Certified Trainers Blog

 Posts Tagged ‘Training’

Allison recently sent a gentle reminder that I have not yet posted a blog on the Certified Trainers’ Blog site. While I was well aware of my writer’s block, I greatly appreciate Allison’s nudge. Thanks!

Each of us, I am certain, feels that our job pulls us in many different directions and that our own situation must be unique and there can be nobody else who experiences the sudden and inexplicable transitions from one task to another on a daily basis. Well, I am here to tell you, if this is how you feel about most of your days, you are not alone. Not by any measure.

Typical day in the work life of Michelle Steele (over the past 4 months)

Who am I kidding? There is nothing “typical” about any of my days! Except for the randomness, the most consistent part of any of my days is my redundant referral to my calendar to remind myself of what I was SUPPOSED to be doing today! Let’s see if I can summarize what would be typical…

Arrival to work is hit or miss – dependent upon whether my son is self-managing, I overslept, the hot water heater is functioning, the train is impeding my path of travel and, of course, the functioning focus (or lack thereof) of my fellow commuters! Some days I can arrive right on time… some days, not so much! But I do (mostly) keep it within the navigational beacons of acceptance and my supervisor is quite understanding, particularly because of our recent move to a new home and all the unexpected obstacles that can impact the daily routine of preparation.

So, once I get to my desk and am focusing on getting focused… the priority is dealing with whatever is left from the previous day, usually waiting in my Outlook Inbox for completion before moving it to its appropriate storage folder (it’s a process!) From Therap requests and message notifications to requests for Training Registration to responses to my requests for payment of training classes from outside agencies to questions regarding standard operating procedures for trainers from distant locations to follow to Time Tracking inquiries to scanned copies of receipts for clients for whom I handle finances as the Representative Payee agent. Whew! I’m getting a little worn out reviewing what I dealt with just this morning! Maybe I should re-evaluate my self-imposed two-cups-of-coffee-per-day limit!

By the time my two cups have been long consumed and the now short stretch to the lunch break is rapidly approaching, I remember that I still need to work on that Therap Blog before Allison “gets fussy” with me. *sigh* What was on my calendar, anyway? Oh, yeah! I’m supposed to be processing training rosters from the other training locations! Dang! I wanted to get those American Red Cross certifications submitted first thing! (coworker): “Are you eating lunch with us in the lunch room today?” (me): “I wish. I need to get these certs submitted. Maybe tomorrow, thanks for asking!” Okay, switch focus for the moment… ! Yeah, their website has sustained vast improvement over the years, but it still is pretty finicky. Great. That took an entire hour! Now my eating schedule is out of kilter and I am starving! (RING) Oh, excuse me a moment, ”Good afternoon, this is Michelle with Renew Consulting. How may I help you? … Yes, absolutely. Have you had an opportunity to review our website? … Terrific! Just click on the training tab and take a look at our training schedule, then send an email to me with the details of who you need registered and at what location and I will then reply to your email with a confirmation and more detailed instructions…… ” I guess you don’t need to know the ENTIRE conversation, but that call comes in at least three to four times a day. I should just make a recording….

LUNCH TIME! Oh, wait. Everyone is back from lunch now. Cool, that means the microwave is free! I guess there are some perks to going an hour (or so) late. Alright, now to take a look at Therap and follow up on the notifications I received this morning. Oh, and that report that our Assistant Residential Director requested late yesterday. Logging into Therap (I really need to get my blog posted) … let’s get that report done. (Wow! That’s alot of information! Wait, that staff no longer works for us. What the heck? Hey! Neither does that person! Wait a minute, here. Oh, great. Evidently, not sure if any one of you is aware, but when you deactivate someone, if you do not remove a program from their privileges, then they show up on staff reports for that particular program. Alright, there’s a project that needs to be developed… ) Okay, export to Excel… edit and remove terminated staff… make the information easily readable… and, off to the requesting authority as an email attachment! And we can now take that task off the list!

