Leadership Classes

Caregiving can be demanding, but it can also be deeply rewarding. This heart-centered presentation offers practical strategies and fresh perspectives to help you rediscover purpose, connection, and even joy in your caregiving journey. You'll learn ways to manage stress, celebrate small victories, and nurture your well-being while supporting someone you love. Whether you're caring for a family member, friend, or client, this session will inspire you to find meaning in the challenges and embrace the moments that matter most.

Agile Leadership: This class emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration. It guides teams through complex and dynamic environments. Agile leadership is not about dictating or micromanaging but rather empowering individuals, encouraging innovation, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement. It requires adaptability, emotional intelligence, and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement. During this program, learn key elements of agile leadership.

Authentic Leadership: This leadership approach emphasizes transparency, self-awareness, integrity, and ethical behavior. Authentic leaders are genuine, true to their values, and act in a way that is consistent with their beliefs and principles. This form of leadership encourages trust, fosters long-term relationships, and supports a positive organizational culture. It's about leading with heart, mind, and integrity, ensuring that both the leader's and the team member's values and goals align.

Lead with Creativity and Innovation: Promoting creativity and innovation at work is essential for fostering a dynamic and competitive environment. It allows organizations to adapt to changing demands, solve complex problems, and stay ahead in the market. Learn strategies that can help boost creativity and innovation in the workplace, leading to continuous improvement and business success.

Employee Coaching Techniques: Employee coaching is an essential part of employee development, helping employees improve their performance, gain new skills, and achieve their career goals. Effective coaching techniques can enhance motivation, foster better communication, and drive greater results. During this training program, you will learn tools to use to provide more effective coaching to your employees.

Leaders Building Trust: "Leaders Building Trust" refers to the actions and behaviors that leaders engage in to create an environment of trust within a team, organization, or community. Trust is a fundamental component of effective leadership, as it fosters collaboration, communication, and commitment to shared goals. During this training program, learn some key elements of building trust as a leader.

Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders: Stepping into leadership is more than earning a title — it's embracing a new way of thinking, acting, and connecting. This dynamic, hands-on training equips new and emerging leaders with the skills and confidence to inspire, guide, and make a meaningful impact. Participants will strengthen their leadership foundation by learning to actively listen and build trust, lead with resilience through change and challenges, and transition from peer to leader with clarity and respect. Whether you're stepping into leadership for the first time or preparing for the leap, this program offers the insight, tools, and encouragement to help you and your team thrive.

Customer Service for Long-Term Care: This comprehensive, interactive training program equips staff with the skills and mindset necessary to deliver compassionate, respectful, and effective service to residents, their families, and fellow team members. Participants explore the unique nature of customer service within healthcare settings, emphasizing empathy, communication, and person-centered care. The class covers essential topics such as active listening, handling difficult conversations, addressing concerns with professionalism, and building trust-based relationships. The program also highlights the importance of teamwork, self-care, and cultivating a positive work environment to support consistent, high-quality service. By the end of the training, your team will be empowered with actionable strategies and renewed commitment to delivering exceptional care in every interaction.

Engagement and Motivation: Employee engagement and motivation are critical factors that influence organizational success, productivity, and overall workplace morale. Both concepts, though related, are distinct and require different strategies to be effectively fostered in a work environment. By investing in employee engagement and motivation, organizations can foster a committed and productive workforce that drives long-term success.

Learning Styles: Individuals have different preferences or approaches when it comes to learning new information and skills. People absorb and process information in various ways, and recognizing these styles can help leaders to be more effective. During this training program, learn the different styles and how to adapt and change to provide a better learning experience. Remember, learning can happen anywhere, not just in a classroom.

The Power of Feedback: The power of feedback lies in its ability to enhance performance, develop skills, and foster better relationships. Whether you're giving or receiving feedback, the goal is to promote growth, learning, and improvement. Creating a culture that values constructive feedback will not only help individuals improve but will also drive success across teams and organizations. During this training program, learn how you can improve providing and receiving feedback.

