The Skill-Based Competency Endorsement in Family Driven Teaming is a modern, practice-focused training experience designed to build real-world skills, not just knowledge. Through live virtual courses, consultation, and fieldwork, participants develop the confidence and competence needed to partner meaningfully with youth, families, natural supports, involved providers, and systems.
Family Driven Teaming training is structured in levels that reflect different options for engagement and support, rather than a single, linear pathway. Learners and programs may build individual teaming skills to strengthen their existing model or engage in the full sequence of courses to implement the complete Family Driven Teaming model.
Programs choose the level that best fits their role, goals, and readiness, ranging from stand‑alone training, to courses with guided consultation, to a higher level of support that includes supervised fieldwork and a capstone project.
Each level offers a deeper layer of support and accountability, allowing programs to match training intensity to workforce needs while maintaining a clear connection to quality practice, demonstrated competence, and future readiness for full model adoption.
Our Courses
Course Overview
Engagement is the heartbeat of Family Driven Teaming—from the very first outreach call through transition. Engagement Essentials gives learners the concrete, relationship‑centered skills to earn trust early, sustain it through planning and implementation, and re‑ignite it when participation dips. You’ll practice how to turn outreach into partnership with youth, families, natural supports, and system partners; use active listening and cultural humility to build strong working relationships; and support the progressive transfer of responsibility—so families feel respected, informed, and empowered at every step. This course is trauma‑informed by emphasizing relational safety, cultural humility, and pacing that lets youth and caregivers choose how, when, and how much to share—so participation never outpaces readiness.
What Makes This Course Different
- Start strong, stay strong: We treat engagement as a continuous practice, not a one‑time step—spanning referral, enrollment, planning, implementation, and transition. You’ll learn what engagement looks like in each phase and how to adapt in real time.
- Skills you can see and use tomorrow: Make engaging outreach calls, craft plain‑language elevator speeches, and deploy active‑listening moves that build safety and trust.
- Culturally humble, trauma‑informed, youth‑affirming: Practice specific strategies to honor culture, validate lived experience, and read the room—so every voice shows up and stays.
- From “Do For” to “Cheer On”: Learn to gradually shift ownership—model early, collaborate side‑by‑side, then coach from the sidelines as families lead with confidence.
Relationships that feel authentic, trusting, and energizing—so families and teams stay connected from the first hello to the final transition.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Needs Assessment is where Family Driven Teaming gets focused. This course equips learners to gather meaningful information across life domains, co‑create a Discovery Tool that elevates strengths, culture, and vision, and identify the true needs beneath stated concerns—so plans become realistic, relevant, and family‑led. You’ll also learn how to balance system mandates with what matters most to the family, and how to use functional assessment to inform crisis planning and prevention. This course is trauma‑informed by using curiosity and plain‑language discovery to surface needs without labels or blame, centering strengths and culture to keep assessment safe, validating, and family‑led.
What Makes This Course Different
- From concerns to actionable needs: Practice methods that uncover underlying needs—then prioritize with the family to keep planning tight and targeted.
- Strengths, culture, and vision-fully integrated: Use the Discovery Tool to center the family’s words, values, and hopes; let vision drive goals and decision‑making.
- Mandates without losing voice: Learn a step‑by‑step approach to identify mandates and integrate them with priorities in plain family‑friendly language.
- Crisis‑informed, prevention‑minded: Translate a Functional Assessment into concrete stabilization and prevention strategies families can (and will) use.
Plans that feel clear, targeted, and genuinely family‑led—rooted in real needs, real strengths, and a vision families can believe in.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Family Driven Teaming is brought to life in meetings—where planning is the primary intervention for change. The Meeting Facilitation course equips facilitators, coordinators, and team members with real‑world skills needed to lead meetings that protect family voice, manage group dynamics, and move teams toward shared solutions—especially when conversations are complex, emotional, or high‑stakes. This course goes beyond theory. Participants actively practice how to prepare for, facilitate, and follow up on meetings so families feel heard, teams stay aligned, and plans actually move forward. This course is trauma‑informed by teaching facilitators to create predictable, emotionally safe meeting environments that protect family voice, reduce power imbalances, and support calm collaboration during high‑stakes or sensitive conversations.
What Makes This Course Different
This is not a basic ‘how to run a meeting’ course. It is a practice‑based facilitation experience grounded in Family Driven Teaming principles, focused on real situations facilitators face every day.
Participants learn to:
- Prepare meetings intentionally so families and youth are set up to lead—not react
- Use the agenda as an active facilitation tool, not just a checklist
- Guide challenging conversations without shutting down participation or escalating conflict
- Elicit bold, creative ideas while protecting psychological safety
- Adapt in real time when meetings don’t go as planned
Everyday Meetings become purposeful, productive, family‑driven experiences.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 7 hours | 3 hours | 10 hours |
Course Overview
Great outcomes require great teams. Building and Maintaining Cohesive Teams shows the learner how to assemble inclusive, family‑driven teams that integrate natural supports and system partners, align around a shared mission, and collaborate through the inevitable bumps (conflict, hard conversations, competing mandates). You’ll learn to prepare members, clarify roles, nurture cohesion and trust, and keep momentum—all while centering the family’s priorities and voice. This course is trauma‑informed by creating predictable, inclusive team routines (ground rules, roles, and repair moves) that reduce power imbalances, prevent re‑traumatization, and protect the family’s voice.
