Shownotes
S2 E6 - COAAA University
The mission of COAAA University is to create a confident, competent, compassionate, and connected workforce. Learn from Erica Drewry, Director of Client Services, and Carrie Oswald, Clinical Operations Analyst, about the vision and planning efforts that have gone into the creation of COAAA University.
The university, a training program developed from clinical best practices, is designed to equip staff with fundamental skills for working with the public. Katie, Erica, and Carrie dive into the implementation process, the benefits of the program, and the importance of staff development. Join them as they share their enthusiasm and pride in the success of COAAA University and their dedication to serving the community.
Key Takeaways
1. COAAA University is a comprehensive training program developed by a committee to enhance the skills and competencies of staff members working with the public.
2. The training program covers essential topics such as crisis management, documentation, assessment, and professional growth, aimed at building a connected and competent workforce.
3. COAAA University involves both internal and external speakers and is designed based on the needs of adult learners, providing interactive and relevant training sessions.
"We expect for it to always be growing. And that's really cool, and it, it helps to keep the bar high for COAAA University."
— Carrie Oswald
4. The program is focused on promoting the values of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) and aims to create a cohesive team through discussions and interactions.
5. The potential expansion of COAAA University into a leadership track and supervisor-specific classes is being discussed, highlighting the initiative's commitment to workforce development and skill enhancement.
6. COAAA University has introduced a new supervisor group to support and train new supervisors, creating a community for sharing challenges and experiences, and is developing a new supervisor toolbox.
"So maybe right now, we're kind of in the 101 courses, and then we'll get to the 200 level courses on 300. I kinda wanna see it become the umbrella for internal staff training."
— Erica Drewry
7. The program has implemented paid student internships with a focus on onboarding orientation, and COAAA University aims to formalize paid placements to support staff and ease supervision.
8. COAAA University focuses on training social workers in competencies and provides support for field instructors, and enrollment in the program is mandatory for new hires and open to contributions from existing staff.
9. The evaluation of COAAA University courses focuses on feedback from participants about content, delivery, and applicability to the job, with positive feedback received on the interactive and relevant training.
"We are COAAA first and foremost, and who are we as COAAA? We know that we're a great place to work."
— Katie White
10. COAAA University represents the agency's dedication to its employees and the community, aiming to create a ripple effect in the community through the development and support of a dedicated workforce.
Memorable Moments
00:00 Worked closely with COAAA, medical social worker.
04:49 COAAA University, a dream based on best practices.
06:54 Formed committee, planning, curriculum development, stakeholder engagement.
10:29 Embracing COAAA identity and promoting professional growth.
13:44 Mix of clinicians share knowledge in diverse training.
18:36 University relies on students to shape programs.
20:05 Continuous planning and refinement for COAAA University.
25:00 New supervisor group discussing roles; challenges, successes.
26:11 Small group meetings for new supervisors learning.
30:14 MSW competencies guide simplified.
35:30 Excited for feedback on course content quality.
38:21 Successful launch after dedicated committee's hard work.
39:28 Balancing multiple priorities can be challenging.
42:33 Proud to be part of an impactful initiative.
Let me know what you think of this podcast, as well as any ideas you have for an episode. Email me at kwhite@coaaa.org!
Copyright 2024 Central Ohio Area Agency On Aging
Transcripts
Welcome to pretend I know nothing about. I'm Katie White, your host, administrator of COAAA.
Katie White [:On today's episode, we will learn about COAAA University and how it is supporting a confident, competent, compassionate and connected workforce at our agency. Let's get into it. Welcome. Thank you for being here. We have Erica Drewry, Director of Client Services, and Carrie Oswald, Clinical Operations Analyst with us today, and we are gonna be talking about COAAA University. Welcome.
Carrie Oswald [:Hi. Good morning.
Erica Drewry [:It's exciting to be here.
Katie White [:It is exciting to be here. So the beginning, we always like to kick off and just give us a little bit of information about yourself. So, Erica, how did you get here? What was your past? Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Erica Drewry [:My past. Professional
Katie White [:past, only, please.
Carrie Oswald [:Okay. Okay.
Erica Drewry [:Well, I was thinking, I think in April, I'll have I'll have been here at COAAA for 8 years.
Katie White [:Congrats.
Erica Drewry [:I get a little murky on that sometimes, but it can be 8 years. But I feel like I've been part of COAAA for decades because I got to work so closely with everyone here, particularly when I was running adult day care. So I do like to think of myself generally as sort of a medical social worker. That was a lot of my career background, children's hospital, hospice, All that good stuff. And, ended up spending 17 years running adult day, which is just One of my best memories. But that's when I really get to start to work with COAAA and worked really closely with folks here, not just as a provider, but we ran a few projects together. So, anyway, 8 years officially here. That's great.
Erica Drewry [:And when
Katie White [:you were running adult day, were you a White 3 Funding?
Erica Drewry [:Yes. We were.
Katie White [:Okay. So we've got episodes on the Area Plan. We have episodes on Title 3. So tune in to those if you wanna know more. But Adult Day was Was one of the top services. Not so much anymore. But
Erica Drewry [:Absolutely. All those funding sources were so important to keep services going for clients. It worked out beautifully.
Katie White [:Definitely. And in your role as director of client services, what do you oversee?
Erica Drewry [:So I oversee the ongoing case management, that we do For Medicaid, so passport and then the my Area programs, and then also the case management we do
Katie White [:for senior options. Great. Thank you. Area, how about you?
Carrie Oswald [:Hi. Yeah. So I came, 10 years ago on April. So I always like to say that I was at a NASW mixer, and I met Sarah Hall. Okay. And Sarah said, hey. You should come work at COAAA and I did. And at that time, I actually had not considered working with older adults seriously? And so this whole new world was opened up to me.
Carrie Oswald [:I started 2 months before my care White, so I had on experience of Seeing the agency for a little bit before my care, experiencing the expansion, and in that 10 years, I've worked at PASSPORT and Molina, Ohio home Area waiver, and, I've had different roles in all of those jobs. And now I'm the, clinical operations analyst, Which is really just that I'm kind of helping with special projects and data crunching and kind of like a manager without a team. I can pop in and help and make sure that we kind of execute some of our special projects.
Katie White [:That's great. Not only special projects, but making sure that we are making decisions based on Evidence and taking the time to step back and review Aging, all those, like, effective and efficiency things that we wish we could do and now we can do because you're with us. Yeah. And before COAAA, you were doing what?
Carrie Oswald [:I was doing community mental health.
Erica Drewry [:So,
Carrie Oswald [:yeah, with kids and families, school based and home based therapy, and I did a little bit of private practice therapy as well. So and I always say I felt a little lonely in that role, And I was looking for a team based environment. And when I came here, I just immediately felt at home, and that's what's kept me here for so long.
Katie White [:That's great. Well, thank you. Yeah. I think, a lot of journeys for social workers in Central Ohio at some point at least And up here, maybe you pass through here, but COAAA is really that central point for medical social work, for people, wanting to be community based for people that wanna do outreach, that wanna do, you know, work in the hospitals with our care transition team. We kinda do it all here. So, Okay. Speaking of doing it all and all types of social workers and clinicians, today, we're gonna talk about COAAA University. So, Erica, why don't you give me sort of White did this idea come from and what is it?
Erica Drewry [:Well, COAAA University is almost Kind of like a little dream come true, because we had been dreaming about it for probably a good 3 years, definitely through the COVID years. And it grew out of the clinical best practices that, we've established and developed here over, I don't think, many, many years. And we, typically, would train on those. And there is a manual out there, that's saved that explains for instance, I was just looking at it for a training I'm gonna do. You know, if you had a caller call in they were suicidal. If you had someone come in or you were working with someone whose caregiver all of a sudden could no longer take care of them, What what are the best practices to address those issues? Well, what we started to realize was there's just core elements of good clinical work that would carry you through all of those situations. You don't need to memorize and know the exact steps, that are listed on those clinical protocols. You might wanna reference them later to sort of see, did I check all the boxes? But if you knew how to really assess a situation well, if you knew how to navigate crises well, That you would be ready for almost anything that our staff might encounter, any of our client facing deaf that is.
Erica Drewry [:So anyone who's working with people in the public.
Katie White [:And so as COAAA has evolved over time And the various areas we're in, whether it's screening, assessment, case management, we work with so many populations and interact with so many various, potential challenges that this helps train Those core fundamental pieces that no matter where you are, you need to have with you.
Erica Drewry [:Is that right? Absolutely. What the goal
Katie White [:is. Okay. Got it. So, Area, tell us, how does an idea or a Area, become real? What are the steps? What have you guys been doing?
Carrie Oswald [:We've been doing so much. So in order to make this come become real, we formed a committee, with Erica and I, Lynn Daub and Tim Duggan, and we really just started saying, okay. What are all of the topics that we would wanna Trying on pulling from our clinical protocols and best practices manual. And then from there, just doing a lot of brainstorming and different chart making and really kind of funneling that down and say, these are the core issues we wanna train on, and now we have to engage our internal stake stakeholders who Area Managers in this position, and our supervisors, and really get them to understand the goal, which they're totally on board with, I think, as well. So it has been a lot of planning Mhmm. And planning again, and then changing the plan, and, developing curriculum and onboarding trainers. So, it's it's been really cool and a lot of work from us, I think. Not shy away from that.
Carrie Oswald [:It's been a
Erica Drewry [:big lift. I'm gonna shout out Carrie because without Carrie as our general in this project, we probably wouldn't have been able to finally kind of land this. And it's, like I said, been talked about for years. Most of the managers, were involved in the conversation. We certainly surveyed supervisors as we were building it, but it was Carrie's organization Agency Planning and kind of keeping us on track that got us to the point where we were finally able ready to launch the 1st class
Katie White [:for COAAA. So launching launching the 1st class, Area, tell me what that means. How how do you select who's in it? How long are you in it? What's the framework?
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. So right now, we are looking at any client facing roles, starting within their 1st 4 months. So they'll for the 1st 4 months, they're doing their regular Aging. And then at the 4th month, we kind of bring them into the cohort. Our current cohort is 16 people, I believe. So, and we will meet over 6 months' time, 10 different sessions. And throughout that, we're hitting every one of our topics, which are crisis, management, medical acuity, documentation, assessment, the professional self, and Central humility. Wow.
Carrie Oswald [:So yeah. So we're hitting all of those main topics and really, including a lot of interaction and discussion. One of the things that's we love about this concept is that just because you're new to COAAA does not in any way mean that you're new to The profession. We're bringing people from all different lived experiences, professional experiences, and we know that, and we love that. And so some folks might be encountering this material for the 1st time, but for many others, they are experts in it. So in this group of 16, they're sharing, they're learning from each other. And that's really another goal of the university is that We are bridging all of our programs
Erica Drewry [:Mhmm.
Carrie Oswald [:And saying, yeah, you work with Molina. You're in assessment, but when you walk in these doors, You are part of us. We at COAAA, the clinical excellence that is us as an Agency. And so you're building relationships and building that their knowledge. And that that just gets me so excited because that's that's the really the heart of it is that we we know the staff are great. That's why they're here.
Katie White [:Right.
Carrie Oswald [:We just want them to all feel like they're a part of our big family and team.
Katie White [:Mhmm. And I love that language, and I feel like I've been sitting in that space a lot and thinking about we are COAAA first and foremost, and who are we as COAAA? We know that we're a great place to work. We and we think we are. We know that we are great clinicians and that we have this exchange of ideas and learning that's constant. And so, yes, we're COAAA first. And no matter what our contracts look like or the external environment, we know who we are and that We are providing the great service in the community. So right now, it's just new individuals coming in because we're just piloting it. Will that be moving into, Say someone that's been here a year or 2 but wants to go through a c o triple a university, or
Erica Drewry [:is it meant only for new employees? We actually did think initially that we would be able to invite folks who felt like they needed to refresh themselves on, you know, certain Best practices. And I still think that that's a possibility. I now see COAAA University as the beginning, or at its foundation, and that over time, it'll grow. So maybe right now, we're kind of in the 101 courses, and then we'll get to the 200 level courses on 300. I kinda wanna see it become the umbrella for internal staff training.
Katie White [:And there's a lot of Aging that goes on. And then there's also a lot of, I would say, interest and hunger for new training. So a topic that we've been talking about recently is individuals that are Interested in becoming supervisors or at least think they are and wanna learn more about it so that if a position opens up, they, know what it really entails and know that they've got some of those skills under their belt. So, yeah, I could see that really evolving over time into Just ongoing, increasing clinical excellence. Right?
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. I think a supervisor track is absolutely the next step. You know, we've been hearing about it for a long time. We do have the benefit of the citywide training that we can access. But, you know, we've, grown our supervisory ranks a great deal over the last few years, and I think We're getting better and better and better and better at understanding what it takes to be a supervisor here, so I could really see us beginning to develop up some COAAA specific supervisory classes.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. Like a whole leadership track. That's super exciting, and it's definitely kind of in the back of our minds is we're thinking, so what does this other version of it look COAAA, and how do we implement that?
Erica Drewry [:Yeah.
Katie White [:And thinking, you know, I might be On incredible case manager, and I think that my next step on my growth opportunity is to a supervisor. But if I had the opportunity to learn what a supervisor does, I might actually realize that that's not my passion. That's not my strengths, having difficult conversations, doing a lot of reviews for work. And so that information, is powerful not only to help make sure people know which path they're going towards, but also to make sure they have the skills if they choose that path and get there.
Carrie Oswald [:Right. That's a
Erica Drewry [:perfect way to say it.
Katie White [:So we've got these, 10 sessions and these great topics. Area they all internal speakers? Who are leading these? What does it look like when somebody's in a session?
Erica Drewry [:Well, it's a mix, purposefully. We did wanna use we feel like we have amazing clinicians here, as you said, and great knowledge, so we wanted to pull that out. And we ask for volunteers for folks who might wanna do Aging. That isn't everyone's love. So we do have a mix, and I think we on lean more and morphed into that different modalities of training. One of the things we've thought a lot about is, you know, these are adult learners, and what do Adult learners need. In one of the 1st sessions, of COAAA University, and Carrie led this one and I got to watch The first question we put out there is, what what what does an effective training mean to you? So the Current class was in the room, and they got up together and quickly started working and putting together. This is what it needs to look like.
Erica Drewry [:So we're really learning from them as we go. But yeah. So we're using internal, external. We're gonna have a video, presentation that's coming up that we're really excited about with some in the room facilitation after the video is played.
