Register for a Training
SPECIAL COVID-19 NOTICE: The Action Alliance will work to decide the safest way to provide trainings based on current transmission rates. Some trainings may be in person and some may be virtual. Please click on the training for more information to see if it will be held in person or virtual. In person trainings will have COVID safety protocols based on community transmission rates. Safety and wellness are our top priority.
The Action Alliance delivers trainings for professionals who respond to or seek to prevent sexual and intimate partner violence.
Our trainings are designed to build empathy and create intention to shape a world in which people, relationships, and communities are liberated, healthy, equitable, and just. Our trainings are interactive and collaborative, and we often use these spaces for skill building and sharing because we know that our training participants hold knowledge and expertise in this field and movement that we can all learn from. Trainings at the Action Alliance are created to inspire learning, growth, and imagination for anyone who wants to be a brave agent of change.
We strive to make all our trainings accessible. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or needs you have in order to attend one of our trainings!
Parking: There is parking located behind our building with two handicap spots. For all in person trainings, you will be given a parking pass for the lot so parking is free.
The Training Space: There are two steps required to enter our building through the front. Please let us know if you cannot do steps as we will have you go through the back door. All major door frames meet the ADA measurement standards but none of our doors are automated. The training room is equipped with rolling tables and chairs to arrange the space as needed for the diverse range of activities that occur in the space. Participants can adjust the height of our chairs, but the tables are not adjustable in this way. The space receives lots of natural light; there is also overhead fluorescent lighting. Our offices are not currently scent-free. When walking around our offices, visitors may notice artwork from the “Art of Surviving” collection that depicts experiences of healing from sexual violence.
Bathrooms: Our bathrooms are single person, accessible bathrooms.
Language: At this time, our programs and trainings are in spoken and written English. Portable interpreting equipment is available for groups that are using the training space that would like to provide spoken language interpretation. Please let us know of any language accessibility needs that you have prior to your training.
Food: When the Action Alliance provides food for training, we strive to meet all dietary needs. Please let us know of any restrictions you may have so we can make the necessary arrangements. Please also let us know about any food-based allergies you may have so we can inform our staff and other participants to refrain from bringing snacks that may cause an allergic reaction.
Animals: The Action Alliance office is pet friendly and we often have dogs and occasionally cats in the space. If, for any reason, you cannot or do not feel comfortable being around animals, please let us know and we can make arrangements for pets to be left at home and the space vacuumed.
Questions: If you have any questions or concerns about the accessibility of our space, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Events Coordinator at training@vsdvalliance.org.
View our training calendar here.
Current Trainings
Join the Justice Projects Team for open hours to discuss and learn about topics ranging from confidentiality to firearms laws to reproductive freedom for survivors and everything in between. This will be a semi-structured learning space combining traditional training with open conversation, peer learning, and program sharing. Bring our expertise and your curiosity!
June 2: Best Practices in Confidentiality for Advocates
WHERE: ZOOM
DATE: The first Friday of every month from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
COST: Free
Register: https://bit.ly/OntheDocketwithJPT
When you register, you will be registered for every session. You do not need to join every session. Please join when you are able.
For more information or for further questions, please reach out to training@vsdvalliance.org
Do you feel like you are on a prevention island at your campus? Join us for ECHO@EDU: Campus Violence Prevention.
WHERE: ZOOM
DATE: June 8, 2023
COST: Free
Register: https://bit.ly/ECHOedu.
For more information or for further questions, please reach out to prevention@vsdvalliance.org
For the first time since 2019, gather with advocates, preventionists, and community leaders around the state to connect, heal, and build skills at the Action Alliance training retreat. Join us at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg from June 21-23, 2023 to…
REFLECT: Honor the challenges in doing this work, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic;
RESTORE: Rebuild connections among advocates/preventionists in a comforting, affirming environment; and
RESET: Be inspired to rekindle joy and curiosity for social change work.
We hope all sexual and domestic violence agencies will plan for a group of staff, volunteers, and interns to attend. Allied professionals and community partners are also welcome, since the retreat is an opportunity to strengthen relationships with sexual and domestic violence providers across the state.
REGISTRATION CLOSES JUNE 7!