The Thought Model: This training program will explore how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected. It suggests that our thoughts influence our feelings and behaviors, and conversely, changing our thoughts can lead to changes in emotions and behaviors. This model is often used to help individuals recognize and challenge negative or distorted thinking patterns. Understanding the thought model will help us be better leaders.

We are Called, Service Excellence in Healthcare: This uplifting training experience will inspire healthcare teams to serve with purpose, empathy, and excellence. Discovering how to build trust through presence, communicate with clarity and compassion, and strengthen teamwork, morale, and service culture. Remembering their work is more than a job, it's a calling will help employees identify every interaction as a chance to make someone feel seen, heard, and valued. They will learn to lead with heart and serve with excellence.

Your Purpose, Your Work: Defining your purpose at work is a crucial step toward finding fulfillment and focus in your career. It involves reflecting on what drives you, what values you align with, and how your work contributes to a larger goal. This clarity can increase job satisfaction, guide decision-making, and enhance your overall sense of accomplishment at work. Learn steps to help you define your purpose with this training program.

This presentation can be done in one day, staggered sessions over weeks, or pared down to focus on just one of the below topics.

• Crucial Conversations: The conversation is meant to fill the "Pool of Shared Meaning." The pool is where the views, facts, opinions, theories, emotions, and experiences shared in the conversation are understood and valued by everyone involved.
• The Art of Active Listening: Active listening helps you to avoid conflict and misunderstandings. It can positively impact your productivity and relationships. It's essential for people to feel listened to when they're talking, and active listening ensures that this happens!
• Color Personalities: By knowing your color personality, you will be able to leverage your personality's specific color traits to strengthen your relationships through better understanding and communication.
• Workplace Resilience: Resilience training helps employees develop an agile mindset and equip them to tackle workplace challenges. Developing skills to recognize and regulate emotions, build self-esteem, set achievable goals, and understand the extent of one's role in a situation and the limits of what one can control.
• Preventing Burnout with Team Focus: Leaders are responsible for creating positive employee experiences and reducing workplace stress for employees. Learn how to remove barriers, facilitate collaboration, and ensure that employees feel fully supported to do their best work.
• Preventing Burnout with Self-care and Self-Awareness: Preventing burnout involves self-care practices and setting healthy boundaries. It also involves regularly assessing and adjusting one's workload to maintain a sustainable balance between work and personal life.
• Bringing New Employees into the Organization: Remember when you were a new employee? What was your experience? Reflect on your experience and that of others to create an action plan to better assimilate new hires into your department.
• Change Management & Rooms of Change: Learn a systematic approach to dealing with organizational transitions and transformations.  The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change, and helping people to adapt to change.

CARE U (CARE University) is an evidence-based workshop developed by the UW–Madison School of Nursing's Center for Aging Research and Education, launched in 2014 to strengthen the skills and knowledge of certified nursing assistants, personal care workers, community health workers, and other direct care staff who work with older adults. These worshops equipping attendees with practical strategies for delivering high-quality, person-centered care.

The Healthcare Workforce Training Institute is a certified training provider of the CARE U workshops, which can be offered individually or with any and all topics combined. The Care U workshops address the seven key areas of:

