The major portion of seminar time will be spent on what is actually involved in starting and growing a vibrant respite care ministry.
We will cover topics such as:
- What exactly is respite care?
- Why don’t all families receive respite care?
- The benefits of respite care for the P.U.R.E. person and family
- The benefits of respite care for the church
- How to start?
- What’s involved?
- What does a “typical” respite care look like?
- The KEY to recruiting volunteers
- The REAL results of respite care
Though each seminar will vary slightly depending on hosting church, generally we are attempting to offer the training seminar on days on which the hosting church is also conducting respite care. Combining these two opportunities will give attendees the option of "observing" a real, in-operation respite care on the same day!
Typically, the training seminar will be 4-5 hours in total length (normally with breakfast or lunch included) and will be conducted immediately prior to the respite care event. For example, if respite care is offered at a given church from 3-7 in the afternoon/evening, the training seminar would begin at 10:00 in the morning and end at 2:30, with lunch served around noon. This typical format will allow people to "learn" and then "see" (and possibly even "do") how real-life churches have applied the principles and practices of respite care.
Unfortunately, at most churches hosting these training seminars, there will be more capacity to attend the seminar than there will be to observe respite care. We are very sensitive to issues arising out of having a “giant” crowd observing that would negatively affect the operation of the hosting church’s respite care. Therefore, in most cases, the number of attendees that will be permitted to stay and observe respite care on training day will be limited to a workable number as determined by leaders in the hosting church. Given this situation, we would encourage registering for these training seminars as quickly as possible. If, after you register and you have indicated that you would like to observe respite care, you are notified that we have reached maximum capacity for “observing respite care” for that day, all is not lost! We would strongly encourage you to contact ANY of the hosting churches in your area to schedule a visit on another respite care day. All of our host churches would love to have you come and will warmly welcome you - they may even put you to work!
Please make plans now to attend one of these training seminars – you and P.U.R.E. families in your local communities will be so thankful you did! | 
