Train with HOPE to deepen your practice of positive childhood experiences
The HOPE National Resource Center (NRC) offers training options at all levels, from introductory workshops and courses to advanced certifications, that will help you expand your practice of HOPE and promote positive childhood experiences (PCEs) in your community and organization. We continually develop and update our training opportunities using feedback from our HOPE community members and partners. It is important for our trainings to honor the unique practices of different communities, organizations, and individual families.
The HOPE NRC created its first individual-level certification in 2021, the Train the Facilitator program, because of the growing popularity of our Introduction to HOPE workshops. Attendees in these workshops leave the program prepared to deliver their version of the Introduction to HOPE workshop to their community. Since then, we have developed three additional certification programs. The advanced HOPE Champion and HOPE Faculty Trainer programs are individual-level certifications. The HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification program is a long-term process for organizations that guides them through a journey of cultural and organizational change.
Our workshops, certifications, and technical assistance are all important ways of implementing the HOPE framework and integrating PCEs into practice. PCEs change the way we interact with children and families and promote healing, resilience, and equitable systems change. When we promote a practice that honors and celebrates the positives in people’s lives, we are changing the narrative by creating healing spaces for children to grow into healthy and resilient adults.
Learn more about the training options we offer at HOPE NRC and how you can begin, continue, or enhance your practice of the HOPE framework starting today!
Introductory training options
Keynote presentations
Typically, one hour in length, keynote presentations cover the research behind positive childhood experiences and their mitigating effects on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), the Four Building Blocks of HOPE, and the power of the brain to heal. The presentations introduce ideas of how to incorporate the HOPE framework into practice.
Introduction to HOPE workshops
Typically 90 minutes in length, the interactive Introduction to HOPE workshops engage participants in thinking through how they can promote access to the Four Building Blocks of HOPE and the HOPE framework in their work. Like keynote presentations, the introduction workshops cover the research behind PCEs and their mitigating effects on ACEs and the Four Building Blocks of HOPE. Participants also review Type 1 versus Type 2 thinking and what HOPE adds to existing frameworks and models.
HOPE Online Learning Hub
Our HOPE Online Learning Hub has several courses that are self-paced and range from introductory courses to more in-depth and sector specific courses. The Spreading HOPE: An Introduction to the HOPE Framework is an online course, recently updated in 2024, that offers access to the comprehensive research, based in the “Science of the Positive,” on how PCEs drive healthy development and can mitigate the effects of ACEs.
There is also an introduction course to HOPE and anit-racism approaches, made for all sectors who are working to implement HOPE. And two new courses, HOPE and Substance Use Prevention, Intervention and Treatment and HOPE and Pediatric Residency, which is currently being beta tested. Through interactive modules, short videos, interviews with guest experts, short quizzes, and supplemental materials, participants will leave each course knowing how to incorporate a HOPE-informed approach when working with children, families, and communities.
Intermediate Training options
2-hour workshop
The HOPE National Resource Center offers a variety of 2-hour workshops for organizations who want to dive deeper into their practice of the HOPE framework. Workshop topics include:
- Creating HOPEful first encounters
- HOPE-Informed intake and assessment forms
- Using HOPE to promote equitable access to the Four Building Blocks of HOPE
- Creating an internal culture of HOPE
- HOPE for policy review
- HOPE for challenging interactions
These intermediate-level workshops are highly interactive and include case studies, breakout rooms, and whiteboard sessions.
Half and Full-day workshops (4-8 hours)
We also offer half and full-day workshops consisting of a combination of the 2-hour sessions that can be delivered all in one day (with a lunch break) or over two days. If organizations are new to the HOPE framework, the first hour will include an introduction to HOPE. Alternatively, the workshops can be created to meet the needs of a group already familiar with the HOPE framework who are ready to dive into action. The following hours consist of focused skill building exercises and small group work.
The HOPE NRC works with each organization to customize these training to the needs of their participants. After completing the workshop, participants will have clear ideas of how to begin to incorporate the HOPE framework into their work.
Advanced Training Options
Train the Facilitator Certification
The Train the Facilitator program certifies individuals to deliver the Introduction to HOPE workshop in their community and organization. Each cohort completes three sessions each spaced about two weeks apart. Once certified, HOPE Facilitators have the option of being listed on the HOPE trainer directory where the public can find local HOPE trainers. The HOPE National Resource Center offers cohorts both open to the public and private to organization-specific groups.
HOPE Champion Certification
The HOPE Champion program are available to HOPE Facilitators who want to increase their organization and network’s capacity to implement the HOPE framework sustainably and systematically. Champions are the on-the-ground HOPE expert leading implementation projects and ensuring the HOPE framework results in actionable change in an organization. The ten-week program is project-based where participants have the opportunity to dive into providing technical assistance around a HOPE implementation project of their choice including partnership with an organization in the process of the HOPE-Informed Organization Certification.
HOPE Faculty Trainer
The HOPE Faculty Trainer program allows HOPE Facilitators and Champions to host their own Train the Facilitator cohorts. All Facilitators trained by Faculty Trainers are added to the official HOPE NRC’s Facilitator directory and are held to the same standards as HOPE NRC-trained Facilitators. All Faculty Trainers use HOPE NRC’s registration forms and processes for hosting their cohorts.
HOPE-Informed Organization Certification
The HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification reshapes care and service delivery in ways that enable child- and family-serving organizations to better accomplish their missions of improving the lives of the children and families. The Certification helps organizations systematically add the HOPE framework to their work to increase equitable access to positive childhood experiences for the children, families, and communities they serve.
Partnering with HOPE Champions, organizations develop and implement action plans unique to them to achieve cultural and organizational change such as:
- Improving health equity
- Improving service quality and delivery
- Aligning with trauma-informed care work
- Increasing staff engagement and preventing burnout
HOPE Ambassador workshops
A true groundswell cannot be created from the top down, it must come from the community. The HOPE Ambassador workshops aim to spread the research and importance of positive childhood experiences to parents, caregivers, and community members so that they can begin advocating for a community that priorities PCEs for their (and all) children. Parents, caregivers, and family members are encouraged to participate in a two-hour training to become community HOPE Ambassadors.
Technical Assistance
The HOPE NRC is always excited to work closely with organizations to provide technical assistance on the implementation of the HOPE framework. These packages are tailored to the needs of the organization but can include support around:
- Revising intake and assessment forms
- Reviewing policies through a HOPE-informed lens
- Creating an internal organizational culture of HOPE
- Developing HOPEful resources and materials for families.
Community of Practice
Staff from the HOPE NRC facilitates monthly virtual Community of Practice calls with a cohort of individuals who want to dive deep on HOPE implementation. This group meets to talk through a component of the implementation, share lessons learned and barriers faced, and plan tangible steps for the next month.
Customized online courses
The HOPE NRC works with organizations to create customized online learning courses that introduce the basics of the HOPE framework, relate it back to models and frameworks organizations are already using, and review what implementation looks like specifically for each organization. This fully personalized option makes training staff on the HOPE framework more sustainable over time and can integrate with existing onboarding processes.
Spread HOPE unique to your community
Whether you’re just dipping your toe into HOPEful waters, or you are already well-versed in the HOPE framework, we would love to work with you and your organization to deepen your experience with HOPE and positive childhood experiences. For questions and more information about our training opportunities, please contact us!
