The Engage with® Older Adults Skills Training Program is designed for individuals who regularly interact with older adults, including caregivers, healthcare professionals, first responders, librarians, and customer service staff. The training equips participants with practical skills to build meaningful connections through respectful communication, de-escalation strategies, and a deeper understanding of aging, including cognitive challenges such as dementia.

Many of our public training sessions are offered at no cost to participants through grant funding. These sessions are available on a limited basis each month and space is limited.

We also offer customized, fee-based training options for organizations and groups. Pricing may be structured as a per-person rate or a flat group rate, depending on the training and group size.

Please contact us to discuss your organization’s needs and receive a customized quote.

Engage with® offers flexible, scalable training options for organizations and facilities. Pricing varies based on group size, format, and training selection.

Options may include per-person pricing, flat group rates, or subscription-based access depending on your organization’s needs.

Please contact us to discuss available options and determine the best fit for your team.

Registration for all training programs closes 24 hours prior to each scheduled training date, but may close earlier depending on capacity limitations. If you need to make changes to your training schedule, please email training@engagewith.org.

For grant-funded trainings offered at no cost, we ask that you cancel your registration in advance if you are unable to attend so that your spot may be offered to another participant.

For paid trainings, cancellation and refund eligibility may vary depending on the training and registration type. Please contact us as soon as possible if you need to cancel or modify your registration.

Participants who have paid their own registration fee may request a refund within 48 hours prior to the start of the training session by emailing training@engagewith.org.

If you need to cancel or reschedule your training, please use the reschedule link provided in your confirmation email. If you need further support, please contact training@engagewith.org.

You do not need any special equipment or downloads to complete the course. You will join the training through a web link that is emailed to you after registration.

The program is designed to run through a web browser on a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet with external keyboard (i.e. Chromebook). You must have an internet connection capable of streaming video.

As this is a live training session, you will need to have speakers (either built-in or external to your computer). We also recommend a headset or microphone for easier communication with the instructor and other participants.

No, unfortunately the training platform is not mobile friendly.

Participation is required during this live, virtual, instructor-led course. To receive credit for a course, participants must be logged in for the full session (approximately 130 minutes). In addition, participants must respond to onscreen “touchpoints” (quizzes, open response questions, etc.) throughout the course.

Credit is awarded to participants who are logged into the full session and who answer at least 70% of the total touchpoints, broken into hourly requirements. We also require participants to respond correctly to 50% of the “obvious answer” questions.  We encourage participants to respond to 100% of the touchpoints as able.

After successful completion of  the two-part, four hour Core Skills training participants will receive a “Core Skills Certification” certificate by email.

After successful completion of any two hour Supplement training participants will receive a certificate of completion by email.

Upon successful completion of all four hours of the Core Skills course (including both the two-hour Part 1 and the two-hour Part 2), participants will receive an email with their “Core Skills Certification” certificate of completion.

Upon successful completion of any of the five available two-hour supplemental trainings, participants will receive an email with their certificate of completion.

Certificates of completion are issued via email within one month of successful course completion. Participants must meet all attendance and participation requirements to receive a certificate.

Our trainings are delivered by a team of qualified instructors, including staff and contracted facilitators, who are trained to deliver the curriculum with fidelity. Instructors are selected based on relevant experience and subject matter knowledge and complete a standardized training and onboarding process.

Ongoing support and quality assurance measures are in place to ensure consistency across all training sessions.

Our primary trainer is Jessicia Chaney. Jessicia brings over 15 years of experience in healthcare and human services, with a focus on supporting older adults and individuals with disabilities. She currently serves as an Older Adult Program Manager at the Mental Health Association of Maryland, where she oversees programming, facilitates trainings, and builds community partnerships. She holds certifications in Mental Health First Aid, QPR Suicide Prevention, CPR/First Aid, and LTSS, and is known for her engaging, person-centered training style.

Instructor names and bios are available upon request or provided in advance of each training.

MHAMD is committed to accessibility and inclusion. If you require accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please contact training@engagewith.org or call 443-901-1558 as early as possible prior to your training.

The Engage with® Older Adults training is organized into a four-hour Core Skills training that can be broken up  into two 2-hour sessions. Engage with Skills Trainings also offers five optional 2-hour supplements.

All of the training occurs online through a web browser at our virtual training facility. There are no downloads or special equipment needed to participate.

Older Adults training is organized into a four-hour Core Skills training that can be broken up into two 2-hour sessions. Engage with Skills Trainings also offers five optional 2-hour supplements.

All of the training occurs online through a web browser at our virtual training facility. There are no downloads or special equipment needed to participate.

From start to finish, our training programs are led by a licensed mental health professional who is a talented and experienced teacher with a strong clinical background. There is no self-directed pre-work or homework to worry about or track—just a self-contained, immersive online experience that will have you eager to return for more.

Engage with® Older Adults is a skills-based program that focuses on interactions between and amongst older adults and their partners in care. Topics covered include behavioral health, impacts of drugs and alcohol, suicide risk factors, dementia and how to avoid and/or respond to unpredictable or aggressive behavior with respectful and purposeful communication. In addition, the important concepts of normal aging, culture, stigma, and the preservation of ego are central to the training.

Others in the space have online training with sound and graphics, some even have role playing cartoon characters, but nothing compares to the fully immersive virtual training environment offered by the Engage with® virtual LTC Training Center. Developed in a partnership with an award-winning gaming company, the look and feel of our user interface is like nothing you have ever seen. Reach out to us and training@engagewith.org to schedule a no-pressure demo and see for yourself.

Our first Engage with® Skill Training Program, Engage with Older Adults has a solid evidence base. The University of Maryland revealed that the training lowered staff turnover, improved staff satisfaction and created positive changes in behavior related to staff interactions with older adults.

Engage with® Skills Training Programs, #1809, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Engage with® Skills Training Programs maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 05/04/2023 – 05/04/2026.

This program has also been approved by the Maryland State Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists to satisfy Category A continuing education requirements. We are actively seeking approval for peer specialist continuing education credits.

Social workers completing the Core Skills: What Everyone Needs to Know course receive 3.75 continuing education credits. Social workers completing any two-hour supplemental course (e.g., Responding to Mental Health Issues) receive 1.75 continuing education credits.