Leading team members through a virtual environment can be a challenging task. If managed effectively, virtual teams can increase productivity and reach individual, department and agency goals. Learn how to increase awareness of your personality style and its impact on virtual leadership.

This four-hour workshop identifies the challenges – like providing a leadership presence, and creating trust and engagement in a virtual environment. Leaders will learn the framework needed to develop the competencies of a virtual leader.  

After participating in this workshop participants will:

• Discover the TOP 10 challenges of leading virtual teams       
• Learn the Formula to Create Ideal Virtual Teams      
• Discover how to effectively manage the Top Conflicts in a virtual team       
• Understand how to manage virtual offices effectively      
• Explore how to successfully incentivize productive virtual teams      
• Discover How To Beat The Five Killers Of Virtual Working       
• Learn how Leaders Build Trust With Remote Teams       
• Learn how to keep your Virtual Teams Engaged and Unified to Your Organization’s Mission

The last 18 months has seen a dramatic shift in the way that business gets done. American businesses have had to "pivot" from a largely in-person, in building model - first to totally remote, and now trending toward some sort of hybrid model. The problem was, and is, there is no instruction manual to make this happen easily and effectively.

After this workshop, you'll be able to:

• Adopt a flexible mindset to boost productivity      
• Revamp your productivity style to stay on task amidst the changes
• Rethink your physical space
• Deal successfully with new disruptions at home and in the office
• Plan your time wisely
• Communicate effectively and select the best method for a task
• Stay connected with team members

FOUNDATIONS IN GERONTOLOGY:THE PHYSICAL, SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITIES OF AGING

This series will provide participants with the latest information regarding the aging process. Participants will gain knowledge and sensitivity about the realities of late life, which will enhance their ability to understand, interact and relate more effectively with older consumers. In short, this series will prepare staff in aging service agencies to serve older adults responsively and effectively. This series is recommended for anyone who works directly or indirectly with older adults. This program is particularly helpful for people new to the field of aging or the aging services network, or for seasoned professionals looking for a refresher on the latest findings and best practices.

Participants are required to attend the full series – six (6) half-day sessions.

Unit 1: Psychological Changes with Aging – Sessions 1 & 2

•   “Normal” psychological changes
•   Dementia  
• Depression 

Thursday, April 28 & Thursday, May 5, 2022

Maureen Gibney, Psy.D, Neuropsychologist & Trainer; Faculty – Drexel University, Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences 

Unit 2: Social Changes with Aging – Sessions 3 & 4

• Ageism  
• Changing demographics of aging  
• The older adult and the family 

Tuesday, May 10 & Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Nancy Morrow, MSW, Trainer/Consultant, Faculty - UPENN School of Social Policy and Practice: Asst. Director of Field Education-Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Unit 3:  Physical Changes with Aging – Sessions 5 & 6 

• Changes in the body’s systems as we age  
• Common illnesses that impact older adults  
• Treatments and medications 

Monday, May 23 & Monday, June 6, 2022

Mary Anne Sheehan, RN, Trainer/Consultant 

Whenever two or more people come together, there is bound to be conflict. This four-hour program will give participants a seven-step conflict resolution process that they can use and modify to resolve conflict disputes of any size. Participants will also be provided a set of skills in solution building and finding common ground. 

In the Conflict Resolution course, participants will learn crucial conflict management skills, including dealing with anger and using the Agreement Frame. Dealing with conflict is important for every agency no matter what the size. If it is left unchecked or unresolved it can lead to lost production, absences, attrition or even lawsuits.

After participating in this workshop, participants will:

• Understand what conflict and conflict resolution mean      
• Understand all six phases of the conflict resolution process      
• Understand the five main styles of conflict resolution      
• Be able to adapt the process for all types of conflicts      
• Be able to break out parts of the process and use those tools to prevent conflict      
• Be able to use basic communication tools, such as the agreement frame and open questions      
• Be able to use basic anger and stress management techniques

Having a balance between work and home life can be a challenge. Working from home this past year has blurred the lines even more. By balancing a career with home life, it will provide benefits in each environment. You will become healthier, mentally and physically, and you will be able to produce more career-wise.  

This four-hour course will help you manage your time better. Better time management will benefit all aspects of your life. This course will show you how to focus on the important things, set accurate and achievable goals, and communicate better with your peers at work and your family at home.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:

• Explain the benefits of Work-Life balance      
• Recognize the signs of an unbalanced life      
• Adopt a Productive Mindset to Move Transactions Forward      
• Identify employer resources for a balanced lifestyle      
• Improve time management and goal setting      
• Use the most effective work methods for you.      
• Create balance at work and at home.      
• Identify and Manage Stress Triggers       
• Increase Individual and Team Resilience with Productive Best Practices

PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE CONTRACT FOR THE ELDERLY

This training is designed to familiarize direct service workers with the PACE and PACENET programs. It will also cover how the PACE Program coordinates benefits with Medicare D. 

The training will highlight:

•  History of the P.A.C.E. Program
• Program eligibility, application acquisition and completion
• How to use the PACE card
• Overcoming program barriers
• Coordination bebefits with Medicare Part D 

 Trainer:  Staff from the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE Program) will present the program.  

Betty Friedan in her book, The Fountain of Age, notes that since life expectancy is nearly 80, we now can expect to live 1/3 to 1/2 our life after raising a family. She asks why we are not looking at age as a new, evolving stage of life ‑‑‑ not as decline from youth.

This full-day training will offer participants the opportunity to examine both personal and societal conceptions of aging in an exciting and experiential way. Unexamined assumptions can lead to erroneous conclusions about older people in many ways: their abilities, interests, physical well‑being and mental health. Most of us are not fully aware of what we believe about aging yet what we believe shapes how we feel about, think of and relate to older people. It also influences how we understand and experience our own aging.

Drawing on her background in gerontology, creative drama and teaching, Dr. M. Kathryn Jedrziewski has designed an engaging workshop which facilitates exploration of assumptions about older people. Through "hands-on" learning, role-plays, complex case studies, group discussions, and problem solving, Dr. Jedrziewski will help participants gain new appreciation of the potentials and complexity of aging as well as of the vitality and diversity of older people. 

Despite provider empathy and good intentions, not all older persons are responsive in the service interaction. This training will help participants identify, understand and respond more effectively to consumers who exhibit challenging behaviors. 

This course will help participants understand that behavior has meaning and as service providers we must understand the importance of identifying what is underlying the behavior in order to effectively work with the individual.  The interactive training is based on a behavioral approach and reinforces learning with case review from participants’ practice as well as training case examples/videos.   

PLEASE NOTE: This is a three-part series of half-day sessions. To receive the 9 CEUs available, you much attend all three sessions in the series.

In this series of three sessions, you will:

a)    Examine a variety of problematic behaviors encountered in older consumers: the resistant consumer, the angry consumer, the paranoid and passive consumer;

b)    Outline practical strategies for dealing with such behaviors and consider how these behaviors relate to important behavioral health diagnoses and conditions;

c)    Understand the implications of your personal style and issues in dealing with difficult consumer behaviors.

Trainer:  Nancy Morrow draws on more than 30 years of experience in a variety of roles in community-based long term care and geriatric behavioral health. She provides training and consultation services in aging, and teaches in the MSW program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. She is also Assistant Director of Field Education for Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Series #1 - Monday, January 31st, February 7th & 14th - 2022

Series #2 - Thursday, May 19th, 26th & June 2nd, 2022