Virtual Learning Sessions

Virtual learning sessions are held over Zoom.

In-Person Workshops

In-person workshops where participants can practice hands-on skills, and learn from one another.

Online Learning Modules

Created with the community healthcare sector in mind.

Did you know...

All of the workshops below are available at no/low cost to eligible organizations. You can request to book any of the sessions below by clicking the "book a workshop button."

COPD & Parkinson’s

2 hours

This course explores Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Parkinson’s Disease at an introductory level.                                                                                                                                                                            Topics will include:

• The mental, physical, and social impacts of chronic disease
• The physiological changes that occur with COPD and PD
• Strategies to assist clients with daily living
• How the community worker can support client’s self-management efforts, maximize their health and promote independence

Diabetes

3 hours

This course explores diabetes management at an introductory level.

Topics will include:

• The impact of diabetes on the individual, their family and workplace
• The physiological changes that occur with diabetes and complications
• The mental, physical, and social impact of living with diabetes
• How the community worker can support client’s self-management efforts (e.g. nutrition, blood sugar monitoring and use of medications)
• Health complications

Heart Failure and Stroke 

3 hours

This course explores stroke and heart failure at an introductory level.

Topics will include:

• The difference between acute and chronic disease
• The physiological changes that occur with each chronic disease
• How to identify and respond to changes in client's condition
• How the community worker can support client's self-management efforts

Client Centered Care

3 Hours

This course explores the principles of person centered care.

Topics will include:

• The benefits of practicing person-centered care
• The community support worker’s role in a person centred environment
• How to develop care practices that support person centred work
• Communication strategies to support person centered care

Empathic Strain (Formerly Compassion Fatigue)

3.5 Hours

Empathic Strain has been described as “the cost of caring” for others, which results in deep emotional and physical exhaustion. The work of helping requires health care professionals to open their hearts and minds to their clients, but it is this process which makes helpers vulnerable to being very affected by their work. Join us for this important topic. Topics of discussion will include:

• Vicarious trauma
• Warning signs that you may not be coping well
• Strategies for your workplace
• Self-awareness and mindfulness
• Coping strategies
• Strategies to balance life and work

CPI Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Training

7 Hours

This 7-hour CPI Non-Violent Crisis Intervention in-person training equips staff to respond to crisis situations with a focus on de-escalation and disengagement techniques to maximize safety and minimize harm. This training focuses on building skills and confidence, and an effective framework so staff and supervisors can safely prevent and manage difficult behaviors. This course will build skills to promote care, welfare, safety, and security during interventions.

This training benefits all staff and supervisors by assisting them to enhance communication and disengagement skills, build relationships, and minimize the risk of injury.

Topics of discussion will include:

• Use of the CPI Crisis Development Model SM to identify behaviors
• Strategies to de-escalate defensive behaviors
• Disengagement and safety interventions to maximize safety and minimize harm

PLEASE NOTE: There is a fee for this course.

From Conflict to Partnership

3 Hours

Conflict is inevitable. However, you can learn the skills to manage conflict to build better relationships. This course aims to provide community staff with tools and strategies to manage conflict in the community, the workplace or even at home.

Topics will include:

• Negative and positive outcomes of conflict
• Factors that contribute to conflict in the workplace
• Strategies and tips to prevent and manage conflict

Note: This course is not intended for participants wanting to learn how to deal with behavior in clients with mental illness or cognitive impairment.

Crisis Prevention Institute Verbal Intervention

4 Hours

Verbal Intervention trains staff to respond to crisis situations with a focus on de-escalation techniques to maximize safety and minimize harm. This training focuses on maintaining a hands-off approach to equip staff and supervisors with skills, confidence, and an effective framework to safely prevent and manage difficult behaviours. This course will build skills to promote care, welfare, safety, and security during interventions.

This training benefits all staff and supervisors by assisting them to enhance communication skills, build relationships, and minimize the risk of injury.

Topics will include:

• Use of the CPI Crisis Development Model SM to identify behaviours
• Strategies to de-escalate defensive behaviours
• Safety interventions to maximize safety and minimize harm

*This course is facilitated by Crisis Prevention Institute® certified instructors.

PLEASE NOTE: There is a fee for this course.  

Cultural Mindfulness

Two 1.5 Hour Sessions ( 3 Hours)

This session is provided in partnership with Maximize Your Health.

