Communities of Practice (CoP) can help bridge professionals across sectors and geographic areas who share the common goal of preventing, screening, and treating child maltreatment while improving outcomes for youth who have experienced maltreatment.
The concept of CoPs comes from the corporate world and in recent years has become popular in the health care and human services sectors. A CoP can be defined as a “…group of people who share a concern, set of problems or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et al., 2002, p 6). A CoP can have a broad or narrow scope depending on its purpose. CoPs “…can be used to provide some guidance for the development of groups, teams, and networks” (Li et al., 2009).
Learn how CoPs can help bridge professionals across sectors and geographic areas who share the common goal of preventing, screening, and treating child maltreatment while improving outcomes for youth who have experienced maltreatment.
Community of Practice Fact Sheet References, Resources, and Examples (pdf)
This webinar explores ways to create Communities of Practice in your area.
Marilyn Gisser, who has over 20 years of experience in Washington State Public Health and is part of the Essentials for Childhood initiative team.
Teresa Posakony, a leadership and organization development consultant focusing on building healthy, resilient communities and organizations using a trauma and resilience-informed approach.
Kody Russell, the executive director of Kitsap Strong with over 10 years of experience working with children and families in the child welfare system and who is one of 25 Washington State certified trainers in the NEAR sciences curriculum.