Continuing Education Course Catalog

Note: This course is available for free to U-M SSW alumni as part of our Alumni Webinar Series, which features invited alumni speakers. Please know that non-alumni participants are welcome to register as well!

This webinar explores the critical role of forensic social work in addressing the broader social determinants of health and advocating for abolition and reform within the legal and criminal justice systems. Participants will understand how forensic social workers can influence policy, provide essential support to individuals involved in the justice system, and promote systemic changes that foster justice and equity.

Suicide is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States and worldwide. Nearly 50% of individuals who end life by suicide see a primary care provider within a month of death, yet suicide risk assessment and treatment is consistently difficult in practice. With the majority of mental health services in the US being delivered by social workers, it is imperative that risk assessment and safety planning knowledge and skills are in place for our work with clients with the ultimate goal being to prevent premature suicidal death.

This webinar will discuss and present on suicide as public health issue in the US, risk and protective factors, warning signs, barriers to help-seeking, risk assessment process and risk formulation, safety planning, and cultural humility in risk assessment with use of a clinical case. This workshop is also focused on the adult population.

Relationship violence is still a common problem for young people today and while professionals may be familiar with common forms of power and control including verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, many adults are less familiar with the ways technology and social media can be used as tools of power and control in dating situations. This training will start by exploring the most common ways that technology and social media can be used in abusive situations and end with practical strategies that supportive adults can use to identify warning signs of digital dating abuse and have critical conversations with both survivors and perpetrators.

This workshop will describe basic information about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based psychotherapy designed to help people accept their thoughts and feelings, choose valued directions, and take action to build more meaningful lives. We will review the six core processes; identify key ACT techniques and metaphors; and discuss how ACT and CBT are similar and different.

Introduction to Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care - In this module, participants will learn about the nature and implications of integrated care, and will become fluent in the key terms that have come to describe it. Topics will include key public policies affecting the integrated care movement, including the Affordable Care Act; successful models of integrated care; population health management and health disparities; and ethical challenges and opportunities in integrated care. The transition to integrated care will be framed as a paradigm shift from disease-oriented to recovery-oriented service delivery, resulting in new opportunities and challenges, and direct implications for consumers and their families.

Integrated Health Systems and Implementation - In this module, participants will obtain knowledge and skills related to the implementation of integrated care services. Implementation of integrated team-based collaborative care presents challenges and opportunities for providers and managers, with significant implications for access to care and patient satisfaction. Topics include basics of integrated health implementation; telepsychiatric consultation; culturally responsive practice; Patient Centered Medical Home recognition; oral health for collaborative care; and provider mindfulness and self-care.

Bidirectional Integrated Care - In this module, participants will build upon their knowledge of integrated care implementation in adult healthcare settings. Topics will include the Wagner Chronic Care Model; collaborative care; stepped care; care coordination; and billing in integrated health environments. Participants will learn the "care coordination standard" for integrated primary care and discover new roles in primary care for the behavioral health consultant.

Assessment in Integrated Care
Initial and follow-up assessments play a critical role in effective integrated care. This course addresses free-form interviews such as biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment, structured screening tools such as the PHQ-9 and the AUDIT-C, and mixed assessment and intervention models such as SBIRT. The strengths, weaknesses, benefits, and limitations of common assessment tools in integrated health environments are reviewed.

Behavioral Intervention in Integrated Care
Common elements often form the basis of evidence-based behavioral health interventions. This course teaches and reviews behavioral intervention skills relevant to everyday clinical practice across disciplines and practice settings. Brief interventions around motivational enhancement, psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, and values-based behavior change can help promote adaptive health behaviors in support of improved wellness. There is a strong emphasis on feasible brief interventions in a fast-paced clinical context and on adapting interventions to each consumer's unique biopsychosocial, socioeconomic, and cultural context.

Biomedical Aspects of Integrated Care
Many presenting medical problems are deeply influenced by health behaviors, and a growing body of evidence suggests that mental health consumers, especially those with serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders, are faced with a broad range of physical health disparities. In this module, participants will deepen their understanding of bidirectional integrated care for medical issues such as diabetes and obesity, and behavioral health issues such as substance use disorders and depression. This courses emphasizes the medical sequelae commonly associated with behavioral health diagnoses and psychotropic medications. There are special sections on primary care psychopharmacology and prescription drug abuse.

Introduction to Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care - In this module, participants will learn about the nature and implications of integrated care, and will become fluent in the key terms that have come to describe it. Topics will include key public policies affecting the integrated care movement, including the Affordable Care Act; successful models of integrated care; population health management and health disparities; and ethical challenges and opportunities in integrated care. The transition to integrated care will be framed as a paradigm shift from disease-oriented to recovery-oriented service delivery, resulting in new opportunities and challenges, and direct implications for consumers and their families.

Integrated Health Systems and Implementation - In this module, participants will obtain knowledge and skills related to the implementation of integrated care services. Implementation of integrated team-based collaborative care presents challenges and opportunities for providers and managers, with significant implications for access to care and patient satisfaction. Topics include basics of integrated health implementation; telepsychiatric consultation; culturally responsive practice; Patient Centered Medical Home recognition; oral health for collaborative care; and provider mindfulness and self-care.

