Fall Into Cash Guest Blog: Utilize Continuing Education Credits to Scale Up Your Therapist Trainings
Written by Kelly Smyth-Dent, LCSW and Founder of Scaling Up LLC
Most of the therapists we encounter through our training programs and membership community at Scaling Up are purpose-driven providers. This purpose is most often rooted in a desire to improve the cultural and financial accessibility of mental health care. All of them are deeply committed to their craft and end up creating innovative approaches to mental health care models, interventions, and education. We suspect YOU are very much like them!
Teaching other clinicians the skills and knowledge you’ve poured your heart into can be one way you contribute to the evolving knowledge base upon which the future of mental health care is built. Whether it is through brief webinars, in-depth courses, or larger transformative trainings, you have something to offer that your colleagues need.
How to Offer Trainings
Now, you might be wondering about the logistics of offering professional development products and services. If you’re anything like I was, my biggest concern was about Continuing Education (CE) credits. I wanted to ensure that our courses were relevant and accessible – part of that consideration was removing resource barriers.
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While many therapists can register for trainings that don’t come with CEs, many more are not. The time, energy, and financial costs of maintaining licensure requirements are high, so it was important to me to have courses that meet the needs of our customer base.
Scaling Up LLC is a professional development training and consulting company dedicated to alleviating suffering by building a world with accessible and affordable trainings for mental health professionals specifically designed for crisis intervention, trauma care, and humanitarian responses. Because Scaling UP is an entity that focuses on providing training to emerging, new and seasoned mental health professionals, it was imperative that we create a strategy and system that offers CEs at an affordable cost. This meant that Scaling Up needed to become an approved continuing education provider.
I honestly had no idea where to start and found the entire process incredibly overwhelming.
Licensing
Each type of licensure (for psychologists, social workers, LMFTs, etc.) has its own entity to apply through. Additionally, each state has its own rules and sometimes a separate application to apply. I had to seek advice and support.
I decided to start with an application through the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) because that covered the largest portion of customers in our system. When I applied, I was shocked to find how long and arduous the processes were. I think it is good and important for these entities to be so diligent and detail-oriented in their applications, but I wasn’t expecting it. It added to my overwhelm.
It took me a few full days to complete each application. In addition, I had a few weeks of back and forth editing and revising the application per their requests as they were reviewing the applications. It took almost an entire year for the application to be completed, reviewed, and approved. And it cost, over $1,000 to submit those applications for review.
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Now, I am also in the process of applying for approval through the Association of Social Work Boards as well – which is another application and cost. Additionally, each year you must submit reviews and a renewal fee for each application.
I share all of this to help you understand the process, so you can make an informed decision about how and when you want to provide CEs for your courses.
The CE Partner Program
As a result of this experience and to further Scaling Up’s vision of accessibility, we developed the CE Partner Program to help other innovative clinicians offer CEs for their courses in an easier and more affordable way. In the same way that sometimes it is best to outsource someone to clean your house, manage your bookkeeping or submit your billing, sometimes it is better for your business to outsource the CE application and compliance process.
We offer a simplified process that saves you time, energy, and money so that you can focus on what you do and love most! Our CE Partner Onboarding and Course Eligibility Review (CER) processes walk you through every step of the way! Our robust CE Partner Program includes the following processes and milestones:
- Obtaining & reviewing all training content and supporting materials • Reviewing course quizzes (if applicable) • Auditing course marketing materials
- Ensuring trainer qualifications
- Collecting all APA & NBCC eligibility items & confirm that the course meets eligibility criteria
- Provide feedback and recommendations regarding course CE eligibility
- Manage annual reporting and eligibility reviews
Our specialized team can get your course equipped with CEs in as little as 60-90 days for a fraction of the cost and stress! If you are curious about how Scaling Up can support your educational content please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. To learn more and apply for our program, please click here.
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