Continuing Education Part of School's Outreach

The School of Social Work Community Engagement Initiative’s Continuing Education program contracts annually with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services to provide training for Home and Community Services (HCS) social workers and social workers employed by local nonprofit agencies. The training, which consists of three units of three days each, are held throughout the state. A recent session, entitled Issues Related to Adult Psychological Development and Disorders, was held at the UW School of Social Work.

Two participants paused to reflect on what they were gaining from the three-day seminar. Pat Beaugard and Mark Hammond, who work primarily with elderly clients with dementia and their families, commented that the training was helping them to:

• Better understand the challenges faced by people with dementia and other disabilities and the clinical aspects of such disorders as Parkinson’s Disease
• Find additional resources for families to deal with their stressors
• Discover more ways to meet communication challenges with clients and families
• Learn how to balance legal rights with civil liberties for people with mental disabilities
• Learn more about the policies and Washington State codes related to mental health treatment for people with cognitive disorders.

HCS has been partnering with the UW SSW for the past 30 years and has trained over 7,000 social workers.  In 2010, ADSA social workers will be able to access the CORE training online, thereby increasing the number of social workers who can receive the full 60-hour CORE training.