News Item

Inside Collaborate’s First-Ever National Training Event for CACs

This year’s International Symposium on Child Abuse - the preeminent conference for child advocates around the globe - was unfortunately thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Collaborate team had planned to hold the inaugural Collaborate National Training event during the Symposium - but instead of calling off the training, we decided to take it online!

Based on the response from the Children’s Advocacy Center world, that was a great decision. On April 3, 2020, hundreds of social workers, administrators, and executive directors joined a live, all-day training event that featured training topics ranging from working remotely with Collaborate to HIPAA compliance.

National Online Training by the Numbers

Thanks to you, the event was a big success!

400+ Child Advocates Attended
100+ Individual CACs Trained
20+ U.S. States Represented
1,620 Collective Hours of Training
1 And Only Ted Buckenham
HIPPO Collective Hours of Training

What We Covered

As the world’s most comprehensive child advocacy software solution, there’s a lot to learn about Collaborate! To maximize our training time together, we focused on topics that were both timely (think telehealth services while working from home) and universal (things that could apply to just about every User).

Read on for a breakdown of training topics we covered during the event.

working remotely with collaborate

Segment 1: Working Remotely with Collaborate

  • Scheduling Services
  • Using the Message Center
  • Managing Tasks
  • Document Templates
  • DocuSign Signatures

staying secure and customizing collaborate collaborate

Segment 2: Staying Secure & Customizing Collaborate

  • Password Security & You
  • Working with Your Admins
  • When to Contact Network Ninja
  • Understanding Permissions
  • Custom Reports
  • Optional Modules (Quick Batch Simple Services, Class Management, Case Review, and Collaborate Portal for CACs)

its not spelled like hippo

Segment 3: It’s Not Spelled like “HIPPO”

In this practical and social worker-friendly (updated for 2020!) HIPAA primer, we learned:

  • What PHI actually is
  • The difference between Covered Entities and Business Associates
  • Why you should have a BAA in place
  • The responsibilities of Covered Entities
  • Technology-specific HIPAA considerations
  • TURN ON AUTOMATIC UPDATES!

What the Advocates Said

Judging by the feedback from trainees, the event was a big success.

“It was very interesting, and the presenters did an excellent job keeping the audience engaged.”

Headshot of Michelle Pittman.

Michelle Pittman

Education Coordinator, Gulf Coast Childrens Advocacy Center

“A lot of good info...especially about modules I didn’t even know existed.”

Headshot of Kelly McFearin.

Kelly McFearin

Program Administrator, Paulding Child Advocacy Center

“The training was amazing. Extremely helpful and informative.”

Headshot of Dakota Mahoney.

Dakota Mahoney

Program Outcome Specialist , Children’s Advocacy Center of Hidalgo County

“Thank you for the training, the tips on remote work and extra modules were very helpful.”

Headshot of Lindsey Sanders.

Lindsey Sanders

MDT and Client Services Coordinator, Child Advocacy Center of Cooke County

What’s Next?

A lot more trainings! Consult our Training Schedule for upcoming training opportunities, and stay tuned for the next major training event coming soon.

A special thanks goes out to the CAC community for making our first National Training a success! If you have any questions or suggestions for future trainings, or if you’d like to see how Collaborate can work for your organization, please reach out to us.

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Your Cases, Your Clients, Your Workflow

Collaborate software running on a MacBook, iPad, and iPhone.

Collaborate is customizable case management software for non-profits and social services agencies.

  • Track Case information, from Intake, providing Services, setting Goals, to recording Outcomes.
  • Efficiently access Case history, medical exams, test results, custom Reports, and more.
  • Tap a single, secure, HIPAA-compliant, easy-to-use, web-based platform for all your Case management needs.

Who's Using Collaborate

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia

Member of the National Children’s Alliance, The Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, Inc. is Georgia’s statewide membership association of 50 local children’s advocacy centers.

CACGA Client Story

  • Dozens of networked Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs), each with own private customizable instance
  • CACs able to search through entire state database of clients, caregivers, and offenders
  • Statewide reporting
  • Mix of Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) and non-MDT children’s advocacy centers
  • 500+ users, years of case data, tens of thousands of cases, hundreds of thousands of services

South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

SCCADVASA is the statewide partnership of organizations providing services to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in South Carolina.

