BEST Training Institute

•• Next BEST Training events:

YOUTH WORKER CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Tuesdays, March 25- May 20 (skipping April Vacation week) IS NOW CLOSED - FULL.

SUPERVISOR TRAINING

Our next session is TBA.

SUPPORTING GIRLS: GENDER SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR YOUTH WORKERS

Our next session is TBA.

For all details go to Youth Work Community ••

The BEST Training Institute is the professional development component of the BEST Initiative. The Training Institute helps meet the youth-work field's need for recognition of and training in best practices based on positive, healthy outcomes for young people. Varied training opportunities – from half-day trainings to the 28-hour Certificate Program – are available to youth workers with varying levels of experience and work-related responsibility:

Trainings are interactive and allow networking among participants. The BEST Training Institute incorporates the Advancing Youth Development curriculum (developed by the Academy for Educational Development), and the School Age Child Care and Youth Worker Basic Competencies. View the BEST curriculum outline.

Over 300 youth workers in the Boston area have completed the BEST Training Certificate Program, including workers from residential programs, after-school programs, health programs, peer leadership programs, and traditional recreational and multi-service programs.

The BEST Youth Worker Training Certificate will work for you!

BEST Supervisor Training
As youth work practitioners rise to positions of leadership and supervision, few organizations are able to provide them with the training they need. Additionally, there are few training opportunities focused specifically on the supervision in and management of youth development programs.

BEST responds to this need with a four-session, 16-hour Supervisor Training focused on supervising and program management in youth work. These sessions address the roles and responsibilities of supervisors, communication, relationships, and program management. The interactive sessions include skill-building in:

• Situational leadership
• Cultural competency
• Forms of supervision
• Handling difficult situations
• Issues of power

The training is offered to both BEST graduates and non-graduates, and is open to anyone who currently supervises youth workers or would like to build skills for advancement. The Supervisor Training is offered twice a year, in late fall/early winter and late spring/early summer.

BEST Supporting Girls Training
Supporting Girls: Gender Sensitivity Training is a four-session, 16-hour course provides youth workers with effective strategies and activities for teaching co-ed adolescent groups about gender issues, especially those relating to self-esteem and relationships.   The course focuses on differing social development patterns for adolescent boys and girls; the impact of teaching/leadership styles on girls; and effective methods for empowering adolescent girls and assuring that they sustain a strong sense of self in the critical early adolescent years, especially in the context of coed groups.

Cost and how to apply
To apply, download and complete the Supervisor Training application or the Youth Worker Certificate Program application, or the Supporting Girls Training application, or contact The Medical Foundation (see contact information at right).

Contact The Medical Foundation for information on training cost and scholarships.

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