Continuing Education For Therapists

I set great store in reading, researching and generally educating myself about all things psychotherapeutic. However, Continuing Education units (known as CE's) are one of the banes of my existence. CE's are a requirement for those therapists who hold licenses. Those of us who are licensed have to produce a certain number in a given period in order to renew our licenses with the state. Professional/clinical workshops and seminars that therapists attend generally lure you in with the promise of CE's in exchange for large sums of money and your attendance. Generally, shopping around for interesting workshops is challenging, despite the overwhelming number of workshops that are offered. Seminar titles may sound interesting, but presenters are frequently dull, turgid and uninspired in their delivery. On rare occasions, I have attended workshops whose titles sounded dreary and hum-drum, only to find that the presenter made the material come alive and I came away learning more than I had expected. It's a crap shoot. (I must remember to blog about the overwhelming number of gaming and sporting references that litter the American vernacular!)

Over the weekend I took the "4MAT Learning Type" inventory and discovered that my style is known as a "Diverger." As a result, I now understand why I get so bored in workshops in which there is so little experiential content (and this tends to be the case with most of the workshops I have attended) . My style is to "learn by listening and sharing ideas and to integrate experience with the Self." I need to be personally involved in the process of learning, not passively absorbing information.

Anyway, brochures advertising these CE seminars drop through my letter box daily. Most of them go straight into the waste basket, coming under the category of "I'd rather read the book." Let me give you some idea of the kinds of seminars that are offered:

* Assessing and Treating Reactive Attachment Disorder: Beyond Oppositional Defiant Disorder

* Is this abuse?: A conference on the intersections between abuser education and therapy.

* Forgiveness: How can I forgive you? A radical approach to healing intimate wounds

* Treating Couples: Clinical Perspectives on Men, Women and Couples Therapy

* Teaching Sexually Explicit, Comprehensive Courses: Reducing the Risk of Professional Liability

* The Perils of Trauma/The Diversity in Healing

* Child Sexual Abuse

Not only are these seminars a crap shoot in terms of interesting material, they are frequently expensive. For example, the Couples Therapy seminar is $260 (possibly because it's offered by Harvard Medical School.) The more credentials you have, the more complicated it becomes in terms of fulfilling CE requirements for that credential. The American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) whose CE's I can apply towards my sex therapist credential with that organization, offer seminars infrequently on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, despite the fact that they are really the only show in town when it comes to credentialing as a sex therapist. On top of workshop fees, you then have to factor in travel/flight/hotel costs.

Forgive me, readers, if I take this opportunity to vent and whine about the overall quality of training for therapists. It's abysmal. When all is said and done, (and with few exceptions) the most useful clinical information I have received has come through one of three channels: talking with my clinical psychologist friend, Kathy, (see her blogs at www.humansexualitysextherapy.blogspot.com and also at www.kathymcmahon.blogspot.com ) my own research and reading or clinical supervision.

How to decide which seminars to attend
There are a few seminar presenters whose presentation style is stellar, and if I see their names on a workshop listing I will invariably attend. Failing that, selecting CE seminars/workshops usually involves deciding where the glitches in my knowledge base lie, and seeking out those seminars that appear to supply that training and information. For example, a workshop was offered through the Massachusetts School for Professional Psychology purporting to be a structured guide for therapists working with single clients who were seeking partners. The information focused on how to motivate clients and offer them resources. I believe the cost of that seminar was $95.00. I learned little that was new to me and I won't be attending any more of that presenter's seminars.

At the same location, I took a seminar on Sexuality and Aging. The presenter's style was dry and flat, but the bibliography was very helpful. Probably not $90.00 worth of helpful, particularly as I'm a great "googler" and book researcher, but it got me started in the right direction. And, of course, I came away with 3 CE's.

I typically will sign up for anything new and interesting in the Human Sexuality field that is available, including new theories about working with couples, anything that addresses working with same sex couples or folks who are transgendered, and seminars that address HIV/AIDS and sexual "dysfunction." This has frequently meant traveling to New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont for some of my day-time trainings. (For international readers, I must explain that this means I am often driving more than 300-400 miles in a day to attend a 6 hour training.) Some of the best of these trainings are offered by unlikely sources. For example, I have found that the Northern New England Planned Parenthood organization offers a variety of interesting seminars on many subjects to do with Adolescent sexuality and I have attended several of these, despite the long drive there and back. (Their workshops also tend to be more experiential which also would fit in with my learning style.)

Interestingly, the Boston Area Planned Parenthood organization does not offer as varied a listing of seminars as their out-of-state partners. (It would be much easier to drive 25 minutes into down-town Boston than to make the 6 hour pilgrimage to Northern Vermont and back!)

My profession has generally been slow to use the internet, but I've noticed that gradually there are more and more online CE's being offered and this feels much more do-able in terms of time, resources and the dispelling of tedium. These CE's have the added benefit of learning at your own pace, being able to take frequent breaks and not having to listen to an uninspired presenter. Oftentimes, I will attempt to drag Kathy along to a workshop with me, reasoning that we both need CE's and if the event ends up being a drag, we can at least have fun perusing the book displays and hanging out together!