Skills for Psychological Recovery train-the-trainer program: For care providers of children with special healthcare needs and disabilities during COVID-19 recovery

Abstract

Care providers, including both professional and family caregivers, were negatively impacted by the pandemic. In partnership with the Minnesota (MN) Pediatric Care Coordination Community of Practice, the MN Department of Health Regional Behavioral Health Coordinator team provided a 7-week training of trainers in Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) to care providers of adults and children with special healthcare, mental health needs, and disabilities. The goal of SPR training was to protect the mental health of disaster survivors, enhance their abilities to address needs and concerns, teach skills to promote recovery, and prevent maladaptive behaviors while identifying and supporting adaptive behaviors. Weekly sessions presented skills to gather information and prioritize assistance, build problem-solving capacity, promote positive activity, manage reactions, promote helpful thinking, and rebuild healthy social connections. Data were collected during registration on the community challenges they are dealing with due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), how COVID-19 has impacted them personally and/or professionally, and what they hoped to gain from this training. Data were also collected during the training regarding the quality of the training and the skills that they were learning through weekly feedback forms. Post-training data were collected on how they plan to use the SPR. This case study article will discuss collected data and outcomes and provide information on how to conduct the SPR training for replication. The article will also discuss limitations and future research possibilities.