Introduction to the Trainer's Manual

CSAP's Community Partnership Training (CCPT) Program

The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) established the Community Partnership Demonstration Grant Program in 1990 to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) problems in communities throughout the United States by building local coalitions of multiple agencies and organizations, community groups, and hard-to-reach, high-risk groups. The intent is for the partnerships to involve their communities in planning and developing comprehensive, long-term strategies for prevention of ATOD problems so that the success of different community approaches for prevention can be comparatively evaluated.

The CSAP Community Partnership Training (CCPT) program was established to provide training support services on organizational development strategies, planning, and ATOD prevention strategies to CSAP partnership grantees. The training and development activities are intended to facilitate the goal of empowering communities for effective ATOD problem prevention. This Community Training Workshop was developed under the CCPT contract.
CCPT's goals are to assist partnerships in:

Developing and nurturing an effective organization;
Ensuring that the membership reflects the diverse cultures and sectors of the community;
Gaining the knowledge, abilities, skills, and motivation they need to plan and coordinate comprehensive ATOD problem prevention strategies in, and with, their communities.

CCPT has developed a comprehensive set of training programs to meet its overall goals and objectives. The program is composed of several institutes and a number of community training workshops.

The Institutes

1.Community Partnership Institute

This Institute is called "basic" because it is intended to address fundamental organizational development issues facing new partnerships. It is designed to provide new ways of looking at community collaboration and involvement.

Storytelling for Empowerment

DAY 1

SESSION	ROOM SET-UP	SUPPLIES	LEAD TRAINER	OTHER TRAINERS
1 INFORMAL INTRODUCTIONS 8:30-9:00	Tables at Angles	Name Tags, Markers, Music, Tape Player
2 STORY 9:00-9:30	Tables at Angles	Clip Microphone
3 INTRODUCTIONS AND OVERVIEW 9:30-10:15	Tables at Angles	Newsprint Stands (2) Markers
4 ATOD PREVENTION & STORYTELLING 10:15-11:00	Tables at Angles	Newsprint Stands (1) Overhead Projector
5 CHARACTERISTICS AND PURPOSE OF STORIES 11:15-12:00	1ST HALF-Tables at Angles 2ND HALF-3 Circles of Chairs	Newsprint Stands (3) Overhead Projector
6 ORAL TRADITIONS 1:30-2:15	Tables at Angles	Symbols on Wall
7 PERSONAL SYMBOLS 2:15-3:00	1ST HALF-Tables for Art 2ND HALF-3 Circles of Chairs	Art Supplies Music, Tape Players
8 HELPING PEOPLE LEARN FROM STORIES 3:15-3:45	Tables for Art	Art Supplies Music
9 COYOTE STORIES 3:45-4:30	3 Circles of Chairs	Newsprint Stands (3) Art Supplies
10 STORY TELLER 7:30-8:30	Semi-circles of Chairs	Translator (maybe) Clip Microphone, Refreshments

DAY 2

SESSION	ROOM SET-UP	SUPPLIES	LEAD TRAINER	OTHER TRAINERS
11 WELCOME AND RECAP 9:00-9:30	Group Directions 6 Groups of 10	Newsprint Tape
12 STORYTELLING WORKSHOP 9:30-10:45	Group Directions 2 Circles 2 Groups of Tables	Art Supplies Tape Player
13 PERSONAL STORIES 11:00-12:00	3 Circles of Chairs	Newsprint Stands (3)
14 INTEGRATING STORIES INTO PREVENTION 1:30-2:30	Group Lecturette Tables for Art 2ND HALF-3 circles of chairs	Art Supplies, Tape Player, Newsprint Stands (3)
15 REENTRY 2:45-3:45	Group Directions 6 Groups	Newsprint, Markers Tape

2.Institute for Partnership Development (IPD)

The IPD is designed for partnerships that have completed early organizing and planning work and have become ready to fill gaps in their community ATOD prevention system.

3.Cultural Specific Institutes

These are intended to facilitate the work of diverse cultural groups in mounting effective, comprehensive ATOD prevention both within their own groups and with one another. The Cultural Specific Institutes are:

Multicultural Leadership Institute
Institute for African-American Mobilization
Asian and Pacific Islander Institute
Hispanic and Latino Institute
Gathering of Native Americans

Community Training Workshops

These workshops are designed to address a variety of specific skills related to the work of the partnerships. In addition to CSAP-funded partnership members, the workshops are open to community ATOD problem prevention professionals, volunteers, and coalition members. All workshops are designed with community input, and sessions are interactive and participatory. Most are limited to 60 participants.

Organization of the Trainer's Manual

This manual is intended to be used by trainers and facilitators to prepare for training and to guide the delivery of training. It details for trainers what is to be covered in presentations and how to set up, conduct and process group activities. Trainers are expected to draw upon their own knowledge and expertise in the subject area to enrich the training and to provide relevant examples and illustrations, while maintaining the integrity of the training design as presented in the manual.

