Washington DC Psychologists License Renewals and Continuing Education

Washington DC-licensed psychologists have a license renewal every two years with a December 31st deadline, odd years.

Thirty continuing education hours are required to renew a license. Of the thirty hours, fifteen (15) hours are allowed from home study if APA approved.

Three hours of ethics and three hours of cultural competence are required at each renewal.

The pursuit of continuing education assures the highest possible standards for the psychology profession. All licensees are required to participate in continuing education as a licensing requirement.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for all programs and content.

Requirements for Continuing Education

Washington DC-licensed psychologists have a biennial license renewal with a December 31st deadline, odd years. Thirty hours of continuing education are required for license renewal. Of the thirty (30) hours, fifteen hours are allowed from home study if APA approved. There are three (3) hours of ethics, and (3) hours of cultural competence required at each renewal.

Information gathered from the Washington DC Board of Psychology on November 19, 2013.

 

 

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Cultural Competence in Health Communications

Click to view cultural CE courses

Cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. Cultural competence comprises four components:

1. Awareness of one’s own cultural worldview
2. Attitude towards cultural differences
3. Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews
4. Cross-cultural skills

Developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures. Effective health communication is as important to health care as clinical skill. To improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities.

Professional Development Resources offers a variety of cultural-based continuing education (CE) courses for healthcare professionals to address this topic:

• Cultural Issues for Palliative Care
• Cultural Sensitivity in Death and Dying
• Multicultural Issues in Counseling – Older Adults
• Multicultural Issues in Counseling – Psychological Treatment of Ethnic Minorities
• Multicultural Issues in Counseling – Multiracial Psychology Training

Cultural competency is one the main ingredients in closing the disparities gap in health care. It’s the way patients and doctors can come together and talk about health concerns without cultural differences hindering the conversation, but enhancing it. Quite simply, health care services that are respectful of and responsive to the health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs of diverse patients can help bring about positive health outcomes. {Office of Minority Health}

Related Articles:

• Guest blog post: What is CLAS? by Claudia Brauer (blogproz.wordpress.com)
• Cultural competency leads to better patient care and higher patient satisfaction (kevinmd.com)
• Bringing your Cultural Competence Home (psychologytoday.com)
• Cultural Competence in Patient Experience Examined by The Beryl Institute (prweb.com)
• Office of Minority Health Resources (aa47.wordpress.com)

 

Professional Development Resources Offers New Multicultural Training Courses – Press Release

During the month of February, a month that has come to be a time of learning about the achievements of Africans and African Americans, Professional Development Resources is releasing three new online continuing education courses that will offer mental health professionals the tools they need to become culturally proficient in working with racial/ethnic minority populations.

Professional Development Resources, a national provider of continuing education (CE) serving psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, speech-language pathologists, and occupational therapists, has announced the publication of three new online CE courses that offer training in cultural competence in the treatment of ethnic minority populations. This is an essential endeavor for professionals, in view of the rapid diversification of the United States.

In its position paper Psychological Treatment of Ethnic Minority Populations, the American Psychological Association suggests that culturally competent therapists must be aware of their own racial and cultural heritage and become comfortable with the differences that exist between themselves and others. The critical issue is that without such awareness, there is a danger that helping professionals may unwittingly impose their worldviews on their minority clients, resulting in cultural oppression.

“According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, racial/ethnic minorities will become a numerical majority by the year 2050, if not sooner,” says Leo Christie, PhD, CEO of Professional Development Resources. “This is an extraordinary historical transition, one that will require a fundamental shift in how we perceive our ability to serve our clients. No longer will we be able to rest comfortable in the belief that we know all we need to know about diverse individuals.”

There are three inescapable conclusions that can be drawn from the census projections, relative to the practice of mental health therapy:

1. In today’s world, it would be surprising if mental health practitioners did NOT encounter clients and groups who differ from them in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture
2. The world views of culturally diverse populations are likely to be qualitatively different from those of the helping professional
3. Cultural competence in the delivery of services is absolutely essential to the psychological and physical well-being of persons of color

 

“We, as mental health professionals, are not immune from the biases, prejudices, and stereotypes that are common in the larger society,” adds Christie. “Even the most well-intentioned professionals may be biased with regard to race, gender, and social class. This kind of training – on a continuous basis – is an essential part of becoming proficient in working with racial/ethnic minority populations.”

The three courses just released by Professional Development Resources are based on task force reports published by the American Psychological Association:

Multicultural Issues in Counseling – Multiracial Psychology Training
Resilience among African American Children & Adolescents
Multicultural Issues in Counseling – Psychological Treatment of Ethnic Minorities

About Professional Development Resources, Inc: Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) – as well as many other national and state boards – has focused its efforts on making online continuing education courses more efficient and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.