The Central California Social Welfare, Research, Evaluation and Training Center is the recipient of a $4.3 million grant to further develop its Central California Adult Protective Services Training Academy. The three-year grant, from the California State Department of Social Services, will be used to better prepare and train staff who work within adult protective services in the San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area regions.

The training academy currently develops and provides core and advanced training to educate the region’s 360 adult protective services workers in the Central California and Bay Area regions, which span 24 counties from Santa Barbara to Sonoma.

With the grant, Debbie Blankenship, project director of the Adult Protective Services Training Academy, and her team will implement a series of in-person and online training programs aimed at these areas and also take a new, more high-tech approach using virtual reality — a first for the region.

“The goal is to train adult protective services staff with the right skills needed to handle various situations,” Blankenship said. “Through a virtual environment, adult protective services workers would be able to walk into a situation that mimics a real-life scenario. It’s an opportunity for our social service workers to be put in that environment without actually being there. It’s good preparation that goes beyond what you can read in a book or learning guide. This has the potential to be a real game changer for the Central California and Bay Area regions.”

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