Training

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The Art of Options Counseling

Options Counseling (OC) is a key service of ADRCs that supports informed long-term care decision-making by assisting individuals and families with understanding their strengths, needs, preferences and unique situations. Options counseling helps to translate this knowledge into support strategies and plans. This training is intended for staff who directly receive and respond to inquiries about long-term care options from consumers and families, and although the context is the ADRC, other programs will benefit from the curriculum. The course defines options counseling, outlines key competencies needed to offer options counseling, and describes how it is operationalized in different organizations. For example, it describes how a variety of organizations have integrated options counseling into their established array of services. It demonstrates best practice through case scenarios, and presenters will discuss how to address challenges encountered.

Audience:This course is designed and intended for staff who directly receive and respond to inquiries about long-term supports and services, and who are involved in offering decision support to individuals and families.

Instructors: Christina Bowen, Devon Christianson, and Maurine Strickland

• Christina Neill Bowen, MSW, LISCW, is a consultant to the The Lewin Group’s Technical Assistance Exchange. Christina has been tracking the development of ADRCs since she worked on the Lewin team that evaluated the Wisconsin ADRCs from 2000 -2003. As part of the ADRC technical assistance team, Ms. Bowen serves as an expert on the following topic areas: health promotion and disease prevention, Federal Financial Participation (FFP), options counseling, private pay, and issues involving clinical social workers’ roles in ADRCs. She also facilitates learning opportunities for ADRCs through conducting both on-site and web-based trainings. Christina holds a Masters in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Certificate in Aging Studies from the Medical College of Virginia. In addition to consulting with Lewin, she also has served as a geriatric care manager conducting comprehensive in-home assessments of older adults, coordinating services, and implementing care plans for a private non-profit organization and is licensed as an independent, clinical social worker in the District of Columbia. Christina has conducted on-line and on-site trainings for ADRC grantees and facilitated the ADRC Streamlining Access Peer Workgroup. She has also conducted trainings and workshops about the ADRC initiative at several national conferences.

• Devon T. Christianson has a varied background working in human services. She has many years working with Human Service Departments on grant and system development, Area Agencies on Aging working with program evaluation, academic/ educational programs teaching future social workers, Human Services Access and Volunteer Management, and most recently, has been the Assistant Director at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County. She holds a BA in Human Development and Gerontology, an MS in Administrative Science, is a licensed social worker and AIRS-A Certified. She has worked as a Senior Center Director arranging activities for rural seniors, program manager for the Area Agency on Aging where she had a regional position over seeing grants and providing technical assistance to County Aging Units, a nursing home social worker providing emotional and social support to institutionalized seniors, Community Options Program (COP)/Hospital Link Coordinator where she directed a grant to improve the relationship between the County Human Services Department and acute care settings, coordinator of Long Term Care Information and Assistance Services at the Aging Resource Center of Brown County for 13 years, Adjunct Professor at UWGB in the Social Work Professional Program, Access and Volunteer Coordinator, Brown County Human Services Department, and Assistant Director, Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County.

• Maurine Strickland joined the State of Wisconsin’s Bureau of Aging & Disability Resources as Information & Assistance Program Specialist in the spring of 2001. She has worked in the human services field primarily in aging services for the past 15+ years. Maurine holds a Masters degree in Gerontology from Western Illinois University and a Bachelors degree with a Major in Psychology from Blackburn College. She is also a “Certified Information & Referral Specialist – Aging,” from the national Alliance of Information & Referral Systems and serves in the AIRS national board. Prior to working at the Bureau of Aging & Disability Resources she was employed as the director of the Grant County Center on Aging and has worked in aging programs in Iowa, Illinois and California.

Recorded Training

Continuing Education Credits: This course has been approved by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) for 1.5 Continuing Education Unit credits (CEUs). At the end of the course attendees will be required to complete a short exam to asses their understanding of the presented materials and complete an evaluation form, in order to receive CEU's. NASW CEU approval is endorsed by over 38 states. California, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia do not accept National CEU. Please check the National Association of Social Workers website to find your individual licensing board to verify that they accept NASW approval as well as distance learning experience.

• "Art of Options Counseling" Recorded Training

Call Resources

Presentation from TAE Training - The Art of Options Counseling (PDF) or (PowerPoint)
This presentation describes the core competencies of Options Counseling and provides strategies for practicing successful options counseling within an ADRC.

Early Dementia Profile (PDF) or (Word)
This family profile is a companion to the Art of Options Counseling Training. Participants in the training are asked to play the role of the options counselor to this family.

ADRC Training Post Test
This is the Options Counseling Training Post Test. Participants must complete the Post Test to receive CEU credits.

TAE Training Handout: Options Counseling Topic Overview (PDF) or (Word)
The ADRC Technical Assistance Exchange developed this training handout on Options Counseling, updated in spring 2010.

Advanced Art of Options Counseling Training Materials
This TAE training goes beyond the content presented in The Art of Options Counseling to explore the core competencies in detail. This page features other training materials and tools that can be used by options counselors in the field.

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