Topics will include:

• Creating a shared understanding of cultural and culturally mindful care
• Understanding the pre, during and post new comer experience and settlement journey
• Exploring concepts of power & privilege that impact everyday interactions
• Promoting critical self-reflection to increase empathy and roll with resistance
• Exploring strategies for fostering inclusive organizational practice.

Documentation and Reporting for Community Workers -Virtual 

3.5 Hours

This course explores key concepts and methodologies crucial for maintaining accurate, secure, and client-centered records. The course will cover three main components:

1. PHIPA (Personal Health Information Protection Act):

a. Understanding the legal and ethical responsibilities related to handling and protecting personal health information.

2. Clear, Concise, and Client-Centered Documentation:

a. Techniques for creating clear and concise healthcare documentation while maintaining a client-centered approach.

b. Best practices for gathering relevant information and presenting it in a manner that is easily understood by diverse audiences.

3. SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation):

a. Exploration of the SBAR communication model as a framework for effective reporting in community healthcare settings.

Falls Prevention

1 Hour (only held virtually)

This education module is an introduction to fall prevention, and is for staff providing personal care and other health professionals who want to begin to learn falls prevention and review the basics!

Topics will include:

• Why falls are important and why you should care
• Falls and health (BEEEACH model)
• Why people fall (risk factors)
• What YOU can do to reduce the risk of falls
• Resources for further information on falls prevention

Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA) Basic

7 Hours

GPA Basics is an innovative dementia care education curriculum based on a person-centred care approach. Designed for interdisciplinary point of care staff across healthcare sectors, this session is evidence-based, interactive and practical. GPA Certified Coaches guide participants to fully understand responsive behaviours in order to be able to respond effectively and appropriately. GPA Basics includes respectful self-protective and gentle redirection techniques for use in situations of risk.



This session is delivered by two GPA Certified Coaches.

Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA-R) Recharged

2 Hours

This refresher course will be delivered in a two hour virtual session. Designed as a refresher for participants who have completed GPA Basics (or the former Student Edition) within the prior two years. Delivered by a GPA Certified Coach, GPA-R enhances the skill set learned in GPA Basics, allowing participants to continue to provide compassionate, person-centred, and self-protective care in a workplace setting. What does a GPA-R session involve?

Topics will include:

• Review of key GPA Basics principles from all four modules
• Review of the SPEED model and the 8 A’s of dementia
• Review of personal space, triggers, and verbal redirection strategies
• Review of self-protective and gentle redirection physical techniques

Pre-Requisites and Notes:

• Completion of Full (7 hour) GPA Basics course within the last two years.
• Participants are recommended to take a GPA-Recharged refresher annually, up to three years.
• Three years after participating in GPA Basics, it is recommended that a participant repeat GPA Basics.

InterRAI CHA Caps, Care Planning & Updates

5 Half-Day Sessions

This comprehensive course will be split into 5 sessions as detailed below. Participants MUST attend all 5 sessions of the course in which they registered to receive a Certificate of Participation. All sessions will be held via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to participants before the start of Session 1. Participants MUST have the use of a computer with a camera and audio to be able to fully participate in the sessions.

*Please note manuals will NOT be provided for this course. You must have both the CAPS manual and the CHA manual to attend

Introduction to Palliative Care

5 Week Series

This course explores the principles and philosophy of palliative care.

Topics will include:

• Self-assessment of values and beliefs of death and dying
• Communicating with clients and families who are living with a life-limiting illness
• The physical, psychological and spiritual changes associated with dying
• The support worker’s role in maximizing their clients’ comfort and quality of life

Medication Management

3.5 Hours

Mental Health First Aid - Older Adults

10 Hours

Mental Health First Aid Supporting Older Adults (Virtual) Learn how to recognize the signs that an older adult may be in crisis.

Topics will include:

• The Mental Health First Aid Action Plan
• Things that a first aider needs to know to help an older adult:
  
• The relationship between mental health problems and aging
• Signs of declining mental well-being and of crisis situations
• Helpful resources for older adults living with a mental health and/or substance use problem and the people who care for these individuals
• How to communicate effectively with older adults, including those from marginalized populations
• Roles and responsibilities of people who assist an older adult

PLEASE NOTE: There is a fee for the course.  

PPE Donning and Doffing

1 Hour (only held virtually)

Practicing proper infection control procedures is an essential part of protecting yourself and your clients, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Join the Regional Learning Centre for this one hour refresher on how to don and doff PPE appropriately.

