New Mexico -First Biennial Statewide Train the Trainer Summit

The first biennial New Mexico Train the Trainer Summit was held 23 and 24 October 2015 at the Domenici Center at the University of New Mexico. It was a multidisciplinary interactive summit geared towards anyone with an interest in children and child abuse prevention. Over 100 people from multiple areas attended the training. Attendees included but were not limited to child care workers, Social Workers, CYFD employees, Physicians, Psychologists, and Nurses.

The two day summit included interactive workshops and presentations which aimed to provide educators, daycare providers, caregivers, peer coaches, community based and government agencies, and others with new skills and learning that could be immediately applied to their jobs, home and communities. The statewide summit opened on Friday evening, October 23, with welcome remarks from CYFD Cabinet Secretary Monique Jacobson, followed by a keynote presentation from Dr. Craig Pierce, director, Southwest Family Guidance Center and closed on Friday with a two-hour mixer/reception.

Saturday workshops ran from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in four tracks: Parenting Education and Support; Child Abuse Prevention Skills and Strategies; Reducing Barriers to Children's Well-Being; and Personal and Organizational Resilience and Reflective Practices. Attendees were able to select from more than 25 topics, ranging from a Power Lunch with UNM’s Project ECHO to:

• Identifying Trauma
• The Teen Brain
• Breaking the Cycle
• Cultural Competency Training
• Strengthening Families and Communities . . . and many others.

The summit concluded with a presentation from Jason Kotecki entitled “Escape Adulthood.”

9.5 hours of continuing education credit were awarded to attendees needing CMEs and the APA also provided continuing education credits for Psychologists. Certificates of training were also available.

NM-UNMCAPP would like to extend our thanks to NMSU’s “Prevent Child Abuse America” state chapter for their assistance with registration and publicity for the event. We would also like to thank Project ECHO at UNM for filming our event.

The next “Train the Trainer Summit” will be held in Las Cruces and hosted by NMSU in 2017.