Carrie Oswald [:All of the trainings are in person, though. Okay. And I think that is something from the beginning. That's that stayed constant. I don't think That'll probably change too much. We really want people in the room together, seeing each other, being in that physical presence. So, for instance, like the film project, which we're super excited about. They'll watch a film with, different voices of immigrant and refugee folks living here in Central Ohio.
Carrie Oswald [:Very cool. But afterwards, they're gonna discuss that together and talk about how does that impact you as a client facing person in our agency.
Katie White [:And I think one of the other great things about the cohort is this is a big agency. Right? So, you know, we kinda oscillate between Katie 100 individuals. And so when you come into a new place, if you don't have that automatic cohort built for you, it's kinda hard to find it. But I I think what I'm seeing now happening is that whether it's from their orientation on the COAAA university or the new soup group that's going on, Those clusters are working, and people are meeting for lunch. And they're relying on each other when they're going through something. So I think that, kind of camaraderie and peer group that comes along with each of these things that we're doing is really important.
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. We really hope I Aging it emphasizes is that we Agency triple a. Again, your day to day may be focused on 1 particular program. You might be stuck on 1 particular floor, But you have a connection to this agency on a broader level.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. That reminds me of our four c's that we have. We have for the COAAA University, we keep talking about these c's. Actually, they're 3 c's, but we throw in a 4th sometimes. But 3 to 4 c's. Yeah. We just need to keep, you know, more c's. If you ideas send them our way.
Carrie Oswald [:It
Erica Drewry [:It has to be a litigator. It's not all. Okay.
Carrie Oswald [:But on, competence, compassion, and connection. So the university is meant to really instill all 4 of those. On Competence. Compassion Compassion. And connection. And connection. Okay. Right? How cool.
Carrie Oswald [:All 4 of them. Just like
Erica Drewry [:I think we could solidly say 4 now. I'm I'm I'm good with 4.
Carrie Oswald [:Okay.
Katie White [:Which one were you
Erica Drewry [:not sure? Connection was the newer one. Okay. When we started, it was about building a confident Confident on, competent, compassionate workforce. White. But we do see the connectedness happening. Plus, I think, you know, we've we're having lots of conversations around here about how important connectedness is going to be Is is already as we work together across programs. You know, I think about how much, for instance, Aetna right now is working with SDOH program
Katie White [:Yes.
Erica Drewry [:To accomplish some goals, how much our housing team, a very small but mighty housing team, is supporting all of the other programs. We are connected so that we can serve folks. So we wanna like, we really think COAAA University is about kind of Making the values of Central a kind of come to life. Mhmm.
Katie White [:And weaving it throughout every program, every office, every floor, every department. Right?
Carrie Oswald [:Absolutely. Okay.
Katie White [:Got it. That's great. I'm trying to think of another c, of course. The only one that comes to mind is, like, my classic chaos because I'm, like, sort of,
Carrie Oswald [:It's always a little chaos. Organized chaotic. Yeah.
Katie White [:Organized chaos is sort of my vibe.
Erica Drewry [:We have a little bit of chaos. It's here to play because it's it's iterative. Or is that the right word? It's evolving. Yeah. So there's a tiny bit of chaos.
Katie White [:Yeah. And I think there has to be. Right? Because we can't just Continue to do the same thing that we've always done in the same ways because the environment's changing constantly. And so Will COAAA University continue to evolve, and what will that look like?
Erica Drewry [:Well, I think one of the cool things we haven't, I think, talked about it too much yet is how much We're relying on the people who are coming through the university to help us shape the university. I love that. So we, we told the cohort, the current cohort or warn them that they really are going to be part of the development process. So we started with a pretest, before any of the programs started to sort of kind of get a gauge of where they were, and we'll we'll have a post test. But after each program, we're Aging an evaluation on each program. They so they get to respond. So we're gathering information all along. And I think, really, You know, by the end of this or toward before it officially ends, we'll really say, hey.
Erica Drewry [:We're ready to sort of even change what the next group looks like. So tell us what you think was most important. Tell us what you'd be like, you know, I think you can cut that. Okay. So, It they are so important, their feedback in developing this. So for us, next steps are we're really already planning the 2nd cohort, Which is gonna launch in April. Right?
Katie White [:Yep. So the 1st cohort will be done, or there's some overlap?
Carrie Oswald [:There's a little bit of overlap about just a week Of on the la the 1st cohort will have their graduation, and we will have kind of a celebration, and we'll gather some information how it went and, that'll occur about the same week as we launch 2nd cohort. So we're running a new cohort about every 4 months.
Erica Drewry [:Okay.
Carrie Oswald [:So it's a pretty continuous stream of, you know, planning for this cohort, thinking about the next one, and really trying to fine tune it and say, okay. What worked and what needs to change? And, you know, when we wrote the proposal back, I don't know. A while ago, maybe 2 years ago, it was written into the proposal that we expect this to change not only in the 1st couple years as we're getting our feet up and running. But also because our staff will change. Our needs will change. Our programs will change. So we expect for it to always be Agency growing. And that's really cool, and it, it helps to keep the bar high for COAAA University.
