The organization’s Gang Training 101 will assist 80 professionals in:
- signs to watch for to determine if there is gang activity in the home
- safety concerns for a child or professional in the home with gang activity
- how to effectively articulate and report gang presence
Project Harmony is a child protection center.
The training will be led by Sgt. Jonathan Waller, who is currently part of the gang intelligence unit with the Omaha Police Department. The two-hour training session will begin at 9 a.m.
Gang Training 101 is just one in a series of gang-related training sessions to come. Project Harmony intends to open this training to more professionals as well as the entire community for free.
Project Harmony also hopes to help school officials by providing training to 30 local mental health providers, Aug. 10-12, on CBITS (Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools). CBITS is a national, evidence-based training designed to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and behavioral problems and improve functioning, grades, attendance, peer and parent support, and coping skills.
Once trained, these mental health providers will be placed in Omaha-area schools to implement CBITS and help children traumatized by violence. Project Harmony believes that when mental health or trauma symptoms can be identified early in a child’s life, a wide range of problems can be prevented, including child maltreatment.
The CBITS training will be held at the Child Saving Institute from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. all three days and led by two nationally recognized trainers: Dr. Audra Langley, Ph.D. Executive Director-UCLA TIES for Families, and Erum Nadeem, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry NYU School of Medicine.
“There is an increase need in our community to children exposed to violence,” says Project Harmony Executive Director Gene Klein. “These efforts allow for a stronger response to children and a stronger collaboration with area schools and other community agencies.”
For a complete listing of free training courses available to the public through the Training Institute at Project Harmony, please visit: www.projectharmony.com.
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