For more information and/or to register or to find out about scholarships, please head to: Retreat Information
For additional questions, please reach out to training@vsdvalliance.org
WHERE: ZOOM
DATE: April 19, 2023, 10:30 am -12:00 pm
COST: Free
Register: https://bit.ly/VPECHO23
For more information or for further questions, please reach out to training@vsdvalliance.org
When: The toolbox was released in March of 2021 with four virtual modules.
Where: Virtual via Ruzuku.
Cost: This toolbox is free!
How to Register: Register Today!
This invitation is open to advocates, preventionists, and other partners serving survivors and/or supporting community education on healthy relationships. Our time together will be spent learning from each other and from speakers, discussion on statewide issues, resources, etc.
The following sessions will be virtual from 10:00 – 12:00pm: September 14, December 7
The following sessions will be in person from 10:00 – 2:00 pm: April 4, October 5
WHERE: Zoom/in person locations TBD
DATE: Various (see above)
COST: Free
Register: https://bit.ly/vsdvaaSLP2023
For more information or for further questions, please reach out to training@vsdvalliance.org
Are you a leader or staff member that has responsibilities for financial management and/or grant writing? Join Action Alliances’ Executive Director, Kristi Van Audenhove, and Associate Director, Angela Blount, as they take you through this financial series where you can take back practical applications to put in place at your agency and advice to use on your grant writing. Please register for as many sessions you want.
Virtual Sessions Cost: $20 for Action Alliance Members, $40 for non members
In Person Sessions Cost: $35 for Action Alliance Members, $60 for non members
The Joy of the Annual Audit, August 14, 10:00 – 11:30, Virtual
Preparing for an audit can be tedious and anxiety provoking. Let’s talk about how we can balance that out by making audits work for us through building helpful relationships with our auditors, cultivating curiosity throughout the process, and noticing the moments worthy of celebration.
Trauma Informed Grant Writing, November 13, 10:00 – 3:00, Action Alliance Office, 1413 W. Main Street, RVA
How do you make the grant writing process safe, transparent, collaborative, and grounded in historical and cultural context? We’ll talk about a variety of strategies that will serve your agency well as you engage in preparing grant applications–and offer tips for making those applications successful.
Please register for these sessions at: https://bit.ly/ActionAllianceFinanceTrainings23
The Action Alliance’s Summer 2020 Online Training Series consists of 7 individual lessons created by Action Alliance Training Institute Faculty on topics of their choice. Registering for the course will give you access to all 7 trainings; there’s no need to register for each one. Register today!
The training topics are:
- What You Need to Know About DeVos’ New Title IX Rules (1-hour)
This is a 1-hour Prezi presentation from Liz Cascone, Director of The Haven at William & Mary and Action Alliance Training institute Faculty. It covers the core tenants of campus advocacy; describes how community-based and campus advocacy programs work together; reviews a brief history of Title IX in relation to sexual misconduct; discusses the 2020 new rules released by Betsy DeVos; and highlights best practices in light of the new regulations.
- The Impact of Trauma Exposure and Self-care Strategies (3+ hours)
In this virtual and interactive learning experience, participants will learn the signs and symptoms of trauma exposure and identify the ways we are impacted as helping professionals. Participants will explore, reflect on, and practice strategies for self-care and ways to create a culture of wellness in their life and agency.
- Knowing Our History: Blackness and the Anti-Violence Movement (2 hours)
This self-guided training opportunity centers the history of anti-violence efforts in the Black community, from slavery to the present. Through engagement with an interactive timeline, you will examine the varied ways in which Black Americans have both experienced and fought against oppression over the course of American history. Lastly, implications for your daily work and life will be discussed.
- Elemental Grounding (2+ hours)
This self-guided learning experience encourages us to connect with nature as a way to stay grounded, then guides us in using ecotherapy practices as part of our healing work. Through a video presentation, a nature-based activity, and journal prompts, participants will learn about how the human nervous system works, how nature helps us regulate, practice connecting with the elements, and prepare to apply these practices with our clients and communities.
- Representation and Conversation: Toolkit for Thoughtful Inclusion of Black & Brown Relationships in Training (3-4.5 hours)
In the midst of a global health pandemic and uprisings in the United States against racial injustice, it has magnified the necessity of anti-violence practitioners utilizing a racial justice lens.
