Family Road Map Workshop

Curriculum Overview: 

Family Road Map:  A Five-Step Path to Helping Families Manage Big Problems

When a situation feels complicated, knowing where to start makes all the difference. Family Road Map and Young Adult Road Map are guides and curricula that help people break up big, overwhelming problems into tasks they can handle.  Offered as a six-hour workshop or “deep dive” coaching experience, Road Map® series curricula teach a simple, five-point Guiding Star method for getting better services and support in ANY system.  Problems change, procedures change—but the Guiding Star, like the North Star, doesn’t change because it is rooted in knowledge about the way ALL systems work.  The Road Map series is provided by family-driven organization Team Up for Families through TUFF-certified Coaches, Facilitators, and Master Trainers working in their own communities from Maine to Guam.

In the Family Road Map* 100-page Guide and six-unit curriculum, families learn to:

  1. SET GOALS by identifying their most functional strengths, priority concerns, and “The Big Picture” of what they need most for their child or youth and family’s future.
  2. LEARN SYSTEM BASICS so they understand what services are available and how to get them.
  3. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS with people who can help them solve problems and find services.
  4. MANAGE INFORMATION through keeping effective records and asking good questions about data that affects their child or youth’s treatment.
  5. FIND SUPPORT to meet ongoing challenges and locate resources for the long haul.

The “Classroom-Treatment Connection” is an additional unit that applies the Guiding Star method to finding special education services.

 Family Road Map provides four kinds of training for family members and providers of child/youth services:

Family Road Map six-hour workshops for family members, led by a TUFF-Certified Facilitator or Master Trainer. This experience can be offered as a single session or shorter multiple sessions.

“Start Here/Get There” is a three-hour e-learning session that teaches families to be prepared and confident when they go to IEP meetings, intake appointments, and other service interactions. Provided by Team Up for Families staff for family members, family support partners, social workers, counselors, school personnel, and other providers who work with children, youth, and families.

Coach Certification is a six-hour training for family support partners, caseworkers, social workers, school personnel, and counselors that offer skills for using the Family Road Map curriculum in one-on-one sessions with families.  Provided by PA-based Certified Master Trainers.

Facilitator Certification is a 12-hour course that teaches participants to provide either one-on-one coaching or six-hour workshops using the Family Road Map curriculum. Provided by PA-based Certified Master Trainers for family support partners, caseworkers, social workers, school personnel, counselors, and other provider staff. 

Road Map ® certified trainers have raised children with special needs, and participate in the National Learning Collaborative.

Team Up for Your Family Roadmap Overview

For more information: Contact Crystal Karenchak, Family Involvement Specialist, Desk: 717-772-7628 or karenchakcm@upmc.edu 

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