Summer Learning Series 2025: Building Trust in Care and Strengthening Patient Engagement

Posted on August 04, 2025

Summer Learning Series 2025

The Culture of Care: Embracing Roots, Elevating Practice

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is pleased to invite you to participate in the Culture of Care Summer Learning Series—an interactive virtual experience designed to strengthen your skills, expand your perspective, and support meaningful engagement in care delivery.

This series is designed for Maine healthcare providers and care teams, including Community Health Workers, who support patients and families adapting to new care systems, environments, or cultural contexts. Sessions will focus on building practical, relationship-centered approaches that strengthen communication, trust, and continuity of care across clinical and community settings.

Each session offers practical tools and real-world insights to help you:

• Serve families who are new to Maine’s healthcare systems with empathy and understanding

• Foster meaningful interactions across cultural backgrounds

• Strengthen trust and communication in clinical and community care settings

Session details:
For: Health providers, care team, CHWs
Dates: Thursdays, various dates from July to September 2025
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm, Two extended sessions (Aug. 14 and 28th)
Location: Virtual (Zoom), Each session has its own Register link. (See below)
Cost: Free Registration

Register today to reserve your spot!
This flexible learning series invites you to attend the full experience or join sessions individually based on your interests and schedule. Each session contributes to a shared commitment to improving care for families in Maine.

Sessions:
August 7- Team-Based Care: Partnering with CHWs
Explore how integrating Community Health Workers (CHWs) into clinical teams can improve outcomes. This session will highlight the unique strengths CHWs bring to team-based care and community engagement. CHWs will share practical insights from their work, including strategies to recognize and respond to common challenges that affect patient access and trust.

August 14 – Building Trust in Care and Strengthening Patient Engagement
Note: Extended session, 12:00–1:30 PM ET
This 90-minute session will explore how patients’ beliefs and practices influence health outcomes in Maine. This session will help participants identify key considerations that shape family engagement and trust in healthcare settings. Through guided discussion and reflection, the session will highlight common challenges that arise when patients are navigating unfamiliar systems or expectations. The session will conclude with an action-planning activity to help integrate these insights into daily clinical and community-based practice.

August 21- Clinical Approaches to Sensitive Health Discussions
Learn how to approach sensitive health conversations such as those involving mental health, reproductive health, or trauma with patient understanding and compassion. This session equips care teams with strategies to address complex topics in ways that are respectful of patient backgrounds, trauma-informed, and rooted in trust.

August 28 – Cross-Cultural Communication
NOTE: Extended session, 12:00–1:30 PM ET
Effective cross-cultural communication goes beyond language—it requires understanding the values that shape how people relate, decide, and seek care. In this 90 min. interactive session, you’ll explore how community-centered values influence health decision-making in families from different backgrounds and strengthen your ability to engage across distinct customs in both clinical and community settings. Through practical tools and real-world scenarios, participants will examine how beliefs, family roles, and prior experiences with healthcare systems can shape a patient’s understanding of care, trust in providers, and ability to follow treatment plans.

September 4th - Enhancing Early Developmental Support in Maine
Designed especially for care teams supporting families who are new to Maine, this session explores what providers can learn from the lived experiences, cultural perspectives, and strengths of the communities they serve. Participants will explore how to navigate conversations about early childhood development and possible delays with care and clarity. The session will focus on building early connections to support services through respectful communication and family-centered engagement.

The learning series is developed and delivered by MCD Global Health in partnership with Maine DHHS and Office of Behavioral Health.

For questions about the provider education learning series, contact MCD Training Team at MCDZoomTAP@mcd.org