Description
Statement of Work Polyvagal Clinical Training Background: The Readjustment Counseling Service (RCS) Vet Center Program consists of community-based counseling centers that provide a wide range of social and psychological services, including professional readjustment counseling to eligible Veterans, active-duty service members, including National Guard and Reserve components, and their families. Readjustment counseling is offered to make a successful transition from military to civilian life or after a traumatic event experienced in the military. Individual, group, marriage and family counseling is offered in addition to referral and connection to other VA or community benefits and services. Vet Centers (Readjustment Counseling) were established by Congress in 1979 out of the recognition that a significant number of Vietnam era Vets were still experiencing readjustment problems. Vet Centers are community based and part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In April 1991, in response to the Persian Gulf War, Congress extended the eligibility to Veterans who served during other periods of armed hostilities after the Vietnam era. Those other periods are identified as Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Kosovo/Bosnia. In October 1996, Congress extended the eligibility to include WWII and Korean Combat Veterans. The goal of Vet Centers is to provide a broad range of counseling, outreach, and referral services to eligible Veterans in order to help them make a satisfying post-war readjustment to civilian life. On April 1, 2003, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs extended eligibility for Vet Center services to Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and on June 25, 2003, Vet Center eligibility was extended to Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and subsequent operations within the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The RCS North Atlantic District 1 Office continues the long tradition of RCS support to Veterans and family members in our communities across the USA. In the execution of this mission, it is critical that Vet Center staff receive regular clinical training in order to maintain and improve their skills and knowledge base in the area of mental health counseling and evidence-based techniques. Scope: Provide Deb Dana's Foundations of Polyvagal Informed Practice training to a cohort of 48 Readjustment Counselors over a period of 8 months. Course will be delivered virtually. Contractor is responsible for providing trainers, access to virtual training platform, technical assistance to troubleshoot issues with virtual platform, all required course content (handouts, manuals, etc.) and documentation of course completion for each completing participant to include Continuing Education Units (CEUs) consistent with hours of instruction. Purpose: The purpose of Deb Dana s Foundations of Polyvagal Informed Practice: An Immersive 6-month Training Program to Become Polyvagal Informed is to provide and interactive learning experience where counselors will learn autonomic patterns and develop Polyvagal-informed skills through personal exploration clinical demonstrations, experiential learning sessions, and engaging, face-to-face webinars. Training objectives include: How to understand and work with your own autonomic nervous system. The organizing principles of Polyvagal Theory. How to create autonomic maps and use them as a guide in treatment. Skills to track habitual response patterns. Ways to build individual and interactive resources to shape the nervous system toward connection. Practices that engage the co-regulating pathways of the social engagement system. Working with therapeutic rupture and repair. Beginning techniques to reshape the autonomic nervous system. How to introduce a Polyvagal approach into clinical practice. Completion of this training will improve the clinical competency of selected Readjustment Counselors within the RCS District 1, Vet Center Program resulting in trauma informed, evidence based quality care for Veterans, service members and their families. Period of Performance: May 13, 2022 December 9, 2022 Tasks/Delivery Schedule: Preparation: Link to virtual platform, instructions to access platform, point of contact for technical assistance will be provided to each participant no later than May 12, 2022 Training: Introduction 2 hours (May 13, 2022, 9:00am-11:00am) Module 1 3 hours (June 10, 2022, 9:00am-12:00pm) Trainer Experiential 1 hour, 30 minutes (July 8, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Consultation 1 hour (TBD, to be scheduled prior to beginning of training) Module 2 3 hours (August 5, 2022, 9:00am-12:00pm) Consultant Experiential 1 hour, 30 minutes (August 19, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Consultation 1 hour (TBD, to be scheduled prior to beginning of training) Module 3 3 hours (September 16, 2022, 9:00am-12:00pm) Consultation 1 hour (TBD, to be scheduled prior to beginning of training) Deb Q&A 1 hour, 30 minutes (September 30, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Module 4 1 hour, 30 minutes (October 21, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Trainer Experiential 1 hour, 30 minutes (November 18, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Deb Q&A 1 hour, 30 minutes (December 2, 2022, 10:30am-12:00pm) Consultation 1 hour (TBD, to be scheduled prior to beginning of training) Module 5 3 hours (December 9, 2022, 9:00am-12:00pm) For full course content: https://catalog.pesi.com/sales/bh_c_001585_foundationspolyvagalinformedpractice_june22_organic-326343 Proof of Completion: Documentation of course completion to include CEUs will be provided to each completing participant no later than December 23, 2022. Location: Virtual Contractor Personnel Security Requirements: No Contractor/Subcontractor employees shall be permitted access to the Department of Veterans Affairs' computer systems at any time. Government Responsibilities RCS District 1 will provide the list of students to contractor in advance of the first training. RCS District 1 will ensure student schedules are clear so that they may focus on each iteration training.