We’re excited to see the National Federation of Families and the National Family Support TA Center launch “Partnering with Families in Behavioral Health,” a new online course for behavioral health providers that reinforces the importance of person-centered, family-driven support.
This on-demand training is perfect if you’re a provider looking to deepen your understanding of how to foster partnerships with individuals seeking services and their families. This course offers a comprehensive path to creating and maintaining family partnerships in your practice.
The training moves beyond provider conceptualizations of “family engagement” to active collaboration with families for better outcomes in their loved one’s well-being. In family partnerships, providers:
- Partner with individuals to develop a menu of supports to improve their quality of life.
- Support individuals’ choices about goals and outcomes with dignity and respect.
- Uphold a process that centers individuals’ decision-making authority regarding their life, and
- Relate to individuals as whole human beings, not as a diagnosis or someone who “needs to be fixed.”
We at Families as Allies appreciate the words that are excluded from the course and encourage everyone to reflect on their exclusion:
- Care: suggests the passive provision of services by a behavioral health professional; person-centered alternatives include “support” and “partnership”
- Empower/empowerment: these terms suggest powerlessness; alternative terms include “encourage autonomy” and “encouragement of autonomy”
- Helper/helping: when used to refer to a behavioral health provider, they suggest saving or fixing; alternatives include “partner”, “provider”, and “offering support”
- Patient: suggests passivity of person seeking behavioral health support; recovery-oriented alternative terms include “individual” and “person”
Accessible and flexible, this on-demand training caters to busy professionals. Practitioners can learn independently with intuitive navigation, interactive exercises, and rich resources. By embracing inclusivity and empowerment, this course equips providers with the tools and language to foster meaningful partnerships and drive positive change in behavioral health support.
Ready to elevate your practice and drive positive outcomes? Start your training today and unlock the power of family partnership.