Carrie Oswald [:It's not a program that we're saying, This is great. This is done. Let's put this on the shelf and just let it flow. It's something that we intend to be interacting with forever. Mhmm. Never. Never.
Erica Drewry [:Never. And I think that puts a little bit of pressure on us. Right? Like, it isn't like she said, it's, like, not like, okay. I've checked this off my list. Boom. We have to be really responsive, and we have to be prepared to change it all the time. So sometimes, you know, that may not feel great because you're like, oh, it's not settled. It's Not done.
Erica Drewry [:I need to do better. So it's COAAA University is, I think, top of our minds most days. It's on my I'm doing that, like, urgent, not important, urgent, important. You know, how you do that Katie. It's often on my list every day as I prepare on the for what I need to work on.
Katie White [:Well and then keep in mind, as you have graduating classes, it's not all on you. I mean, a a lot of People here, that love being clinical social workers also love education or macro work or advocacy. And so I can also see this growing into a space that a lot of other people are able to contribute and and utilize different skills that they have that they might not get to as an APCC or something like that every day.
Erica Drewry [:And that reminds me that, Carrie got to work yesterday with our trainers for next week, Who are 2 case managers, from Aetna who volunteered to do training, and we had a situation where we had an expert be able to Develop the curriculum for training on de escalation, which is always something that people That's
Carrie Oswald [:great.
Erica Drewry [:Need. And someone here? It's an outside expert. And so we contracted with her to develop the curriculum, and she delivered that to us. And then we were able to give it to these case managers, who then, you know, took that Area, and we said, you know, this is fresh out of the box material. You need to make your own. And you guys have the COAAA expertise, so if there's something that doesn't feel fit or if it needs a better example. So you had to work with them yesterday.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. They're talking about just how they're going to, train together and because they haven't done trainings together before, so it's also a really neat opportunity for them to practice that skill. Mhmm. For them to practice that skill. Mhmm. So we talked about how they're going to do that next week, and we're really excited. And it's and that's another way that the trainings different is that even if we have internal trainings, some of the internal trainings were created by internal staff, and and some of them, we Area looking to external to also say, hey. What do you have to offer to, our staff? And and what can we how can we make it our own? Mhmm.
Katie White [:Not that you need another track to think about, But I also see an emerging interest and trend around some of that macro social work and maybe nonclinical On thinking about a nonclinical track, and, is it some of the analysis that you're doing? Is there, you know, Some data training, presentations, advocacy, grant writing policy. And so, again, as we continue to meet the ever changing needs that are external. We have been adding additional sort of nonclinical macro roles here because we have to. Right? You know, we're we are more this minded. And in order to do that, we need some different skills, so I could see that being another area too.
Erica Drewry [:It's a great idea, actually, because we do see that. We see staff who are aligned in that area, and sometimes Area running projects on their own, and, but it would be cool if we could give it a structure. Sure.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. So just yesterday, I, finished my training for some of our MSW student, interns, all about Operations and macro practice and showing, like, examples of previous metrics that I would work on and how I got the data and how I would present that are on, so it's it's definitely something that is there. I think folks are interested in it. And, I would love to have, you know, little off spurts of the university have like, hey. Come for macro day. So Yeah. Definitely.
Katie White [:So that reminds me, not only did we Get COAAA University up and running this year, but also started a new sup group, so new supervisors that are meeting once a month. Do you wanna give us a little overview of that, Erica?
Erica Drewry [:I love the new sup group. So it turned out that we ended up, between, assessment and SDOH and Client services, I think we start ended up having 15 supervisors who were within their 1st or 2nd year of being a supervisor, And they all were Uber case managers for the most part. Right? They were excellent at doing that, and then they, sought the supervision role and were promoted. And that's amazing, but I think as people move into that role, they realize it's a little different than just being an excellent case manager, and what does it look COAAA? And so my desire was really to bring folks around The table to talk about, what does that feel like to you? What are the challenges you're facing? What are the disappointments? White are the unexpected, really cool things, you know, you get to do in the role? And just have that honest conversation, like, take a pause and do that. So, we've been doing that. We're gonna conclude in June. It was a year long process. Every other month, we meet as a group of 15.
Erica Drewry [:And on the off months, they meet in smaller groups of 4, And they get to do whatever they want in those small groups. Some folks have been really, like, academic oriented and reading a book. Others are getting together, like you talked about Katie earlier, just support each other. So, I'm really just I love being with them. I love learning from them, And I don't know that we'll ever have that big of a cohort of new supes again, but, we're gonna take White they've learned and experienced and try to figure out how to carry that forward. So our meeting that we're trying to schedule for this month will be about building, and and Katie was a part of this, The new supervisor toolbox. Oh. So it'll be
Katie White [:A literal toolbox.
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. Yeah. It'll be part physical. Actually, something we can give to new supes, but then it'll also They'll be like, here are the things we think you'll wanna go to training wise or listen to podcast White. Or
Carrie Oswald [:I love that.
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. Fantastic.
