Continuing Education

ACT Against Violence: Parents Raising Safe Kids Trainer Certification
Nov 5 - 6, 2010
Friday, 9 am – 5 pm
Saturday, 9 am – 5 pm
Pleasant Hill campus, Room N263
Psychologist, MFT, LCSW, RN
Instructor(s): Della Combs
MFT
Credit Hours: 14
Course #: CECO1006
Cost: $235.00
Materials Fee:$60.00
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Parents Raising Safe Kids is the highly acclaimed 8-week, evidence-based parent education course developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) and validated through research conducted by the National Center for Disease Control (CDC). Parents Raising Safe Kids teaches parents, caregivers and professionals about the impact of family and social violence on young children aged 0-8 years, and is offered throughout the country as part of the APA’s ADULTS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER (ACT) AGAINST VIOLENCE initiative.

Any helping professional (counselors, therapists, law enforcement, clergy, medical personnel, parents and other community workers) can become certified to teach the Parents Raising Safe Kids program by completing a 2-day ACT Trainer Certification workshop. Certified Trainers support the ACT mandate to educate and mobilize families, professionals and communities and help prevent violence against young children before it occurs by teaching the Parents Raising Safe Kids program in their local communities.

Program Content

Parents Raising Safe Kids is different from other parent education programs because it is evidence-based and includes clear, step-by-step instructions for teaching simple and specific material at each class on topics not normally covered in typical parenting programs, such as:

  • Neurological effects of violence on children ages 0-8 years
  • How violence influences children at different stages of development
  • Risk factors for child violence in the family and its consequences
  • Parenting styles, protective factors and skills for effective parenting including positive conflict interventions with children and how to discipline vs. punish children
  • The psychological, neurological and social impact on children of violence and violent media, TV, internet, etc.
  • Cultural differences in approaches to child discipline
  • Ways communities can work together to prevent violence

    JFK University in Pleasant Hill, California, is the APA’s Western Regional Training site and provider of the ACT Train-the-Trainer Workshop, serving case managers, counselors, teachers, therapists, social workers, psychologists, law enforcement personnel, clergy, nurses and physicians in the nine states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

    Instructor Biography
    Della Combs, MFT, Regional Director, ACT Violence
    Prevention Program

    Ms. Combs began her tenure at John F. Kennedy University in 2003 as adjunct faculty. In 2005, she became Core Faculty with the Graduate School of Professional Psychology MA Counseling Psychology Program where she taught Child and Adolescent Therapy A and B and Advanced Child Therapy. Ms. Combs oversees the Child and Adolescent Specialization. She teaches the Train-the-Trainer Workshops for the Adults and Children Together (ACT) Against Violence Program. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, the Academic Standards and Curriculum Committee of the Faculty Senate, and the chair of the Graduate School of Professional Psychology Academic Standards Committee. Ms Combs has a private practice in Walnut Creek, where she works primarily with children and adolescent and their families. She is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT).