Category: Excerpt
Short excerpts from full SWTP CEUs courses, offering a preview of the content and clinical focus found in the complete courses.
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When Understanding the Problem Is the Problem
Read more: When Understanding the Problem Is the ProblemSome clients come in already knowing too much. Nathaniel was 38, a high school assistant principal, and he had been to the emergency room three times in four months convinced he was having a heart attack. Each time, the workup came back clean. His physician diagnosed panic disorder and referred him to therapy. By the…
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From “What’s Wrong With You?” to “What Happened to You?”
Read more: From “What’s Wrong With You?” to “What Happened to You?”Stephanie had been working at the domestic violence shelter for three years when the organization decided to become “trauma-informed.” At first, she wondered what would change — weren’t they already helping trauma survivors? But as she learned more, she began to see her work differently. She noticed how clients positioned themselves in the common room,…
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Staying Calm When They’re Not: De-Escalation Techniques for Social Workers
Read more: Staying Calm When They’re Not: De-Escalation Techniques for Social WorkersTyler bursts into the waiting room, face red with anger: “This is bullshit! I’ve been waiting forty-five minutes and nobody’s told me anything! Where the hell is my social worker!” The waiting room stiffens. Conversations stop mid-sentence. Situations like this require immediate de-escalation skills that can mean the difference between a productive session and a…
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What Veterans Need From You in the First 20 Minutes
Read more: What Veterans Need From You in the First 20 MinutesMost veterans decide whether therapy is worth their time before the first session ends. That’s not cynicism — it’s how military culture works. When you’ve spent years in an environment that values directness, mission focus, and demonstrated competence, you size people up fast. Veterans walk into your office doing exactly that. Here’s the context worth…
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When Home Becomes Office
Read more: When Home Becomes OfficeYou’re three minutes into a session with Isabel (a composite case representing common telehealth experiences) when your cat jumps onto your desk, knocking over your coffee mug. Behind you, your teenage daughter’s TikTok music starts blaring from upstairs. Isabel laughs and says, “Your house feels so homey—nothing like those sterile office buildings.” Your stomach drops…
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Social Work with HIV-Positive Clients
Read more: Social Work with HIV-Positive ClientsMost continuing education reduces complex practice to simple protocols. But if you’re working with HIV-positive clients, you already know it’s never just about HIV. It’s about substance use that predates diagnosis, depression that affects adherence, housing instability that makes appointment attendance nearly impossible, and shame that fragments trust across every system.The excerpt below comes from…
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What “Biopsychosocial” Actually Means in Practice
Read more: What “Biopsychosocial” Actually Means in PracticeYou’re thirty minutes into an intake with Brenda Hayes. She came in saying she’s been “feeling down” for about a year. As you talk, you learn she recently lost her administrative job, lives with chronic back pain that’s getting worse, isn’t sleeping well, and is helping coordinate care for her father, who has dementia. Her…
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Why Family Systems Matter in Substance Use Treatment
Read more: Why Family Systems Matter in Substance Use TreatmentThe following is an excerpt from the 6-CE SWTP CEUs course, Substance Use in Families: Beyond the Identified Patient. The intake form says Miguel Torres, age 16, marijuana use. His school social worker made the referral after the third time he showed up high to class. You’re three minutes into the family session when you…
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When Truth Is Cruel: Dementia, Therapeutic Lying, and Social Work Ethics
Read more: When Truth Is Cruel: Dementia, Therapeutic Lying, and Social Work EthicsThis is an excerpt from the 2.5 CE ethics course, Truth vs. Trust: The Ethics of Therapeutic Deception in Dementia Care available at SWTP CEUs. Three months ago, when you first started working with Mrs. Patterson, you did what you were trained to do. You told her the truth. You sat down next to her,…
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What Human Trafficking Really Looks Like
Read more: What Human Trafficking Really Looks LikeThis is an excerpt from the 2.25-CE course, Human Trafficking Identification and Response for Social Workers, available at SWTP CEUs. When most people hear “human trafficking,” they picture dramatic scenarios: someone kidnapped and transported across international borders, held in chains, unable to escape. While those situations do occur, they represent a small fraction of trafficking…