TRAINING

FACT:  It doesn't matter  how good you may perceive a curriculum to be, it doesn't matter how many letters after the name of the author or how large the organization is that is promoting the curriculum. It doesn't matter about all the bells and whistles or even if the curriculum is "free".  The truth is, if the person training does not know the population, or only knows the population through reading books and not through "hands on experience" , the training will not be effective or lasting, this applies to Training the Trainers also.  There are three main considerations is picking someone to "effectively" train and that is

Hands on Experience	The trainer must be someone that has worked with the incarcerated population.  If you do not understand this population and their needs you will not be "trusted" by this population and therefore you will not be effective, and could actually cause more issues.
Leave your self-values and judgements at the door.	You must be comfortable with going into an incarcerated environment, and you must be sure that this is what you want to do.  You must do it from the "heart" and not the money.  This population will know if you are "real" or not and again this plays into the "trust" with this population. You must leave your self values and judgments at the door.  You cannot compare life opportunities.
It's all about the children	The most important thing is that you must remember at all times how your training will relate to the children, or how your effectiveness of training will improve the lives of the children and that family as a whole, and how this will make a difference in their community.

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