Free State Social Work

Program Summary:  This course explores evidence-based care for clients with co-occurring substance use disorders and eating disorders.  The course examines eating disorders, eating disorder treatments, and the relationship between eating disorders and substance use disorders.  The course includes DSM-5-TR criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.  Signs and symptoms, red flags, and screening tools are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course explores contributing factors to the US opioid epidemic, including the overprescription of opiates and opioids and the lack of education and opportunity. In addition, the course discusses major risk factors for opioid abuse and OUD and identifies negative consequences of opioid misuse.  Best practices and the impact of prescription drug monitoring programs are examined.  DSM 5 diagnostic criteria and treatment options are given.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course examines the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and conduct disorders in US schools and how Black boys are often classified and treated differently compared to their white peers.  Research found that Black boys often receive diagnoses for conduct disorders as their white peers receive diagnoses for ADHD.  The course examines how such inequities in diagnosis can lead to disparities in treatment and discipline, resulting in long term consequences.  Concepts of adultification bias, structural racism, implicit bias, labeling theory, and trauma misinterpretation are discussed, and recommendations for reform are given.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course examines best practices for perinatal opioid use disorder care and explores clinical treatment, engagement, and services.  The course highlights recommendations for screening and treatment and discusses the importance of MOUDs and a patient-centered approach.  Recommended practices for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome are included. The course includes information on diagnosis and treatment.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course examines the diagnosis and treatment of cannabis use disorder using a lifespan approach.  The course explores cannabis use during each developmental stage and reviews risk factors, symptom presentation, treatment needs, and harm trajectories.  The course provides diagnostic criteria for CUD using the DSM-5-TR.  Evidence based treatments for patients with CUD include cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement therapy, contingency management, family interventions, and integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course offers key considerations for understanding the diagnosis and treatment of depression.  The course explores the clinical presentation of depression with a discussion of vulnerability factors, symptoms, screening, and diagnosis.  Considerations for treatment and managing depression are then examined and include psychoeducation, lifestyle modifications, psychological interventions, and antidepressants.  Complementary treatments and emerging therapies are also discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course explores key considerations and concepts for understanding and identifying human trafficking and its impact. The first reading for this course describes the multidimensional impact of sex trafficking on survivors by highlighting first-hand insights from survivors.  The course examines the lasting challenges and consequences for survivors along with needed intervention strategies and support.  The second reading for this course offers key considerations and concepts for understanding and identifying human trafficking in the United States- both forced labor and sex trafficking.  The acts, means, and purpose framework is discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course explores moral injury and reintegration challenges among post-911 US veterans.  Using qualitative interviews, the course considers the impact of moral injury on Veteran reintegration and identifies four qualitative themes:  1. moral injury’s role in a changing sense of self and belonging during reintegration, 2. trust’s impact on social connection and disclosure during reintegration, 3. confronting moral injury in reintegration and reflecting on the cost of war, and 4. moral injury’s impact on post-traumatic growth.  Cognitive flexibility is identified as an important protective factor for accepting, adjusting, and moving forward.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  Research shows that although the culture of familism and the central role of family may very well produce positive outcomes, familism may also increase victimization.  Using family stories, this course examines the impact of familism on victimization and identifies four main processes:   a. preventing victims from disclosing family violence; b. preventing the family from denouncing the violence against one if its members, c. victims remaining with the family despite the abuse, and d. victims being forced to remain in abusive relationships. The course highlights a qualitative research study that includes 50 interviews of people convicted of crimes in Mexico. The culture of familism and the potential relationship between familism and family violence are explored.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course explores trauma assessment and treatment considerations for lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans.  The course identifies unique stressors experienced by sexual minoritized veterans and provides context for minority stress and trauma.  Topics of post-traumatic stress disorder, Criterion A events, diagnostic assessment, rapport, and evidence-based practice are discussed.  Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure Therapy are highlighted.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course examines post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans. Using concept analysis, (a method for understanding complex ideas), three defining attributes for PTSD in veterans are identified:  intrusive memories of traumatic events, feelings of isolation and estrangement, and negative cognitions.  DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, screening tools, and treatments are explored.  Three trauma-focused psychotherapies are discussed:  Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  The following course highlights research with military Veterans, and information for this course is provided by the National Center for PTSD and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.  This course explores PTSD in older adults and at the end of life and identifies clinical considerations for assessment and treatment.  The course describes how PTSD and aging may interact in new and challenging ways, resulting in the potential for older adults to experience an exacerbation of symptoms for several reasons.  Implications for end of life care are considered and strategies for the management of PTSD symptoms are included.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course explores the topic of suicidal behavior in older military veterans.  The course offers a literature review and identifies the unique experiences and challenges that older veterans face, which may include psychiatric disorders, medical illnesses, and psychosocial stressors.  Suicide prevention efforts are identified and include medical and psychological treatment, safety planning, social help, family education, public education, lethal means restriction, and technology.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course examines a qualitative research study that explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ young adults in mental healthcare. The course explores themes, describes barriers, and offers recommendations for affirmative mental healthcare for LGBTQ+ young adults.  Four themes emerged and are highlighted:  disconnection from community and self as an impetus for seeking formal mental healthcare; marginalization during mental health service encounters; the therapeutic power of belonging and mattering in the mental healthcare system; and mutual human connection as the foundation for affirming mental healthcare experiences.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

