LCSW CEUS & Social Worker CEUS

Continuing education units (CEUs) are an important part of maintaining a licensure as a social worker. A CEU is a measure of time spent in continuing education courses. In order to renew your license when you are a SSW, MSW, CSW or LCSW, your state will generally have requirements for the number of CEUs that you must have obtained in the past period since you received or last renewed your license. This is done to ensure that licensed social workers are staying current on theories and practices in the field and are continually learning about ways to identify and help patients with presenting issues.

To obtain CEUs, you will have to attend in-person or online courses and often take a test to show understanding and application of the material that is learned. For example, you may have to log 20 CEUs in a two-year renewal period per your state’s licensing guidelines.

These courses may be chosen based on areas that you specialize in on the job. For example, a social worker that works primarily with elderly populations may take courses, such as:

Elder abuse and neglect
Caregiver support strategies
Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia
Medication compliance issues
Aging and Long Term Care Issues
Bereavement and End of Life Issues and Care

Whereas, a social worker that works primarily with pediatric patients may instead take courses, such as:

Post-Adoption issues
Child abuse and neglect
Foster care situations
School social work strategies

Other courses may contain more general information in the social work field that could affect many different groups of patients or new patient strategies that have come into practice for social workers. These include not only courses on specific disorders, but also issues that social workers have to face such as cultural, ethnic or religious/spirituality differences that may come in to play as a social worker is trying to assist the patient and their family.

These could include courses such as:

Mood Disorders, such as Depression or Bipolar Disorders
Anxiety Disorders, such as Panic Disorder or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Legal and Ethical courses
Mandated Reporting Requirements
Domestic Abuse
Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Housing Issues
HIV Safety
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered supports
Cultural Group Classes (such as Hispanic, Hmong, Somali, Asian, etc)
Religious and spirituality courses

While the accumulation of CEUs is usually a mandatory part of maintaining your licensure as a SSW, MSW, CSW, or LCSW, social work continuing education courses are a great way for social workers to stay up-to-date on the changes in their field. Rather than thinking of it as additional work and time away from patients and their families, think of it as time dedicating to gaining additional strategies and skills to help your patients become the strongest that they can. Embrace the chance to gain new knowledge and expertise!

Best Topics for an LCSW to Take a Course On

A Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) is a mental health professional who has earned a Master’s degree in social work, completed thousands of hours of clinical training, and passed a rigorous exam in order to obtain a license. LCSWs help individuals, couples, families, organizations, and communities in various ways to enhance quality of life and overall well-being. The goal of social work is to enable people to develop the physical, occupational, psychosocial, and emotional skills needed to mobilize themselves, as well as resources available in the community, to resolve problems. LCSWs are dedicated not only to helping individuals, but also to improving communities by dealing with issues such as welfare, unemployment, homelessness, domestic violence, and substance abuse.

LCSWs work in a variety of settings – hospitals, correctional facilities, government departments, schools, and social or family services agencies. The environment an LCSW works in may determine which continuing education courses are the most relevant or most interesting to invest time and money in. For the increasing number of licensed clinical social workers who are going into private practice, courses on setting up your own business and understanding managed care may be crucial to the success of the practice.

Before deciding what courses to take, an LCSW should first research the requirements of the licensing board of their particular state. Some states, such as California, enforce continuing education requirements for LCSWs after initial licensure and before license renewal. In California, the mandatory courses every LCSW must take are:

7 hours on Spouse or Partner Abuse
3 hours on Aging and Long Term Care
7 hours on HIV/AIDS
6 hours on Law and Ethics (which must be fulfilled for every renewal period)

LCSWs should check the board requirements in their state and take the required continuing education courses first, before expanding to include additional areas of interest or developing trends in the profession.

LCSWs who work in a general or psychiatric hospital setting will most likely be interested in the types of continuing education courses which are relevant to their specific job function. As an integral member of every patient’s treatment team, the licensed clinical social worker helps to ease the transition between hospital and home by securing resources such as home health, psychotherapy, rehabilitation, durable medical equipment, and even funding so that caregivers can focus on the day to day responsibilities of caring for their loved one. Therefore, hospital-based LCSWs would be well-served by taking courses on long-term care-giving, aging, mental illness, recruiting health resources, and even bereavement.

In correctional facilities, LCSWs may play quite a different role as parole officers or social rehabilitators. LCSWs help to ease adjustment into the general population and may assist with anything from drug and alcohol treatment to enforcing the conditions of parole or probation to helping an ex-prisoner find a job. Courses on behavioral rehabilitation, re-integration into society, sexual offenders, personality disorders or other psychiatric conditions, and addiction would be useful.

LCSWs who work primarily or extensively with child welfare agencies will be interested in different types of courses. They may be required to do a lot of groundwork investigating cases of domestic violence, child neglect, juvenile delinquency, or child abuse. In this capacity, LCSWs must serve as advocates for children and/or other endangered family members. Courses on intervention strategies, placing children in protective custody, finding and evaluating potential foster parents, and adoption services would be useful for an LCSW.

