Author: Beth Sharkey, MSW

Making Sense of the DSM 5 – Webinar

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister for CE programs now
Virtual
Thurs, November 6, 2025
9 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

The 5th edition of the DSM brings with it some of the most significant changes between editions. In addition to changes in the disorders themselves and how they are grouped, the diagnostic system has been revamped. Are you prepared to incorporate the changes into your practice and to diagnose your clients accurately? This training shows you how to use the DSM5 to enhance your assessment skills.

Participants are encouraged (not required) to have a copy of the DSM 5 available during the webinar to practice diagnosis using clinical vignettes.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the major philosophical changes to the diagnosis process in the DSM 5
  • Learn the categorical and disorder changes and additions introduced in the DSM 5
  • Examine the assessment tools published with the DSM 5
  • Practice diagnosis using the DSM 5 through numerous clinical vignettes

Adolescent Addiction

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II

Register for CE programs now
Webinar
9 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Historically mislabeled as a difficult population, this webinar will explore the characteristics of adolescent addiction, the recovery pitfalls, and effective treatment interventions that will engage your young clients.

Adolescent Addiction is a distinct problem, with biopsychosocial elements unique to this age group, which indicates there are unique treatment implications. This training explores the unique elements of adolescent addiction and discusses the best ways to both prevent and treat it. While the majority of the training addresses substance use, other addictions – gambling, sex, internet, fitness – will be included.

Adolescent Addiction is often guided by cultural, political, and social forces. Adolescents my be judged for wanting attention, submitting to peer pressure, or making “stupid” choices, depending on the culture in which the teen is a member. The degree that the addiction is accepted is often based on these influences. This training includes a discussion of these influences, not only in understanding how teen addiction develops, but also how recovery can be sabotaged or supported by these influences.

Participants will:

  • learn the differences between the adult and adolescent brain
  • explore the principles of addiction and how it affects the adolescent brain
  • review updated assessment tools for this population

The Clinical Interview

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Virtual
9 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Webinar link will be included in your confirmation email.

Trainings on assessment and diagnosis typically focus on client symptoms and psychopathology. This training has the actual clinical interview at its focus, exploring how to gather the information you need from each client. Participants will learn how to prepare, what skills are needed, and where to focus each section of the interview.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the primary goal(s) of the clinical interview
  • Gather useful listening and verbal skills that support rapport
  • Explore how to direct and redirect clients and the path of the interview
  • Learn strategies to manage common scenarios that challenge the interview

Building a Private Practice

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister now for CE programs
Live Webinar
Wednesdays, Nov 5, 12, and 19, 2025
9 am – 12 pm (ET)
9 CECs – participants must attend all 3 sessions to earn CECs

Registration Fee: $225
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Welcome to the Building a Private Practice Series. This training is not only for people who are thinking about starting a practice, but also for those who have an existing practice. It’s never too late to make some adjustments to your practice that will help it grow more effectively. This training relates to direct practice as it aims to help the clinician build a practice that will benefit the clients it serves and ensure their practice adheres to the strictest of ethical principles. Participants will learn how to build a private practice that meet the needs of the clients they serve and strengthens both the client’s treatment experience and the profession as a whole.

This training is split into 3 consecutive Tuesday webinars. Participants must attend all 3 sessions to earn CECs.

DAY 1 covers the top mistakes people make in private practice, and begins to layout the framework for building a better one. We will explore the nuts and bolts of who, why,  where, and when to open a private practice. Then we will dive into how to set up your practice with your own policies and procedures.

DAY 2 begins with ironing out all the financial aspects of your private practice, including how to set a fee schedule, how and why to work with insurances, how and why to work with private pay options, bank accounts, insurances, and taxes. We will then lay out all the clinical paperwork you need to safeguard your practice the right way.

DAY 3 begins with a discussion of how to market your business, where you should focus and what you should ignore. We then round out the series by exploring how to develop your practice, how to effectively close your practice, and how to troubleshoot your practice when it isn’t growing as you would like it to grow.

Art of Diagnosis – Webinar

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Register for CE programs nowJennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Virtual
9 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Although a large component of the daily work of social workers is to diagnose psychiatric illnesses, there is little education on how to do that well. This training teaches how to differentially diagnose using specific questions and provides distinct tools that clinicians can use in sessions.

In this live webinar, you will:

  • Explore common diagnostic mistakes clinicians make
  • Learn to accurately use the Mental Status Exam as a diagnostic tool
  • Gather the assessment tools available in the DSM 5 and elsewhere
  • Practice differential diagnosis by disorder type through vignettes

The Intersection between Neuro-divergency and LGBTQ Identity

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Shane M. Scott, LCSWRegister Now
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
9:00 am – 12:00 pm (ET)
3 CECs
Virtual

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

This interactive webinar will allow participants to deepen the understanding of individuals who are neuro-divergent, how it impacts their lives, as well as the intersection between neuro-divergency and the LGBTQ identity and what social workers can do support their clients. This training will also provide insight the high prevalence in both identities, as well as a review of both identities, risk factors, and how to best support this population. The session will include lecture, activities, media presentations, and case studies.

