How to Sponsor a HOPE Training

The American Psychological Association's (APA) HIV Office for Psychology Education (HOPE) Program offers a selection of 10 topic-specified workshops designed to further develop practice skills and knowledge for mental heath practitioners serving the needs of persons with HIV disease and those affected by HIV/AIDS. Separate curricula addresses ethics in conjunction with HIV-related mental health services and teaches a model for making ethical decisions. Delivery of these dynamic, interactive workshops can be arranged by contacting HOPE staff.

About the Workshops

The HOPE Modules are comprised of 10 stand-alone topic areas listed below. Each module is flexible enough so that it can be adapted to deliver in half-day workshops or shorter overviews. In addition, all topics can be blended to address your attendee training needs.

HIV Virology, Clinical Course, Medical Treatment, Epidemiology, and Antibody Testing
Integrating Primary and Mental Health HIV/AIDS Care
HIV Mental Health Assessment Issues and Strategies
HIV Mental Health Intervention Strategies
Prevention Issues for HIV/AIDS Mental Health Providers
Psychosocial Issues and Interventions for HIV-Affected Families
Work in the Lives of People Living with HIV Disease: Roles for Psychologists
HIV, Mental Health, and Prisons
Club Drug Use, Abuse, and HIV/AIDS
Transgender and HIV/AIDS

Programs are self-contained and may be delivered independently or as a series, according to the skills and needs of the participants. The format of the workshops offers a creative combination of didactic and experiential learning opportunities.

Standard workshops are approximately one-hour to half-a-day and designed to build clinical skills as well as to develop participants' insight into the psychological and counseling challenges they and their clients face.

Workshops in Ethical Issues & HIV/AIDS

A separate curriculum, entitled the Multi-Disciplinary Mental Health Services Curricula on Ethical Issues & HIV/AIDS, addresses ethical considerations of HIV-related health services and teaches a model for ethical decision making. The systematic decision-making process on which the curricula are based offers several advantages over less structured methods of analysis. Because it requires clinicians to analyze cases from a variety of perspectives while carefully documenting each step of analysis, it serves to reduce impulsive judgments that frequently occur when therapists feel pressured to act quickly because they are worried about the possibility of HIV transmission or law suits. It also helps to sharpen thinking and clarify the clinical issues at hand because it requires one to perform separate, sequenced analyses.

There are three versions of the Ethical Issus Curricula: Half-Day; Two-Hour; and 60-90 Minute. Overall objectives for the curricula include:

• Learn a model for ethical decision-making

• Learn how to analyze complex HIV cases in terms of five foundational ethical principles in conjunction with professional ethics codes

• See how the ethical decision making model applies to a case study (60-90 Minute and Two-Hour versions)

• Apply the ethical decision making model to an HIV mental health case study (Half-Day version)

The Ethical Issues & HIV/AIDS Curricula can only be trained by a HOPE Program Regional Trainer and is not available online. For more information regarding the curricula and to locate a Trainer, please contact HOPE staff.

Continuing Education Credit Offered Through HOPE–Sponsored Training Events

If Continuing Education (CE) credit in the field of psychology is required for your staff or attendees of a HOPE-sponsored training event, a HOPE Trainer will complete and submit an application to the American Psychological Association's Office of Continuing Education in Psychology. Applications must be submitted for review no fewer than 6 weeks prior to the training event.

Benefits for Participants

The training program features a variety of learning formats as well as comprehensive participant handouts and resource materials. Training content provides a sound basis for HIV-related mental health practice and offers new information, ideas, and renewal. Participants attending the workshops will:

• Receive information about HIV disease

• Evaluate their own issues and attitudes about HIV and people with HIV

• Examine psychosocial issues confronting clients

• Practice HIV-related psychotherapy, counseling, and case management skills

• Identify barriers to effective practice

• Increase networking opportunities

• Expand awareness of local resources

• Address AIDS-related grief, loss, bereavement, and ethics

Opportunities for Delivery

HOPE Program workshops are suitable for delivery to diverse audiences including: psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, direct care givers, and others. This professional level curriculum is designed for use in:

• Local, state, and provincial psychological association conferences

• Mental health association meetings

• In-service training for psychiatric facilities, mental health clinics, hospitals, hospice, nursing homes, and juvenile care facilities

• National association conventions

• Continuing studies programs for graduate credit

• Staff retreats

• Graduate courses in psychology, counseling, nursing, and social work

• Community health educator training

• VA medical centers

• Correctional facility staff

• School faculty and staff

• Drug treatment and intervention staff

Arrange a HOPE Workshop

To arrange a HOPE workdshop, please contact:

David P. DeVito
HOPE Program Training Director

Email: HOPE Staff

Telephone: 202-216-7603

Write: American Psychological Association
Office on AIDS HOPE Program
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC. 20002-4242