Continuing Education Course Catalog

This webinar explores the interplay between religious beliefs, personal values, and professional ethics in social work practice. Through guided discussions, participants will reflect on how personal faith and moral convictions shape their worldview, while examining the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics as a framework for professional responsibility. The course will focus on fostering understanding and reconciliation between personal and professional values to maintain ethical and inclusive practices when serving diverse populations.

As the title suggests, the course facilitators have witnessed social workers experiencing this values reconciliation process in a Christian spiritual context and while that will be the basis for many of the examples used in the course, the content is applicable to other spiritual traditions and values systems.

This course incorporates agreements for dialogue, encouraging respectful, open, and nonjudgmental communication to create a safe space for exploring sensitive topics. Participants will examine the connection between dialogue and religious beliefs, using shared conversations as a tool to bridge differences. Practical exercises and case studies will guide participants in identifying tensions between their personal beliefs and social work values, while offering strategies to align these areas in ways that uphold equity, dignity, and justice for all clients.

This course will explore how to assess and understand pain in clinical settings. Focus will be placed on utilizing the language of the client to explore the roots of pain, impact on identity and relationships. Interactive assessment tools will be introduced to explore sources of pain, history of pain, connection of pain to lifestyle and relational adaptions. The course will utilize tools from multiple modalities to explore treatment interventions related to pain.

A strengths-based approach to supervising child welfare workers sets the tone for a supportive work environment that values and builds on the competencies of staff, enhances problem-solving skills, promotes resilience and prevents burn-out. The strengths-based supervision approach supports the implementation of family-centered practice, modeling and reinforcing the same principles caseworkers use with families to explore family strengths and resources. This approach to supervision creates a supportive environment that nurtures the resilience of both workers and by extension, the families they support. The course equips child welfare supervisors with the knowledge, skills, and tools to implement a strengths-based approach to supervision. Participants will learn how to apply strengths-based principles to support, develop, and empower their staff while promoting positive outcomes for children and families.

This 13-week course will present knowledge and critical skills to prepare for social work practice in school settings, including the history and theoretical foundations of school social work. The five topical areas will include: 1) a brief overview of educational programs and legislation in the United States for individuals of all ages and their families; 2) school social worker assessment tools and services for educational institutions at the pre-K elementary, and secondary levels. 3) assessing and responding to issues of economic and social discrimination in ways that center justice and educational access 4) laws, policies, and practices related to determination of qualification under special education rules within multi-disciplinary teams and response to intervention, multi-tiered models 5) advocating for the right to education of oppressed and special populations (including children and youth with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities, TLBGQ youth, economic and geographic disadvantages, and diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds). Students will learn comprehensive, multi-tiered and culturally relevant assessment protocols and techniques relevant to school based social work practice.

Note: This semester course, in conjunction with School Social Work Interventions (SW628), is intended to help professionals meet the Michigan school social worker requirements. Participants will be enrolled in this course alongside MSW degree seeking students. Participants who successfully complete both school social work courses will meet the required academic competencies for practice as a social worker in Michigan. Participants will need to earn a B or higher score on all required assignments, attend all live course sessions, and view all required recorded content. These courses also award continuing education hours to participants who meet the course requirements.

This 13-week course presents advanced knowledge and skills essential to providing effective school social work interventions. Students will learn to identify, select, and apply evidence-based prevention and intervention methods for use with individuals, groups, families, school personnel, and communities to enhance student learning, development, and school success. You will practice skills that advance social justice and educational access, trauma-informed practice models, positive behavior supports for school-wide programs and individuals, crisis prevention, planning and intervention, and behavior intervention planning; mediation, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving methods. Specific interventions to support students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, emotional impairments and other disabilities covered under the Individuals with Disability Education Act will be incorporated. Ways to promote family engagement and collaboration will be explored. Skills to enhance collaboration and consultation between teachers, families, and other school personnel will be addressed. School social worker intervention methodologies will include ways to promote human rights and educational access, fostering school climates that are inviting, supportive, and inclusive of diversity. You will acquire the skills needed to effectively practice as a school social worker to enhance student learning and achievement.