This course provides a refresher of the correct techniques for donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE).

Topics will include:

• Infection control and the chain of infection
• Hand hygiene
• The functions and components of PPE
• How to correctly put on (don) and take off (doff) PPE
  

Preventing Elder Abuse

3 Hours

Elder abuse happens across our society, and all older individuals are at risk. This course will assist community staff to identify, respond, report and prevent elder abuse to protect clients

Topics will include:

• Identifying, responding, reporting and preventing elder abuse
• How to document identified elder abuse
• The importance of professionalism as it relates to community practice and elder abuse 

Professionalism in the Workplace

3 Hours

This course explores the concept of professionalism as it relates to the community support worker’s practice.

Topics will include:

• Legal and moral rights of the community care client and the principles that guide community support workers’ practice
• The Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) and the unregulated care provider’s (UCP) Scope of Practice
• The therapeutic relationship and client centered care including Communication, Professional Boundaries, Privacy & Confidentiality and Ethics

Safer Lifts and Transfers

3 hours

Care providers working in a community setting face a number of unique challenges when it comes to moving and handling clients. This session will provide participants with targeted and relevant information and hands on practice. 

Topics will include:

• Principles of safer body mechanics
• The difference between lifts and transfers
• Recognition of high-risk client care activities
• Responding to unsafe client handling situations and requests from others

•  Opportunity to practice using a Hoyer lift, sit-stand lift, and ceiling track lift
• Assisting with a variety of manual transfers
• Assisting with repositioning using a variety of techniques and devices
• Discussions on safe patient handling challenges unique to community care
• Opportunity to problem solve current patient handling situations with peers

Teepa Snow Workshop A: Normal Aging/Not Normal Aging

2 hours or two 1 hour sessions

This workshop helps Learners understand and recognize the differences in ‘normal’ and ‘not normal’ aging. The workshop emphasizes the value of matching helping behaviors to the person’s needs and retained abilities to promote a sense of control and self-direction, and addresses typical issues that occur throughout the progression of dementia.

Teepa Snow Workshop B: Positive Physical Approach™ (PPA™) and Hand-under-Hand® (HuH®)

3 Hours

This workshop focuses on Positive Approach to Care’s care partnering techniques, including Positive Physical Approach (PPA) and Hand-under-Hand (HuH). These newly learned skills enable care partners to shift from simply ‘dealing with the behaviors’ to creating a positive and caring environment.

Teepa Snow Workshop C: Teepa’s Gems®; Using Skills that Make a Difference

1 hour

The Gems workshop offers an overview of Teepa Snow’s dementia classification model (developed from the basic structure of Allen Cognitive Disability Levels). The Gems model compares different states of being and ability to the characteristics of precious jewels. This dignified metaphor defines normal aging as well as the many appearances, behavioral changes, skill sets and needs of those living with the effects of neurocognitive failure (dementia) or other brain changes. They should be considered indicators and a guide toward understanding an individual's current state of ability and brain function. Understanding them will lead to an adjustment of expectations, modification of cues and support, and more accurate communication and 'hands-on' care behaviors to better meet ever-changing needs. The Gems States advocate that people living with dementia, when done with rather than done to, and provided with the just right care and setting, can still shine.

The 3 D’s: Delirium, Dementia and Depression

3 Hours

Delirium and dementia are the most common causes of cognitive impairment in older adults, but depression can also affect thinking and reasoning. These conditions are not a normal part of aging. Delirium, dementia and depression are different from one another, but it can be hard to distinguish between them because their signs and symptoms are so similar. Further, people can have more than one of these conditions at the same time.

Topics will include:

•  Key features and similarities and, differences among delirium, dementia and depression



• Strategies that the community worker can use to support clients with one or more of the 3D’s
  

Wound Prevention

3 Hours

Wound prevention in the community setting can be challenging, especially when there are multiple risk factors impacting wound healing. These risk factors also increase the risk of new wounds. This 3-hour course on Wound Prevention will cover the role of the community support worker in preventing pressure ulcers, skin tears and other wounds, and maintaining the skin health of clients.

Topics will include:

• Risk factors for skin tears and pressure ulcers
• Signs, symptoms and causes of pressure ulcers
• Wound prevention methods
• Identification of potential areas where pressure ulcers can develop
• Identification of clients who are at a higher risk for skin breakdown