Continuing Education Course Catalog

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for youth between the ages of 13-24. According to the National Council on Behavioral Health, youth that identify as LGBTQIA+ are 300% more at risk for attempting suicide and have identified rejection and negative reactions from family and social supports as precipitating factors to causing distress. Suicide and self harm have been identified as the solutions to address mental, emotional, and social distresses that don't have a perceived solution. Youth engaged in child welfare programs have an increased rate of exposure to trauma and increased risk to engage in behaviors that are harmful. This course will provide an overview of the prevalence of mental health concerns of LGBTQIA+ youth, introduce emotional pain as a concept to consider as a need to manage in treatment and methods to deliver services in accordance to ethical standards and obligations.

This course is designed to provide an initial overview of transracial adoption, the impacts on adoptees, and ethical and practice considerations for 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short-term or long-term services, and face significant barriers to accessing hormonal or surgical interventions due to outdated beliefs, biases, and misinformation about what is necessary to approve them for care.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to tailor their assessment skills to advocate for clients to access transition-related medical care, or face their own outdated beliefs & biases about providing support to these clients.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.

It is understandable that individuals struggling with substance abuse problems are often highly ambivalent about engaging and committing to treatment and recovery, especially upon initial contact with a helping professional. The skills of engagement and enhancement of client motivation are thus critical for anyone seeking to effectively assist substance-involved populations. Additional understanding of and ability to appropriately assess individuals according to whole-person frameworks is also important. This set of learning session will focus on these foundational knowledge and skill areas, as well as touching on broad, well-established treatment approaches for successfully addressing addictive disorders.

Course reviewed 5/18/2021

The Online Certificate in Disability Inclusion and Accessible Design (DIAD) is designed for social workers and other professionals who are interested in developing skills and sharpening their lens related to disability inclusion, and who strive to make their practice more accessible to and relevant for people with disabilities. The program faculty includes scholars, activists, and others working on the frontlines of disability inclusion and accessibility. Participants will learn about pertinent policy issues affecting people with disabilities, anti-ableist language and practices, accessible interpersonal clinical practice skills, disability inclusive community organizing skills, how to create inclusive management structures and organizational policies, among other topics. Participants will also receive training on American Disability Act (ADA) guidelines, understand the limitations of ADA standards, and gain the knowledge and skills to evaluate and assess built environments and institutional policies for ADA compliance and beyond.

Course created 9/9/2021

The Certificate in Political Social Work is designed for all social workers, regardless of area of primary practice, to fulfill their ethical obligation to engage in social and political action. Participants of this certificate program will learn how politics impacts the lives of those that they serve on both a micro and macro level, practice skills for advocating to policymakers, gain tools to empower clients to become politically engaged, and explore opportunities for running for office.

Foundations of Political Social Work: This module will include the historical and current role of social workers in the political process as well as knowledge that is core to political social work practice. Topics include: emerging political social work research and theory, political justice, ethics in political social work, and foundational skills in communicating political information.

Tools for Political Social Work: This module will cover skills and strategies that social workers can apply to their current practice as well as tools to enhance their political engagement. Topics include: identifying and combating fake news, advocacy and activism, and running campaigns.

Special Knowledge Areas for Political Social Work: This module covers important topic areas social workers should be familiar with when engaging in political social work practice, including organized labor and immigration. This module is intended to be responsive to emerging political topics relevant to social work.

Course updated 5/20/2021

This workshop will provide an introduction to Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and its uses in client lead healing related to trauma and a myriad of other presenting problems. Learners will explore an overview of the EMDR process and how it fits within a larger collaborative clinical framework. Case studies will explore how the process is client lead and allows for self determination within the goal development and healing process.

Course created 10/21/2021

This webinar on emerging telemental health practice addresses: 1) ethical and legal concerns related to digital mental health interventions, 2) access to care and quality of care issues, and 3) core evidence informed practice skills and interventions for telemental health practice.

Course created on 2/7/2022