Professional Development Institute
Simmons School of Social Work is a leader in providing professional continuing education to social workers, psychologists, licensed mental health, and school counselors. Not only do we offer Category I Continuing Education credits to social workers, but we are an Approved Continuing Education Sponsor for the American Psychological Association and an Approved Continuing Education Provider for the National Board of Certified Counselors. Our postgraduate certificate programs offer mental health professionals an opportunity to stay ahead in their careers by acquiring new knowledge, refining their skills, reinforcing strong, ethical professional attitudes, and committing to a culture of lifelong professional development. Building on participants’ knowledge and skills, postgraduate certificate program participants enhance their knowledge and practice skills with individuals, families, groups and communities.
- Clinical Certificate Program in Relational and Multi-Contextual Treatment of Trauma
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Basic Training
- Dissociative Disorders and EMDR on December 6, 2009
Simmons School of Social Work is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer psychology continuing education and approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors to offer continuing education to counselors including licensed mental health and school counselors. Our postgraduate certificate programs offer mental health professionals an opportunity to stay ahead in their careers by acquiring new knowledge, refining their skills, reinforcing strong, ethical professional attitudes, and committing to a culture of lifelong professional development. Building on participants’ knowledge and skills, postgraduate certificate program participants enhance their knowledge and practice skills with individuals, families, groups and communities.
Our postgraduate certificate programs offer participants an opportunity to deepen their professional expertise by studying contemporary treatment research, learning evidence based clinical skills, acquiring communication strategies for helping clients act on their greatest strengths, and reinforcing competence in working with persons with diverse life experiences. Classes become a rich source of intellectual stimulation. They also become a place to return to for personal and professional connection with like- minded, committed colleagues and instructors.
Our postgraduate certificate programs reflect the mission of the School of Social Work – providing exceptional postgraduate preparation with an emphasis on intellectual exploration, skill-building and networking. We employ contemporary adult learning theory in our programs, encouraging participants to actively participate in their own learning through lectures, discussions, evidence-based practice techniques, and case consultations.
Postgraduate certificate programs help mental health professionals to upgrade and fine tune their on-the-job skills allowing them to stay on top of their careers. According to the Boston Sunday Globe (March 15, 2009, p V4) “Certificates give professionals the edge in tough times.” This is particularly important in today’s economy and in mental health delivery systems where a repertoire of skills is required to work with a wide variety of clients, institutions and problems. Participants in our postgraduate certificate programs have access to state-of-the-art classrooms, the Simmons library, eLearning, and discounted parking in the Simmons garage.
The Simmons School of Social Work is a pioneer in clinical social work education having trained clinical social workers for over a century. Simmons was the first college in the U.S. to offer training for clinical social workers and the School of Social Work was instrumental in developing educational programs in clinical social work and managed care practice. Today, the Simmons School of Social Work continues to offer exceptional training in clinical social work for women and men. In addition, we offer high quality professional development postgraduate certificate programs that focus on the learning and practice needs of mental health practitioners from many disciplines.
