What counts as an ethics CEU for LMSW LCSW, LPC, and LMFT license requirements?
The ethics CEU: Why does the specific type of CEU tend to be the CEU that everyone is scrambling for at the end of their license renewal? We all want to be ethical therapists, social workers, counselors, and mental health workers, but why are ethics trainings, so elusive?
Today we will explore the requirements and attributes of an Ethics CEU a bit further.
So ethics CEUs, may not actually be scarce to find, but there is an extra level of intentionality that it takes to make sure that these specific, continuing education requirements are met.
We will discuss those below.
So what makes something eligible to towards the number of ethics-specific continuing education requirements?
Continuing education courses that qualify for meeting the guidelines for an ethics-based continuing education activity must include topics that will pertain to the laws, licenses, and overall ethical practice of the social worker, licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage and family therapist, or mental health worker. In the state of Texas, these are defined as topics including:
State or federal laws or agency rules, relevant to the practice of the profession
Practice guidelines established by professional organizations
Topics that discuss the ideals or responsibilities of the profession
Topics related to decision-making behaviors or geared towards the improvement or enhancement of service delivery
And other topics connected to the ethical code of licensing.
The presenters or providers of the CEUs must be able to justify their topic and presentation, connecting with and emphasizing one of these elements of ethical practice.
It seems like a lot of topics could be covered, how do I determine which ethics courses are best for me?
As is true for any continuing education courses that a licensed mental health professional might choose to participate in to meet their licensing guidelines, there are ways to simply meet the requirement, and there are ways to be intentional about the courses selected to enhance your personal practice. We, of course, encourage individuals to be mindful of the courses that they are selecting to ensure that they are truly working for you to improve and maintain the quality of your practice.
For example, there are likely ethics courses related to the ethics of hospice care, understanding laws, pertaining to death and dying, and the rules and regulations to ethically work with this population. While this type of continuing education would likely meet the criteria for any mental health professional’s license renewal, unless an individual is specifically working with a hospice care population, that information may not be pertinent to the practice that they are participating in. Think about the elements of practice that you participate in on a daily basis, and see if you can determine a portion of ethics education that will help you be more mindful in your own practice.
How do I know if a course meets the criteria for an ethics CEU?
In most cases, if a course developer has specifically written, or developed the course curriculum, with the intention of meeting the criteria for ethics, and continuing education, it will explicitly be stated in the course description, and listed on the continuing education certificate as meeting the requirements for a certain number of ethics CEUs.
It’s always best to read the fine print to make sure that the courses you were selecting will meet the requirements and be properly documented for license renewal.