Katie White [:So I got to attend 1, because a topic that they selected was how to supervise people that are older than you or that have been in the role longer. And certainly know a thing or 2 about that. So it was just a really great group to sit down with. And the trust And vulnerability and authenticity, I those are, like, my favorite things in in working with people. And that was just so So obvious in the room. And they even talked about, you know, oh my gosh. It was so great because we talked last month. I was going through something difficult, and I wasn't how to handle it.
Katie White [:And the 3 of us met for lunch and talked through it. And, yeah, just that's a really, really cool group. And I think, Again, kind of looking toward the future, that news that soup group becomes a track of Sierra Triple a University.
Erica Drewry [:Right.
Katie White [:And then the other amazing thing that we started this year were paid student internships.
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. Do you
Katie White [:wanna talk about that, Carrie?
Carrie Oswald [:Sure. Yeah. So we started the paid student internships. Internships. We've always had student interns. That's been that's a constant goal here at COAAA, and belief is, you know, the the investment in education. But now we are paying interns, and that's awesome. And as part of that, Lynn Dobb and I have been working on about a 6 week onboarding orientation for our students White there are instead of diving right into the program That will be their main focus for their internship.
Carrie Oswald [:We are calling this kind of an introduction to the aging network. So they're meeting with Leadership from across the agency. They're meeting with providers. They're having a provider shadow day. They, had a macro day that I was just talking where they met with Grant Ames and myself to talk about what it is to do that type of work. So really trying to give them this full lay of the land. And then around, the 6th week or 7th week, they'll really start training in their program. But it's really fabulous, and They have interacted with about 14 different people from the Agency so far.
Carrie Oswald [:So they're just, like, meeting lots of people and having good conversations, and I have to say the students have given great feedback. They, 1 student had said that she's already applying so much that she's learning in class into the real life. And I was like, yes.
Katie White [:That's so great.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. So I'm really excited about it.
Katie White [:And so, historically, we've had student interns before whether it's in communications or fiscal. And, specifically, this cohort that we're launching are all social workers that need their placement hours or internship hours, you might call it. And so, historically, and and even Now in most agencies, those are unpaid placements. And so in order to formalize the paid placement, we're also trying to make it a little bit easier on our staff that are supervising them. And so you've centralized the learning agreement and, really created this Great outline that everyone will make sure that they're getting to. So not unlike COAAA University, but geared right towards meeting the social work,
Carrie Oswald [:Competencies. Competencies. Program. Yep.
Katie White [:Yes. Yes.
Carrie Oswald [:Linda and I actually went through all of the MSW competencies and said, what does of this you know? Because there's a lot of jargon and So we went through. We said, what White these actually mean, and how can we help the field instructors have really quick examples so they can meet these competencies? So they have a whole field instructor guide that they can reference. So it's really meant to be a great experience for our students, but also a good and Somewhat easy experience for our field instructors as well. So it's not such a heavy lift for them because they're still doing their full time job, But that they can say, okay. I can do this. And I have this guy that really shepherds me through how to do this well. Yes. So it's just Super excited about it, and, it's it's great.
Carrie Oswald [:And I will say both of these projects are very similar in mission and also even in wording, so I'm always like, wait. Which what am I talking about? But they're very cool. It is. Cool.
Katie White [:And, again, we have, what, 250 Social workers here, maybe even more. And there aren't, I don't think, any other agencies in Central Ohio that have that many licensed Clinicians. And so we owe it to ourselves and to the future for aging and disability services to make sure that We are the place. When someone comes here, it's gonna be a great educational experience. We're gonna support their whole person. And then if they stay, hooray. If they go somewhere else, that's okay because we know that they're going somewhere, taking those skills that they need. Absolutely.
Katie White [:Yeah. Boy, we're pretty great.
Carrie Oswald [:I know.
Katie White [:Okay. So how does someone, get enrolled in COAAA University? Are they automatically? If They're brand new. What does that look like?
Erica Drewry [:Well, basically, I'm stalking them from the 2nd we hire them. Okay. So we track know,
Carrie Oswald [:but Erica's watching.
Erica Drewry [:They're on a list. Yeah. So, yeah, we track all the new hires and check-in with our handy dandy friends in HR to make sure we're getting it right. But because it is anyone who's client facing, so whether that be a new screener, that might be someone in CEO. You know, for instance, if we had Someone new who was, gonna be a new caregiver or support person, anyone who's gonna deal with folks on a consumer Client Central basis, we want them to come through. So we get them all on a list and sort of track out when a cohort might be full. So this 1st cohort started out around 16. I think it's, you know, somewhere still right around there.
Erica Drewry [:The next one's gonna be a tad bit larger. It'll start with, like, 21. Oh, wow. You know, we had a robust hiring year last year.
Katie White [:We did.
Erica Drewry [:So, It will probably even out, hopefully, as we don't see ourselves hiring as quickly, but we kind of wanna Not make it too large because we want folks to feel like they can it's a safe space when they're in the room. They can talk in the trainings.
