Older Webinars
Webinars are offered throughout the year on hot topics in adult protective services. Promising practices are frequently featured from among the Administration for Community Living’s State Grants to Enhance Adult Protective Services.
Want to be notified about upcoming webinars? Sign up for our email distribution list or, if you are an APS or affiliated professional, join our listserv.
Older Recorded Webinars
Webinar Date: December 15, 2020
The APS TARC recently conducted a study on the impact of COVID-19 on adult protective services. The study utilized a national survey and interviews with state administrators and local staff to look at changes and challenges in as APS adapts to COVID-19 restrictions. This webinar discusses findings on the pandemic's effects on work and workload, policy, practices, partnerships, and preparedness.
Handouts: Slides | Report
Webinar Date: November 30, 2020
This training was developed for protective services and allied disciplines addressing abuse, neglect, and exploitation of adults and older adults. These professionals routinely face ethical issues and dilemmas in their daily work. This workshop addresses ethical practice and policy decisions using teaching methodologies and content that take ethics from the dry theoretical to rich applications for all professionals. These decisions can range from concerns about whether to accept a gift that doesn’t have significant monetary value to deciding whether to leave someone at risk out of respect for their right to make autonomous decisions. From new to seasoned professionals, everyone will find information in this training that will apply to their everyday work.
Handouts: Slides
Webinar Date: September 28, 2020
This training focuses on the importance of self-care within the APS workforce amidst the everyday stressors as well as the new stressors being faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies for promoting self-care including mindfulness and meditation will be discussed as well as techniques to become more stress resistant.
Handouts: Slides
Webinar Date: August 11, 2020
This webinar will address engaging clients within the context of a therapeutic relationship, how to engage challenging clients, crisis management, and present the LEAP (Listen, Empathize, Agree, Partner) approach to engagement. Join California Licensed Clinical Social Worker Heather Sylvester of the Riverside University Health System in learning promising practices for approaching challenging clients via instruction and case scenarios. NOTE: A video originally shown during this webinar has been omitted from the recording due to copyright issues. That video is located here.
Handouts: Slides
Webinar Date: July 21, 2020
In 2016, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) facilitated the development of the National Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State Adult Protective Services (APS) Systems to assist states in developing efficient, effective APS systems and to provide APS administrators with recommendations from the field about quality practice. The development process consisted of multiple steps, including a review of research available on what works in APS agencies and in other analogous systems throughout the United States, and an extensive and wide-reaching stakeholder engagement and outreach process. During the past year, ACL has facilitated a similar process for updating the Guidelines to incorporate findings from new research and experiences from the field. This webinar provided an overview of (1) the process for updating the Guidelines, and (2) updates and revisions made to the Guidelines, and 3) some of the findings from the new research done in conjunction with the Guidelines.
Handouts: Slides
Webinar Date: June 18, 2020
Dr. Irving Hellman reviews developments in the clinical and neuro psychological effects of dementia applicable to your work for adult protective services (APS). This training will review the more common challenges facing your older adult clients suffering from dementia, their family members, and ourselves. Topics will include: the challenges of and risks to the normal aging process; the specific challenges of dementia; differentiating the most common types of dementia; reversible conditions that are often misconstrued as dementia; and several common screens for dementia and mental capacity.
Handouts: Slides | Handout 1 | Handout 2
Webinar Date: June 8, 2020
This training covers the impact of physical, psychological, and emotional trauma on survivors of elder abuse, and educates providers about how they can help victims rebuild a sense of control and empowerment using recognized Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) principles. Handouts: Handout 1 | Handout 2 | Handout 3 | Handout 4 | Handout 5
(Please Note: Slides for this webinar are not available as a handout.)
Webinar Date: May 28, 2019
This webinar provided an update on national and state World Elder Abuse Awareness Day activities. The webinar included an opportunity for participants to share updates on their own state’s activities; strategies for measuring the impact of public awareness campaigns like WEAAD; and information on a new ACL grant.
