Building Protective Factors for Safe and Happy Youth and Families

Workshop Description

The training covers a description of each of the 5 protective factors: Parental Resilience, Social Connections, Knowledge of Parent/Child Development, Concrete Support for Parents and Social/Emotional Competence of Children. Staff will learn more about each protective factor and how they can build them with youth and families they serve. There are connections throughout the training relating to how protective factors can be used in strength-based (honest) work and trauma informed practice with youth and families.

In this workshop you will:

• Understand the 5 protective factors and their meaning.
• Understand the role one plays in building protective factors in children and families.
• Explain how strength-based work relates to protective factors.
• Explain how trauma informed care relates to protective factors.

Workshop Instructor

Markella Maschas has been in the child welfare field for over 25 years. She has her MS in Family and Consumer Sciences with an emphasis on Child Development and Family Studies. She started her career managing the Healthy Families (a maternal and child health home visiting program) program in Maryland. In Virginia, she worked for many years at Prevent Child Abuse Virginia with the Healthy Families program providing technical assistance and quality assurance help to area programs. Her last role at PCAV was the Coordinator of Training where she created and presented many trainings and workshops for professionals in the field of child welfare. She is a certified Healthy Families America trainer. She lives locally in the Richmond area with her family.

Co-Sponsor

Greensville/Emporia Community Health Action Team (CHAT)