What is CSTEP?
Is CSTEP free?
Is CSTEP for me?
How will I benefit from CSTEP?
Does CSTEP offer Continuing Education Units?
In which languages does CSTEP offer trainings?
Which CSTEP training is right for me?
Who operates CSTEP?

What is CSTEP?
People living with HIV/AIDS deserve to receive accurate and up-to-date treatment and benefits information from informed, competent, respectful, and compassionate service providers and peers.

The California Statewide Training and Education Program (CSTEP) helps make that vision a reality by providing a multi-tiered, high-impact training program. Conducted throughout California, CSTEP trainings deliver education, skills, and certificates for providers of HIV care and treatment.

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Is CSTEP free?
Yes. All trainings and materials will be provided to you by CSTEP, at no cost.

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Is CSTEP for me?
CSTEP is ideal for HIV providers who want to increase their HIV skills and knowledge. More than 750 providers have benefited from these trainings, including case managers, treatment advocates and educators, nurses, mental health counselors, peer advocates and other professionals who work with people living with HIV/AIDS on HIV and its treatment.

Because of the comprehensive, relevant, and powerful content of CSTEP trainings, many health departments and AIDS Service Organizations require all of their providers on staff to attend and pass CSTEP trainings.

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How will I benefit from CSTEP?
It is the goal of CSTEP that its participants are able to learn the fundamentals of HIV treatment, care, and benefits and become updated on the latest HIV/AIDS developments, enabling them to provide better client services. Likewise, CSTEP participants benefit from networking and certificates opportunities.

Provide better client service: CSTEP identifies cultural challenges and outlines opportunities for providers to connect better with their clients, including those from different backgrounds.

Staying current: CSTEP courses are continually updated to address the changing field of HIV treatments and benefits.

Networking: In addition to enriching your own career, networks of contacts enable you to expand your web of information to learn from the best practices of your peers.

Certificates: Participants who successfully complete the Certification training will receive HIV treatment certificates.

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Does CSTEP offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs)?
Not currently.

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In which languages does CSTEP offer trainings?
Trainings are currently offered only in English.

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Which CSTEP training is right for me?
CSTEP has created different trainings.

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Benefits: Basics training
By the end of the Benefits Basics training participants will be able to:

• Discuss in general terms eligibility and application requirements as they relate to HIV-related health, disability and public aid programs including:
• Disability programs: State Disability Insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income and Long-term Disability Insurance
• Public Assistance Programs: General Assistance, Food Stamps, Cal WORKs, and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants;
• Health Programs: Medicare, Medi-Cal, private/group insurance, managed care, insurance continuation (COBRA, OBRA, HIPAA, Major Risk Insurance Program), CARE/Health Insurance Continuation Payment Program, AIDS Drug Assistance Program, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funded medical care services, county indigent care programs, In-Home-Supportive Services, and Veterans Administration.
• Understand strategies to advocate for clients dealing with stigma they may experience as a result of HIV infection, dependency on the public benefit systems or other issues.

Benefits: Certification training contains a CSTEP:Benefits Counselor certification component requiring participants meet a minimum standard of knowledge and skills.

By the end of CSTEP:Benefits Certification participants will:

• Understand the various health, disability and public assistance options available to clients living with HIV, with an emphasis on the interrelationship between various benefits (linkages between health and disability programs, payer of last resort issues);
• Possess an in-depth knowledge of health, disability and public assistance eligibility, application and appeal requirements;
• Be familiar with legal resources for complicated appeal and hearing issues;
• Understand benefits information from a regional perspective with respect to their particular city, county, rural/urban, and Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funded area;
• Understand issues such as homelessness, poverty, immigration status, stigma, substance use and abuse, mental health needs, prior incarceration and degrees of literacy or non-literacy.

CSTEP:Benefits Certification will require a minimum level of knowledge demonstrated on a post-test.

Benefits Plus training
The topic of this training can very and is open to anybody who is interested. This topic is chosen by the CSTEP staff, based on feedback from former CSTEP participants and the needs of local agencies. This is a three hour training.

Treatment: Basics training
New to the field? Do you have a limited background in biology, HIV, and medical and scientific terms? This two-day training grounds you in fundamental HIV concepts and terminology and prepares you for the more advanced certificates training. You'll leave Basics training with a strong understanding of the basics of a variety of topics:

• Timeline: where have we been…
• Myths & facts of HIV
• HIV transmission
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Viral hepatitis A, B, and C
• The immune system
• HIV pathogenesis
• HIV care
• HIV treatment
• Systems of care and resources

Treatment: Certification training
CSTEP Certification training is geared to participants whose work involves ongoing contact with HIV positive clients such as case managers, mental health counselors, early intervention specialists, etc. It covers the basics of HIV treatment education and gives participants the foundation needed to participate effectively in HIV positive clients’ treatment teams. It is a three-day, 21 hour training with a certificates component that requires participants to show a minimum level of knowledge and skills.

Also covers:
• Immune system
• How HIV causes disease
• Lifecycle of HIV
• Opportunistic infections and consequences of immune suppression
• Diagnostics
• Antiretroviral therapy (goals of treatment, challenges, classes of drugs)
• Treatment side effects
• Adherence
• Research & clinical trials
• Resources and continuing education

Treatment: Advanced training
How do you integrate this information into your day-to-day work? The Advanced training is a three-day, 21 hour training course that will expand on topics that were discussed in CSTEP Basics and certificates trainings, such as viral hepatitis and women-specific treatment issues, as well as explore emerging areas of HIV care and treatment, such as immune based therapies and new antiviral strategies. This training is specifically geared towards persons who work in HIV treatment education, including but not limited to Treatment Advocates and Treatment Case Managers.

Also covers:
• What does data mean: Understanding study results and limitations
• HIV/HCV Co-infection: Overview and Guidelines
• Women and HIV: What we’ve learned so far
• Immune Based Therapies
• Therapeutic Vaccines

Treatment: Up-To-Date training
The topic of this training can very and is open to anybody who is interested. This topic is chosen by the CSTEP staff, based on feedback from former CSTEP participants and the needs of local agencies. This is a three hour training.

Treatment: Re-Certification training
Any CSTEP Participant with a CSTEP Certificate that was issued more than two years ago must renew their CSTEP Certificate. This training is a brief review of the information covered in the certificates training and it also contains new treatment information. This training is good for providers who would like to review their HIV treatment Information. This is a four hour training.

Does the CSTEP Certificate expire?
Yes, the CSTEP Certificate expires after 2 years. There are only two alternatives to renewing your CSTEP Certificate. You can go to another CSTEP Certification training or you can go to the three hour CSTEP Re-Certification training. There are no other CSTEP trainings that you can take to recertify.

CSTEP:Benefits and CSTEP:Treatment certifications will require a minimum level of knowledge demonstrated on a post-test.

How can I join the CSTEP e-Network?

1. Go to: http://groups.google.com/group/cstep
2. Click the link: “Join This Group“
3. You can “Create an Account Now” using ANY email address, this address does not need to be a gmail account

Also, if you want to send an email to this group, send emails to: cstep@googlegroups.com

Who operates CSTEP?
CSTEP is a program of the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.