Unfortunately, this course is not available in CE Broker for Florida professionals.

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Program Summary:  This course explores the ethical challenges of conversational AI in mental health care.  The course highlights a literature review and identifies 10 main ethical themes:  safety and harm; explicability, transparency, and trust; responsibility and accountability; empathy and humanness; justice; anthropomorphization and deception; autonomy; privacy and confidentiality; and effectiveness.  A bioethical framework is utilized to discuss findings.  Recommendations are offered.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:   This course explores Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and offers an integrative, multifaceted approach to dementia care.  The course highlights multiple factors that may improve care and quality of life, including the benefits of exercise, music, art, nutrition, cognitive behavioral therapy, and acupuncture.  An overview of Alzheimer’s disease and the brain is given, with a discussion of signs, symptoms, stages, diagnosis, treatment, and support.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:   This course explores mandated reporting and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, offering important perspective on the historical context of mandated reporting, the rationale for CAPTA, and continuing concerns.  Criticisms include causing children and families harm, family policing through state-mandated surveillance, and disproportionately impacting families of color and families experiencing poverty.  Present day implications are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:   This course reviews recent literature on suicidal thoughts and behaviors in people on the autism spectrum.  Emerging research on suicide risk factors, screening, assessment, and treatment is discussed. The course offers the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide as a possible framework and explores concepts of thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability for suicide.  Recommendations for future research is included.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores considerations and recommendations for addressing HIV and substance use disorders.  Topics related to unstable housing, sexual risk-taking, substance use disorder screening, co-occurring mental health disorders, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) are discussed.  The course reviews commonly used substances and their impact on HIV and ART.  ART is advised for anyone who has HIV, including those with ongoing substance use.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course examines the topic of implicit bias in healthcare and the role of the healthcare provider in addressing implicit bias and prioritizing equitable care.  The course explores the science of implicit bias, the social groups most affected by implicit bias, and the impact on health outcomes.  Mitigation strategies are identified and include self-reflection, simulation-based education, counter-stereotypic strategies, emotional regulation, and mindfulness meditation.