Webinar Date: May 6, 2020
COVID-19 has forced many - but not all - APS programs to implement on the fly remote work. But this is not true for all APS programs; a few have used remote workers for years. In this webcast, programs implementing remote work on the fly learned from APS programs that have been using remote workers for years. Topics included overcoming obstacles such as program culture, identifying and accessing critical supports, taking advantage of potential positive consequences while avoiding the negative ones, as well as the all-important question of how to maintain high performance by staff. APS TARC staff facilitated a roundtable discussion with APS administrators with years of experience managing programs with remote workers. Panelists included: Akiles Ceron (San Francisco APS), Michael Hagenlock (Montana APS) and Kezeli Wold (Texas APS). Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: April 27, 2020
Creating and sustaining an elder abuse multidisciplinary team (MDT) is a complex task. This webinar explores ways to sustain your work in our current climate and beyond. Talitha Guinn-Shaver, a Multidisciplinary Team Technical Advisor with the US Department of Justice's Elder Justice Initiative, looks at what we know about successful MDTs from research and practice and discusses ways to overcome common challenges. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: February 25, 2020
National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) National Policy Advisor, Bill Benson, provides an overview of the funding sources primarily used for APS, highlighting Social Service Blog Grant (SSBG), Medicaid administrative claiming, and the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding. Jennifer Spoeri and Jennifer Mays of the APS program administered by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) describe their success in securing VOCA funding for their APS program and identify some of the challenges in seeking and using VOCA funding for APS. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: January 31, 2020
This webinar will focus on the development of documentation skills for adult protective services professionals. By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to: 1. explain the rationale for applying critical thinking skills into case practice documentation by using a specific format; 2. outline the process and content guidelines for documenting case practice activities including client contacts, visitation, assessment, case planning meetings, supervisory sessions, and case staffing; 3. demonstrate the clinical and technical knowledge and skills needed to write, review, and critique case documentation illustrative of effective and reflective case practice. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: December 16, 2019
The APS TARC is creating expanding knowledge about APS programs through two projects: 1) the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS) and 2) the national APS evaluation. NAMRS collects state APS data to provide consistent, accurate national data on the maltreatment of older adults and adults with disabilities and has been in place for several years now. As part of NAMRS, data is also being gathered on state policy and practice. Using NAMRS data and data from other sources, the national evaluation is an examination of APS policy, practice, and program effectiveness at the state level. In addition to the new understanding of APS, the evaluation will provide the foundation for ongoing and future technical assistance efforts. This webinar provides an overview of both projects, presents select findings and data from them, and focuses on future work of the projects. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: September 17, 2019
This webinar highlights promising practices from the Hawaii Department of Human Services, Social Services Division, which received an ACL APS Enhancement Grant. in 2016. Hawaii designed an electronic quality assurance case review tool to audit cases, collect input, and analyze data to be transmitted into the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS). Staff from Hawaii APS discuss the project, provide a brief demonstration of the tool, and discuss challenges and lessons learned. Handout: Slides | Handout
Webinar Date: August 7, 2019
The Administration for Community Living, Administration on Disabilities funds Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As) in every state and territory as well as a Native American Consortium. In this webinar, ACL's Jennifer Johnson and Ophelia McLain provided an overview of the P&As designed to advocate for persons with disabilities. ACL provides funding for four different programs for the P&As - Developmental Disabilities, Assistive Technology, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Voting. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: July 30, 2019
This webinar is designed for APS supervisors who train new workers. The webinar offers foundational information of adult learning and offers strategies and tips to maximize training time and efforts. It provides tools for evaluating performance and offering effective feedback to workers. Handouts: Slides | Handout 1 | Handout 2
Webinar Date: July 18, 2019
This webinar highlighted promising practices from the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC), which received an APS Enhancement Grant from the US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Community Living in 2015. DPPC utilized a multidisciplinary approach—focusing on access to rape crisis centers—to expand access to trauma and victim services for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are victims of sexual assault. Staff from DPPC discuss the project and provide information on challenges, successes, and sustainability. Handouts: Slides | Handout 1
Webinar Date: June 27, 2019
This webinar highlights promising practices from the State of New York, who received an APS Enhancement Grant from the US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Community Living in 2015.This webinar highlights promising practices from the State of New York, who received an APS Enhancement Grant from the US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Community Living in 2015. For the grant, New York has developed (in conjunction with a forensic accountant) and field-tested a new tool to assist APS and its partners investigate financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. They also developed and tested a new set of reportable data elements to help APS better capture the costs of financial exploitation and case outcomes. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: June 20, 2019
The webinar will provide strategies for staff to reduce risk when they encounter challenging or potentially threatening situations that involve upset, emotionally charged, or angry clients or others they may have contact with. Some of the topics covered are reading clients’ behavior, de-escalation of the three most common emotional states staff come into contact with, and the value of building rapport and how it enhances safety. Handouts: Slides | Handout 1 | Handout 2 | Handout 3 | Handout 4
Webinar Date: May 9, 2019
There are no studies proving people are safer under guardianship, but many show the benefits of self-determination in avoiding and reducing maltreatment of vulnerable adults. Supported Decision Making recognizes that all people need help in making decisions; this session will discuss approaches that APS workers can use to address vulnerabilities while supporting a person’s decision making, reducing unnecessary guardianships. Handout: Slides
Webinar Date: April 25, 2019
This webinar highlights promising practices from the State of Colorado, who received an APS Enhancement Grant from the US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Community Living in 2015. For the grant, Colorado focused resources on at-risk adults by enhancing the APS intake process and assessment tool. Specifically, Colorado expanded the use of its case management system. Peggy Rogers, Manager of the Adult Mistreatment Prevention and Response Section at the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Aging & Adult Services, discusses the project and provides information on challenges, collaboration, and lessons learned. Handouts: Slides | Handout 1 | Handout 2
Webinar Date: February 21, 2019
As a result of NAMRS and ACL grants in recent years, APS programs around the country have access to more data about their programs. But access doesn’t guarantee success in using it to improve programs. This webinar gives APS programs a framework for using data to manage your APS program. Using APS data as examples, it will answer the following questions: 1. What is data and why should we care about it?, 2. What is required for successful use of data?, 3. What are the pros and cons of using data to help manage programs?, 4. What are the 3 ways data can be used to improve APS programs?, 5. What is required for successful use of data?, 6. What are the limitations in use of data?. Handout: Slides