At First Work, we believe strong services start with informed, confident professionals.
First Work delivers high-quality, sector-responsive training designed to strengthen Ontario’s workforce development ecosystem. Our trainings support frontline practitioners, managers, and system leaders working with youth and jobseekers facing barriers to employment.
Grounded in real-world practice and informed by policy, labour market trends, and system transformation, First Work trainings focus on building practical skills, strategic insight, and shared understanding across the employment services landscape. Topics range from foundational competencies for frontline staff to advanced leadership, employer engagement, innovation, and system-level change.
Delivered by experienced facilitators and sector experts, our trainings prioritize interactive learning, peer exchange, and immediately applicable tools. Whether you’re new to the sector or leading organizational and regional change, First Work trainings help you build capacity, adapt to evolving systems, and improve outcomes for jobseekers and communities.
Navigating Conflict in the Workplace for Frontline
This engaging training session will explore how workplace tension develops, how staff communication habits and emotional responses influence psychological safety, and how simple everyday tools can turn conflict into an opportunity for stronger relationships.
Participants will leave with:
- Practice active listening skills that reduce misunderstandings and increase feelings of being heard among colleagues, supervisors, and clients.
- Apply a simple conflict resolution sequence—take responsibility, listen, address the root problem, and follow up—to everyday scenarios in service-based environments.
- Commit to one or two micro-habits that will improve team culture and client experience in the weeks following the training.
Practical Applications of Motivational Interviewing Part 1
Learn how Motivational Interviewing helps practitioners understand client motivation, navigate ambivalence, assess readiness for change, and avoid the Righting Reflex using a client-centered, evidence-based approach.
By the end of the session participants will be able to:
- Define motivational interviewing
- Understand key concepts: ambivalence, readiness, change talk, sustain talk
- Building motivation to change and goal setting
- Apply the tools and strategies through roleplays, case studies, small & large group discussions
Small Shifts, Big Impact: Self-Care at Work
This interactive workshop helps participants build practical self-care into busy, people-centred work environments. Through mindfulness, breathing techniques, chair yoga, and discussion, participants will learn simple, sustainable strategies to manage stress, strengthen resilience, and support long-term well-being at work.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Apply simple mindfulness practices to improve focus, presence, and emotional regulation during the workday
- Use practical breathing techniques to manage stress, transitions, and high-pressure moments at work
- Participate in and adapt a gentle chair-based movement routine
- Identify small, realistic wellness habits that can be integrated into daily work routines
- Develop a personal or team wellness plan
Understanding Client Barriers and Enhanced Counselling Methods
This interactive course helps frontline employment service workers better understand the complex barriers clients face through the lenses of Bridges Out of Poverty, Trauma-Informed Care, coaching, and curiosity. Participants will explore practical counselling strategies and best practices through discussion, case studies, and group activities to better support clients toward long-term success.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding of the key concepts of Bridges Out of Poverty, Trauma Informed Care, coaching and curiosity.
- With consideration to those concepts, identification and enhanced understanding of common client behaviours that inhibit success.
- Development of tools and strategies for direct use with individual clients and groups.
Designing Job Retention Strategies for Success
This interactive course helps frontline employment service workers address job retention challenges faced by clients with complex barriers. Through practical strategies, group activities, and discussion, participants will learn how to better understand client behaviours and support long-term success in the workplace.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding of the common concepts and theories that frame common client barriers
- With consideration to those concepts, identification and enhanced understanding of common client behaviours that inhibit long-term success
- Knowledge of proven best practices for job retention and understanding of why they work
- Development of new tools and strategies for direct use with individual clients and groups
- Development of strategies to engage with and educate employer
