Training Catalog

Current Training Classes

All trainings will take place remotely unless otherwise specified. Pre-registration is required. If you would like to see a training on a specific topic, please answer our CTI needs survey here.

Please reach out to Meher Rehman, Director of Capacity Building, with any questions: mrehman@the-network.org.

Upcoming Trainings

For any questions related to registration, email Meher Rehman at mrehman@the-network.org.

40-Hour Domestic Violence Training

The 40-Hour Domestic Violence Training is the basic state-required certificate training for new domestic violence professionals, including volunteers and interns. It is a stepping-stone for individuals who will be working directly with victims and survivors, and is the necessary first step to becoming an Illinois Certified Domestic Violence Professionals (ICDVP). The Network is an ICDVP approved training and supervision site. The training is also open to anyone who would like to learn how to address domestic violence in their own communities.

The Network’s 40-Hour is considered a model training program. Evidence-based education is practiced throughout, and all sessions are led by a team of experts that use strengths-based and trauma-informed approaches. The training begins by grounding participants in the foundations and dynamics of the gender-based violence movement. Skill-building activities help participants engage in not only intervention strategies, but models of prevention and transformation. Participants will leave with a comprehensive understanding of domestic violence, and the best practices to safely and appropriately support victims and survivors. Individuals must attend all required sessions in order to receive a Certificate of Completion.

Topics covered include:

• Empowerment Advocacy & Counseling
• Safety Planning & Basic Crisis Intervention
• Partner Abuse Intervention Strategies
• Impact of Domestic Violence on Children
• Reproductive justice
• Housing instability
• Disability justice
• Criminalization of survivors
• Teen Dating Violence
• Mental Wellness & Substance Use Issues
• IDVA & other Legal Concerns
• Heterosexism & Domestic Violence in LGBTQIA+ Relationships
• Vicarious Trauma & Compassion Fatigue
• And much more!

Housing Trainings

The Network offers a variety of housing trainings focused on legal protections, advocacy, and best practices regarding housing survivors of gender-based violence. Each training can be tailored to the needs of the intended audience, but the following descriptors include a general time frame and audience.

Illinois Housing Protections:

A one-hour training covering Illinois and Cook County protections for survivors including lease terminations, lock changes, consumer protections, and fair housing rights under the Safe Homes Act, Gender Violence Act, Consumer Fraud Act, and Human Rights Act. This training also covers Illinois protections for survivors facing eviction, crime-free ordinance protections, and utility deposit deferrals. This training is a recommended first training for audiences who are unfamiliar with housing protections for survivors because it covers all of the frequently-used housing protections in Illinois.

Accessing Safe Housing and Leaving Unsafe Spaces:

A 6-hour workshop on overcoming barriers to accessing safe housing for survivors of domestic violence, geared towards victim service providers, advocates, and attorneys. This workshop generally spans 2 days and covers legal protections for survivors, including the Safe Homes Act, Consumer Fraud Act, Fair Housing Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. We offer practical guidance, and drafting examples as well as troubleshoot common problems related to leaving unsafe housing and accessing safe housing. These include best practices for terminating lease agreements, getting security deposits back, avoiding eviction, applying to subsidized housing, and overcoming barriers related to credit reports, criminal history, or eviction records. The Network offers this intensive workshop twice a year, covering a wide range of state and federal protections for survivors.

Introduction to Subsidized Housing:

A one-hour training for victim service providers, advocates, or attorneys focused on accessing subsidized housing, subsidized housing rules and protections, and specific rights for survivors of gender-based violence. This training can be tailored to subsidized housing programs in a specific ward or neighborhood and is best-suited for advocates new to subsidized housing programs.

Fair Housing Rights and How to Access Them:

In this one-hour training, we provide an overview of federal, state, and local fair housing protections as well as a detailed introduction to requesting and supporting a reasonable accommodation or modification. Fair Housing Rights and How to Access Them is recommended for advocates who are looking to learn more about how to best support survivors with disabilities and medical conditions.

Best Practices to Support Survivors in Housing:

Geared towards housing providers, this 90-minute training covers how to comply with and implement protections under the Fair Housing Act, Violence Against Women Act, and other civil legal protections for survivors of gender-based violence, including practical policy and procedure recommendations. We recommend that housing providers attend this training annually to ensure staff are up to date on survivor protections and best practices.

(Re) Claiming Our Love: Social Justice and Domestic Violence Conference

The conference centers critical conversations on social justice and equity approaches that directly influence interventions for domestic violence and other forms of violence. Over the last two years, sessions have focused on intersectionality, racial justice, abolition, decarceration, and transformative justice. Over the course of the two days, we hear from activists, advocates, and practitioners who are relentlessly using these approaches and models in their effort to create a violence-free world. We have had the honor of hosting Feminista Jones, Dr. Ada Cheng, and Cristina Garcia as keynote speakers at our previous conferences. 

Building Shared Prosperity: August Social Justice Training Series

Through this training series, held every August, The Network amplifies the intersections between key social justice issues and gender-based violence to center approaches that serve survivors in a more trauma-informed and equitable way. The training series includes sessions featuring seasoned practitioners, advocates, and survivors of violence. In the past, we have had sessions on intersectionality in gender-based violence, criminalized survival, mandated reporting, safety planning when those who harm have firearms, transformative justice in a gender-based violence context, and unpacking institutional oppression.