Expanding Hope | Professional Services

Training Opportunities

Referral

Community of Practice

Coming Soon

There are many organizations throughout Alberta working to support young families, and Expanding Hope is proud to collaborate with each of them. Our goal is to equip organizations with the tools and skills they need to support the young parents in their community. 

What we offer:

  • Virtual training on key topics and issues related to young parents.
  • Referral pathways into Expanding Hope’s Participant Services.
  • Regular Community of Practice sessions where professionals can gather to discuss and learn about young parents together!

Coming Soon:

  • A comprehensive guidebook for working with young parents.
  • 1-1 Coaching where support workers can receive direct help with any questions or challenges related to teen parents.

If you would like to sign up for the Expanding Hope Email Distribution List, please fill out this short form

Training Opportunities:

Organizations throughout Alberta can register to receive training on a variety of topics related to young parents led by Expanding Hope staff. Our training opportunities currently include:

Co-parenting:

Understanding the different forms of adolescent co-parenting, the importance of co-parenting, and strategies for workers helping young families navigate this dynamic.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Learn communication skills, boundary setting strategies, and how to support with making a parenting plan.
    • Challenge bias and assumptions around co-parenting.

Working With Young Dads:

Highlighting the importance of supporting Dads and keeping them involved, including practical strategies for engagement.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand the systemic biases held against young dads and learn to identify any personal and organizational biases.
    • Learn the unique needs of young dads and how to design services to target those needs specifically.

Trauma-Informed Practice:

Understanding what Trauma-Informed Practice is, how to implement it, and why it is imperative for working with young families.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Learn what trauma is and how it can affect all areas of health.
    • Understand how to develop trauma-informed skills and incorporate them into existing services.

Navigating Family Dynamics:

Learning how to support teens in managing unavoidable difficult family relationships.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Learn how to support teens in creating and maintaining healthy boundaries.
    • Understand practical strategies for helping teens maintain natural supports while still caring for their own needs.


Family Identity:

Learning the benefits of having a strong family identity, and how to help young families with building a family identity.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand how parent-child attachment, parental identity, and families of origin affect family identity.
    • Learn how to support young families overcoming adverse experiences from their family of origin, and how to build their own parental identity.
    • Understand the different components of family identity, and how to help them develop and be put into practice

Supporting Young Parents:

Exploring important considerations and strategies for working with young parents.

  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand how adolescent development and trauma influence teen parents.
    • Learn how to empower and build connections with young parents.

To book one of these trainings for your team or to suggest an additional topic for training you would like us to develop, let us know by sending an email to expandinghope@terracentre.ca

Referral Pathways:

Expanding Hope provides short-term virtual navigation support to young families and their caregivers throughout Alberta. Through this program, our team will connect with the participants to understand their needs and then connect them with community resources to best address those needs. To learn more about this service, please visit our participant services page (link back to participant services page.

If you are looking to refer a pregnant/parenting youth or their caregiver to the Expanding Hope Program for Short-Term Navigation, you can do so here:

REFERRAL

Community of Practice:  

Expanding Hope hosts regular Community of Practice sessions where professionals from across the province can gather to discuss various topics related to supporting young families. This is an incredible chance to connect with other organizations, share ideas, hear about what others are doing and ultimately grow your toolkit of supportive skills!

These sessions are run on the first Wednesday of every month.

View/download poster.

Register now.

View/download poster.

Register now.

View/download poster.

Register now.

COMING SOON

Guidebook:

A free comprehensive resource that outlines effective strategies, practices, and important considerations for working with young families. This Guidebook contains practical strategies for supporting young families, with references to Alberta-specific resources and considerations for rural communities.

Topics covered include:

  • Physical and Mental health
  • Adolescent brain development
  • Navigating family dynamics
  • Building connections and resilience
  • Building life skills
  • Trauma informed practice
  • Accessing and building natural supports

This guidebook is set to be published in April 2025!

Break to Educate:

We are excited to continue to offer our ‘Break to Educate Series’ where we bring in experts from different fields each month to share their knowledge and provide virtual training.

Planned topics include:

  • Gender and Sexual identity
  • Pregnancy
  • Birthing Supports
  • Nutrition
  • And more!

1-1 Coaching:

We also are pleased to offer a dedicated space for professionals to bring any questions or challenges they may face when working with young parents. Through this service you can receive one-on-one support from Expanding Hope staff to help address specific concerns and improve your toolkit for supporting young families.