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Academy Brochure Topics now offered by the Training Academy: Click on a topic below for descriptions and recaps of previous trainings
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Amicus Training Academy Upcoming Trainings | Training Recap | Hot Topics Who We Are: Through the Amicus Academy, professionals and stakeholders in the fields of corrections, social work, education, and others receive innovative and practical instruction about working with their clients, students and cases more effectively. For more information contact Lisa Melquist at Amicus by email or by telephone at 612-348-8570. Upcoming Trainings  Amicus held its "Opposite Gender Training: Men Working with Girls, Women working with Boys- Critical Issues" training on March 30th in Duluth and again on June 15th in St. Paul. Approximately 40 professionals from around the state of Minnesota have participated in the trainings. At the training participants spend the day learning about the aspects involved in developing strong opposite gender staff-client relationships such as:
"The information I received will be very useful in the job I work- I hope to bring it back to my facility." "[The facilitators] have collectively a tremendous amount of wisdom and experience and present the material with great integrity and humility." "Opposite gender staffing seems to be an important topic that we need to get ahead of sooner or later." "Very insightful and useful!" "Great training, unique, important." "[The most useful topic in the training was] openly recognizing that gender matters and understanding how to utilize differences positively." This training, coming to Faribault, MN on August 17th, 2010 (open registration), is currently being adapted for additional organizations in Minnesota. Trainings are fine-tuned to match the needs of participants or programs. If you're interested in bringing an Amicus training to your organization or area contact Lisa Melquist, 612-348-8570. Please click on the image for more information about the August 17th training! Amicus Academy Training Recap Amicus just completed its second "Opposite Gender Staffing" training on June 15th, 2010, and is busy planning this and other trainings for the future. For more information about the Opposite Gender Staffing training click on "Relationship-based Programming" on the left side of this page. To receive emails about future Amicus trainings, please contact Lisa Hot Topics  Book Review for Doing Democracy with Circles: The word "democracy" has different meanings for different groups of people. Despite the democratic ideal of being all-inclusive with everyone having equal say and power, it is often not practiced this way. Representative democracies have the downfall of pitting the minority against the majority in an adversarial system. One must win at the other's expense, with rarely any compromise ever made. Because of this, for some cultures democracy means losing out in all policy decisions from the right of expression to land disputes to control of one's own life. In Doing Democracy with Circles, Ball, Caldwell and Pranis do a superb job of explaining not only circle process and types of circles (i.e. talking, group decision-making, healing, reintegration, etc.), but why it is so important to use circles for planning policy. Circles give everyone a say in the decision-making process, save time by working through many issues that may arise before taking action, and allow for more buy-in from participants because they have been heard even if their ideas have not been chosen. The authors give well thought-out arguments for the use of circles in almost any community, practical advise about how to facilitate circles and real-life examples that have used circles to work through local issues. Although the text is focused at those who practice public planning as a career, it can be used by almost anyone who is involved in their community and wants to find resolutions to local disputes. In addition, it is a great read to explain the importance of involving all those affected by a dispute to find a solution that creates more suitable, beneficial, and sustainable results. Matching Court-Ordered Services with Treatment Needs: Predicting Treatment Success with Young Offenders. (PDF, 226Kb) From the Journal of Criminal Justice and Behavior, April 2009. Amicus will be working with the DOC and others to hold trainings that further the application of these findings in the work of organizations throughout the state of MN. Abstract to the article: The rehabilitation of young offenders and their reintegration into society are important goals of the juvenile justice system. An empirically supported model of service delivery