Center of Excellence in-person training

After six months of training via Zoom, Billy and the Center of Excellence training team recently had the opportunity to travel to two homes for abandoned and at-risk boys in Ica and Urubamba. They led an intensive, in-person training for all of the staff at the homes.

For more than a year, Billy and Kate have been meeting regularly with our partners, Health Bridges International (HBI), to develop a Center of Excellence model that can serve as a roadmap for advancing evidence-based practices in meeting the cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual needs of at-risk children and youth.

The first part of developing the Center of Excellence model is a training program for the staff at the two homes. After many months of research, discussions and planning and because of COVID, the training program was launched virtually in May 2021.

Since then, Billy, Kate and the Center of Excellence team have been meeting weekly for 90 minutes with the staff at both homes to help them begin to view their work with the children through the lens of “trauma informed care.” As the staff learns more about trauma and how it affects the youth that they care for, they will be able to relate to a child as a whole person - taking into account past trauma and the resulting coping mechanisms when attempting to understand their behaviors. By refocusing how the staff relates to the children in the homes, we hope to guide these boys onto a healthy path in their emotional development and to develop protective factors into their lives in order to foster long term resilience.

For Billy, this was the first time he was able to visit both homes since leaving Peru in mid-2017. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to visit earlier and prevented more opportunities for in-person training.

The team spent two full days at each home answering questions and reviewing topics such as non-violent communication and attachment. More importantly though, the team was able to encourage and pour into the staff as they work day-in and day-out with the boys at the homes.

Your financial and prayer support for Paths of Hope allow us to continue making a difference in Peru as we guide and support young adults to pursue God’s purposes for their lives.

We appreciate your continued prayers and support of this program.