Writing & Using Case Studies in Volunteer Training

I like to use Case Studies when training volunteers because:

• They capture a situation for trainees to respond to.
• They give trainees some real-world exposure to possible clients.
• They are a good exercise for putting skills into practice.
• They allow the trainer to see first-hand if trainees are grasping the skills being taught in the training.
• They provide a different training activity and can replace some lectures in the training.
• They provide an opportunity for trainees to work together and, at the same time, get to know one another a little.

As a trainer, writing for a variety of Pregnancy Centers, it is hard to develop Case Studies that are appropriate for all Centers. In the Equipped to Serve training manual I have tried to write Case Studies that are generic enough to use in most Centers. The goal is not to have written the perfect client scenario but to write a scenarios that best help trainees apply the concepts being taught in that section of the training.

If the Case Studies in the manual are so different from your clients, I hope you feel free to write your own Case Studies for those sections of the manual.

What is important in writing your own Case Studies is that:

1. You provide enough client information in the story so the trainees can apply the skills being taught in that section of the manual.
2. You provide very clear instructions as to what you are looking for as trainees work on the Case Studies.
3. Ask trainees to work in groups as many heads are always better than just one and trainees get to see the Case Study processing through a variety of different people’s perspectives.
4. You continue to use the same or very similar processing questions that are in the Case Studies in the Equipped to Serve Manual. The continuity is important.
5. You remember the whole purpose of a Case Study is to reinforce a skill or concept you are expecting them to utilize when they are serving clients.
6. You know what you are expecting to hear from your trainees when you are processing the questions about the Case Study. This is important as the training facilitator to you know where they have gone astray and can guide them to the correct insights and also reinforce when they give you correct answers and provide great insights.

In the revised volunteer training manual I have changed some of the Case Studies and added extra Case Studies submitted to me by other trainers. But as I mentioned above, please feel free to craft your own Case Studies if need be.