attending to the principles of risk level, criminogenic need, and responsivity provides direction in achieving these goals. Although research on this model thus far has evaluated the principles only at a group level, the present study evaluates the impact on recidivism of matching youth with services at the individual level. Files of 122 youth who received court assessments were reviewed to determine whether clinical recommendations and services received were congruent. Youths' criminal records were reviewed to determine reoffense outcomes. As predicted, higher risk scores were associated with earlier and more frequent recidivism. Knowing whether a young offender had his or her specific criminogenic needs addressed in treatment added to the predictive power of risk. Having only a few treatment needs met was associated with significantly earlier recidivism and a greater number of new convictions. These findings may provide direction in enhancing efforts to effectively respond to youth crime. Hot Topic- Racism and White Privilege Thoughts after attending a Tim Wise lecture, "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son." April 7, 2009. University of St. Thomas. - Impressions from Marissa Steen, Amicus VISTA The question isn't, "Does racism still exist in this country?" but rather, "What equally de-humanizing forms has it taken?" Ask anyone who isn't white and you'll start to find out the truth. We must start by hearing one another's stories, and believing one another's realities. Following a presentation on historical trauma at one of our Amicus trainings, a discussion opened upconcerning racism. A probation officer shared a story of a female offender who, upon being given a harsh treatment, asked, "Is it because I'm Black?" Participants concluded the woman honestly wanted to know the answer because, based on past experiences, the woman's race often played a factor in how she was treated. Many people's initial response to the woman would have been to say "Of course not. I'm not a racist!" I've come to realize that my first step in renouncing racism should be admitting that I'm likely racist and also that because I'm white, I'm privileged in ways I don't even notice. Start to believe it, and you'll start to see it- the many and complex ways that racism and white privilege exist in our society. We incorporated this idea into our recent trainings on gender-responsive practice; when you're with a client you must believe his or her reality, however they see it. One of the facilitators told the story of her response when a client said she was racist. While the facilitator's gut reaction was to object and say the client was wrong, she forced herself to ask the client questions in order to understand how this client was experiencing her as racist. She chose to believe the client's reality, rather than tell the client that the client was wrong or lying. Over time she realized that clients are generally telling the truth as they perceive it from their life experiences and when they're not, it's often for a compelling reason. The facilitator found that the experience allowed her to learn and grow in the process. For information on requesting a similar Amicus Academy training in your area, contact Marissa Steen at Marissa@amicususa.org Hot Topic- Restorative Justice: Thoughts after attending a Waziyatawin lecture: "What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland". April 9, 2009. College of St. Catherine. - Impressions from Marissa Steen, Amicus VISTA Restorative justice is a shift in the way we look at justice. The focus is less on laws and punishments, and more on what the victim, offender, and community need in order to heal from the injustice that was committed. Waziyatawin's lecture and book led me to ask what we do when it is nearly impossibile to provide that which a victim needs to heal. The Dakota people were victims of many crimes in the late 1800s. With the intention of taking land from the Dakota, state and federal officials engaged in a practice of genocide on the Dakota. Men were separated from women and children; 1,700 Dakota were made to march 150 miles while being attacked by civilians; Dakota warriors were killed by mass hanging and Dakota children were federally-mandated to attend boarding schools designed to strip away aspects of their indigeneity and replace it with the foreign culture of the settlers. The Dakota people are now asking for justice. In order to heal, Waziyatawin said, the Dakota people need their land back because their health as people is closely intertwined with the health of this land and their closeness to it. I had to stifle my rising objections as Waziyatawin talked about all settlers leaving so that the Dakota could again care