Carlin Doeksen is the Staff Development Coordinator for Heritage Family Services. 

Carlin has a Bachelor of Religious Education, and joins the Heritage team after 15 years of serving families and communities in pastoral leadership.  His broad experience in helping people find solutions for life varies from urban youth work to rural community enhancement.  He has specialized experience in coming alongside individuals and families to support holistic growth through teaching and coaching.

His personal vision for staff development at Heritage Family Services is: “To bring warm encouragement, fresh motivation, and useful information to the valuable staff and parents who help people find solutions for life.”

He enjoys sharing life with his wife and 3 children, while looking for opportunities to train, compete, adventure, and write.

SERVICES WE PROVIDE

1. ORIENTATION is required for all new staff.  At time of hire “Training Plans” are developed for new staff, and annually thereafter.

2. ESSENTIAL TRAINING is for all staff and parents, this consists of;

Annual Aboriginal Awareness Training

• Basic Understanding of Aboriginal History
• Basic Understandings of Alberta’s Bands
• Basic Understanding of Aboriginal Cultural such as
  • Healing Circles, Political Structure, Economics, Stereotypes, Education, Health, and various Social issues.
• Experiential Training such as, Tipi Building, Sweats, Pow Wow Dances, Ceremonial Feasts, etc.

Aboriginal Awareness is taught by professional trainers from Heritage Family Services.  This training is available for other organizations if they request throughout central Alberta. All Heritage Staff are required to have 8 hours of training annually.

ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training)

• Taught by professional certified trainers from inside and outside of Heritage Family Services.
• All Heritage staff are required to keep their certification up-to-date.

PACE (Preventing Aggression with Control and Evasion)

• Heritage Family Services has developed and implemented this course, which is now widely use and accepted as a standard in Child and Family Services in Alberta.
• All Heritage staff are required to keep their certification up-to-date.

3. COMPETENCY TRAINING for long term staff.  We have developed and teach an in house Competency Training  to ensure all of our staff have common knowledge and understanding while working together with our children and youth.  This year long developmental study is taught in the second year of employment.  The Competency program was developed to prepare Heritage Staff for full certification as a child and youth care worker in Alberta.  This training consists of the following elements.

• Systemic Frameworks
• Client Services Planning and Reporting
• Providing a Therapeutic Environment
• Self-care and Personal Development
• Lifespan Development
• Basic Care
• Relationship Development
• Group Interventions
• Mental Health Issues & Crisis InterventioN

4. CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKER CERTIFICATION.  As a company we coordinate and deliver certification training to those who are qualified.  Although the certification program is primarily a self-study process we offer guidance through the training time, including certification training seminars, pre-testing, and mock oral exams.  We also act as liaison with the Child and Youth Care Association of Alberta and keep up to date regarding the Certification process and content.

5. FOSTER PARENT TRAINING With over 30 foster parents we monthly offer 15 hours of on-going training to all our parents.  This includes the government standard core modules and other modules developed by Heritage Staff, and by other experts throughout the Child and Youth Care Services region.

6. IN-SERVICE TRAINING  All long term staff are encouraged to attend additional workshops outside of our organization for personal and program development.  Staff return with new insights to share with other staff during our in-service training opportunities.

7. REGION DEVELOPMENT  Part of the vision for our staff development is to be a front-runner company who brings in the latest child and youth care information to the region for our company and other organizations in the area to attend.