We are excited to announce an upcoming training opportunity that we are putting together. Many of you have asked about more courtroom experience, and that is what this training is for. We have put together a mock case and will hold a mock contested permanency hearing where you, as the CASA, will be able to cross examine witnesses and practice your opening and closing statements. This training is designed to give you feedback from an attorney so you understand the language and types of questions you should be asking. We also hope that this will empower you and give you confidence when speaking in a courtroom setting. 

We do want to be very intentional about this training and want to make sure that everyone who joins us gets to participate in some way. With that said, we are limiting this to only 20 participants. We acknowledge that not everyone will be able to question the witnesses, however, there will be time at the end where we will break out into groups so those who did not participate on the stand can still receive feedback. 

Because of the nature of this training, we do ask that you come prepared. To participate you will need to watch a 1 hour training video from Marion County CASA, which is the program where we got this idea. This video goes into detail about CASA's role in the courtroom. After watching that video you will then review the mock case and write out questions to ask the witnesses along with your opening and closing statements. Treat this like you are preparing for a trial, you want to come prepared. Even if you are not the one questioning the witnesses, you will be asked to review your questions within your breakout groups at the end of the training. 

This training will take place on Tuesday, August 25th from 4:30-6:30pm in Bend. You can RSVP on ARC at this link HERE. Once you RSVP, we will send over the materials for the mock case and video. We are hoping this will be a successful training and that we can hold another one in the next few months.