by Jennifer Wright, Development Editor

It’s that time again: back to school.

The end of summer vacation traditionally comes with groans from children and sighs of relief from parents. While the summer break was nice for me growing up, I was always a little more excited than my peers to get back to classes—from kindergarten to college!

I love the structured learning of a classroom. (It plays more to my strengths than more self-paced options!) And to this day, I’ll choose a seminar, class, or lecture over most other social opportunities. (I know, I know, I’m a total nerd!) But even if you’re not like me and still get emails about the astronomy lectures at your old college on the off chance you might be able to go to the next one, you may feel the need to do some extra learning as your kids go back to school.

Heartbeat has some fantastic opportunities year-round for ongoing education you can use every day in your organization—whether it be a pregnancy center, medical clinic, adoption agency, or maternity home! And fall is the season we like to make sure you have a variety of options that play to your strengths!

Online: Webinars, Live Virtual Classes, and Courses–Oh My!

Online learning has been growing since the internet began, and there are more and more tools available to make it better all the time.

Heartbeat is continuing to take advantage of those tools as well as the expertise of pregnancy help leaders around the world to create an educational experience like no other at Heartbeat Academy.

You’re probably familiar with our webinars and our continuing education course ConCERT. (Fun Fact: ConCERT was a mail-order course before moving online, so it’s been around a while!) But what about our increasingly common live virtual classes?

These live virtual classes are a beautiful blend of the classroom experience and the flexibility of online learning. For these classes, you have classmates working through the same content at the same time, an instructor who answers questions and presents content live, and the opportunity to join sessions from wherever suits you best. Most require about three to four hours of work (including a live session), but some classes may have different requirements. You can learn more about individual classes open for registration by clicking here. (Allow me to recommend Prevention and Community Outreach for Pregnancy Help Organizations with Lori Kuykendall. The next one starts soon!)

If you need something specific that you don’t see on the live virtual class list, try searching for the topic in our online store. That’s where you can find Advancement Boot Camp (fundraising with Kirk Walden), How to Identify & Assist Victims of Human Trafficking, and Online Ultrasound Training, not to mention courses that complement our training manuals like The LOVE Approach or Built By Design. These courses are built for you to complete at your own pace and are perfect for self-starters with limited time.

In-Print: When a Screen Won’t Cut It

I know what some of you are thinking, and no, online learning isn’t ideal for everyone. Studies continue to show that reading comprehension is better on a page than on a screen. If you need something in print to make it stick, we’ve got you covered. Our training manuals are phenomenal resources to keep on your shelf and reference as needed or work through in a training at the center. Whether you want a manual to stand alone or plan to supplement it with online options, these consistent resources are full of important information for your volunteers, Board members, medical staff, and more. New organizations and seasoned ones alike can check to see if there are any holes in their toolbox by checking the Pregnancy Help Starter Kit. Order the kit for a comprehensive set of resources or look at the contents to see if there’s anything you might be missing.

In-Person: When You Just Need to Meet a Friend

While Pregnancy Help Institute has just wrapped up and registration for the 2024 Heartbeat Conference doesn’t open for some time, there are still opportunities for training in person. Many of our affiliates take advantage of on-site consultations at least once over the course of their affiliation. Sometimes, you just need someone with expertise to come in and teach your Board how to govern effectively, work with your leadership team to create a strategic plan, or get all your client services staff and volunteers on the same page with abortion recovery or talking about abortion. For these, a Heartbeat expert comes to you!

On the other hand, sometimes it’s more efficient to bring together a group of people who need the same training all in one place at the same time. That’s why the LOVE Approach Ultrasound Clinical (held quarterly) and the Annual Conference travel across the country from training to training. We want to make travel less of a burden for our affiliates and bring you the benefit of a wide range of people coming together. We often hear that trainings like these (and Pregnancy Help Institute) hold bonus benefits like networking, making new friends, and discovering that you are not alone.

Whether you learn best online, in print, or in-person, I hope you have the chance to get back to school as summer comes to a close.

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Bonus! A bonus feature we have exclusive to affiliates, Heartbeat International Academy provides the opportunity for you to take our online training materials and bring them to your staff members and volunteers in your own personalized style and format with our custom training course option. In this option, you take control of your staff member's online training by controlling enrollment, tracking progress, offering your center's own customizing training, and monitoring their activity.