I’m feeling hungry. Holy cow! It’s almost 2:00 and I never did go eat! I guess I could just have a piece of fruit and some crackers or trail mix. If I eat a meal now, I won’t be hungry at dinner. Alright, while I’m snacking, I can think of what I want to title my blog post…

(Incoming Skype call from Coastal Regional Coordinator) “Hi, Melissa, what’s up? … Yes, just be sure to scan them in color so we may reproduce them as a “certified” copy … If you can, that’s great, but if it presents a problem, I can split them from here … Yes, thanks … Okay, have a great afternoon … Bye.”

Sorry for the interruption. So, let’s see what’s on my calendar now. Oh, I need to upload last week’s certificates to SharePoint. Well, that’s gonna take a little time and I have three other messages that need return calls (and I really need to spend some time working on that blog), so I will work on the certs in a little while.

Okay, calls returned and those irons cooled from the hot fire… now to get those certs uploaded. Wow! It’s already after 3:30! Gotta get it in gear! And I should take a look at the registration for next week’s training and communicate with that area’s Regional Coordinator to be certain we have plenty of participants registered. (And I need to get on that blog.) First thing’s first… get SharePoint taken care of…

Alrighty then! It’s 4:25 now and I need to call the Regional Coordinator in the Northern Region to see about participants for next week’s training while I review the Registration spreadsheet. Okay, it looks like we are on track to hold training, so I will put on my calendar for tomorrow to send out reminder confirmation messages to the outside agencies… hey – there is my reminder to work on that Therap blog… I should get on that – CRIMINY! It’s 5:00! I guess I’ll have to snooze that one until tomorrow… (again…)

Gotta run!

“A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains”

I found myself thinking about all of the things we can do in Therap and want our agency to do more and more!   Then I realized that our agency is the largest provider in Ct and I really need to relax a bit, and have some “Patience”!   Good things come in time!!

Here in CT, we are having our next CT User Group Meeting on March 15th, 2pm, at Oak Hill’s Campus in Hartford.  If you need some additional information, email me at julianm@ciboakhill.org. It is a nice time to share your wealth of knowledge within Therap!

Had a wonderful time at the conference in NJ in February.   I really enjoyed being in a hotel by myself and no one asking me to feed them, do laundry, and do homework, but don’t tell! I did have to lose 10lbs after those 3 days!

I really liked the Training Management Section and this is next on our list!  I am setting it up this month and any suggestions or helpful tips would be greatly appreciated from anyone out there using the system.  We are not using the entire section of having staff signing up for trainings, but we will be using this for staff to alert them when their training is due.  Think this would be great and  it will help staff from lapsing in their training when it is sitting right there on their First Pg!

Our agency’s motto is “Consistency” and we are currently doing alot of training for Supervisors, RN’s, and Behaviorists!    The ISP section has been working well and Supervisors enjoy the Individual List Pg!  RN’s are finishing entering medications and are working on getting everyone using the Appointment Section in Health Tracking.  Behaviorists are working on ISP’s for mood and anxiety scales, reinforcement schedules, and getting everything on Therap!  No More Paper!  Yeah!

So, I guess I need to have some “Patience”, it will all work out in the end!  We will get there!

Enjoy this weather, we have been very lucky this winter, just 2 snowstorms and one of them was before Halloween.  Amazing!

Mary Beth Julian-Supervisor, Oak Hill, Hartford, CT

After having time to reflect on all the great information I got from the Therap National Conference this year, I now have a clear path as to what I would like to have my agency do to implement these newly taught tips.  This year was my first year attending the National Conference, and all the great people I met and tricks I learned are really unbelievable.  One in particuar is the “on-call” super role.  By simply creating a caseload that includes the on-call sites and then allowing only T-log entry and update to the new super role is a game changer!  I was previously having to be notified to turn on and off an on-call caseload every week….crazy, I know.

