For Supervisors
Whether you are supervising new staff or staff looking to pursue their Certified Prevention Specialist credentials, supporting prevention career growth takes a unique skills set.
If staff are pursuing their CPS, specific supervision requirements apply.
Prevention Training Service offers a 2 day Supervision of Prevention Professionals course each year. The basic goals of supervision of the prevention specialist are to assure the delivery of high-quality interventions, create a positive work environment, and develop staff professional and administrative skills.
Supervision/Management Skills
Video Series: Building Management Skills for Prevention Professionals
In this video series, trainer Robert Kenney, PhD, discusses practical strategies and approaches to address common supervision and management challenges. Using these videos and the accompanying handouts, prevention professionals will learn useful tips for building team relationships, providing feedback, conducting performance appraisals, and evaluating their own supervisory skills.
Produced by the NEPTTC
Onboarding New Staff
Onboarding Resources
There are two comprehensive toolkits available from the Prevention Technology Transfer Centers which can be referred to during the onboarding process for prevention professionals. They are similar in scope and content. While My First Year in Prevention: A Guide to Learning the Field walks you through suggested first year resources, the SWPTTC Onboarding Roadmap and the NEPTTC Prevention Specialist Onboarding and Orientation Roadmap.
Both contain core concepts and foundational research & approaches of modern prevention that are fundamental to early career professionals to understand.
My First Year in Prevention: A Guide to Learning the Field
Beginning on page 22, this section of this guide is for the person supervising the new prevention professional using this toolkit of resources. This guide was designed to help train staff new to the field of prevention. This is just a guide. Please adapt these materials as necessary to meet the needs of the individual staff person and your organization.
This document in the guide links to general trainings and information relevant to the substance misuse prevention that are helpful for professionals working in the field to be familiar with. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. As their supervisor, you may decide to add additional learning specific to that professional’s position or to the community they work in. Included are talking points and questions for staff check ins or supervision.
There is also a Canva template and Google Drive of documents from this guide available for editing linked at the end.