Katie White [:Okay. And so they're basically automatically enrolled. Yep. And because this is such a focus of our agency, this is not a suggestion. This is suggestion. This is a requirement as, more education and trainings and those types of things will continue to be here because we we need that as our foundation. And we need that, as we prepare for the future of what our services might look like. So, if someone is interested in participating, who do they talk to? Are people allowed to come in and Shadow if they aren't already selected or not yet, and that's okay too if that's the answer.
Erica Drewry [:Well, I would say to all staff, Often, we've, you know, put this out here a few times. If there's anyone interested in helping us with the university existing staff, we would love to hear from them.
Carrie Oswald [:Absolutely.
Erica Drewry [:You know, because there's lots of opportunities. We've had staff who are doing trainings. We've had staff that have helped develop curriculum, And we've had staff who have reviewed others' curriculum and given us feedback on on. So there's lots of ways to be helpful. So anyone who's interested could probably get directly in touch Area? Yep. Like how I'm, you know, shouting you out at my email. But, and then, in the future, I don't think we're ready for folks just to come in and observe certain classes.
Katie White [:Okay.
Erica Drewry [:But, know that in the future, we hope to be in a place White that could happen. I think we'll wanna make sure that we really have the content exactly as we want it to be Because then we'll be able to better promote what that particular program is. I think we are learning, and I think I already know some of the changes we might need to make in content, and then taking that feedback from the current class. So k.
Katie White [:And speaking of feedback, talk me talk to me a little bit, Area, about the evaluation. So it looks like each Session is evaluated, and then the entire experience will be evaluated?
Carrie Oswald [:Right. The entire experience is being evaluated on our main our main goals, which is confidence, Competence and compassion and connection. So it's actually on all 4. So that that was evaluated in the beginning. How do they feel on a scale? And we'll do that at the end. But Are you Likert Scaling it? Yeah.
Erica Drewry [:I love that. I like your scale too.
Carrie Oswald [:Love it. It is great. I we're really excited about that. I'm excited to the feedback in the end. But at the end of every course, we're also evaluating how was this course, and not so much. We don't want feedback necessarily on the specific trainers. We might be there in the future, but right now, we're really looking at feedback was, was the content good? Did it was it applicable to your job? Did was it delivered in a way that felt interactive and, like, engaging. And then what's really neat is, and this was at Erica's idea, but when I had the 1st session with them and I So what makes a training meaningful? Questions were act are the actual things that are in the eval.
Carrie Oswald [:So it's a personalized eval for the cohort saying, this is what you said you wanted out of your trainings. Did this training meet it? And we're running with those questions for every, evaluation. That's
Katie White [:great. And I'm on to read a couple of things that people have said so far. I like how interactive the classes are and also hearing good examples on how to better yourself on how to help members at a day to day basis. Very useful and relevant training, exclamation point. And I firmly believe that COAAA University is an amazing concept that shows the dedication and integrity the agency has towards their employees, and I'm eager to be part of the 1st cohort.
Carrie Oswald [:We had to be the last person to that one, but Hopefully, not much. No. No. They these were this was just what we asked, early on, how they were feeling, maybe about the 3rd or 4th course, 3rd course on, so it's just a really exciting feedback.
Katie White [:That's great.
Erica Drewry [:And I do just wanna shout them out again to all those 1st cohort folks out there, to thank them so much for just letting us, You know, fail or, you know, being open to share the success. They're they're really cool. I got to be with them now in 2 different sessions, And, just I'm inspired.
Katie White [:Me too. Every day. Yeah. It's pretty great around here. I mean, we we do such Aging work, and I've talked about that a bazillion times on here. But, it's just true. We do hard work. We care about each other.
Katie White [:We care about the Clients and consumers in the community, and, that shows when we're putting so much time and effort and dedication into things like Paid internships and creating what that looks like in the new SIP groups since you Triple A University. So our episode is obviously, You know, about a specific program, whereas, sometimes we're talking about, you know, a whole division or assessment or screening. But I do still wanna make sure I ask you to for your biggest success or favorite story. And it could be related to COAAA University or it could not. But, I just love hearing those, and I love for the listeners to hear those too.
Erica Drewry [:In in talking about COAAA University, specifically, because I probably would have a 1000000 success stories to share about COAAA as a whole, but, the To me, it's the launch itself. We all know how busy every single one of us is here at this agency. Everyone has probably more work than, you know, any 1 person can handle. And so carving out the time that it took to really Make this happen, from a concept that we all believed in and we kept talking about to then honing in on this 4 person committee, Small but mighty committee that was just gonna get in a room because sometimes, you know, we have too many voices at the table. So, you know, it just took us sort of saying, okay. We're gonna get to it, and we're gonna dig in. And that group with Lynn and Tim and Katie and myself, you know, just stuck to it and worked it out and kept pushing it forward. And so getting to the point of launch, was just, I mean, that's what I feel.
Erica Drewry [:I'm I'm so happy that we launched it.