Research shows that intimate partner and sexual violence disproportionately impact Black communities, yet police systems and resources cater to White, cisgender, middle class women. The latter results in Black and Brown individuals and those who identify as trans, lesbian, gay, queer, and/or nonbinary are excluded from having spaces and opportunities to explore healthy relationships and sexuality that reflects their identities.
This interactive toolkit was designed to prioritize and uplift the multiple facets that make up Black & Brown relationships while addressing attitudes, behaviors, and systems that influence, protect, and/or harm those relationships. The toolkit utilizes popular culture to depict different types of intimate partner relationships and addresses topics of consent, boundary setting, communication, street harassment, and sexuality.
- Trauma-Informed Supervision (2 hours)
Using a trauma informed lens to build a healthy relationship between supervisor and supervisee aids in maintaining the longevity of our commitment to end the experiences of domestic violence. When we adopt a trauma-informed lens we are conspiring to be agents of a counter cultural narrative. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) 6 principles for trauma informed care offers a framework to mindfully practice as supervisors and movement leaders. This 2-hour learning series guides you through reflection, practice, and skill building to confidently and carefully integrate the principles of: safety; empowerment, voice, and choice; cultural historical and gender issues; collaboration and mutuality; peer support; and trustworthiness and transparency, into your everyday supervisory role.
- Community Action Planning During COVID-19 (1-hour)
This series of videos includes reflection questions on trending domestic violence crisis services, cultivating donors, inspiring stakeholders, building community support, and creating and implementing community action plans during COVID-19.
When: Self-paced
Where: Virtual via Ruzuku training modules (online videos and pre-recorded presentations)
Cost: Free
How to Register: Register for the Online Training Series!
Thank you for your interest in this course. We have currently taken Principles of Primary Prevention, Advocacy Core Training, and Trauma, Justice, and Ending Oppression offline while we work to revamp our online training modules.
If you have purchased any of these courses, you still have access to them through June 30.
Thank you for your understanding as we continue to bring you trainings that are valuable to you and your agency. Please feel free to register for any of our other free online trainings.
Thank you for your interest in this course. We have currently taken Principles of Primary Prevention, Advocacy Core Training, and Trauma, Justice, and Ending Oppression offline while we work to revamp our online training modules.
If you have purchased any of these courses, you still have access to them through June 30.
Thank you for your understanding as we continue to bring you trainings that are valuable to you and your agency. Please feel free to register for any of our other free, online trainings.
Thank you for your interest in this course. We have currently taken Principles of Primary Prevention, Advocacy Core Training, and Trauma, Justice, and Ending Oppression offline while we work to revamp our online training modules.
If you have purchased any of these courses, you still have access to them through June 30.
Thank you for your understanding as we continue to bring you trainings that are valuable to you and your agency. Please feel free to register for any of our other free, online trainings.
Protective Orders have been a lifesaving tool for survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence for many years in VA. However, a thorough understanding of whether or not a protective order is a useful tool for a particular survivor and the community structure for effective issuance and enforcement are what makes protective orders valuable tools in ensuring safety and accountability.
This four-part series on Protective Orders in Virginia reviewed and discussed the history of protective orders, what types are available and how survivors access them, what do advocates need to know to assist survivors in effective use of them, and finally, new firearms restrictions related to protective orders and how to build a community structure to ensure the most effective enforcement of them.
- Session 1: History and Overview of Protective Orders
- Session 2: Nuts and Bolts of PO’s
- Session 3: Real-World Application of PO’s
- Session 4: Protective Orders and Firearms
When: Self-paced (originally presented in September 2020)
Where: Virtual; pre-recorded presentations and resources
Cost: Free
How to Access: Access the Protective Order Webinar Series here
In this work to end sexual and domestic violence, we have an opportunity to plant the seeds of a just world every time we bring people together. “Together for a Just World: Planting the Seeds for Thriving Communities” is a three-day, in person, training event that offer you and your attending partner an opportunity to build skills for weaving values-based social justice into your daily prevention, advocacy, and community change work. You will have opportunities to practice, reflect, play, and strategize. Upon returning to your respective communities, you both can apply these skills and further hone your ability and capacity to weave your values into a variety of spaces – from support groups and staff meetings, to community response teams and prevention education.
DATES & LOCATIONS:
- These trainings have been removed from the 2023 training calendar. If you are interested in attending this training, please email training@vsdvalliance.org.