Trainings & Resources

Training & Technical Assistance Team

The Training and Technical Assistance Team (TA Team), housed at Jewish Family & Children Service (JF&CS), supports the FIRST Steps Together staff across the state. We assist with project implementation through training, targeted technical assistance, project management and the facilitation of learning communities.

Our team works to build capacity in this field, supporting not only our own staff members but also expanding our reach to bring trainings and resources beyond our Massachusetts-based project. We support anyone who is interested in embarking on or further developing their work in building peer-led programs to serve families impacted by parental substance use. Our resources can be used by home visitors, mental health counselors, peer staff and others in the field who want to use person-centered, strengths-based approaches to support parents and people in recovery on their journeys.

We offer live monthly webinars to support providers working with parents and families. We also have a library of recorded webinars to share. Please check back here as we will continue to add trainings and materials as they are created.

Trauma, Resilience and Relationship in the Brains of Parents and Children

This three-part webinar was designed to help providers more deeply understand the relationship between trauma and resilience. The series looked at the impact of trauma on our brains, the cyclical nature of untreated multi-generational trauma, and the overlap and intersections of trauma and substance use.

Supporting Family Time: Maintaining the Parent-Child Relationship During Times of Separation

This webinar discusses ways home visitors can support families through times of separation including the moments before, during and after Family Time. [Our program uses the term “family time” as a strengths-based and non-stigmatizing alternative for the commonly used phrase of “supervised visitation.”] We also share lessons learned from our work, discuss best practices for collaborating with providers, and review research that looks at the importance of maintaining the parent-child connection through times of separation.

Understanding and Treating Parent & Child Dyads

This webinar focused on the parent-child dyad, with a brief introduction to how initial and ongoing interactions between parent and child shape future attachment capacities and strengthen our ability to regulate our emotions.

Caring for Newborns Impacted by Substances: Tools to Support Parents and Caregivers

As we continue to advocate for the use of Family Care Plans (Plans of Safe Care) to promote safety and reduce harm to families, we want to support providers in their efforts. One way we can do this is by using the latest tools and learnings to care for families with infants impacted by exposure to substances during pregnancy. This webinar will provide a variety of tools to use when supporting infants and the adults who care for them. We will offer learnings driven by the latest research, shared through a child development lens.

Using Multimedia to Support Conversations with Children

Using multimedia and social stories can help parents and providers to communicate with children in a developmentally appropriate way. This series reviews resources, breaks down how to create social stories and explores how they can be used with families.

Trauma and Trauma Informed Care in Young Children

This webinar provided an overview of the effects of trauma on the brains, bodies, and behavior of children at different ages and developmental stages, and how we as providers can support parents and caregivers to create healing environments.

Introduction to Mothering from the Inside and Out

This webinar is an introduction to Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO), which is one of the first evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions specifically designed for parents with substance use disorders. MIO involves meeting weekly with a specially trained counselor and is designed to help mental health clinicians or counselors think with parents and work through common parenting challenges together.

Webinars about the Parenting and Recovery Toolkit:

This comprehensive guide highlights our learnings from creating a strengths-based, person-centered, and trauma-informed program to serve families impacted by parental substance use across Massachusetts. This resource is for anyone interested in embarking on, or expanding, their work in peer-led programs that serve families. These webinars will walk through the chapters with staff sharing their expertise.

Racial Inequities in Maternal Health

This webinar on racial inequities in maternal health discusses some history of this ever-present public health crisis and shares voices from experts in the field.

Supporting Parent-Child Relationships Through Co-Regulation and Attunement

Covers the importance of parent-child interactions during the first years of life and identifies key concepts connected to creating a secure attachment. Discusses how home visitors can encourage connections with their participants and their families.

An Overview of The FIRST STEPS: My Family Portfolio – A Workbook for Parents in Recovery, by Parents in Recovery

This collection of tools offers a holistic approach to building both parenting and recovery skills for families impacted by parental substance use. Parents, empowered by the support of their providers, can use these materials to think through how their recovery relates to their parenting and how caring for their own needs can strengthen their relationship with their children. This session discusses how this workbook can be used with the families we work with.

FIRST Steps Guide 2
FIRST Steps Together
FIRST Steps Portfolio Download
FIRST Step Guide Download​
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