If you would like to take the Harvard Project Implicit Implicit Association Test (IAT), you can find it here.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores the topic of depression in cancer patients and offers a discussion of risk factors, symptoms, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.  Common depression screening tools are identified along with suggested questions for the clinical interview.  Interventions including coping strategies, antidepressant medications, and psychotherapies are highlighted.  Cancer is a risk factor for suicide, and information on the assessment and management of suicide risk in cancer patients is given.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course examines youth suicide prevention and intervention in five parts:  1.  Foundations of Youth Suicide Prevention 2. Suicide Prevention and Postvention in School Settings 3. Suicide Specific Interventions 4. Cultural Considerations and Specific Populations and 5. Improving Quality of Suicide Care Across Systems.  The course explores trends and research and offers strategies for prevention, early identification, and response.  Suicide screening, safety planning, lethal means counseling, hotlines, and best practices are discussed.  Cultural considerations highlight specific populations that include Black youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, youth with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disorders, American Indian and Alaska Native youth, and considerations for rural communities.  Views from lived experience are shared.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course explores ethical implications and challenges related to private equity investment in the field of social services.  The course offers an overview of private equity in social services and uses the NASW Code of Ethics as a guide to address potential concerns.  Ethical standards related to informed consent, conflicts of interest, professional integrity, administration and commitments to employers, dishonesty, fraud, and deception, and social injustice, anti-racism, and social and political action are highlighted.  Examples are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course explores prolonged grief disorder and highlights existing psychological therapies and models.  The course differentiates between normal and abnormal grief and offers an overview of the DSM-5 diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder, predictors of prolonged grief, and maintenance factors.  The reading highlights therapies, including the cognitive model of PTSD as a framework for treating traumatic grief.  The second reading examines possible maladaptive coping strategies, including avoidance, proximity seeking, and rumination.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course explores opioid use disorder and reviews trends, treatments, and approaches.  The course offers an overview of the opioid crisis as one of our biggest public health challenges.  Benefits and limitations of existing treatment options are examined with a discussion of naloxone and MOUDs.  The course identifies possible ways to improve existing treatment strategies and highlights new approaches and medical developments.  The course places an emphasis on treating the whole patient and suggests that future treatments may have the potential to cure, not just manage OUD.  A second reading provides information on signs of an overdose, Naloxone, identifying OUD, and diagnostic criteria.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course highlights an analysis of opioid use in the context of prescription opioid policy changes.  Participants in the study describe their personal experiences with opioid use over time, starting with prescription opioid use.  As the opioid crisis became a public health crisis, many new measures and policies were quickly initiated to limit the prescribing, diversion, and nonmedical use of prescription opioids.  The course describes the unintended consequences from these policy changes, including an escalation of opioid use for some people.  Discontinuation of prescription opioids and pain management are discussed and include common misconceptions about pain managment.  A second reading covers the topics of identifying OUD, diagnostic criteria, evidence-based treatment, and nonopioid therapies for pain management.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:   This course explores young adult pathways to opioid and non-medical prescription opioid use with implications for prevention.  The course highlights a qualitative and quantitative research study of thirty young adults in recovery from OUD.  Risk factors, protective factors, and main themes are identified.  Recommendations for prevention are offered and include a discussion of supply-side and demand-side strategies.  About Prescription Opioids is the second reading for the course and includes information on pain management, side effects of opioids, prescription opioid misuse, and risk for overdose.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course examines key ethical considerations related to the use of mental health chatbots and highlights a 5-principle ethical framework that includes the principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, respect for autonomy, justice, and explicability.  The course applies this five-principle framework to issues of human involvement, evidence base, data collection, storage and use, and unexpected disclosure of crimes.   Four ethical recommendations are offered to guide the design and use of mental health chatbots.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course presents a qualitative research study of 19 individuals and their experiences with generative AI chatbots for mental health.  The study identified four themes related to the participants’ experiences that include: emotional sanctuary, insightful guidance, joy of connection, and comparing the AI therapist with human therapy.  Participants discussed both positive and negative experiences with generative AI chatbots.  Perceptions of generative AI chatbots, rule-based chatbots, and human therapy are compared.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. 
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Program Summary:  The reading for this course asks important legal and ethical questions related to the emergence of AI in healthcare.  For example, should the final decisions in medical matters depend on human judgment alone? What does informed consent look like when treatment includes opaque, unintelligible AI algorithms? How can a patient challenge a decision if the health professional cannot clearly explain how or why they proposed a certain treatment? What probability of error is acceptable in AI models?  Who should be held responsible for AI errors?  This course examines the main ethical and legal considerations for AI development in healthcare and highlights ethical principles of privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, informed consent, beneficence, and nonmaleficence.  Issues of bias, responsibility, liability, and the transformation of work are also discussed.  This course identifies a need for healthcare workers to expand their AI competence with a special emphasis placed on ethical and legal considerations.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course explores the benefits and ethical implications of generative AI’s growing presence in mental healthcare.  Using a framework of biomedical ethics, the ethical principles of patient autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and privacy are each highlighted.  The course examines generative AI tools and offers questions for future research. The course includes an explainer of artificial intelligence tools and resources.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course explores the history of artificial intelligence, the use of algorithms, and the influence of algorithms on areas of healthcare, housing, employment, and criminal justice.  The course highlights concerns related to the implementation of AI that include injustices to marginalized groups.  The course outlines four ways for social workers to advocate for digital inclusion and social justice:  resist, regulate, reimagine, and reinforce.  Examples are given.

“According to the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers must challenge social injustice and address social problems (NASW, 2021).”