Content in this course includes multi-tiered practice methodologies that promote socio-emotional and academic success. Interdisciplinary approaches designed to strengthen individuals, groups, and families within larger social contexts such as the school and community will be presented. Methods that increase student and family access to education and educational resources will be explored. School-wide interventions such as the implementation of positive behavioral supports, restorative practices, family engagement, inter-group dialogue, positive conflict resolution skills, and coordination and collaboration with youth-serving agencies in the community will be discussed. Effective classroom-wide, small group, and individual interventions will be practiced.

Note: This semester course, in conjunction with School Social Work Interventions (SW626), is intended to help professionals meet the Michigan school social worker requirements. Participants will be enrolled in this course alongside MSW degree seeking students. Participants who successfully complete both school social work courses will meet the required academic competencies for practice as a social worker in Michigan. Participants will need to earn a B or higher score on all required assignments, attend all live course sessions, and view all required recorded content. These courses also award continuing education hours to participants who meet the course requirements.

Participants will learn how to build a private practice rooted in the core values of social work while mastering essential entrepreneurial and marketing skills. Whether you are just starting out or looking to grow your practice, this course will provide actionable strategies to lay a strong foundation, attract ideal clients, and create a thriving business that aligns with your professional ethics.

The course begins by exploring how the NASW core values—service, integrity, and social justice—inform the ethical and sustainable development of a private practice. Participants will then dive into proven marketing strategies, including how to effectively communicate their unique value to clients and establish robust referral networks. Finally, the webinar will focus on balancing entrepreneurship with the client-centered, values-driven approach that defines social work.

By the end of this webinar, attendees will have a clear roadmap for building a successful private practice that honors their values, supports their clients, and achieves financial sustainability. This course is perfect for clinicians who are ready to merge their social work expertise with sound business practices to create a practice they love.

This course challenges learners to explore their personal values, beliefs and judgements related to issues of sexuality. Interpersonal practice tools will be offered to assist clients in holding personal beliefs and values and remaining present to client's sexual self, needs, beliefs. Lecture and discussion will examine how implicit bias can limit services and harm clients, particular limits to sexually diverse populations. Sexual health will be considered as a social justice issue.

This course has been developed to meet the Michigan implicit bias training requirements for health professionals.

Mental health professionals are often taught a wide variety of clinical skills while in training and experience an array of situations in which they are able to apply and adapt their skillsets depending on what is needed for their clients. One area that has a profound need for these clinical skills are transgender & nonbinary individuals who are seeking medical interventions to alleviate gender-related distress. These clients in particular may come to therapy for short-term or long-term services, and face significant barriers to accessing hormonal or surgical interventions due to outdated beliefs, biases, and misinformation about what is necessary to approve them for care. Furthermore, therapists have historically not been provided necessary information to tailor their assessment skills to advocate for clients to access transition-related medical care, or face their own outdated beliefs & biases about providing support to these clients.

This training workshop is designed to educate mental health professionals about the history and present-day applications of gender-affirming healthcare in the United States, as well as empower professionals to apply existing assessment and report-writing skills to contexts with gender-diverse populations (namely, transgender & nonbinary populations). Participants will be come familiar with clinical considerations when writing letters of support for clients accessing gender-affirming hormones or surgery, applying the diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria to a client, and recognizing the overlapping symptom manifestation of Gender Dysphoria with other mental health diagnoses. Participants will participate in a workshop and engage with the provided material to become familiar with their role as mental health professionals to support gender-diverse populations by following and applying up-to-date standards for letters of support, based on the most updated version of the WPATH Standards of Care. This workshop is intended for practitioners who have a foundational and functional understanding of common experiences & identities within the LGBTQIA2S+ community, particularly those of transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-expansive individuals.