“A Call to Mentoring: Peer Mentor Instructor Training” will be offered in Marshalltown on Wednesday, Dec. 18, from 9 am to 4:30 pm at the Iowa Valley Continuing Education Conference Center, room 608. The class is for people with experience in teaching, supervising, or working with direct care staff in any health, long-term care or community-based setting.

“This training is for those who want to help decrease turnover in health, long-term care and community-based settings,” says Robin Carmichael, IVCE Health Education Coordinator. “Participants will learn to improve the retention rate of direct care staff by building capacity in their organizations to train direct care staff to be mentors to each other. They will increase their knowledge and skills needed to instruct mentors and build and sustain a successful mentor program. Discussion will also cover potential benefits and challenges of peer mentoring.”

Direct care staff have many different titles, including home care aide, certified nurse assistant, patient care technician, personal care assistant, hospice aide, home health aide, and direct support professional.

Participants in the Peer Mentor Instructor Training will receive Iowa CareGivers’ “A Call to Mentoring Manager Toolkit, Instructor Training Manual, Peer Mentor Toolkit,” and other training resources. Cost of the training is $259. Co-sponsors of this training are Iowa CareGivers, Peer Mentors, and Iowa Valley Continuing Education.

Registration deadline for this program is Monday, Dec. 16. Registration can be completed by calling IVCE at 641-752-4645 and referring to course #4600045 (3996).

Registrations can be completed online at http://bit.ly/Dec18PeerMentor. For additional information about the training program, contact Carmichael at 641-844-5623 or Robin.Carmichael@iavalley.edu.