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course explores current AI trends and future prospects for enhancing mental health.  The course examines the transformative role of AI in mental healthcare and highlights applications in diagnosis, treatment, therapy delivery, monitoring, and follow-up.  Current examples of AI tools are provided, including chatbot-based therapy, emotional health apps, and smart mental health tools.  Strengths, limitations, and ethical considerations are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course examines suicide prevention strategies for underserved youth with a focus on American Indian/ Alaska Native; Black/ African American; Hispanic or Latino; and LGBTQI+ youth.  The course explores risk and protective factors and identifies barriers to care for underserved youth.  Current research and interventions are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course examines evidence-based, whole-person care for pregnant people with opioid use disorder.  The course offers recommendations and guidance about OUD medication during pregnancy and highlights considerations for screening and assessment, changing pharmacotherapy during pregnancy, admission and discharge, polysubstance use, and treating the ‘whole person.’

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course offers clinical guidance and discussion for mental health clinicians who work and collaborate with African American men.  The course highlights the importance of Afrocentric values, including mutuality, emotional connection, and spirituality.  Challenges of marginalization, oppression, and racism are explored along with other barriers to care.  The course offers three frameworks for practice:  social determinants of health, intersectionality, and narrative practice.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This is a thought-provoking course on transracial adoption and parenting and includes two readings:  Transracial Adoption as Oppression:  Modern Practice in Context and Parenting in Racially, Culturally, and Ethnically Diverse Adoptive Families.

The first reading explores transracial adoption in the context of its oppressive history.  The reading highlights the cycles of harm and trauma experienced by children of color from past to present, offering examples that include the Orphan Train Movement, Indian Boarding Schools, slavery, the foster care system, and private adoption.  The coercion of biological mothers, the commodification of children, and the lack of culturally competent services are critiqued.  Recommendations for practice are offered and include culturally competent services, the recruitment of racially diverse prospective parents, the promotion of bi-culturalism, and listening to the voices of adoptees.

The second reading examines parenting in racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse adoptive families.  The reading offers considerations for starting a multicultural family, strategies for embracing life as a racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse family, and how to prepare children for racism.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores advocacy for Black women survivors of intimate partner violence and offers strategies that are survivor-centered, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based.  Using an intersectional approach, the course highlights the multiple forms of oppression experienced by Black survivors and details the overrepresentation of Black women among survivors of reproductive coercion, non-fatal strangulation, and intimate partner homicide.  The impact of trauma on the lives and experiences of Black survivors is examined.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course offers basic overdose education for recognizing and responding to an opioid overdose.  The course highlights overdose causes, risks, signs, and prevention.  Opioid overdose reversal medications are discussed and overdose response steps are given.  This course is intended to complement and not replace overdose prevention and response training.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores labor and sex trafficking and highlights the trafficking story arc of 1. recruitment and grooming 2. coercion and control, and 3. exit.  Human trafficking patterns, risk factors, and misconceptions are discussed.  The course offers language and practice recommendations with a focus on assistance, support, and resilience.

The course includes an analysis of hotline data from January 2020-August 2022.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course describes differences in alcohol and substance use among East Asian American youth subgroups including Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese Americans.  The course explores various factors that may influence substance use for EAA subgroups (stigma, acculturation, peers, norms) and challenges the Model Minority Myth.  Culturally appropriate prevention and treatment preferences are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course offers a heuristic or a guide for White social workers for anti-racist social work practice that includes three sets of practices:  REcover, UNcover, and DIScover.  REcover practices seek to help White social workers shift to a window of tolerance with activities like brief pauses and paced breathing.  UNcover practices seek to help White social workers critically examine beliefs, biases, and power. DIScover practices seek to help White social workers look at what is possible, while resisting the urge to fix and control.  The course emphasizes the importance of learning in relationship and holding space for racialized discomfort.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores social work boundary issues and ethical conflicts that result from a growing use of technology and remote contact with clients.  The course examines three forms of boundary challenges encountered by social workers in the digital age:  ethical judgments, ethical mistakes, and ethical misconduct.  Case examples are given.  Boundary issues related to intimacy, emotional and dependency needs, personal gain, altruism, and unanticipated circumstances are identified.  The NASW Code of Ethics and the NASW Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice are discussed and offer updated ethics and technology standards for social workers.

“With growth in the use of communication technology in various aspects of social work practice, social workers need to be aware of the unique challenges that may arise in relation to the maintenance of confidentiality, informed consent, professional boundaries, professional competence, record keeping, and other ethical considerations” (NASW Code of Ethics).

