ChristieCare awarded $50,000 training grant to enhance treatment skills of staff
ChristieCare has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Employer Workforce Training Funds administered by the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development.
The grant will be used to help fund a program to train approximately 200 direct care staff in three innovative, evidence-based treatment models, as well as in cultural proficiency. The treatment models are Trauma Informed Care, Motivational Interviewing and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.
All three treatment models and the cultural proficiency training are consistent with ChristieCare’s treatment philosophy of Re-EDucation, which seeks to bring about real and sustained change for children by building upon their strengths and successes on a daily basis.
The grant also helps ChristieCare address the state’s shortage of mental health counselors, an issue identified by the Oregon Employment Department in a 2006 report.
“These training funds will help ChristieCare strengthen the skills, qualifications and earning power of our staff,” said Patricia Rardin, ChristieCare’s director of human resources. “It improves our ability to retain qualified counselors and therapists, and increases the likelihood they will choose to remain in the mental health field over the long run.”