Network Trainer Mary Curlew Partners with Boston Age Strong to Deliver CADER Programs 

When the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission enrolled their staff in online courses at the Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research (CADER) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW), they decided to boost their online learning with in-person workshops. Having custom CADER programs would allow their staff to practice their skills and share case examples with each other. Aging specialist Mary Curlew, a member of The Network Trainers Hub was the perfect fit for the city’s unique needs. 

“The training required collaboration among the CADER staff, me, and the groups requesting training,” says Curlew. “This collaboration needed to be transparent and include all three parties to be successful.” 

In Boston, Curlew worked closely with the city’s Age Strong Commission to assess the progress of those enrolled in CADER’s online Person-Centered Case Management Certificate (PCCM). While the staff members worked individually at their own pace to complete the certificate courses, Curlew used CADER’s course-specific facilitator guides and created an in-person training to reinforce and review the program content, as well as facilitate a dialogue about how the participants could apply what they had learned in the course to their work.   

“I’m grateful for the breadth of CADER material online,” says Curlew. “My job is to meet with participants and discuss how they can apply it to their actual cases. For instance, what if a family member says an older relative needs help, but that older person refuses? How do they handle that?” 

Boston Age Strong found that the training elevated the way the team worked together. “The in-person group meeting provoked a higher level of interaction and discussion among the team,” says Olive Fagan, Age Strong Commission project manager. “It also allowed us to showcase our understanding of the theories and how the material should be implemented to help older adults.  Mary was an amazing facilitator.”  

Age Strong will continue their work with Curlew this fall as their team starts another CADER certificate on Behavioral Health and Aging.  As with the PCCM training, Curlew will develop and host in-person workshops for staff to review and practice their learning. 

“I really admire and appreciate CADER and the work they do,” says Curlew. “As professionals, we learn a lot of theory during our education, which really helps, but many people don’t learn how to apply the theories. I get to help people talk about their experiences and put the theory into practice.”  

Beyond Boston Age Strong, CADER has trained more than 25,000 health and social service professionals and worked with more than 500 organizations across the country to strengthen the workforce that provides health and long-term supports and services to older adults and people with disabilities.