NASW Code of Ethics:  https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

NASW Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice:  https://www.socialworkers.org/Practice/NASW-Practice-Standards-Guidelines/Standards-for-Technology-in-Social-Work-Practice

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course is the third of a 3-part series on recovery from problematic substance use and examines counseling approaches for promoting harm reduction, preventing recurrence, sustaining recovery, and promoting a healthy life.  There are many evidence-based practices that can help clients meet their goals for recovery.  Chapter 3 explores harm reduction, trauma -informed care, motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, contingency management, mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy, and psychoeducation.  Chapter 4 examines four domains that assist a life in recovery:  health, home, purpose, and community.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

We do not recommend this course if you completed our previous course, Counseling Approaches to Promote Recovery from Problematic Substance Use and Related Issues (15 credit hours), as it covers the same course material. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course is the second of a 3-part series on recovery from problematic substance use and offers a framework for supporting recovery with counseling.  The course explores strengths-based, recovery-oriented counseling and includes a discussion of values, recovery capital, unconditional positive regard, cues for health and well-being, self-efficacy, and motivation.  The course highlights sociocultural considerations and the importance of cultural responsiveness.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

We do not recommend this course if you completed our previous course, Counseling Approaches to Promote Recovery from Problematic Substance Use and Related Issues (15 credit hours), as it covers the same course material.

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Program Summary:  This updated course explores communication in cancer care and highlights the importance of effective, high-quality, bidirectional communication for patients and families.  The course examines the challenges involved in cancer-related communication and acknowledges that better models and strategies are needed.  Research findings, communication models, and demographic and cultural considerations are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores evidence and practice issues related to grief, bereavement, and coping with loss.  The course compares different types of grief reactions and includes models of normal grief, patterns of complicated grief, and risk factors for complicated grief. Using the DSM-5, the course differentiates a normal grieving process from a major depressive episode.  Treatment considerations are discussed.  In addition, the course looks at the grief experiences of medical providers as well as grief in children.

The new diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) with diagnostic criteria was added to the DSM-5-TR in March of 2022.  It is classified as a trauma and stressor related disorder and characterized by “intense longings for the deceased or preoccupation with thoughts of the deceased.”(Please see APA Offers Tips for Understanding Prolonged Grief Disorder for more information).  The diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder has supporters and critics.  Supporters contend that a DSM diagnosis allows for important treatment, research and funding; critics voice concerns related to pathologizing a human emotional response.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course is the first of a 3-part series on recovery from problematic substance use.  The course provides an introduction to recovery-oriented counseling and describes a shift in SUD treatment away from a model of specialized treatment that focuses primarily on abstinence and toward a different model of integrated care that is strengths-based, client-driven, and offers a broad range of services.  Recovery is increasingly viewed as a process of change rather than an end point.  Current recovery research is highlighted and includes a discussion of neurological, genetic, and epigenetic bases for problematic substance use.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

We do not recommend this course if you completed our previous course, Counseling Approaches to Promote Recovery from Problematic Substance Use and Related Issues (15 credit hours), as it covers the same course material. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course offers guidance and positive strategies for mental health promotion and suicide prevention for LGBTQIA2S+ youth.  The course highlights affirming environments, professional competence, culturally competent care, risk and protective factors, and sources of joy.  Tips and advice from LGBTQIA2S+ youth and adults are shared, and the importance of involving LGBTQIA2S+ youth in the development of programs is emphasized.  The course includes the HRC Glossary of Terms for help with terminology.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

Unfortunately, this course is not available in CE Broker for Florida professionals.
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Program Summary:  This course explores culturally specific and responsive strategies for working with immigrant and refugee families.  The course highlights the unique strengths of immigrant and refugee families, including a focus on family, education, work, faith, and community.  The course also examines specific challenges faced by immigrant and refugee families, including difficulties with acculturation, language, economic hardship, legal concerns, and trauma.  The course offers an overview of possible concrete supports and eligibility.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course highlights current research on the impact of child maltreatment on a child’s developing brain.  The course offers an overview of brain development and explores concepts of ‘serve and return’, attachment, sensitive periods, plasticity, and stress responses.  The course describes the effects of maltreatment on behavioral, social, and emotional functioning and the impact of resilience.  Implications for practice are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This course examines the personal and professional experiences of mental health professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid pivot to telehealth.  36 mental health professionals participated in interviews and highlighted the following themes:  responding to the pandemic, introducing telehealth, impact on professional practice, and the future of telehealth.  The course explores the strengths and weaknesses related to the adoption of telehealth during the Covid-19 pandemic, implications for practice, and the future of telehealth.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  
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Program Summary:  This thought-provoking course explores the relationship between social work and the child welfare system and critiques the federal Title IV-E training program and the ethical conflicts involved in training MSW students to regulate families.  The course examines the forces of racism, classism, misogyny, and injustice within the child welfare system.  The course suggests that the relationship between child welfare and social work must be reimagined and recreated in a new way that will allow social workers to meet the needs of children and families while also upholding the ethical principle of social justice.

