Free and low-cost CEUs for Massachusetts LMHCs

Like many LMHCs, I am still in need of in-person CEUs. Remember, we need 30 credits every two-year cycle (the current cycle ends December 31, 2019). Only 15 of these can be done online. I don't feel the need to post links for online courses; clinicians who are interested in a specific topic or modality are usually connected with websites and mailing lists featuring relevant trainings, and clinicians who just need to fill in hours can google sites offering a free introductory course and complete the introductory course on several different sites.

For what it's worth, I have some mixed feelings about the current CEU requirements. I feel like clinicians who stay up to date with the field, connect with colleagues, and read current research are going to do so anyway. Clinicians who don't feel the need to do so won't. Requiring 30 hours that can be about absolutely anything doesn't change this. Personally, my most relevant professional development comes from listening to the voices and stories of marginalized individuals. If I am working with people in the adoption constellation, I listen to adoptees and first parents. If I am working in the child welfare field, I listen to current and former foster youth and parents who have been involved with the system. If I am working with autistic people, I listen to autistic people. I make sure all these voices include a large number of queer folks and/or people of color. I do this both by cultivating and welcoming a diverse group of personal friends, and by reading books, blogs, Twitter feeds and so forth of people who have been so generous as to share their voices and experiences with the world.

I don't usually receive CEUs for any of this. We are still in the very infancy of recognizing that our training and ongoing education needs to be centered on the voices of the folks we encounter in our work, not what professionals thing -- especially professionals who have not worked in the field recently and mainly are engaged in academia and presenting CEU courses. I do seek out CEU courses that include the voices of marginalized individuals, but these are still few and far between. When I get toward the second half of that second year and realize I am low on hours, I am not interested in paying $500 to hear some "expert" I've never heard of who works full-time as a CEU course giver. If I pay a lot of money for a course, I want to be paying a marginalized individual to tell me how to improve my work.

So, given all this, I am going to start posting free and low-cost LMHC CEUs when I come across them.

Note: Unless stated otherwise, I have no affiliation with courses, presenters, or organizations, posts are not any type of endorsement. I am committed to publicizing low-cost CEU opportunities to assist fellow clinicians in locating these, and will generally publish any I encounter.