for their land, and force myself to listen and take it in. As a child of settlers, I don't want to leave; Minnesota is my home too. This exemplifies the complexities of justice. Based on restorative justice, does the U.S. therefore need to help the Dakota heal by giving them back their land and making all settlers leave? Sometimes we have to sit with the questions and the Dakota story for awhile, rather than immediately think that we each have the right answer to such a complex situation. A restorative justice framework gives us a way to facilitate this process. Want to learn more about restorative justice and how you can make your program/organization more restorative? For information on requesting an Amicus Academy training on restorative justice and/or circle processes in your area, contact Marissa Steen at Marissa@amicususa.org Projects are funded/supported, in part, by the Office of Justice Programs through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Local Trainings and Events 1. Monthly MCCA Workshops. July 30 topic: Creating Cultural Competence. August 20 topic: The Face of the Child Pornography Offender. Read details about each workshop: http://www.mnmcca.com/Default.aspx?pageId=200731 Location: Department of Corrections, 1450 Energy Park Dr., St. Paul. Use West Entrance. June 11 & August 20 are in the Itasca room. July 30 is in the Pung room. Cost: free for members, $30 for nonmembers, which also covers the cost of membership. Contact: dharrington@rseden.org 2. Intro to Karen Culture. Presented by Neighborhood House as part of their Cultural Profficiency Workshop Series. July 13. 8:30-10am. Location: St. Paul. Cost: $39 if register by 6/16. http://www.neighb.org/culturalproficiency.aspx 3. Intro to Ethiopian Culture. Presented by Neighborhood House as part of their Cultural Profficiency Workshop Series. July 13. 10:15-11:45am. Location: St. Paul. Cost: $39 if register by 6/16. http://www.neighb.org/culturalproficiency.aspx 4. Intro to American Indian Culture. Presented by Neighborhood House as part of their Cultural Profficiency Workshop Series. July 28. 9am-11:30am. Location: St. Paul. Cost: $39 if register by 6/30. http://www.neighb.org/culturalproficiency.aspx 5. 2010 Summer Institute in Adolescent Health: Positive Pathways to Prevent Youth Violence. July 26-28. Location: St. Paul. For more info check out the website: http://www.nursing.umn.edu/Adolescent_Nursing/Continuing_Education/home.html (CEUs available). 6. Transition Coalition. Discuss offender re-entry issues and learn about other organizations in re-entry. Monthly meetings 2nd Friday of every month, 10am-noon. To be added to the mailing list, email Mark Groves at mgroves@co.doc.state.mn.us 7. 2010 MN Council of NonProfits Annual Conference: NonProfit State Fair. Oct 7-8. Location: Duluth. Features 9 tracks and breakout session topics for you to choose from: Executive Leadership, Governance, Finance and Management, Marketing and Communications, Human Resources, Fundraising, Public Policy, and Advocacy. Cost: Lowest is $149 for MCN members who register before July 15th. See website for cost structure. http://www.nonprofitstatefair.org/index.html 8. Giving a Fish a Bath: The Untold Story of the Adolescent Mind. Presented by MN Youth Intervention Programs Association. Nov 2, 2010. 8:30-4pm. $75 for nonmembers, $60 for members. https://netforum.avectra.com/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=YIPA&WebCode=EventDetail&evt_key=543ac6e6-9ee8-4c62-a0ee-63585ffc98cf 9. 2010 Overcoming Racism Conference. Presented by Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative. Save the Dates! November 12-13. Location: William Mitchell College of Law. http://www.facilitatingracialequitycollaborative.com/ More Expensive (and some out-of-state) Trainings 1. NAMI National Convention: Recovery and Reform, The Road from Here. June 30-July 3. Locatin: DC. Cost: Varies. http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=convention 2. Ending Violence Against Native Women Training Institute. August 23-27. Rapid City, South Dakota. $350. http://www.sacred-circle.com/PDFfiles/SC%20Train%202010%20Book.pdf 3. The 9th Annual National Prisoner Reentry Conference: Justice and Mercy- Maintaining Balance in Offender Reentry. Save the Date: October 7-10. Location: Milwaukee, WI. Receive professional reentry training, connect with hundreds of reentry stakeholders, attend a special "funders forum", and learn about recent reentry trends, policies, and programs. http://www.capaassociation.org/upcoming_events.htm 4. 2010 Search Institute Annual Conference: Connected Communities- Thriving Youth. Location: Houston, TX. Novemeber 17-19, 2010. Save the date, more info to come! http://www.searchconference.org/ | |||||||||||
