HOW TO GET CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS: CECs | EP 66

Are you up to date with your CECs? Do you need some extra help? Do you want to know a great, quick, and professional way to get them while meeting other exceptional Canadian therapists? 

CECs are important for all Canadian therapists to have, whether you work for someone else or if you run your own Canadian private practice. They help you to stay up to date with new research, develop yourself as a skilled therapist, and can even be assets when it comes to marketing your practice. 

Whether you’ve accidentally left things too late and you need some help, or you’d like to learn more about CECs and how to structure them to avoid last-minute stress, I’ve got all the information and tips for you in this podcast episode!  

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In This Episode

• Why are CECs important? 
• CECs in Canadian private practice 
• Benefits of working within the CCPA
• Where you can get your CECs 
• Try out the Mental Health Academy

Why are CECs important? 

‘No matter if you are in private practice or working for another company as a counsellor, you need to get CECs if you are part of the CCPA … or if you are licensed in your province.’ – Julia Smith 

CECs are important for Canadian counsellors because they help you to maintain your counselling skills and remain up to date with best practices and to learn new skills as therapists. 

New studies and reports are often coming out, and therefore it is important to stay up to date with the science and research so that you can provide the best counselling to your clients. 

‘CECs are just a great way to keep up to date and learn new things as counsellors.’ – Julia Smith 

CECs in Canadian private practice 

‘In private practice, doing CECs can also be an added benefit to show that you are learning new skills, gaining new knowledge, and you can promote that on your website!’ – Julia Smith 

For your Canadian private practice, you can show on your website the different certifications and training that you have done – as well as the therapists in your group practice (if you have one) – to interested clients that want to learn more about what your practice has to offer. 

Additionally, building your skills as a therapist can help you to maintain and keep clients as you develop your expertise and find new ways to assist, support, and guide them. 

Benefits of working within the CCPA

‘They offer so many different types of CECs. There’s a big variety at CCPA and I just love that I can switch it up if I want to, and I never run out of options for doing my CECs.’ – Julia Smith 

With CCPA, you need 36 CECs every three years, which is the same as the college in Nova Scotia. The scary thing about this new rule is that you might forget to maintain your CECs for a couple of months – or even years! – and then close to the deadline you’ll have to suddenly jump to get everything ready. 

‘So, you really want to plan to do your CECs yearly or at least do it a couple of months before they are due so that the CCPA can acknowledge them, that your college can acknowledge them, it just makes it so much easier, and less stressful.’ – Julia Smith 

To make this process easier for yourself, set up little reminders on your preferred platform to keep you updated as to when you should start working on your CECs, so that you can avoid an unpleasant surprise a few months down the line.