Carrie Oswald [:Truly. Because, you know, there's so many ideas that come up and, like, oh, you know, yes, we should do that. And it's hard to find the time, and and so many priorities come up, especially when you're working with a lot of folks On critical need of our services, so these type of initiatives tend to fall back, even though I believe that they are just as important because, You know, they're doing other really vital things for the agency, but they're easy to say, oh, we'll work on this later. But we all kept this a top priority, and I'm really proud to see it off and running.
Katie White [:And you even created a Wes Anderson inspired A film about it.
Carrie Oswald [:Oh, did we forget? Yeah. I have created more than 1 film in this new position that I'm in, and It feels I feel very lucky for that.
Katie White [:It's always good to have a little creative outlet.
Carrie Oswald [:Yes. Yes.
Katie White [:Okay. And then what about, The miracle question. So sometimes we get to this and sometimes we don't, but we've got time today. So what is one thing you would change or add About or to COAAA.
Erica Drewry [:Well, COAAA is always changing, so it's hard to think of something else I'd want to change. But, what I on say is that I believe, that The changes that we initiate are all about, the betterment of our work environment, The caring for our staff so that we can keep doing the work we're doing in the community. So I think we're always changing, and I think we're always changing with an eye toward being better, stronger so that we can continue to do the amazing things we're doing.
Katie White [:It's great.
Carrie Oswald [:You know, I had a little bit of a less heartwarming answer to that. It was beer. Yeah. I was gonna say, better coffee and lunch options around our building. That's okay. Sometimes people say
Katie White [:a garden. Sometimes people say, you know, monumental things like your
Erica Drewry [:I'm feeling offended on the part of, COAAA perk.
Carrie Oswald [:Oh. Yes. Well, you know, yes. That was wonderful. COAAA perk was wonderful. That'll that should be a whole
Erica Drewry [:lot of
Carrie Oswald [:the same.
Erica Drewry [:You need to shout out your Current new, restaurant rec.
Carrie Oswald [:Oh, yeah. Star Kitchen. Just 3 miles up the road.
Katie White [:I just went. It's amazing. It's good. Right?
Carrie Oswald [:I love it. Yeah.
Erica Drewry [:There should be a whole podcast Cast on the hidden gems for lunch around here.
Carrie Oswald [:That's a good idea. COAAA Manns. We're gonna hit that one up for breakfast soon.
Katie White [:Yes. Yep.
Carrie Oswald [:So I am actually a fellow southsider. So I live on the south side, and I work on the south side of Columbus. So I'm always trying to find the places, hype us up. So The the same month we moved to this building, I bought my house on the south side. So
Katie White [:Oh, wow.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah. It was just a whole transition.
Katie White [:Okay.
Erica Drewry [:It's a
Katie White [:whole life. Well, when I was at Star Kitchen the other day, there were 5 other COAAA people there. So and it was bumping. So that that thing's gonna take off. That's great. Alright. And then closing thoughts, what else do you want people to know about COAAA University?
Carrie Oswald [:You know, for me, I just could not be more proud To be a part of this initiative, but also of, you both, Katie and Erica, and White leadership who has said, yes. Let's dedicate the time and resources to this. Something, I didn't really answer before, but one of my, you know, biggest successes, and, well, there's so many in the 10 years. But, a year ago, we closed down, the Ohio home care waiver that I had been a manager for for a couple years. And so this whole last Dear, I've been transitioning into this new role and working to define it, and what is it, and how can I really make an impact on the Agency? And, This work has been so personally meaningful, but I also just get so jazzed on what it can do for us as a whole and truly believe in the People who are here in our mission, and I'm just so thankful to be able to do this and to see it the students and the Staff cohorts to see us all blossoming, and I'm just so excited for where we're headed.
Katie White [:Me too. Erica, how about you?
Erica Drewry [:Yeah. I mean, I think that, What I want everyone to know is it's in its 1st year. We're in it we're in our infancy, but We're just ready to take this wherever it needs to go, and so I think that the future's pretty unlimited for, You know, where COAAA University could be in 5 years, in 10 years. And, Katie, you've talked a lot about this. I think it's also the beginning of The fact that, you know, we have amazing people here, and maybe we're not in the era where people are gonna spend 30 years in the same Work environment, but wouldn't that be cool if we create this, you know, army of amazing Clinicians or folks dedicated to aging disability or whatever they wanna do that they go out into the world, and I think this is part of that That vision.
Katie White [:Yeah. And I, you know, often say, like, my not so secret hidden agenda is to get people into aging and disability services. And I think this is, COAAA University, and our dedication to education is keeping them there.
Carrie Oswald [:Yeah.
Katie White [:Because While we all have been frontline workers in one way or another and we're a few steps removed now, The passion of what we do is still dedicated to making sure that individuals in the community get what they need. And so this is a way To pay that forward, right, and to create that ripple effect. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you both so much for being here, for all of your work and, just appreciate your time.
Carrie Oswald [:Thank you, Katie
Katie White [:I hope now you know something about COAAA University.