The manual is organized by training modules. These are arranged in sequence according to a logical flow. Each module stands alone as a block of instruction, but is connected to all others as an integrated whole.

The following information is included for each module in the workshop:

Title.
Day and time for the module.
Purpose of the module.
Learning objectives in terms of intended outcomes for participants.
A list of major sections of the module, including the time allotted for each.
A list of equipment, materials, and supplies to be used in the module. Trainers will have to prepare their own newsprint when needed, but will be provided with acetate copies of transparencies.
A list of materials to be included in the Participant's Manual.
Room requirements (if different from general setup described in the first module).
Important preparation that trainers and facilitators should attend to before delivering the training (if any).
list of resources, especially readings, that trainers might use for reference purposes (if any).
A two-column trainer outline describing the content to be presented and the training methods to be used.

The following items are intended to assist trainers in using the outline most effectively:

The content to be addressed in the module will need some elaboration, clarification, or illustration. Trainers are expected to use information from the reference sheets included in the manual and from their own and participants' knowledge and experience to provide such elaboration. Trainers should be prepared to adapt materials or methods to the culture of the participants and to add humor, anecdotes, and the like to enliven presentations as appropriate.
Although complete sentences or paragraphs are used to make certain that complete thoughts are conveyed in the written outline, the sentences are not intended to be read to participants. They should be paraphrased or stated in the trainer's own words.
For large and small group exercises, trainers will find instruction for how to introduce, conduct, and process the exercise to achieve the stated learning objectives of the module. It is expected that trainers will state the purpose of the exercise to participants and relate it appropriately to what has been done so far in the module. Trainers should use the processing questions as a guide, drawing from their own observations and understanding of group dynamics to tailor the questions appropriately for the particular group of participants while keeping the learning objectives in mind.
Trainer notes included in the outline offer additional instruction or provide options for trainers in conducting the activity.
As a general rule, transparencies should be the primary mode of presenting visuals in large group sessions, as newsprint will be too small to be seen by everyone. Similarly, trainers are expected to use microphones when the number of participants is over forty.
Prepared newsprint used in small group sessions should be done in large print and dark colors to be easily readable to everyone in the group.
When written materials are used in exercises (such as case study materials), trainers should have someone read the material aloud to participants (in the total group or in smaller break-out groups) to facilitate everyone's understanding.

Managing Time

Because people learn at different rates, and the level of knowledge and expertise will vary in different groups, it may be occasionally difficult to adhere to the times allotted for each training activity. Trainers should use the time frames included in the curriculum as a guide and try to follow them as closely as possible to maintain the integrity of the overall training design, but it is anticipated that occasional modifications will be needed to meet the particular needs of the participants. The learning objectives, in addition to trainer observations of participants' needs should be used to determine how modifications are made.

This workshop is intended to be experiential and interactive. Lectures are typically followed by group exercises that allow participants to discover and/or practice new ideas and concepts. Trainers should strive for a good balance by keeping lectures short, giving participants the chance to raise questions and/or comments, and taking adequate time to conduct and process the exercises to draw the learnings from participants.

In some cases, trainers can deliver key content points in less time than allotted for a lecture, then reinforce or elaborate upon them during the processing of the exercise. This depends on the trainer being thoroughly knowledgeable of the content and the learning objectives and being able to take advantage of opportunities to make a point or bring in a new concept.

Breaks

Most refreshment breaks are scheduled between modules; a few are incorporated into a module. All scheduled breaks should be taken to maintain participant interest and energy; their exact timing, however, should be guided by the needs of the group. Activities should be completed before a break is called, although a stretch break should be taken if discomfort or fatigue is interfering with interest and concentration.

Participant Manual

The participant manual includes copies of the transparencies and reference sheets used during training. (Handouts are distributed separately when they are needed.) Trainers should review the manual with participants, walking them through what is included and how it is organized, at the start of the workshop and refer to it throughout the workshop.

Cultural and Other Considerations

Trainers should be sure that cultural awareness and sensitivity are integrated throughout the workshop and that participants are continually reminded of the importance of understanding concepts of the workshop within a cultural context. The emphasis should be on discovering, respecting, and working with the norms, beliefs, and preferences of ethnic, racial, cultural, gender, religious, or other groups, defined by representatives of these groups within their communities.

Stereotypical statements should be avoided. If generalizations are used, they should be clearly labeled as such and modified with terms such as "many" or "tend to." The role of institutional and societal racism, sexism, ageism, and other such "isms" should be acknowledged as these pertain to problems associated with or underlying ATOD problem prevention.

It is important for trainers to constantly keep in mind the cultural context in which the information is being presented, and to recognize that some of the theories and skills covered in this curriculum may need to be modified to apply to different cultures. As a part of the preparation process, trainers need to think through the cultural variables that influence the concepts they are presenting, as well as the links to prevention.