Open Table Nashville training sessions are interactive, taught by seasoned outreach workers, centered in evidence-based practices like Trauma-Informed Care, and framed with a systemic analysis. They also center the voices and stories of people who have been or are currently experiencing homelessness. Trainings range from beginner to advanced, general to specific.We’re not able to accept any new training requests until mid-2023. If you’d like to be notified when we begin taking new requests, please email olivia@opentablenashville.org
Training Descriptions
BEGINNER HOMELESS OUTREACH TRAINING
If you have a little volunteer experience under your belt or are hoping to get more experience in the realm of homeless outreach, this training is for you. This training will cover the basics of how to better understand the complexities of both the personal and systemic aspects of homelessness, how to approach and engage in outreach, how to navigate the resources, and how to cultivate reflective listening skills and healthy boundaries. The foundation for this training is relational outreach and Trauma-Informed Care.
NAVIGATING THE RESOURCES 101
This training is focused on helping you to better understand the lay of the land with available resources and services in Nashville. We will cover how to use the “Where to Turn in Nashville” guide, some tips for navigating housing needs, and how to help people get connected with all kinds of services from food assistance to mental health care.
TRAUMA-INFORMED DE-ESCALATION TRAINING
If you serve in an environment like an overnight shelter, a soup kitchen, or other places where people who have experienced stressful circumstances congregate, you know that it doesn’t take much for tensions to rise and situations to escalate. This training will better equip you to understand what is happening before and during escalations, to be prepared with intervention strategies, and to feel more equipped to step in and assist. Not only is this training interactive, but it is also steeped in evidence-based practices like Trauma-Informed Care and operates in an anti-oppression framework.
MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING TRAINING
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a person-centered, strength-based, solution-focused model of engagement that helps people connect with their own motivation to take positive steps forward in their lives. MI is an evidence-based practice that is transformative in its understanding of why people change and how we can best accompany them on the journey toward greater healing and wholeness. This training is highly interactive and also covers the core skills of active and reflective listening.
WINTER OUTREACH TRAINING
As the temperature drops, learn how you can help prevent cold weather deaths and injuries. This training will better equip you to engage and support our friends on the streets during winter, to help with outreach canvassing efforts on the coldest nights, to recognize and respond to injuries and illnesses like hypothermia and frostbite, and to better navigate the winter shelter system.
ADVOCACY & POLICY TRAINING
This training focuses on equipping you to know what’s happening on the ground with policy changes in Nashville, how to effectively navigate Metro Council and State Legislature, and how to organize for change in your community. If you’re interested in learning more about addressing the root causes of homelessness (like the lack of affordable housing and the criminalization of poverty), then this training is for you.
ACTIVE & REFLECTIVE LISTENING TRAINING
Listening well is one of the most important skills to cultivate in the field of homeless outreach and in many other professions. Not only is it a tool for relationship building, but it can also foster healing. It has the power to help people feel seen, heard, and known. This training is highly interactive and will help participants at all skill levels better hone the core skills of active and reflective listening.