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Training resources
Live workshops and recorded trainings are available at no-cost for VSHSL-funded providers.
The Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) supports VSHSL-funded providers and programs by offering core competency trainings. These trainings are meant to help providers attain and maintain key skills and concepts. Training topics are informed by responses to the annual narrative report. This resource is available to eligible providers at no cost. Some trainings have been recorded and are available to view here.
Upcoming trainings
Note:
- Please register individually even if you plan to attend the training as a group.
- Once you receive the Zoom login information, please do not forward it; all registrants will receive the login information.
- Encourage staff in your organization to register for trainings early.
Five Steps Towards Stronger Cultural Competence
Trainer: Cross Cultural Health Care Program
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Description: This session provides skills necessary to navigate cross-cultural communication and arrive at mutual understanding and agreement across cultural differences. The training starts with a brief overview of the concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility, and their importance in delivering effective health and human services. Participants will learn steps, when practiced effectively, can interrupt cultural bumps/disconnects and move people toward greater understanding of each other’s perspectives and more culturally supportive outcomes.
In broad terms, the five steps:
- Awareness of self and one’s own culture and other(s) cultures
- Acknowledgment of and respect for cultural differences
- Honest validation of differences in cultural values, beliefs, and perspectives
- Negotiation towards a positive outcome for all based on shared goals
- Acting based on mutual agreement of the steps to take
Learning Objectives:
- Gain the skills necessary to successfully navigate cross-cultural interactions, through applying the five steps of cultural competence
- Strengthen the understanding that ongoing work on one’s cultural competency journey is a prerequisite for systemic change
Trainer bio: Paulina Bendaña currently serves a consultant to the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP). CCHCP is a nonprofit organization that has been providing training and consulting services related to cultural competency, health equity, and language access for over 30 years. Paulina served as Director of CCHCP for over 5 years. She has developed and led several major training, consulting, and community projects with health care and human services organizations across the US to develop and implement cultural competency/equity & inclusion training programs and organizational assessments, enabling organizations to strengthen their policies and practices for staff, clients and community members. Paulina’s work in the nonprofit sector includes being the co-founder and Executive Director of the Sustainable Honduras Conference, a network of organizations that undertake humanitarian programs in Honduras. Paulina has an M.A. in Economics from American University and a B.A. in Economics and Latin American Studies from Hampshire College. She is bilingual and also a trained medical interpreter.
Navigating Compassion Fatigue: A Nervous System Approach
Trainer: Michelle Perrier, LMHCA
Date: Thursday, March 5, 2026
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Description: This workshop provides a practical, trauma-informed introduction to compassion fatigue through a nervous system and body-based lens. Drawing from evidence-based approaches such as EMDR, somatic-based therapies, and parts work (IFS). The training explores how stress and emotional intensity affect helpers, how nervous system dysregulation and trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, shutdown) show up in everyday interactions, and how absorbing others’ stress can contribute to burnout, compassion fatigue, and boundary strain.
Participants are introduced to regulation, grounding, and boundary-supporting tools through brief teaching, guided exercises, and demonstrations, with an emphasis on skills that can be used during work, between interactions, and at the end of the day to support presence and sustainability in helping roles.
Learning Objectives:
Explain basic nervous system concepts, including the Window of Tolerance and common trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, shutdown)
Recognize signs of nervous system dysregulation in themselves and others
Understand burnout and compassion fatigue as nervous system responses
Become familiar with practical somatic and EMDR strategies to navigate dysregulation (such as bilateral movement, resourcing, containment, grounding, breathwork, and pendulation)
Increase awareness of internal reactions using parts-based (IFS-informed) concepts to support presence and regulation
Apply mindfulness as moment-to-moment awareness during conversations and daily tasks
Identify boundary and regulation strategies that support engagement without absorbing others’ distress
Trainer bio: Michelle Perrier, LMHCA, is a multicultural trauma and anxiety therapist in Washington and the owner of a private practice specializing in trauma-informed, somatic and EMDR care. With over 10 years of experience in digital marketing, she brings a unique interdisciplinary lens to clinical work, training, and community education. Identifying as biracial Korean American, Michelle’s lived experience informs her understanding of culture, identity, and the experience of navigating “in-between” worlds. Her work is rooted in the belief that healing is always possible and that individuals possess an innate capacity for resilience. Her work is guided by a mission to advance accessible mental health care across diverse communities.
Trauma-Informed Care
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 10:00am-12:00pm
Location: Virtual
Trainer: Cross Cultural Health Care Program
Description: This workshop introduces key concepts about trauma-informed care, with an emphasis on a holistic understanding of how past experiences may impact accessing, participating in, and following through with care services. Participants are introduced to skills to help them understand the potential of unintentional re-traumatization and help promote engagement, trust-building, and empowerment of the individual in the care process. The exploration of these skills is encouraged through group discussions and exercises.
The learning objectives include:
- Defining person-centered, trauma-informed care and its relevance in providing health and human services to the communities/individuals served your organizations
- Identifying ways in which past trauma may manifest in the behaviors of individuals served by your organizations
- Cultural and personal meaning of traumatic experiences, and understanding of intergenerational trauma
- Understanding the core values of person-centered, trauma-informed care; including dignity, respect, cultural humility, and empowerment
- Learning how to apply the key trauma-informed principles of care (Safety, Trustworthiness and Transparency, Peer Support and Mutual Self-Help, Collaboration and Mutuality, Empowerment, Voice, and Choice, Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues)
- Discovering strategies to nurture compassion in caregiving, including self-care practices for balancing professional boundaries with genuine connection
This workshop will not be recorded.
Previous trainings
Past trainings are recorded and available to watch on Vimeo.