September 2021
The Bridge Training Institute, a service of Open Sky Community Services, has released its 2021-2022 schedule of continuing education workshops. The Training Institute provides training and personalized consultation on evidence-based and best practice models tailored to meet the needs of schools, human service professionals and licensed clinicians. In response to the rise of COVID-19 infections in Massachusetts, all trainings are being offered on a virtual platform, allowing those who might be reluctant or unable to attend in-person sessions the opportunity to take advantage of the Training Institute’s full training calendar.
Two of the workshops being offered this session are quite timely, as they center on COVID-related grief and cultural humility. As Suzy Langevin, director of training and professional development at Open Sky explains, “If there’s any silver lining to be found in the storm of the last year and a half, it’s that mental health has entered our everyday conversations in a new way. Difficult discussions about mourning, trauma and inequality can give way to new learning, hope and resilience.”
Barent Walsh, Ph.D. will present “Understanding, Managing and Learning from Grief in a Period Immediately Post-Covid” on October 26. As a result of the pandemic, people have experienced unprecedented, complex forms of grief in both their personal and professional lives. This workshop will touch upon some of the specific features associated with Covid that have made grieving more difficult. Dr. Walsh is Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Clinical Consultant at Open Sky and a Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA.
On Friday, October 29, Jenise Katalina, MSW, LCSW, will be offering a training on Cultural Humility, a philosophy that empowers individuals to effectively engage in interpersonal relationships that are dynamically diverse and mutually respectful. Ms Katalina is the founder and owner of Rise Leadership & Coaching, a firm specializing in building equitable organizations and developing inclusive leadership. She currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors and Co-Executive Director for the Women of Color Health Equity Collect and is also the Healthy Families Resource Specialist at the Children’s Trust, a statewide agency focused on stopping child abuse.
For more information about these workshops and The Bridge Training Institute’s full slate of training opportunities, visit https://bridgetraininginstitute.givecloud.co/