up session to the Coaching Institute for Child Welfare Practice is open to anyone who has attended a previous Coaching Institute. This session will focus on enhancing skills learned during the original Coaching Institute, with a special emphasis on continued growth and development in the areas of coaching in child welfare. This session will use a group-based learning format with a substantial amount of time dedicated to small group discussion and, of course, practice!
Please note that due to capacity constraints, no exception can be granted to participants who have not attended a previous Coaching Institute.
COACHING INSTITUTE FOR CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
Feb. 4-6, 2014, Davis
The Coaching Institute will provide intensive learning opportunities for coaching in the field of child welfare practice. We will examine coaching skills, enhancing understanding of coaching, how organizations can support coaching, as well as common coaching dilemmas and challenges. And we will practice, practice, practice!
Coaching Videos Now Available on iTunes and YouTube
In our continued effort to provide the widest range of access to coaching materials possible, we are happy to announce that our video series on Coaching in the Field of Child Welfare has now reached iTunes
Links to an external site. and YouTube
Links to an external site.
. These videos are also available on this site, as well as on DVD with the purchase of the Coaching Toolkit.
New Coaching Video!
Our newest Coaching video covers the CLEAR (Contract, Listen, Explore, Action, Review) Coaching Model and demonstrates how this model can be implemented effectively within a coaching session. To see the video, visit our video page here.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013
More News from Our Winter 2013 eNewsletter...
A Nod to Our Coaches!
Coaches from UC Davis Extension continue to work with counties and staff on improving skills and supporting implementation. Coaches have conducted short trainings, conducted mapping sessions in the office and with families, attended staff meetings, helped with harm and danger statements, worked on safety planning and network development with families, and conducted other duties as requested.
In a survey to counties who have received coaching, several of our county partners have voiced their gratitude for our outstanding coaches. Here are a few of their remarks:
“Geri [Wilson] has been a wonderful coach for me (as a supervisor) and my unit. She has come to numerous monthly unit meetings to talk with, coach and teach us about Signs of Safety (SofS) and the different tools within the framework. She has made herself available to go into the field with social workers in order to model and facilitate the family mapping process. After completion of family mappings, she photographs the three columns, types it up and sends it to us. She has been diligent in maintaining communication with me so that the momentum of SofS learning and application continues, and our dedication to good social work practices is not lost within the high volume of our work load. I appreciate her coaching, patience and time very much. Without her assistance, we would not be nearly far as we are in our understanding, utilization and implementation of SofS. The coaches have added a highly effective layer to our implementation strategy.”
“[The coaches] have ensured a transfer of learning from the classroom setting to the field. I credit the coaches with much of the progress we have made in the North [Sacramento] region. Without them, there would not have been sufficient reinforcement of SofS practice between trainings.”
“We often expect supervisors to be the ones that fill the coaching role; however, with something as comprehensive and transformative as SofS, I am not sure it would have been a viable plan that could have been sustained. I am now expecting the supervisors to become more of the focal point for continuing education and reinforcement with staff, however, in the early stages, the coaches were the best means for realizing success.”
“Having coaching available keeps us on track and focused on changing the way we do business. It energizes the staff when we see a new skill performed and with practiced guidance we are helped along in the process; it works!”
Our outstanding coaches include: Margie Albers, Chellie Gates, Nancy Goodman, Betty Hanna, Karen Lofts Jarobe, Brad Seiser, Kris Ogle and Geri Wilson.
Coaching Institutes
On January 8-10, we hosted our second Coaching Institute, and early reports from participants suggest it was another success! Heather Meitner, Rose Wentz and Nancy Hafer provided the training and facilitated the highly constructive discussions. This Institute focused specifically on supervisors in child welfare, with 35 supervisors from across the state engaging in a dialogue and experiential learning on coaching social workers.
More Coaching Institutes are in the planning stages, with the next Institute slated to take place in September 2013 and another in early 2014.
Coming Soon: Advanced Coaching Institute
For those who have completed the full three-day Coaching Institute, we will soon be offering an Advanced Coaching Institute. This advanced training is currently slated for September 2013. More details will be available soon.
Coaching Tip: Slow Down to Go Fast Later
At a first glance, utilizing coaching strategies may seem like an impossibly time-consuming process, but in the long-term this will help your staff gain the skills and knowledge to work more independently and efficiently moving forward. Taking the time now will save an exponentially greater amount of time in the future.
FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012
New Coaching Resource from NRCOI!
The Summer 2012 issue of Child Welfare Matters, the newsletter of the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement (NRCOI), focuses on Coaching in Child Welfare. This issue highlights seven key components of coaching programs, illustrated by examples from current coaching initiatives in child welfare. It also offers a brief definition of coaching and the coaching process, profiles the experience of one participant in the Leadership Academy for Middle Managers coaching program, and provides links to coaching resources. The newsletter is available directly at here (PDF) Links to an external site., or through the NRCOI website Links to an external site.. Requests for copies can be sent to helpkids@usm.maine.edu, and questions can be directed to the NRCOI at 1-800-435-7453.