Author: Beth Sharkey, MSW

Understanding Grief in Children/Teens in Foster/Residential Care

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED
Wed, March 29, 2023Register Now for CE programs now
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

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

Developing Comfort and Confidence with Tapping (EFT)

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs now
Monday, March 27, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

This webinar is a great follow up for those who have taken Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom Technique: Care for Clients and Practitioners, other Entry Level EFT classes, or practicing on their own. Based on feedback from prior participants, this follow up class has proven helpful in deepening understanding and developing confidence in using EFT.

Getting comfortable using EFT comes with practicing on yourself and with clients who are generally well-functioning but may be struggling with anxiety, physical pain, intrusive thoughts, self-limiting beliefs or life changes. The more you use EFT and see the consistent positive results, the less strange it will feel and the more opportunities you will find to use it for your clients and your own self-care.

This webinar will include a review of the Basic Recipe for tapping, including tapping points, set-up phrase and basic tapping protocol. Additional topics to be introduced and further explored will be the Personal Peace Procedure, Tapping to Install Positive Beliefs, Borrowing Benefits, and how EFT dovetails with the Law of Attraction. There will be ample time for group tapping, demonstration, and Q&A.

Participants in this interactive webinar will:

  • Develop more comfort and confidence using EFT for self and with clients
  • Understand the Personal Peace Procedure and its appropriate use
  • Learn protocol for Tapping in Positive Beliefs
  • Learn about the power of Borrowing Benefits in group settings
  • Understand the energetic integration of EFT and the LOA

Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom Technique

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs now

Monday, Feb 27
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

Emotional Freedom Technique is a form of Energy Psychology, combining psychotherapy and energy healing techniques. It is based on the understanding of the human body as an electrical system and the recognition of the systems of subtle energy that surround and interface with the physical body. When that energy system is disrupted, a person experiences mental, emotional or physical imbalance.

EFT has application across a broad range of issues, including stress and anxiety related disorders, PTSD, physical pain, self-sabotage, cravings and addictions and performance. It draws from a variety of proven modalities, including Thought Field Therapy, acupuncture, biofeedback, EMDR, hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy and applied kinesiology.
Various forms of Energy Psychology have been practiced since the early 1980s. In recent years, EFT has been researched in more than 10 countries, by more than 60 investigators, whose results have been published in more than 20 different peer-reviewed journals.

In this engaging workshop, participants will learn how to use Emotional Freedom Technique both for their own self-care and for working with their clients, students, colleagues and families.

In this engaging seminar, participants will:

  • learn about the psychological and medical roots of EFT
  • learn the Basic Recipe and Tapping Sequence of EFT
  • understand how EFT can be used to bring down high emotional charge in both current issues such as anxiety and fear, as well as from past trauma
  • have a direct experience of the benefits of tapping
  • learn how to use Emotional Freedom Technique with their clients and for their own self-care

 

Art of Diagnosis – Webinar

Register for CE programs nowJennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
Virtual

Thurs, Oct 12, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
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 Clinical Interview

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister for CE programs now
Virtual

Thurs, Nov 9, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

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

Trainings on assessment and diagnosis typically focus on client symptoms and psychopathology, and examine existing diagnostic assessment tools. 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:

  • Gather all the needed questions to conduct a solid clinical interview
  • Learn the components of motivational interviewing
  • Explore how to direct and redirect the path of the clinical interview
  • Practice clinical interviewing skills; identify strengths and challenges

Making Sense of the DSM 5 – Webinar

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister for CE programs now
Virtual

Thurs, Oct 26, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
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.

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

Racial Justice and Implicit Bias: Fostering Authentic Engagement

Provides 2 hours of content on cultural competence.

Qur-an Webb, MSW and colleagues from Welcome 2 RealRegister Now for CE programsity

Tuesday, October 24, 2023
6:00 – 8:00 pm
2 CECs
Webinar

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

The webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

This webinar will examine implicit bias, the differences between equality and equity, and how to recognize equitable practices. Participants will learn to talk about race constructively within their workplace, with colleague organizations, and with their clients by having conversations about racial justice work to help foster authentic engagement. The training will enable participants to apply what they know about racial justice and equity to build a further understanding and agreement. Participants will learn which facilitation tools to use when faced with hot button issues and how to lead conversations about race with presence, grace, and authority.

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss how biases and discriminatory practices effects clients and their families
  • Explore strategies to help improve our work with the children and families we serve
  • Explore next steps for applying concepts and strategies to advance racial equity

Marijuana: Miracle Drug or the Devil’s Lettuce?

William C. Gilbert, PhD, LCSW, AADCRegister Now for CE programs
Virtual

Wednesday, Sept 20, 2023
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
2 CECs
Also approved for 2 CEUs by the Connecticut Certification Board (CCB) for Alcohol and Drug Counselors

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

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

With the increasing number of states legalizing recreation marijuana and other states approving the drug for medical purposes, the use of marijuana is becoming more popular. With this increasing popularity, the facts about marijuana and the effects on the brain and body are often misrepresented. Marijuana in neither the panacea that some claim, nor will its use lead to the downfall of our country. This webinar will present an unbiased discussion about the facts and myths about marijuana. The pharmacology of the drug will be reviewed as well as its benefits and negative consequences.

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• describe the effects of marijuana on the brain and body
• distinguish between the myths and facts about marijuana
• describe the validated medical use of marijuana
• describe the cultural and societal effects of marijuana use

Who is Thich Nhat Hanh: Using One Stone Meditation with Clients?

Donald F. deGraffenried, LCSW
Fri, Nov 10, 2023, 9 am – 11 amRegister for CE programs now
2 CECs

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

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

This two-hour online training will explore the teachings of Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Participants will learn about his history with mindfulness, his advocacy for peace and social justice, and his connection to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Trainer deGraffenried will explain the origin of the “One Stone Meditation” and demonstrate how to use this powerful, yet simple experience of mindfulness to use with clients or for yourself. This is a gentle introduction to the process of mindfulness and enhancing the greater ability to be fully in the moment.

Participants are requested to have a small stone available to use during the webinar. The stone should fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

In this webinar, you will:

  • Understand how Thich Nhat Hanh’s history with mindfulness and his advocacy for peace and social justice conforms to social work practice
  • Learn about the origin of the “One Stone Meditation” and how to use this powerful, yet simple experience of mindfulness, with clients or yourself

Power, Passion and Purpose: Understanding Clinician Burnout

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II

Thursday, August 31, 2023Register Now
10 am – 12 pm

2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Link to webinar will be included in your email confirmation

Trainings on clinician burnout typically focus on balance and self-care, which may increase healthy habits, but often won’t alleviate burnout. This webinar goes to the heart of the three most common causes of burnout, a lack of power, passion, and purpose, and how to build each one.

Learning objectives:

  • explore and evaluate traditional clinical burnout prevention techniques
  • examine the concept of power, what it is and how to build it in oneself and in the workplace
  • investigate passion by remembering early passion for work and how to reignite it
  • consider one’s purpose and how to increase its value to promote job satisfaction