Social justice is a core value of the social work profession, and the NASW Code of Ethics establishes the ethical principle to challenge social injustice.

Value: Social Justice
Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.  Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people.  Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice.  These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity.  Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.  NASW Code of Ethics

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course examines the social work profession’s commitment to social justice with a research study of 310 MSW students, exploring which individual factors were most associated with activism and engagement.  The concept of intersectionality is highlighted and provides a framework for understanding how individuals hold multiple, overlapping identities that result in various combinations of discrimination, oppression, and privilege.  The course finds that an increased understanding of privilege, power, and the intersecting systems of oppression is required in our efforts to elevate social justice. Social justice is a core value of the social work profession, and the NASW Code of Ethics establishes the ethical principle to challenge social injustice.

Value: Social Justice
Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.  Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people.  Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice.  These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity.  Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.  NASW Code of Ethics

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:  This course explores experiences of institutional racism, structural uncertainties, and racial microaggressions among people who are Black.  The course examines the concept of minority stress and demonstrates that people who are Black disproportionately experience both macro- and micro-level racial stressors which contribute to minority stress.   Using secondary data analysis, the course shows a positive correlation between racial stressors and minority stress among people who are Black and advocates for micro- and macro-level changes.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course examines the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Code of Ethics which was approved in May of 2023 and revised in August of 2023.  The NBCC Code of Ethics establishes ethical standards for Counselors and is a resource for ethical decision-making and practice.  The NBCC Code of Ethics offers 114 ethical standards in the areas of professional responsibilities; counseling relationships; supervision and consultation; testing, appraisal, and research; counselor education; and telemental health, social media, and technology.

This course is recommended for counselors and is appropriate for all levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores explicit and implicit biases in health care and provides an overview of the terminology, the tools used to measure implicit bias, the evidence for implicit bias in health care, the impact of implicit bias in health care, the impact of interventions designed to reduce implicit bias, the key structural factors affecting implicit bias, and the relationship between implicit bias and structural inequities.  The course suggests that implicit bias interventions alone are not enough to reduce biased decision making and health disparities and should be accompanied by other systemic changes.

This course is recommended for social workers and health care professionals and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores how caseworkers can best identify and support victims of child trafficking.  The course discusses the scope of human trafficking, the intersection of human trafficking and child welfare, risk factors, and the needs of those who experience trafficking.  The course recommends a multifaceted, collaborative approach to the identification, prevention, and treatment of human trafficking in children.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and it is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores current research related to medications to treat opioid use disorder.  The course offers an overview of methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone and compares their effectiveness and how they work.  Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and diversion risks are discussed.  The course examines opioid use disorder treatment for special populations, including those with HIV, those in the military, those in the criminal justice system, and pregnant mothers.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores the different types of dementia and includes an overview of Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal disorders, Lewy body dementia, and vascular dementia.  Causes, symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and management are discussed.  The course includes research supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice. View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores the potential harms of biased language in child welfare practice and offers strategies for reducing implicit or unconscious bias and improving practice.  The course examines key concepts to understanding language bias in child welfare, including neutral language, labels, the concrete-to abstract continuum, and sociolinguistic inequality.  Examples of non-stigmatizing and preferred terms are offered.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary:  This course examines suicide risk and cultural variation among high-achieving Asian Americans.  The course explores cultural and family factors and offers examples of acculturation, acculturative stress, stereotype, obligatory stress, and cultural humility.  A case example of a high-achieving Asian American adolescent in a large high school is presented. Recommendations for clinical interventions are provided.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary:  This course uses communication theory to explore the benefits and challenges of communication technology on the social worker-client relationship. The course examines the importance of resolving ethical issues related to ICT use, digital literacy, and social work practice.  The following ethical issues are highlighted: boundaries, client well-being, professional competence, privacy, confidentiality, cultural competence, and social justice.  Key factors for selecting communication tools are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

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Program Summary:  This course explores the systemic problems that contribute to stress, trauma, and burnout in the social work profession, while examining the recent addition of self-care as an ethical mandate to the revised 2021 NASW Code of Ethics. The course highlights mezzo and macro factors affecting the profession that include workforce and employment conditions such as stressful working conditions, low pay, inadequate support, heavy workloads, and poor staffing. Instead of viewing self-care as a personal responsibility of social workers, the course reframes self-care as a social justice issue.

