Putting a focus on mental health care © Kampus Production/Pexels
Mental Health Practitioners Can Now Get Continuing Education Credits In Multicultural Disability Competence from the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY)
The Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY) is a leading disability-rights non-profit organization serving New Yorkers with disabilities for over forty years. According to the Centers for Disease Control (*), in the state of New York, there are nearly four million people (25 percent of the adult population) that Identifies with having a disability.
Additionally, there are nearly one million people with disabilities living in New York City. CIDNY’s mission is to ensure full integration, independence, and equal opportunity for all people with disabilities by removing barriers to the community’s social, economic, cultural, and civic life. Education about multicultural disability competence is at the forefront of our advocacy efforts. To assist mental health professionals in multicultural disability competence (MDC), CIDNY has launched a continuing education program that offers actionable insight into the psychological aspect of disability.
Continuing education courses (CEC) from CIDNY will focus on how clinical practitioners can work more efficaciously with the disabled community. Instructors for these courses are New York State licensed mental health professionals. In addition, these MDC courses will satisfy the 36-credit-hour continuing education credits required by the New York State Licensure Board for triannual renewal for mental health professionals.
What are the benefits of CIDNY’s CE courses? You can earn six credits in one remote session. You have multiple date options for each course. You will learn insightful and actionable disability knowledge that is directly transferable to your clinical practice.
You can become certified in MDC and join CIDNY’s subscription service to receive clients/consumers. You can learn a myriad of disability-related psychological techniques. You will learn from a disability expert who has direct experience working with mental health clients with disabilities. Finally, you are supporting a local disability non-profit organization.
Sharon McLennon Wier, Ph.D., MSEd., CRC, LMHC, executive director of CIDNY and a practicing mental health professional, said about the program, “In 2012, I conducted research on Multicultural disability competence (MDC) and found that licensed psychologists across the country could benefit from learning more about multicultural disability competence to further assist clients/consumers with their psychological distress.
It is important for clinicians to understand how the intersectionality of disability can affect a person’s psychological symptomatology. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the rights of people with both physical and mental disabilities. Thus, it becomes efficacious for all mental health clinicians to learn MDC and the skills needed to work with this population.”
The program is approved to provide CE credits to New York State licensed practitioners who are ascribed as Clinical Social Workers) LCSW, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), and Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) designations. CIDNY’s continuing education program is expected to add eligibility and courses for licensed psychologists in the near future.
More information about the continuing education program and upcoming courses can be found on CIDNY’s website at cidny.org/ce.
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