Training Institutes 2012 - National Technical Assistance Center for ...

INSTITUTE #27 8:30 AM FRIDAY • 1:30 PM SATURDAY • SUN A
Using Cultural Dialogues to Promote Culturally Competent Practice
INSTITUTES
OBJECTIVES—Participants will learn:
1. To discuss the benefits of the cultural dialogue process
2. To use the Disparity Reduction through Empowerment, Awareness, and Moving Systems (DREAMS) Dialogues
structure and to explain why this structure works
3. To implement strategies for assessing community readiness for the DREAMS Dialogues process
4. To successfully implement the DREAMS Dialogues
5. To use the core components of a DREAMS session
6. How to facilitate some of the interactive exercises in their communities
7. To apply lessons learned to inform future implementation of cultural dialogues
This Institute will focus on the use of DREAMS Dialogues to enhance culturally competent practice within systems of
care. In systems of care, there is often a cultural divide between service providers and those that they serve. While this
cultural divide is multi-faceted ranging from social class to sexual orientation, there is a specific need to address the
ethnic divide between communities of color receiving services and the largely European American mental health
workforce. This session will explore how the DREAMS Dialogue Series addresses the African American experience.
The DREAM Dialogues come from the collaborative work of the Monroe County, New York System of Care team and
its partners. The dialogue series was created to provide the opportunity for a structured opportunity that is safe and that
will facilitate attitudinal change. The program seeks to develop an individual’s awareness of the cultural divide in the
community and between adult and youth consumers, their families, and their service providers. It is intended for
individuals at different points in their own cultural journeys. Upon completing the DREAM Dialogues series,
participants understand the value of cultural identity and have new skills to help them build relationships among youth
and families in the community and those who work with them in the mental health system, community-based agencies,
and nontraditional settings.
Specific topics to be covered include:
• The makeup of the dialogues (e.g., size of group, use of interactive, spacing of meetings, etc.) and rationale
• Specific types of partnerships and relationships that are necessary to implement and sustain this process
• Real time experience of a DREAMS Dialogue session
• Instruction of when, where, and how the interactive exercises can be used in a community
• Next steps that participants can take upon return to their communities
The session will be extremely interactive with participants engaging in exercises and discussion around the DREAMS
Dialogues. Participants will be moving during the session and should be prepared to engage with their fellow
participants as well as with faculty. Faculty will include the perspectives of a director of community engagement and
family leader, a clinical social worker, and county mental health director and system of care leader.
MODERATOR/PRESENTER: Melanie Funchess, Director of Community Engagement, Mental Health Association,
Rochester, NY
Joe Alessi, M.S.W., Supervising School Social Worker/Clinical Social Worker, Rochester City School District, North
Chili, NY
Kathleen Plum, Ph.D., Director, Monroe County Office of Mental Health, Department of Human Services, Rochester, NY
Training Institutes 2012
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