Professional self-care is paramount for competent and ethical social work practice. Professional demands, challenging workplace climates, and exposure to trauma warrant that social workers maintain personal and professional health, safety, and integrity. Social work organizations, agencies, and educational institutions are encouraged to promote organizational policies, practices, and materials to support social workers’ self-care.  (NASW Code of Ethics, 2021)

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

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Program Summary:   This course explores the unique needs of special populations experiencing stimulant use disorders.  The course examines treatment and care considerations for the following groups:  racial/ethnic minorities, women, men who have sex with men, the transgender and gender nonbinary community, adolescents, people experiencing homelessness, rural populations, people involved with the criminal justice system, people with or at risk for HIV/AIDs, and more.  Strategies are given for improving engagement, rapport, and treatment outcomes.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary:   This course explores recent research on stimulant use disorders along with best treatment practices. The course examines how cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants affect neurobiology, the brain, and behavior.  Common medical and psychological complications are discussed.  The course describes the best supported treatment approaches; contingency management is highlighted as the primary psychosocial treatment for stimulant disorders.  Strategies for supporting patients in treatment and recovery are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary:   This course explores suicide prevention and provides strategies and approaches for reducing suicide risk and harms.  Strategies include: strengthen economic supports, create protective environments, improve access and delivery of suicide care, promote healthy connections, teach coping and problem-solving skills, identify and support people at risk, and lessen harms and prevent future risk.  The course explores risk and protective factors at the individual, relationship, community, and societal level.  Crisis response interventions and therapeutic treatment approaches are discussed.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary:   This course examines the prevalence of prescription stimulant use and misuse among youth and young adults.  Short and long term health effects of prescription stimulant use are explored along with risk and protective factors.  Opportunities for prevention are discussed, and considerations for screening, assessment, and treatment are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:   This course offers an overview of the behavioral health service needs, challenges, and opportunities of individuals experiencing homelessness.  The course highlights five evidence-based interventions, including medication for opioid use disorder, motivational interviewing, intensive case management, Community Reinforcement Approach, and peer support.  Important strategies are given for engaging individuals experiencing homelessness and reducing barriers.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:  This course explores social work’s foundation as a human rights profession and describes early efforts to advocate for a wide range of social, economic, and environmental reforms.  The course highlights social work’s essential role as an advocate for social justice but also acknowledges the evolution of the profession toward professionalization and clinical practice.  The course examines the limitations of the micro/macro divide and advocates for the promotion of rights-based approaches in all areas of social work practice.

NASW Code of Ethics Value: Social Justice
Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.  Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

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Program Summary:  This course offers an analysis of mandated reporting of child abuse in the US using excerpts from social work textbooks.  The course provides a critique of an oversimplified, ‘better safe than sorry’ understanding of mandated reporting and seeks a more nuanced and careful analysis.  Mandated reporting is viewed in the context of deontological ethics, a rules-based ethics, prioritizing rules over consequences, context, and outcomes. The case for mandated reporting as an ethical dilemma for social workers is presented, and the NASW Ethical Standard 1.01 Commitment to Clients is highlighted.

This course is recommended as an ethics course.  It is not  designed to fulfill the mandatory reporting requirement.

Ethical Standard 1.01 Commitment to Clients

Social workers’ primary responsibility is to promote the well-being of clients. In general, clients’ interests are primary. However, social workers; responsibility to the larger society or specific legal obligations may, on limited occasions, supersede the loyalty owed clients, and clients should be so advised. (Examples include when a social worker is required by law to report that a client has abused a child or has threatened to harm self or others.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

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This course highlights a scientific research study.

Program Summary:   This course explores the advance care planning experiences of sexual and gender minority people and highlights the results of a qualitative research study.  Three main themes are discussed:  1. Fear of discrimination limits disclosure of SOGI and affects selection of clinicians 2. Concerns about whether EOL preferences and appointed MDMs would be supported and 3. Most discussions about EOL preferences occurred without clinicians.  Potential barriers to advance care planning for SGM people are identified.  Results and conclusions are given.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists.

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Program Summary:   This course examines stigmatizing language in the electronic health record and how stigmatizing words and phrases may impact health equity.   The course explores three forms of stigmatizing language: labeling someone as other, blaming, and invoking danger.  Patients with diabetes, substance use disorder, and chronic pain are explored as subgroups.  Findings and study limitations are presented.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists.