• Putting the Person in Person-Centered Care: Person-centered care means focusing on the person, not just the tasks—honoring their values, preferences, and routines. It improves life for older adults, families, and care workers, and is especially important for those living with dementia. Learn practical ways to bring person-centered care into your daily work and life—while sharing your own experiences and strategies.
• Basics of Dementia Care: Dementia affects millions worldwide and is the leading cause of death without a cure. As our population ages, more people are living with dementia in adult day programs, residential care, and nursing homes. This presentation will help you understand how dementia changes thinking and behavior, recognize common symptoms, and respond to challenging situations with skill and compassion.
• Aging and Vision: Vision changes are common with age—some are correctable, while others can permanently affect daily life. By age 85, one in five people has permanent vision loss, yet many are unaware of common eye diseases. Discover how vision changes impact daily activities and how to adapt care so older adults can stay as independent as possible—while also protecting your eye health.
• Maintaining Older Adult Mobility: Staying mobile is key to healthy aging and independence. Still, mobility loss is common in older adults and can lead to decreased quality of life, higher risk of nursing home admission, and early death. Learn what threatens mobility, how to prevent decline, and ways you can support older adults in staying active and independent every day.
• Nutrition Strategies for Older Adults: Nutritional needs change with age. Older adults typically need more protein, more fluids, and extra support to avoid malnutrition. Malnutrition is common and can lead to weakness, falls, more extended hospital stays, and higher health risks. Find out ways to support healthy eating, hydration, and food safety, and how to work with health care teams to keep older adults strong and well-nourished.
• Understanding Pain: Pain is not a regular part of aging, but is common in older adults. If left untreated, pain can affect comfort, mobility, mood, sleep, and quality of life. Become a trained pain investigator. Learn how to spot signs, ask the right questions, and share what you find — while exploring the physical, emotional, social, and cultural factors that influence pain and its treatment.
• Emergency Preparedness: Emergencies can happen anytime—from severe weather to public health crises. Direct care workers play a vital role in protecting older adults during these events. Learn how to prepare yourself, your family, and those you care for, understand emergency response systems, and find reliable information before, during, and after a disaster.

Continuing education is essential for CBRF caregivers to maintain high standards of care, meet Wisconsin's 15 hours of required training, and adapt to evolving best practices. Ongoing training strengthens staff skills, reinforces safety procedures, and enhances understanding of resident needs—whether related to health, behavior, or daily living. By investing in professional development, CBRFs ensure compliance, reduce risks, improve resident quality of life, and foster a culture of competence, compassion, and confidence among their care teams.

The Healthcare Workforce Training Institute proud to provide the following CBRF continuing education courses, which can be offered individually or with any and all topics combined.

