Housing First Essentials: An Instructor-Led Online Course

Course Description

This interactive online course will ground participants in the core principles of Housing First and discuss how to operationalize them, using case examples that are based on years of field work and research. Led by Dr. Sam Tsemberis, in collaboration with Juliana Walker (Pathways to Housing), and Ken Kraybill (t3), participants will join live discussions, complete practical learning activities, and connect with peers. CEUs are available.

At the completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Name three differences between Housng First and the traditional step-by-step approach to housing.
2. Desribe the core principles of Housing First, with examples.
3. Identify the different types of service teams used to deliver the Housing First model.
4. Name the five domains of the Housing First fidelity scale.

What is Housing First?

Housing First provides immediate housing in combination with supportive services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, education, employment, and other client-centered goals.

Audience

Anyone interested in learning more about Housing First, including practitioners, administrators, developers, and policymakers.

Instructors

Sam Tsemberis, PhD, Founder and CEO founded Pathways to Housing in 1992 based on the belief that housing is a basic human right. Pathways developed the consumer driven evidence-based Housing First program that provides immediate access to permanent supportive housing to individuals who are homeless and who have mental health and addiction problems. Dr. Tsemberis is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. He is currently participating in national studies of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction, and has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics, including the Housing First manual (Hazeldon Press, 2010).

Juliana Walker, LCSW, Director of Training, began her work with the Housing First model in 2003 as team leader, and subsequently as the Clinical Director of the first Housing First ACT Team in Philadelphia. As Pathways' Director of Training and Technical Assistance, she uses her 10 years of experience in direct service and seven years of experience with Housing First to provide training and technical assistance to communities, serving more than 40 agencies in the past year. Juliana has been essential to Pathways' work with the VA, providing on-going consultation and technical assistance to VA sites and other homeless service providers across the US.

Ken Kraybill, MSW has worked in the health, behavioral health, and homelessness arena for the past 30+ years. He is a Senior Associate at the Center for Social Innovation and Director of Training for t3 (think. teach. transform.), a training institute and learning platform committed to improving the knowledge and skills of individuals and organizations working in human services. Ken has developed various curricula to inform and equip others in person-centered, housing-focused, trauma-informed, recovery-oriented, peer-integrated best practice approaches. He provides training nationally and internationally on topics including Motivational Interviewing, outreach and engagement, trauma-informed care, and renewal for care providers.