What Makes This Course Different
- Family‑driven AND system‑savvy: We go beyond “who’s at the table” to how teams work—bridging natural supports with education, child welfare, probation, health, and behavioral health to create integrated planning.
- Cohesion as a skill set: Learn practical moves for team culture—crafting a team mission, setting ground rules, preparing members, and facilitating through conflict without losing trust.
- Barrier‑busters you can apply immediately: Use support mapping, role‑clarity tools, creative outreach, and troubleshooting guides to recruit, retain, and re‑engage the people who matter most.
- Tight linkage to action planning: See how cohesive teams feed directly into Family‑Driven Action Plans—and how facilitators sustain shared ownership over time.
Teams that feel united, committed, and resilient—where every member shows up, leans in, and works together toward the family’s vision.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Family Driven Action Planning is where vision becomes movement. This course equips learners to center youth and family voice, prioritize needs, craft SMART goals, and convert brainstorms into who/what/when action steps that drive measurable progress. You’ll also practice team-based planning with natural supports and system partners—aligning everyone to one plan that reflects culture, strengths, and what matters most to the family. This course is trauma-informed by translating the family’s vision into small, achievable steps and shared “signs of success,” so change feels doable, transparent, and under the family’s control.
What Makes This Course Different
- Voice → Plan → Progress: Move seamlessly from family vision and prioritized needs to goals, action steps, and signs of success you can monitor.
- One integrated plan: Bring natural supports and system partners to the same table to reduce duplication and increase follow-through.
- Strength and culture first: Use strength based, culturally relevant brainstorming to generate realistic options families want to try.
- Small steps, real momentum: Translate ideas into clear who/what/when tasks and rhythm of check-ins that build confidence and results.
- Practical tools you can use tomorrow: SMART goal builders, action‑step templates, and measurement strategies for visible, shared progress.
Action plans that feel authentic, achievable, and aligned– turning family vision into steady, trackable wins.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
When behavior escalates, planning—not panic—wins. Family‑Driven Crisis Planning (FDCP) teaches teams to transform functional assessment into calm, structured meetings that produce clear Crisis Prevention Plans. You’ll practice the full facilitation flow—warm welcome, Functional Assessment review, measurable goals, and three‑part planning (Prevention, Early Intervention, Intervention)—so families gain tools they’ll actually use when it counts. This course is trauma‑informed by grounding crisis work in functional understanding, calm facilitation, and clear prevention/early‑intervention/intervention steps that reduce fear, increase control, and protect dignity.
What Makes This Course Different
- Facilitation under pressure: Build the craft moves that keep crisis meetings focused, humane, and productive—from inclusive participation to consensus.
- Clarity: Use Functional Assessment to ground decisions in why behavior happens—so plans make sense and work in real life.
- Three plans in one: Design Prevention, Early Intervention, and Intervention steps that do not duplicate and align to function.
- Measurable goals that matter: Turn behavior descriptions into SMART, time‑bound goals and define signs of success the team can track.
- Calm follow-through: Establish check-ins, wrap ups, and next meeting logistics that sustain the plan beyond the table.
Plans that feel clear, calm, and usable—so teams prevent escalation and families feel safer, seen, and supported.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Transition Planning turns “closing a case” into launching confidence. This course shows practitioners how to recognize readiness, transfer skills, and center family‑led meetings that prepare for life beyond formal services. You’ll practice building transition plans with natural supports, celebrating growth, and setting up warm handoffs—so youth and families leave with clarity, connection, and momentum. This course is trauma‑informed by honoring mixed emotions during closure, transferring skills at the family’s pace, and securing natural supports and warm handoffs so safety and connection continue beyond services.
What Makes This Course Different
- Readiness you can see and measure: Learn concrete transition‑readiness indicators—from reliable natural supports to progress on priority needs and team mission alignment.
- “Do For → Do With → Cheer On” in action: Apply the skill‑transfer pathway to build self‑efficacy and reduce dependence on formal supports.
- Family‑led meetings that stick: Coach families to facilitate their own transition meetings, reviewing the vision, lessons learned, crisis plans, and next steps.
- Continuity beyond services: Structure warm handoffs, document essentials, and schedule post‑transition follow‑ups that strengthen stability—not surveillance.
- Early flags, faster support: Spot potential yellow/red flags before transition and respond in ways that protect dignity, safety, and progress.
Families who feel confident, connected, and prepared—carrying their skills and supports forward long after formal services end.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Great plans become great outcomes when we measure and adjust. This course demystifies measurement and monitoring across the phases—engagement, planning, implementation, and transition—so teams can anchor work to the family’s vision, define signs of success, and adjust goals and actions in real time. You’ll practice aligning needs → goals → indicators, running efficient check‑ins, documenting changes, and using simple data to decide what to do next. This course is trauma‑informed by grounding measurement in transparency, shared decision‑making, and pacing adjustments so families feel safe, respected, and never blamed as plans evolve.