• Advanced Aging - Quality Care in Action: Help your CBRF team deepen their understanding of the physical, cognitive, and emotional changes associated with advanced aging with this engaging, evidence-based class. Participants will learn practical strategies to support dignity, independence, and engagement while addressing complex care needs. The class covers proactive health monitoring, effective communication for cognitive decline, and techniques to promote safety and quality of life in Wisconsin’s CBRF setting.
• Challenging Behaviors - Understanding & Responding with Skill: Equip your CBRF caregivers with practical strategies to address challenging behaviors across diverse client groups. Participants will learn how to identify triggers, use de-escalation techniques, and adapt care approaches to meet individual needs. With a focus on empathy, safety, and effective communication, this CBRF class helps staff respond confidently and compassionately, improving outcomes for both clients and care teams.
• Customer Service- Building Trust Through Exceptional Care: Enhance the communication, professionalism, and service skills of your CBRF team when they interact with residents, families, and coworkers. Class participants will learn techniques for active listening, problem-solving, and managing difficult situations with empathy and respect. By fostering positive relationships and exceeding expectations, caregivers can create a welcoming environment that supports both resident satisfaction and quality of care.
• Disability Awareness - Inclusive Care for Every Individual: Build understanding and sensitivity toward individuals with physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities. Participants will explore the impact of disability on daily living, communication, and care needs, while learning practical strategies to promote dignity, independence, and inclusion. Through real-world examples and interactive discussion, caregivers will strengthen their ability to provide respectful, person-centered support in a CBRF setting.
• Fire Safety - Preparedness, Prevention & Response: Equip your CBRF staff with the knowledge and skills to prevent, respond to, and safely manage fire emergencies. Participants will review fire prevention measures, evacuation procedures, and the proper use of fire safety equipment. With a focus on protecting residents and staff, this class reinforces compliance with Wisconsin CBRF regulations while promoting a culture of safety and preparedness.
• First Aid & Choking - Rapid Response Skills for Caregivers: Prepare your CBRF team to respond quickly and effectively to medical emergencies. Participants will review essential first aid techniques, recognize signs of choking, and practice safe, appropriate interventions. With a focus on maintaining calm under pressure, this class builds confidence and competence to protect resident health and safety in critical moments.
• Food Safety - Protecting Health Through Proper Practices: Provide your CBRF staff with the knowledge and skills to handle, prepare, and store food safely in compliance with regulations. Participants will review safe food temperatures, cross-contamination prevention, personal hygiene standards, and cleaning protocols. By following best practices, caregivers can reduce the risk of foodborne illness and ensure meals are safe, nutritious, and enjoyable for all residents.
• Individual Service Plans - Personalized Care for Better Outcomes: Teach your CBRF staff how to create and implement effective Individual Service Plans (ISPs) that meet each resident’s unique needs and preferences. Participants will learn how to assess strengths, identify goals, and document care strategies in compliance with regulations. The class emphasizes collaboration, person-centered care planning, and regular plan updates to ensure the highest quality of individualized care.
• Managing Incontinence - Comfort, Dignity & Effective Care: Give your CBRF team the strategies to manage urinary and bowel incontinence while preserving resident dignity and comfort. Participants will learn about causes, prevention techniques, product selection, skin care, and infection prevention. The class emphasizes compassionate communication, individualized care planning, and best practices to promote health, independence, and quality of life for residents.
• Medication Administration - Accuracy, Safety & Compliance: Equip your CBRF staff with the knowledge and skills to administer medications safely, accurately, and in compliance with regulations. Participants will review the “Six Rights” of medication administration, proper documentation practices, and techniques to reduce errors. The CBRF class also covers recognizing side effects, responding to medication-related emergencies, and promoting resident safety through consistent best practices.
• Preventing Abuse & Neglect - Safeguarding Residents with Dignity: Empower your CBRF team to recognize, prevent, and respond to signs of abuse, neglect, and exploitation with this in-depth class. Participants will learn the types and indicators of abuse, mandatory reporting requirements, and strategies to create a safe, respectful environment for residents. Through case examples and interactive discussion, caregivers will strengthen their ability to protect vulnerable individuals while upholding ethical and legal responsibilities in a CBRF setting.
• Resident Rights - Promoting Dignity, Choice & Respect: Help your CBRF team understand and uphold the legal and ethical rights of residents. Participants will review Resident Rights regulations, explore real-world scenarios, and learn strategies to ensure dignity, privacy, and autonomy in care. By fostering a culture of respect and empowerment, caregivers can enhance the quality of life and build trust with those they serve.
• Specialized Diets - Nutrition for Individual Needs: Help your CBRF team understand and support residents with unique dietary requirements. Participants will learn about common specialized diets—such as diabetic, low-sodium, texture-modified, and allergen-free—along with safe food preparation, portion control, and monitoring strategies. The class emphasizes compliance with physician orders, nutrition guidelines, and regulations to ensure residents receive safe, appropriate, and enjoyable meals.
• Standard Precautions - Infection Prevention for Safer Care: Equip CBRF team with the knowledge and skills to prevent the spread of infection and maintain a safe environment for residents and caregivers. Participants will review proper hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), safe handling of sharps, and cleaning protocols. The CBRF class emphasizes compliance with regulations and best practices to protect health in all care settings.
• Workplace Violence - Prevention, Awareness & Response: Teach your CBRF team how to recognize, prevent, and respond to incidents of workplace violence. Participants will learn to identify early warning signs, use de-escalation techniques, and follow safety protocols to protect themselves, coworkers, and residents. The class also covers reporting procedures, self-protection strategies, and fostering a safe, respectful workplace culture in compliance with CBRF standards.