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Program Summary:   This course looks at the harms of alcohol misuse, which groups are most affected, and how evidence-based community-level policies can create safer communities.  Data is provided for different population groups including age, sex/gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.  Evidence-based  strategies for reducing alcohol misuse are included; policies that focus on reducing alcohol availability in the community have been shown to be some of the most effective.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists.
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Program Summary:   This course examines choice scenarios for the allocation of scarce resources during the Covid-19 pandemic and explores the potential for disability bias.  The research is part of an Epidemic Ethics/WHO initiative.  The course follows a conjoint study in which respondents are given a choice for selecting which one of two patients would receive a hospital’s last ventilator.  Guidance from the HHS Office for Civil Rights issued in March of 2020 is included.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:   This course explores potential implicit bias in healthcare by looking at stigmatizing language in the healthcare record. The course highlights a study using machine learning to analyze electronic health records using 15 different patient descriptors:  (non-) adherent, aggressive, agitated, angry, challenging, combative, (non-)compliant, confront, (non-) cooperative, defensive, exaggerate, hysterical, (un-)pleasant, refuse, and resist.  A discussion of results and recommendations are given.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists.

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Program Summary:   This course examines social work’s accelerated shift to technology and telehealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The authors conducted a qualitative study of 37 social service agencies and present their findings highlighting seven themes:  a rapid transition to virtual services, the need to improve infrastructure, new technology and innovation, barriers, benefits, funding, and changes that will be kept.  The course highlights the need for further research, advocacy, and education.

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, and therapists.
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Program Summary:   This course explores key stages of the evolution of social work ethics from the morality period to the digital period.  Practical tools for managing ethics challenges in social work organizations are provided; strategies include informal ethics conversations, formal ethics consultations, agency-based ethics committees, and ethics rounds.  Case examples are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.
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Program Summary:   This course provides an overview of concurrent substance use and concurrent substance use disorder, exploring risk factors, protective factors, screening, assessment, and treatment.  Three treatment approaches are examined including FDA-approved pharmacotherapy with counseling, contingency management with FDA-approved pharmacotherapy and counseling, and twelve-step facilitation therapy with FDA-approved pharmacotherapy and counseling.  Strategies for managing clinical issues are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:   This course explores the unique needs and challenges of older adults with serious mental illness and provides an overview of evidence-based psychosocial interventions.  Five interventions are examined including Assertive Community Treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training, Functional Adaptation Skills Training, Integrated Illness Management and Recovery, and Helping Older People Experience Success.  The course offers guidance for selecting and implementing evidence-based practices.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.   View the course…..

Program Summary:   This course explores marijuana use disorder and youth marijuana prevention.  The course provides an overview of marijuana, its potency, methods of use, changes in use, and prevalence and offers a discussion of short- and long-term adverse effects and harms.  Risk and protective factors are examined along with challenges to prevention efforts.  Promising substance use prevention programs and interventions are given.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  

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Program Summary: This course explores the ethical challenges experienced by social workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and offers a framework for understanding ethics during a time of crisis. Four broad responses to ethical challenges were identified and include ethical confusion, ethical distress, ethical creativity, and ethical learning. The course highlights the efforts of social workers to practice ethically during this time of change and introduces concepts of ethical agency, slow ethics, and professional judgement.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

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Course Summary:  The college years represent a major life transition for young adults as they begin to navigate a larger world.  We know that many mental disorders often begin during adolescence and early adulthood and an increasing number of college students report mental health concerns.  This course explores common mental disorders among college students, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.  Evidence-based clinical interventions and treatments are highlighted along with strategies for working with diverse student populations.

This course is recommended for social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.
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Program Summary:  This course covers the topic of Illinois sexual harassment prevention. All Illinois employees are now required to receive sexual harassment prevention training that complies with the Illinois Human Rights Act.  The course includes definitions of sexual harassment as outlined in the Illinois Human Rights Act, examples of unlawful sexual harassment, a summary of laws concerning sexual harassment, and a summary of employer responsibilities.

This course is recommended for Illinois social workers and counselors and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.

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Program Summary:  This course reviews The American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics.  The ACA Code of Ethics presents ethical obligations, considerations, and responsibilities of ACA members.  It is a guide and resource for ethical practice in counseling.

This course is recommended for counselors and therapists and is appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for social workers. View the course…..

Program summary: The NASW Code of Ethics, updated in 2021, sets forth basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards to be used as a guide for social workers’ conduct and practice.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of practice.  This course does not meet continuing education requirements for National Certified Counselors.

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