Today, another group of service providers from agencies across Durham completed Touchpoints Individual Level Training. This is the 4th cohort of trainees in Durham, and the 1st group to receive training from Durham’s newest certified Touchpoints training team comprised of: DeDreana Freeman, East Durham’s Children Initiative; Teresita Maz, El Centro Hispano; and Kenneth Robinson, Durham Early Head Start.
The training team completed Individual Level Training last May, after which they attended an intensive Community Level Training at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in Boston, MA. The Durham Touchpoints Collaborative is a certified Touchpoints community site, now with two complete training teams. This allows the Touchpoints Collaborative to provide even more training for additional service providers, furthering the reach of the Touchpoints approach through our community and enhancing how professionals engage with each other as well as with the families they serve.
This cohort of trainees included representatives from Duke Primary Children’s Care, Durham County Library, Durham Head Start, Durham Public Schools, East Durham Children’s Initiative, and Village of Wisdom. With multiple people from each agency, the Durham Touchpoints Collaborative hopes to saturate these partner organizations and create a ripple effect in our community. There are now several organizations that have had 100% of their staff complete Touchpoints training!
Touchpoints is an evidence-based theory of child development based on the work of Dr. T. Berry Brazelton that is used by providers across disciplines (e.g. pediatrics, home visiting, early education). Once implemented by providers, this method helps parents understand regressions that accompany their children’s developmental spurts, which occur often during the first years of life. The Touchpoints approach gives providers tools to support parents during these challenging times and to strengthen the parent-child relationship. Touchpoints also helps to build relationships among providers to create a common language when working with families.
For more information about the Durham Touchpoints Collaborative, please contact Paulette Stephens, Touchpoints Program Coordinator from Durham’s Partnership for Children.
