Training

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Options Counseling Interactive Workshop for Program Planners and Managers

Program planners and managers must establish standards for Options Counseling is provided through their ADRC networks. This course reviews the core competencies of Options Counseling and expands learning to other managerial considerations that influence the effectiveness of how options counseling is delivered. These considerations include organizational planning and integration of services, staff training, development and supervision, and program evaluation. Program planners and managers will benefit from exploring how to plan and implement Options Counseling within the context of their unique organizations and community settings. Participants will have the opportunity to share questions with each other, hear about the Administration of Aging’s national minimum standard development process, and to learn successful strategies from their peers. Background knowledge of the definition and core competencies of options counseling as explored in the Art of Options Counseling course is recommended. Details about downloading a recording of that course or registering for the live training can be found at http://www.adrc-tae.org/tiki-index.php?page=OptionsCounselingTraining .

Audience: Program Planners and Managers.

Listen to the December 3, 2010 recording of this training below

Instructors: Christina Bowen, Eric Weakly, Devon Christianson, and Maurine Strickland

Options Counseling Across the Long Term Services and Supports Spectrum For Program Planners and Managers (PowerPoint) or (PDF)
Source: Technical Assistance Exchange
The most recent version of Options Counseling for Program Planner and Managers was presented at the AoA, CMS and VA National Grantee Meeting in February, 2011.

• Christina Neill Bowen, MSW, LISCW, is a consultant to the The Lewin Group’s Technical Assistance Exchange. Christina has been tracking the development of ADRCs since she worked on the Lewin team that evaluated the Wisconsin ADRCs from 2000 -2003. As part of the ADRC technical assistance team, Ms. Bowen serves as an expert on the following topic areas: health promotion and disease prevention, Federal Financial Participation (FFP), options counseling, private pay, and issues involving clinical social workers’ roles in ADRCs. She also facilitates learning opportunities for ADRCs through conducting both on-site and web-based trainings. Christina holds a Masters in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Certificate in Aging Studies from the Medical College of Virginia. In addition to consulting with Lewin, she also has served as a geriatric care manager conducting comprehensive in-home assessments of older adults, coordinating services, and implementing care plans for a private non-profit organization and is licensed as an independent, clinical social worker in the District of Columbia. Christina has conducted on-line and on-site trainings for ADRC grantees and facilitated the ADRC Streamlining Access Peer Workgroup. She has also conducted trainings and workshops about the ADRC initiative at several national conferences.

• Devon T. Christianson has a varied background working in human services. She has many years working with Human Service Departments on grant and system development, Area Agencies on Aging working with program evaluation, academic/ educational programs teaching future social workers, Human Services Access and Volunteer Management, and most recently, has been the Assistant Director at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County. She holds a BA in Human Development and Gerontology, an MS in Administrative Science, is a licensed social worker and AIRS-A Certified. She has worked as a Senior Center Director arranging activities for rural seniors, program manager for the Area Agency on Aging where she had a regional position over seeing grants and providing technical assistance to County Aging Units, a nursing home social worker providing emotional and social support to institutionalized seniors, Community Options Program (COP)/Hospital Link Coordinator where she directed a grant to improve the relationship between the County Human Services Department and acute care settings, coordinator of Long Term Care Information and Assistance Services at the Aging Resource Center of Brown County for 13 years, Adjunct Professor at UWGB in the Social Work Professional Program, Access and Volunteer Coordinator, Brown County Human Services Department, and Assistant Director, Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County.

• Maurine Strickland joined the State of Wisconsin’s Bureau of Aging & Disability Resources as Information & Assistance Program Specialist in the spring of 2001. She has worked in the human services field primarily in aging services for the past 15+ years. Maurine holds a Masters degree in Gerontology from Western Illinois University and a Bachelors degree with a Major in Psychology from Blackburn College. She is also a “Certified Information & Referral Specialist – Aging,” from the national Alliance of Information & Referral Systems and serves in the AIRS national board. Prior to working at the Bureau of Aging & Disability Resources she was employed as the director of the Grant County Center on Aging and has worked in aging programs in Iowa, Illinois and California.

• Eric Weakly is an Aging Services Program Specialist at the Office of Program Innovation and Demonstration within the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA). He will be coordinating the development of national standards for options counseling over the next year. Eric has over 20 years of experience in the field of aging including individual, group, and family counseling; benefits counseling; and social service administration. In the aging network his planning experience includes transportation; care coordination; information & referral; counseling; elder rights; and participant directed programs. He was active in advocacy, particularly for local services and mental health and aging issues. Eric has a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MSW from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MBA from Colorado State University. Prior to beginning work at the Administration on Aging, Eric worked for Covenant Retirement Communities and at the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Recorded Training

• Options Counseling Interactive Workshop for Program Planners and Managers (Windows Media)

Call Resources

TAE Training Handouts: Options Counseling Core Competencies
This series of handouts details some key considerations for program planners and managers and key staff involved in options counseling based on the six core competencies of options counseling. The information is based on current practices in the field, and will continue to evolve as more ADRCs develop robust options counseling programs. Over the next year, the Administration on Aging (AoA) will be working with a group of states to develop national standards for options counseling, and this work will also impact and contribute to these concepts. Please let us know if you have comments, suggestions, or questions about these handouts by contacting the Technical Assistance Exchange at adrc-tae@lewin.com.
Determining the Need for Options Counseling (PDF) or (Word)
Assessing needs, values and preferences (PDF) or (Word)
Understanding and educating about public and private sector resources (PDF) or (Word)
Facilitating self-direction/self-determination (PDF) or (Word)
Encouraging future orientation (PDF) or (Word)
Following-up (PDF) or (Word)

Options Counseling Training Resources and Tools This webpage contains many of the resources referenced during this training.

Presentation from "Art of Options Counseling for Program Planners and Managers" Training (PDF) or (PowerPoint)
Source: Technical Assistance Exchange
These updated slides are for the TAE Training session "Options Counseling for Program Planners and Managers" held on December 3,2010.

Scoreable Readiness Assessment for Options Counseling (PDF) or (Word)
Source: Technical Assistance Exchange
This readiness assessment can help an organization self-identify its ability to take on the function of Options Counseling.

TAE Training Handout: Options Counseling Topic Overview (PDF) or (Word)
Source: Technical Assistance Exchange
This Options Counseling overview is part of a series of handouts that were developed by the TAE to be distributed in conjunction with an in-person ADRC staff training. Grantees may find them useful for quick reference. Other overview handouts are available on the topics of ADRC Overview, Partnership, Marketing and Sustainability. This fact sheet was updated in May 2010.

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