Upon my return to my agency in Chicago, I was hit with questions like, “What did you learn?” and “Can I come with you next time?” and “Did the pizza suck like we thought it would, because we know Chicago has the best pizza in the world?”  When the barage of questions and hugs were over, I was able to show my newly acquired swag…my Therap Certified Trainer laptop bag!  It is now prominently displayed on my wall of trophies in my office.  (And yes, that is me dressed as Batman in the picture on the shelf…..but that is for a whole other blog.)

Swag Bag

On this Leap Day, I want to remember to use the forward momentum that the Therap National Conference has sparked in me.  I also need to keep in touch with all the great people I met!  What better way thatn to be a part of this blog.

Thanks for welcoming me to the family!

TTFN…..John

One of my earliest Therap revelations came when I realized that Therap is not just a form of electronic documentation…it is a way of communicating and doing business better.  Information is organized in smart modules that promote rapid access and analysis. Simply put, Therap helps us communicate more efficiently and more thoroughly so we can make better decisions.

For example, Progress Industries uses ISP Data for programmatic progress notes because this module features such powerful analysis and reporting tools.  We use T logs for communication of NONprogrammatic data that the team needs to know.  [A quick reference note is also placed in T Logs to alert team members to special events. (E.G. High blood sugar reading at 2:00pm, see Vitals.)] We generally use S Comms for communicating to a particular staff, rather than the whole team.  One of the cool features of Therap is the flexibility it offers to various providers to cutomize the modules in a way that makes best sense to that agency.

Whatever design you choose at your agency, communication is enhanced when staff understand and follow that plan. For example when a staff at our agency sends programmatic information via S Comm, we find that sometimes team members are inadvertently omitted from the recipient list. Similarly, data entered into T Logs is not automatically captured in official ISP Data logs and requires time consuming data analysis of information inputed across various modules.  Of course, plenty of opportunities for exceptions arise, and it’s not usually a big deal. Often, simple reminders about how to use the tools suffices to get everyone on the same page. But we’ve found that agreeing on how we communicate as an agency and using the Therap modules consistently with our design is essential to achieving great results.

There is so much to talk about regarding last weeks conference! First of all…another blogger wrote about all the eating! Totally true! Breakfast was just about over and voila! Delicious snacks graced the coffee table!! I, too, probably gained 10 pounds!!!

Two other things worth mentioning…I have two small kids (3 yrs and 10 months) and it was wonderful to be able to sleep in the hotel and get uninterrupted sleep!! That was fabulous and I most certainly did not tell my husband! Kind of felt a bit guilty!!

The other thing was being able to leisurely stroll through Target! I have not been able to do that without kids in 3 years!!! So much fun….I know….It’s the little things!!! Haha!!!

Anyway…I also learned a lot during those three days! Event summaries was very interesting to me. It is a simple little thing but something in which I forgot about. These summaries will surely help gather behavior info.

I also avoided the pivot table session! I start to glaze over when I hear the words, “pivot tables”!!! However, Brent told us that he also had difficultly with those until he was taught by Allison. Maybe I gather up courage and take another go at it!!

We also spent a lot of time going over the training component. This will be our agencies next thing to do. Looking forward to getting that set up and will keep everyone posted as to our progress!

Anyway…it was a great conference and am already looking forward to next year!
Deanna

We just finished up on our company-wide training to move forward using Therap.   One thing we realized is that one of the most used modules has a great feature that is usually overlooked.

I’m referring to T-Logs and Sharing the T-Log with other programs in the organization.  Right now, we have to click SHOW DETAILS to find this feature.  Although we showed staff where to find it, most everyone agreed it would be better to have it visible.

I did a little research and found that this feature used to be visible.  There are comments in  “Ideas” about this dating back about a year.

So, we are on a campaign.  We would like to have “Share this T-Log with the following program(s)” visible again.

The topic is active again in the “Ideas” section so if this is something you would like to see happen, make your opinion known.