What Makes This Course Different
- Vision‑anchored: Keep progress tied to what matters most to the family; use indicators that are meaningful, observable, and family‑friendly.
- Early wins, early warnings: Define clear signs of success to celebrate momentum—and spot “no progress yet” as useful data, not failure.
- Rewrite, don’t re‑blame: Learn a step‑by‑step ADJUST routine to refine goals, clarify action steps (who/what/when), and restore buy‑in when plans stall.
- Right‑sized tools: Build simple check‑in rhythms, practical documentation habits, and simple visuals (e.g., alignment maps) that teams will actually use.
- Readiness you can recognize: Connect indicators to transition readiness—confidence, reliable natural supports, and self‑efficacy that lasts beyond services.
Plans that stay aligned, transparent, and adaptive—so progress is visible, setbacks become learning, and families move steadily toward their vision.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
System Navigation turns a complex maze into a clear path. This course builds the practical skills every role needs to help youth and families find, access, and use the right supports at the right time. You’ll learn how to map local child‑serving systems, curate and vet a living resource library, make warm handoffs, and coach families to lead the process—all while staying within role, honoring culture, and protecting voice and choice.
What Makes This Course Different
- Navigation as a core skill, not a program: Designed for all roles—care coordinators, peers, supervisors—so teams share a common playbook for connecting families to services without overstepping scope.
- From map → warm handoff: Build a practical system map, maintain a resource directory, and practice the craft moves of “explain in plain language, pick the best next step, and model the first call.”
- Strengths‑ and culture‑first: Equip families to choose options that fit their routines, values, and readiness; integrate natural supports alongside formal services.
- Boundaries that build trust: Learn where navigation stops (clinical, legal, financial advice) and how to bridge to partners without taking over or creating dependency.
- Feedback loops that improve access: Collect and use family feedback to refine recommendations, flag barriers, and keep your resource bank current and reliable.
Connections that feel clear, respectful, and doable—so families move from “Where do we start?” to “We’ve got this.”
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 6.5 hours |
Course Overview
Coaching & Supervision equips leaders to build the culture and capabilities that make Family Driven Teaming stick. You’ll translate FDT principles into daily supervisory practice, balance coaching vs. supervision, and use the Do For → Do With → Cheer On progression to transfer skills—so staff grow, teams align, and families experience the same strengths‑based, accountable support your workforce receives. This course is trauma‑informed by modeling supervisory practices that build psychological safety, honor lived experience, and promote strengths‑based feedback that reduces shame and supports growth.
What Makes This Course Different
- Parallel process in action: Lead your staff the way you want them to lead families—voice and choice, strengths, clear goals, transparent follow‑through.
- Coach and supervise: Know when the moment calls for skill‑building (coaching) vs. standards and accountability (supervision)—and do both well.
- Progressive skill transfer: Use modeling, guided practice, and step‑backs to move staff along the Do For / Do With / Cheer On continuum—then mirror that with families.
- Feedback that builds safety and performance: Deliver strengths‑based, SMART‑linked feedback that raises quality without blame; celebrate micro‑wins to sustain momentum.
- Continuous improvement you can run: Set measurable development goals using Professional Development Plans (PDPs), observe practice, run short-term improvement cycles, and align policies with family‑driven values.
CTeams that feel supported, accountable, and confident—and families who experience consistent, high‑quality, family‑driven practice at every touchpoint.
| Time in Training | Time in Consultations | Total Time (Scheduled) |
| 10.5 hours | 6 hours | 16.5 hours |
Consultations
Learners will attend 3 consultation sessions after completing each course. YFTI staff will reinforce learning and help them apply the skills covered in that training course.
- Consultations will be offered virtually on a monthly schedule, and learners will attend with their training cohort.
- This experience is like group coaching and is structured with more specific topics for each session that relate back to the coursework and ahead to fieldwork with youth and families.
Fieldwork
Along with each consultation, learners will have field experience activities with youth and families that allow them to practice the skills learned during training and consultation. Program coaches will oversee the fieldwork conducted by their workforce, with support from YFTI staff.
- Skills will be refined through ongoing model-driven feedback provided by their coach during regular supervision with continued opportunities to apply the feedback in the field.
- The focus will be on practice, not perfection.
- The goal of fieldwork is to apply model skills and critical thinking in work with youth and families.
This graphic shows the step‑by‑step progression of a course, highlighting how learning intentionally moves from knowledge to real‑world practice.
Each course begins with a brief pre‑course knowledge assessment, followed by live virtual training to build core understanding and skill.
Learners then engage in structured consultations and supported fieldwork to apply learning directly with youth and families, concluding with a post‑course knowledge assessment that demonstrates growth in confidence, competence, and practical application.
YFTI Learning Management System
Our Learning Management System supports the full learning journey, from registration to completion, by providing a centralized space to access training, track progress, and manage course requirements.
Learners can easily complete knowledge assessments, submit feedback, and document fieldwork and consultation activities, while organizations can monitor participation, skill development, and outcomes over time.