Licensed clinical social workers who are employed by schools are involved in helping students with a variety of problems:

truancy,
problems with social adjustment
conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia which affect academic performance
aggressive behavior

They might even encounter issues like eating disorders, adolescent self-harming, teen pregnancy, or inappropriate sexual behaviors. In order to be prepared for this wide range of problems, LCSWs may want to take courses that focus on these issues so that they can better understand the psychosocial aspects of these problems and learn appropriate strategies or approaches for intervening with both the children and their parents. In some cases, LCSWs may need to interact with the juvenile court or other legal system – this is why courses on Law and Ethics are so important for every social worker.

LCSWs who are involved in community health centers or private practice are more likely to act as counselors or therapists. They may assist with parent-child relationships and other family-related dynamics or provide marriage counseling. Continuing education courses on individual and group therapy, as well as community services, divorce, and the needs of senior citizens, would be helpful for social workers in this setting. LCSWs who encounter abusive relationships would also benefit from courses on intervention and resources for battered women.

Licensed clinical social workers provide a variety of invaluable services to the community. Ongoing learning in the form of on-the-job clinical practice and continuing education courses ensure that LCSWs stay on top of their field so that they can offer the best resources to the community they are committed to serving.

Many states required social workers to continue their education by taking CEUS courses. One of the most common social work licenses that requires this is a LCSW license. LCSW CEUS certificates are fast and affordable. You pay online, only $8 per unit, then take the lcsw ceus test online. You can quit and come back later if you wish, when you are finished with the test you can immediatly print the ceus certificate from your home computer, now thats fast ceus!

What Type of CEUS Course Should a LCSW Take?

There are a lot of great options for CEUS courses for an LCSW. CEUS credits are designed to keep professionals current in their field of expertise by providing new development and training opportunities. When you’re selecting a course, you’ll want to consider several factors including, career development, new research, weak or gray areas in your own practice, and interest level. Of course, you’ll always want to make sure the courses you select adequately fulfill the needed. If you choose wisely, you find that CEUS courses can be fulfilling both personally and professionally.

Here are some suggestions for current issues and topics that may be helpful for the LCSW practitioner to learn about or review:

Trauma and Crisis Intervention in an Age of Terror CEUS

Acute emergency mental health intervention associated with natural and man-made disasters such as earthquake, fire, death, suicide, injury, threat and terror, is needed more than ever. Steps to lessen the potential negative impact of such trauma and the prevention of possible post-trauma syndromes are very important to review, and keep up to date on.

Stress Management CEUS

This is a great topic for practitioners to master for their own benefit as well as to guide their clients. New research shows that stress is related to cancer growth and other illness. Science is revealing a very definite mind/body connection. Practitioners who know about and understand how to apply new scientific discoveries will be ahead of the pack in helping their clients improve their quality of life. Reducing stress is beneficial to nearly every therapeutic goal practitioner are helping their clients attain.

Helping Children Cope with the Aftermath of Violence CEUS

With domestic and global violence on the rise, many children find themselves understandably anxious, even if they were not personally involved in the incident. Constant media coverage, along with adult conversations, are readily picked up by children who may become anxious and upset without fully understanding why. As an LCSW it is very helpful to review how to help children make sense of our tumultuous world, and treatment options available.

Raves, GHB, and the Club Drug Culture CEUS

New designer drugs are rampant among today teenagers. It can be very helpful to understand the rave culture in helping teenage clients recover from substance abuse. It is also important to be able to identify the signs and effects of “club drugs�? and treatment options.

Autism: Treatment Options CEUS

Exciting new research in the field of autism are allowing more effective treatment options. It is also helpful to understand how to facilitate families of autistic children.

Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Religion CEUS

What is considered mentally healthy varies greatly depending on one’s culture, race and religion. It can be very effective for a LCSW to learn practical ways to integrate a client’s background with their therapeutic goals.

The Global Adoption: Special Considerations for Child and Family CEUS

With foreign adoptions rising in popularity and practice, LCSWs will want to be aware of the special needs, challenges and pressures that global adoption bring to the new parents and child. Race, religion, language and ethnicity all play a role in global adoptions. LCSWs are better able to help families integrate successfully when they understand specifically how to help families avoid common pitfalls and missteps.

Career Options within the Treatment Center Setting CEUS

With the rapid explosion of specialized treatment centers worldwide, LCSWs have the opportunity to work where their particular gifts and talents are most needed. An LCSW may prefer or have a knack for working with adolescent females with eating disorders, whereas another LCSW may excel in an adult alcohol rehabilitation center. The options are many and varied. It is worthwhile to explore the different types of treatment centers while considering your own personal and professional career goals.

Speedy CEUS is licensed by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences CE approval # PCE 3457. You can also start your lcsw ceus course and finish it later on your own time frame if you are busy. Speedy CEUS also has several other ceus tests including nursing, mft, and other online ceus credits.

Receive your LCSW CEUS certificate now!

Here is a List of our CEUS Courses