Hanging out with Allison at GoToMeeting.com talking about the pros and cons of webinars vs. live presentations. Personally, I can stand in front of anyone and talk about Therap for as long as needed. But, I feel lost trying to do a webinar. I think it’s the visual feedback of the audience that I need and the same reason I don’t like talking on the telephone! Others may prefer that lack of eyes staring at you in front of the room in doing a webinar. Either way, it’s another cool thing about Therap, that users from everywhere are always sharing information! Which way are you most comfortable? Let me know as both a presenter or an attendee.

Hello everyone in the world of Therap!

A little about me:

I have been with Mosaic for 6 years now, beginning as a PeopleSoft senior developer and progressing to my current position as Quality Data Management Director. A lot of people ask me what my job is – I oversee the systems that track individuals in service and overall quality of our organization. This includes data analysis and reporting, along with functionality specifications and training of end-users. In other words – a whole lot wrapped into one! I am originally from Nebraska (born and raised), and seem to keep coming back here. I have lived in South Dakota, Ohio and Texas, as well. I went to college at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, and actually have a BS degree in Industrial Engineering. The software industry hit big when I graduated, and I have been in that field ever since. I have a son who will be starting college next week (already???) in Wyoming, so I will probably be making a few road trips out there! In my spare time I enjoy gardening, travel, cooking/canning/preserving, and making attempts at becoming “greener”.

Here at Mosaic we are busy ramping up for our Therap implementation. Our theme is ‘Destination – Therap’, and we are excited to begin our journey. Well, actually, our journey has already begun. Our Delaware agency has been using Therap for several years now, and 5 of our Nebraska agencies started using GER’s for community-based services in April. As Mosaic’s “super admin”, I had 5 days (including the weekend) to get 600+ individuals up and running in Nebraska. It was my first actual attempt at converting individuals from our existing PeopleSoft Client Information System into Therap. I was very pleased with the ease-of-use and simplicity of the import process. I can now move an individual or an agency within a matter of minutes from PeopleSoft to Therap!

Developers from both Therap and Mosaic have been busy working on our interface between PeopleSoft Financials and Therap, and testing has been going well. The 9.1 release put a damper on our integration development timeframe, but the 9.1 enhancements are exciting to see and have made integration easier. Thanks team!

My work life is now almost totally dedicated to Therap. I am currently working on privilege matrices, provider default setup, notification profiles, training methods and work process flowcharts for Therap – to name a few.

Our first phase of implementation will consist of IDF, GER’s, T-Logs and SCOMM, with a few agencies using Appointment Tracking.

We have a long journey ahead, but one thing we are certain of – the destination is Therap!!!

~Lorelei Lascko

Hello all from the world of Rainbow of Challenges. There have been alot of advancements and changes in the way we are utilizing Therap. We have recently gone community wide (well kinda). We have many individuals who live in our community in their own homes and we have recently purchased netbooks so that we can add them to Therap. While each new thing we try has it’s stumbling blocks, it is going very smoothly thanks to the great staff we have here at ROC. Just one more step toward our paperless world:). I would welcome any suggestions from those who have set up community based systems.

Let’s see, what else is going on in Arkansas. Oh yeah, it’s hot!! So while you are sharing ideas, share some of those northern temps with me.

For those of us who enjoy teaching others it is important that we never think we know it all because the individuals that you are teaching can certainly surprise you.  As a trainer it is important to set the tone of the training because one must remember that first impressions mean a lot and sometimes if the tone of the training is not set correctly, that will sour someone’s training experience.  So how do you set the tone of the training that you are doing.  By following these three simple tips the tone should be set for a great training.

• Greeting.  Introduce yourself to your audience and have your audience introduce themselves to you and each other.   Get to your location ahead of time and get set up so that you will have the opportunity to greet the trainees at the door when they come in. 
• Ice Breakers.  Now is a great time to break the ice between the participants and yourself.  By running a short activity the participants are able to get to know each other and also this will help energize the atmosphere as being a fun learning experience.  You can find thousands of choices on the Internet
• Ground Rules.  By setting ground rules for your training session this will help in the way that people interact with each other.  Prepare the rules ahead of time, but always get the participants’ feedback if more need to be added.