Gain confidence in managing challenging moments, from supporting individuals in emotional distress to responding during crisis situations. This training introduces practical tools for active listening, de-escalation, and self-regulation, helping professionals remain grounded and effective under pressure.

Behavior is communication. Learn to hear it. See beyond surface behaviors—like defiance, withdrawal, or avoidance—and recognize them as potential survival strategies rooted in trauma. This course equips participants with skills to respond with empathy, reduce stigma, and foster safety and trust in recovery relationships.

Explore the unique dynamics of boundaries in peer support roles. This training examines common challenges—such as over-identification, dual relationships, and role confusion—and provides practical strategies for maintaining professionalism while preserving authentic connection. Participants will leave with tools to navigate complex situations while upholding ethical standards.

Understand the clinical language used by treatment providers and learn how to translate it into recovery-oriented terms that resonate with peers. This training strengthens communication and builds confidence for working within multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring peers can advocate effectively while staying true to recovery values.

Explore the roles, responsibilities, and perspectives of professionals across behavioral health and social service systems. Participants will develop strategies to strengthen communication, resolve conflicts, and promote effective collaboration between peers and other service providers.

This training equips behavioral health professionals with practical, trauma-informed strategies for supporting LGBTQIA+ individuals. Participants build cultural competency, understand identity and minority stress, and strengthen affirming communication skills to reduce unintentional harm and create safer, recovery-oriented care environments.

Learn how to recognize, evoke, and strengthen change talk while responding skillfully to sustain talk without creating resistance. Participants will practice strategies that help guide conversations toward motivation and movement while honoring autonomy.

Ambivalence is a natural part of change. This workshop focuses on using strategic reflections to explore mixed feelings, deepen self-awareness, and help people hear their own motivations for change in a supportive, person-centered way.

Providing support is more than what we say—it’s how we show up. This workshop focuses on creating environments where people feel safe, respected, and free to be vulnerable. Participants will explore presence, boundaries, and relational skills that help build trust and open the door to deeper, more meaningful recovery conversations.

Learn collaborative, compassionate approaches to reducing access to lethal means during times of crisis. Participants will practice engaging in safety planning conversations designed to protect life while respecting autonomy.

Explore the concept of moral injury—emotional, psychological, and spiritual distress resulting from actions that violate personal values. Learn how moral injury affects military personnel, healthcare providers, and first responders, and identify strategies for healing and resilience.

Build confidence navigating challenging conversations while preserving trust and connection. Participants will learn how to recognize discord, respond in MI-consistent ways, and strengthen engagement without escalating resistance or sacrificing autonomy.

This highly interactive training provides Peer Recovery Specialists with the tools to evoke motivation, resolve ambivalence, and strengthen commitment to change. Participants will learn and practice the core MI skills—Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries (OARS)—to support lasting recovery.

**The upcoming session is October 13th AND 14th from 9am to 12pm. Both days are required for completion of the training.

Strengthen the foundational communication skills at the heart of Motivational Interviewing. This interactive workshop helps participants sharpen their use of open questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries to build connection, deepen conversations, and support meaningful change.

The 72-Hour Peer Recovery Specialist (PRS) Training is the foundational course required by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to become a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (PRS). It was created from years of collaboration between people with lived experience, behavioral health professionals, and peer support leaders. The result is a unified, Virginia-specific curriculum that prepares participants to offer effective, ethical, and recovery-oriented peer support in diverse settings.

Build skills to recognize readiness and move from evoking motivation into collaborative planning. Learn how to strengthen commitment language, support next steps, and guide change conversations while maintaining a person-centered approach.

Learn how to use readiness, importance, and confidence scaling tools to guide meaningful conversations about change. Participants will practice using scales to explore motivation, strengthen self-efficacy, and support collaborative next steps.

Learn how to engage and support Service Members, Veterans, and their Families through culturally responsive, trauma-informed care. This training equips providers with practical tools to navigate military culture, power dynamics, invisible wounds, and build trust with SMVF populations in behavioral health settings.

This interactive training explores trauma through a person-centered, trauma-informed lens, examining how the nervous system influences behavior, coping strategies, and crisis cycles. Participants will strengthen their understanding of peer activation, vicarious trauma, and ethical practices while developing practical skills to remain present, regulated, and boundaried. The focus is on understanding behavior through the lens of survival — approached with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment.