Mobilizing innovative policy, fiscal, and workforce strategies to support Wraparound, transform health care, and achieve positive outcomes for youth and families.
Enhancing
the
Workforce
The Model
Successful Wraparound implementation requires careful planning for workforce development. Building from implementation science, NWIC focuses on strategies to build local capacity by offering comprehensive training and coaching for care coordinators, parent and youth support partners, wraparound supervisors, and other critical roles. Along the way, NWIC also leaves behind local expertise to continue such support in the form of a sustainable network of local trainers and coaches. Partners in this effort include the Family Involvement Center of Arizona (for parent peer support partners) and Youth Motivating Others through Voices of Experience (Youth MOVE) for youth support partners.
NWIC’s training and coaching support is delivered as a package and is designed to build sustainability in a state or community for the local Wraparound workforce. The package includes a series of core trainings for practitioners, supervisors, administrators, and community stakeholders, enhanced by intensive in-person and virtual coaching. Coaching occurs both on site and virtually, and across multiple settings, including child and family team meetings, supervisory and document review sessions, and community or team engagement meetings. Coaching spans all phases of the Wraparound process, focusing on building a core set of skills needed to support quality practice. The coaching process is supported by innovative methods developed by NWIC, including Wraparound Practice Improvement Tools (WPITs) and the Virtual Coaching Platform (VCP).
The package also includes more intensive training for local staff identified as candidates for certification as Wraparound trainers and coaches. The highest intensity of training is provided to a cadre of local staff identified as local coaching candidates for certification—either Wraparound care coordination coaching candidates or Wraparound peer support partner coaching candidates. Certification is contingent on the coaching candidates’ abilities to master these tools for local support and implementation.
More information on the local coach certification process can be found in the National Wraparound Practitioner Certification Guide and National Certification: Continued Education and Certification Renewal.
How We Do It
Workforce development is supported through both in-person and technology-enabled communication. In addition to on-site visits, NWIC uses video and telephonic conferencing to provide coaching, training, and technical assistance. Sites are granted access to the NWIC’s extensive library of training modules and related resources through the virtual training center. The development of local coaches is supported through use of the interactive VCP. In addition, local coaching candidates have access to the Wraparound Virtual Coaching Collaborative (WVCC), which provides an online “meeting place” for local certified coaches and coaching candidates. The WVCC allows local coaches and coaching candidates to exchange ideas, ask and answer questions, and share work products related to Wraparound.