Participants in this webinar will:

  • learn and/or reinforce what is neuro- divergency, and review of the components of gender and sexuality
  • discuss the concepts of intersectionality and the overlap of both identities
  • examine the high prevalence of Autism and ADHD in the LGBTQ population
  • learn risk factors, protective factors, best practices, interventions, as well as gain self-awareness and how to recognize provider biases and limitations

Mental Health Provider Compassion Fatigue: Preventing It and Addressing It

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Register NowMarie Cortez, LCSW, Certified Professional Life Coach
Monday, October 27, 2025
9:00 am -11:00 am (ET)
Virtual
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

This webinar explores compassion fatigue, also known as secondary traumatic stress or burnout, and its impact on mental health professionals. Social workers and other mental health providers often feel overworked, stressed, overwhelmed, and unappreciated in the workplace. It’s a reality that is seen as being part of the job, but it’s all too often dismissed or brushed aside. However, dismissing this reality does not make it go away.

The goal of this training is to empower social workers and other mental health providers to prioritize self-care and their own mental health while helping their clients.

Participants in this webinar will:
• learn how to recognize burnout
• understand why mental health providers suffer from burnout
• learn the importance of addressing the inevitable stress of our work
• explore emotion regulation strategies to cope with the stress of our field

Understanding and Addressing Parental Stress

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Qur-an Webb and colleagues from Welcome 2 RealityRegister Now
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
6 pm – 8 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link with be included in email confirmation

Understanding and Addressing Parental Stress is designed to help participants gain insight into the root causes of parental stress across developmental stages, the disproportionate burdens faced by low-income and marginalized families, and the lasting impact on mental health and parenting capacity. The training will offer practical tools and strategies to engage and support parents through trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and father-inclusive approaches.

Participants in this webinar will:

• Understand the current statistics and trends related to parental stress in the U.S., with a focus on disparities affecting parents with limited access to services.
• Explore how stress manifests during early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence, including financial, emotional, and time-related challenges.
• Analyze how poverty, social isolation, work-family conflict, and limited service access intensify stress for parents, particularly for fathers in marginalized communities.
• Identify evidence-based interventions, community support mechanisms, and policy recommendations that professionals can use to support stressed parents.
• Learn techniques for engaging fathers in stress reduction supports and services, especially those who are often left out of traditional parenting programs.

Understanding Grief in Children/Teens in Foster/Residential Care

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Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED

10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration fee: $50
10% Discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current UConn SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

As social workers, we tend to have limited training in the grief of children. How they cognitively and psychologically understand loss is often omitted from our core learning objectives. For children in foster or residential or alternative care, the research is even more limited. This webinar will focus on the specific bereavement and grief experiences of children in alternative care. We will explore how a child, to even “be” in alternative care, is to be a griever. Any alternative care for a child, by its very definition, requires that the child in care has either lost a family member(s) to actual death or another form of loss that often feels like a death.

How have we systemically viewed these grieving children? Are we more likely to diagnose their expressions of grief as negative behaviors? Can the most oppositional child we treat be among the most bereaved children we have encountered?

This webinar will examine children in alternative care as disenfranchised grievers. We will address the bereavement needs that so often, and unintentionally, go untreated. We will also explore why this grief has been systemically undertreated due to a system that was never given adequate resources to address the bereavement needs of these children.

Participants will:

  • be able to identify the common symptoms of grief experienced by children in care
  • be able to identify how grief manifests in behavioral symptoms
  • learn positive interventions to address grief and loss issues of children in alternative care

The Gold Standard: A One Day Refresher on EMDR Therapy

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Donald F. deGraffenried, LCSW, EMDRIA Senior TrainerRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, August 8, 2025
In-person at the UConn Hartford Campus
8:30 am to 4:30 pm
7 CECs
*Also approved for 7 EMDRIA Credits (Approval #08012-22). Please see the note at the bottom of the page

Registration Fee: $175
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Classroom location, driving directions and parking details will be included in your email confirmation

This one-day hands on training will provide a comprehensive refresher on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in both theory and practice. Areas covered include predictors for success, demonstration of the mechanics, forms of bi-lateral stimulation, review of the eight phases, cognitions, and supporting optional processing.

Multiple case examples will be presented including working with victims of violence, especially crime victims and survivors of homicide. In addition, participants will watch two client videos and there will be a live demonstration of the EMD Protocol which is helpful in crisis and emergency situations.

Trainer deGraffenried is looking for one volunteer to work with him using the EMD Protocol during the training. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact him before the training at donald@traumatreat.com.

At the conclusion of this one-day refresher, participants will be able to:

  • complete a simple self-evaluation of their skill base
  • briefly summarize the Eight Phases of EMDR
  • effectively describe how to perform the demonstration of the mechanics
  • state the advantage of using eye movements as the form of bi-lateral stimulation
  • state two advantages of using EMD as a protocol
  • define an overactivated and underactive client
  • describe three major components of the Recent Event Protocol
  • plan for and incorporate the use of the Visual Assessment Tool in support of gathering information needed for the Recent Event Protocol with crime victims
  • state two or more of the advanced go to the body techniques
  • list two or more spiritual cognitive interweaves
  • exhibit the ability to analyze which of the EMDR models will best serve the needs of clients who are survivors of gun violence

* EMDRIA Credits have been approved for this training.  Participants who have completed Basic Training in EMDR will receive 7.00 EMDRIA Credits at the end of the training. You must be present for the entire training to receive the credits.