Foundations of Pediatric Integrated Health Care - Although "pediatrics" describes the age range from birth through 18 years of age, children develop through a number of distinct developmental, psychological, and social stages. The Pediatric track explores how to address the most common issues of these stages using a pediatric integrated health model of care. Topics include an introduction to the model, the role of the pediatric behavioral health consultant, pediatric social determinants of health, and interventions in the medical setting.

Pediatric Interventions - As the health care system is transformed from non-integrated to integrated, many services and interventions can be provided directly to the pediatric population as well as their parents in the medical clinic. Although many clinicians know typical child and adolescent diagnoses from a clinical perspective, this module helps participants develop an integrated understanding of typical topics that may present in the medical setting. Topics include ADHD, pediatric asthma, DD-autism, anxiety, depression, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences.

Adolescence - Many adolescents are required to attend at least one physician appointment a year, presenting an annual opportunity to engage them in management of their own health care and in the detection and early intervention of risky behaviors which can have lifelong consequences. Adolescents can be best engaged in self-management when their unique social, developmental, physical and psychological needs are considered. Topics include adolescent-centered medical homes, adolescent sexual health, substance abuse, suicide, eating disorders, and school-based health centers.

Bidirectional Integrated Care - In this module, participants will build upon their knowledge of integrated care implementation in adult healthcare settings. Topics will include the Wagner Chronic Care Model; collaborative care; stepped care; care coordination; and billing in integrated health environments. Participants will learn the "care coordination standard" for integrated primary care and discover new roles in primary care for the behavioral health consultant.

Assessment in Integrated Care
Initial and follow-up assessments play a critical role in effective integrated care. This course addresses free-form interviews such as biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment, structured screening tools such as the PHQ-9 and the AUDIT-C, and mixed assessment and intervention models such as SBIRT. The strengths, weaknesses, benefits, and limitations of common assessment tools in integrated health environments are reviewed.

Behavioral Intervention in Integrated Care
Common elements often form the basis of evidence-based behavioral health interventions. This course teaches and reviews behavioral intervention skills relevant to everyday clinical practice across disciplines and practice settings. Brief interventions around motivational enhancement, psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, and values-based behavior change can help promote adaptive health behaviors in support of improved wellness. There is a strong emphasis on feasible brief interventions in a fast-paced clinical context and on adapting interventions to each consumer's unique biopsychosocial, socioeconomic, and cultural context.

Biomedical Aspects of Integrated Care
Many presenting medical problems are deeply influenced by health behaviors, and a growing body of evidence suggests that mental health consumers, especially those with serious mental illnesses or substance use disorders, are faced with a broad range of physical health disparities. In this module, participants will deepen their understanding of bidirectional integrated care for medical issues such as diabetes and obesity, and behavioral health issues such as substance use disorders and depression. This courses emphasizes the medical sequelae commonly associated with behavioral health diagnoses and psychotropic medications. There are special sections on primary care psychopharmacology and prescription drug abuse.

Introduction to Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care - In this module, participants will learn about the nature and implications of integrated care, and will become fluent in the key terms that have come to describe it. Topics will include key public policies affecting the integrated care movement, including the Affordable Care Act; successful models of integrated care; population health management and health disparities; and ethical challenges and opportunities in integrated care. The transition to integrated care will be framed as a paradigm shift from disease-oriented to recovery-oriented service delivery, resulting in new opportunities and challenges, and direct implications for consumers and their families.

Integrated Health Systems and Implementation - In this module, participants will obtain knowledge and skills related to the implementation of integrated care services. Implementation of integrated team-based collaborative care presents challenges and opportunities for providers and managers, with significant implications for access to care and patient satisfaction. Topics include basics of integrated health implementation; telepsychiatric consultation; culturally responsive practice; Patient Centered Medical Home recognition; oral health for collaborative care; and provider mindfulness and self-care.

Foundations of Pediatric Integrated Health Care - Although "pediatrics" describes the age range from birth through 18 years of age, children develop through a number of distinct developmental, psychological, and social stages. The Pediatric track explores how to address the most common issues of these stages using a pediatric integrated health model of care. Topics include an introduction to the model, the role of the pediatric behavioral health consultant, pediatric social determinants of health, and interventions in the medical setting.

Pediatric Interventions - As the health care system is transformed from non-integrated to integrated, many services and interventions can be provided directly to the pediatric population as well as their parents in the medical clinic. Although many clinicians know typical child and adolescent diagnoses from a clinical perspective, this module helps participants develop an integrated understanding of typical topics that may present in the medical setting. Topics include ADHD, pediatric asthma, DD-autism, anxiety, depression, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences.

Adolescence - Many adolescents are required to attend at least one physician appointment a year, presenting an annual opportunity to engage them in management of their own health care and in the detection and early intervention of risky behaviors which can have lifelong consequences. Adolescents can be best engaged in self-management when their unique social, developmental, physical and psychological needs are considered. Topics include adolescent-centered medical homes, adolescent sexual health, substance abuse, suicide, eating disorders, and school-based health centers.

Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) are the most common complication of childbearing. While the term "postpartum depression" is often used refer to mental health issues during this life transition, there are a number of mental health conditions that impact parents during pregnancy, postpartum, or after a loss. This course is intended to educate healthcare providers such as social workers, nurses, and physicians about recognizing the signs of PMADs, evidence-based interventions for treating them, and when and how to refer out for the treatment of these mental health conditions.