Mental Health Provider Compassion Fatigue: Preventing It and Addressing It

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Marie Cortez, LCSW, Certified Professional Life Coach
Monday, October 27, 2025
9:00 am -11:00 am
Virtual
2 CECs

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
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
Wed, August 6, 2025Register Now for CE programs now
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.

 

Surviving and Thriving in your Private Practice

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs
Tues, July 15, 2025
Virtual
9:00 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

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

Link to webinar will be included in your email confirmation

Ready to take your private practice to the next level? This interactive workshop is designed exclusively for clinicians who have completed “Building Your Private Practice” and are eager to confidently apply what they’ve learned. Join Dr. Jenn and fellow professionals to tackle real-world challenges, troubleshoot obstacles, and refine your systems—so your practice not only survives, but truly thrives. Bring your questions, roadblocks, and ideas for a supportive, hands-on experience that turns insight into action.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify and analyze common challenges faced in private practice, including workflow, client management, and business growth
  • Develop personalized strategies for overcoming obstacles and optimizing key practice systems
  • Apply workshop insights to troubleshoot specific issues in your own practice, with feedback from peers and Dr. Jenn
  • 4. Strengthen confidence in maintaining, developing, and evolving a sustainable, client-centered private practice.

Ethical Technology

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs
Tues, July 8, 2025
Virtual
9:00 am – 12 pm
3 CECs

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

Link to webinar will be included in your email confirmation

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, mental health clinicians face new ethical challenges around confidentiality, data security, and informed consent. This engaging training is designed to equip clinicians with practical knowledge and real-world strategies for using technology ethically and responsibly in their practice. We will explore best practices for telehealth, digital record-keeping, and client communication, while strengthening our understanding of privacy laws and ethical codes. Join us to gain confidence in making informed decisions that protect your clients—and your professional integrity—in the digital age.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the options for the use of technology in practice
  • Learn the ethical pitfalls for using technology
  • Explore how to use technology safely and effectively
  • Anticipate potential future risk with technology

 

The Clinical Interview

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 – New Date!
In-person on the UConn Hartford Campus
9:30 am – 4 pm
5.5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

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

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

Thich Nhat Hanh Meets Francine Shapiro: One Stone Meditation and EMDR

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Donald deGraffenried, LCSW
In-person at the UConn Hartford CampusRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, July 18, 2025
9 am – 12 pm
3 CECs*

* Also approved for 3 EMDRIA credits (Approval #08012-21). Prior EMDR training is not required to attend this training, however EMDRIA credits will only be available to individuals who have completed Part I and Part II EMDR Basic Training

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

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

This three-hour in person 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 Donald deGraffenried, LCSW will explain the origin of the “One Stone Meditation” and demonstrate how to use this powerful, yet simple experience of mindfulness 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. It has wide application for use with clients, especially in the management of stress and anxiety. Participants will also have the option via a practicum to enhance/strengthen their experience by using bilateral tapping which comes out of the work of Francine Shapiro, Ph.D. and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

Please bring a small stone with you to the training. The stone should fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

In this interactive and experiential seminar, participants will:

• practice the “One Stone Meditation”
• develop the meditative experience
• have the opportunity to practice and strengthen their experience by using bilateral tapping

New Perspectives on Sustaining Helping Professionals

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Patricia Wilcox, LCSWRegister Now for CE programs
Live Webinar
Wed, June 18, 2025
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

Recently social service agencies have been acknowledging the effects of working with, feeling empathy for, and having responsibility for trauma survivors. Whether this effect is referred to as vicarious trauma (VT) or secondary traumatic stress, there is no doubt that the work can influence the treater’s world view, their sense of safety, their own relationships, their sense of hope and their energy and enthusiasm for their work. However, agencies often take the approach that this is mainly an individual problem, to be solved by the treater on their own time and at their own expense with self-care and good boundaries.

This presentation will challenge some of the myths of vicarious trauma, such as that work is entirely depleting and that home life is entirely fulfilling; and that there is such a thing as work-life balance. The book Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Skills for Sustaining a Career in the Helping Professions by Brian C. Miller (2022 Routledge) will provide the scaffolding for specific techniques that can help our workers retain and grow their hope and energy in the work, and thus reduce turnover. We will cover areas such as: debunking the myths of VT; developing skills to enhance our work lives; understanding that appreciating intensity rather than avoiding it helps us thrive; bringing joy into our work lives; developing radical compassion; and recovering from crisis. . We will also explore the assumption that trauma encounters are inherently fatiguing. We will investigate the premise that the cure for exhaustion is not rest- it is wholeheartedness. Participants will leave the workshop with action steps to bring to their agencies.

Participants will be able to:

  • Identify three myths about vicarious trauma and their alternative truths
  • List eight skills to sustain treaters in their jobs, and create agency plans to teach and support these skills
  • Develop three strategies to increase the joy in their workplaces
  • Identify three actions to create agency structures to support treaters in recovering from crisis.