Kathy Thompson

You Are Our Priority

The Professional Development Committee has been hard at work this year, and we want to tell you about what we've done and what some upcoming training opportunities are in the works for the future.  

Many of you have participated in our annual Forum for Professional Development that is normally held in the fall. With the pandemic, we suspended the Forum this year, but we realized, especially now, we need ongoing professional development for our members.

In December we held our first online event in coordination with Child 360. The topic was "Self-Care and Mindfulness" that had many fun elements and was totally interactive, the feedback we received was very positive. On January 30 we held a workshop on the topic of "Trauma Informed Practices" with our guest speaker, Kelly Rizzi from the Shasta County Office of Education. That was so well received, Kelly was gracious enough to agree to a second workshop on February 20 as a repeat session so more members could participate. Kelly is a wealth of knowledge of the subject and she shared research and practical things adults can do to help a child self-regulate.

On May 15 we held a workshop on Legislative Advocacy and the Governor's May Revise presented by members of the CAAEYC Public Policy Committee. On June 19, we will hear from Sheila Smith on Embracing Equity. Registration will open soon for the June workshop.

Our committee is dedicated to listening to our member's voices and hearing what training topics we should plan for beyond June. We surveyed our State Chapter Presidents to find what topics are most needed at this time. Look for more information as it becomes available.