Members include rape crisis centers and women's shelters throughout the state, serving clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

  • Dozens of member organizations, many cross-trained with partner CACs
  • Cross-trained Users can quickly switch between DV/SA and CAC sides
  • Hotline Intakes, with ability to easily change Case type for full Intakes later
  • Optional Modules include Batch Simple Services, Document Queue, and Document Templates

LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope

LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope is a comprehensive violence prevention and intervention agency. Programs include child advocacy, domestic violence, community violence, and elder justice for survivors, caregivers, and communities.

  • Referral Module to manage internal and external Referrals, across Programs
  • "1-Click" VOCA Report to easily meet funding requirements
  • Custom Services for Treatment Plans, Clinical Assessments, and Forensic Interviews

Douglas County, Nebraska

Three human services departments of the Douglas County, Nebraska municipal government run on Collaborate, each with their own tailored software implementation.

DCGA Client Story

  • No need for additional systems or network administrators
  • No software to install
  • Lightning fast, with as much bandwidth, processing power, and storage as you need
  • Access from anywhere, any time

The Spot / Project Ark

The Spot / Project Ark is a cooperative focusing on social justice and health care for at-risk youth.

The Spot / Project Ark Client Story

  • Collaborate facilitates all data management and reporting for SPARK
  • Medical services, mental health counseling, sexual and reproductive health services
  • Work development / workforce coaching services
  • Substance abuse counseling
  • Fully electronic medical records, charting, even immunization records

Substantial Cost Savings

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami (CCADM) was established in 1931 to serve impoverished families during the Great Depression. Since then, CCADM has grown to offer a diverse slate of Services in the Miami area, including alcohol & substance abuse treatment, child development, behavioral health, elderly assistance, homelessness, and help for immigrants & refugees.

  • Universal Intake to facilitate a quick implementation
  • Custom workflow allows Clients to have several open Cases at once
  • Reporting for over 40 distinct Service offerings across dozens of sites
  • Optional Modules include Batch Simple Services, Case Review, and Class Management

View Clients

Benefits of Using Collaborate

Cut out the Paper

Let Collaborate do the heavy lifting. Collaborate adjusts to your workflow and processes, not the other way around.

“Prior to Collaborate, we were using paper charts…”

See what The Spot has to say about Collaborate vs. Paper.

  • Use your existing forms, electronically
  • No more boxes of folders, no more spreadsheets
  • Clients can sign documents using smartphones, tablets, or computers
  • Save everything in one place

Fully Customizable

Don’t mess with a good thing - keep your workflows where they work, use our templates where they can be improved upon.

“…it’s like partnering with architects, engineers, and systems designers!”

See how we went above and beyond with Casa de Salud’s customizations.

  • We’ll customize and configure Collaborate for you, good to go at launch
  • Afterward, as requirements change, make configuration changes on your own
  • Grant requirements change frequently, so can Collaborate’s reports
  • Our expert software developers can accommodate your specialized requirements

Fast and Secure

Directly on the Internet backbone, and actively monitored for security, so you’re safe and sound.

Assist America uses Collaborate’s admin capabilities to configure who can access Collaborate from where, and even automatically lock accounts if something suspicious is happening.

  • High-grade encryption
  • Users can be granted access to what they need, only
  • Stable and scalable platform
  • Hourly backups means disaster avoidance
  • HIPAA compliant

Cloud-Based

Hosted and maintained by us, for you.

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia and SCCADVASA both make use of Collaborate’s cloud-based nature to allow users spread across a large area to access their database securely, using a web browser. Assist America does it worldwide.

  • No need for additional systems or network administrators
  • No software to install
  • Lightning fast, with as much bandwidth, processing power, and storage as you need
  • Access from anywhere, any time

Easy to Use and Understand

Developed and constantly improved upon, since 1998, we take our clients feedback seriously. Easy to use, even for the most technology-averse.

Our userbase is diverse, but most are not organizations that traditionally rely heavily on technology. Take a look at how some of our features work, simple and straightforward.

  • Intuitively designed interface
  • Simple to navigate
  • Dedicated support staff to assist
  • Online support & issue reporting

Substantial Cost Savings

Software is a tool to help you perform better, with less effort. Let it handle the grunt work and tedium, allowing you to focus on your real goals.

“…making for a highly efficient client experience and delivery of services…”

See how Collaborate streamlined The Center’s processes and reduced overhead.

  • Significant reduction in organization communication overhead
  • No annual or "per seat" license fees
  • Increased productivity and lower administrative costs
  • Reports that used to take weeks now take seconds!

Try Collaborate Now

Contact Us for a Demo