2023 Professional Continuing Education Online Webinar
COVID and Beyond: Providing Care for Clients with Chronic Health Challenges
Tuesday, November 14, 2023, from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Online Workshop – Two (2) CE Credits
Fee: $29/person
FREE for Active PBC Volunteer Clinicians
Featured Presenter: Karen E. Latus, LMSW
Session Description: The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recognition of post-viral syndromes such as Long COVID have highlighted some of the concerns individuals with chronic health conditions have been experiencing for decades. While chronic physical health challenges have significant impacts on emotional wellbeing, it is often difficult for patients to find mental health professionals who are educated and equipped to provide appropriate support. This presentation will familiarize mental health clinicians with these challenges, explore how to navigate practical and emotional barriers to client participation in therapy, and prepare clinicians to engage in more reparative therapeutic relationships with clients who have often experienced harm from the very systems that are supposed to provide care and relief.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, the participant will be able to:
- Identify at least three challenges facing clients with chronic health concerns and ways to facilitate service provision that addresses these barriers.
- Attend to dignity and well-being by actively recognizing clients as experts with lived experience of their own bodies.
- Engage in a reparative therapeutic relationship for clients who have often experienced harm from the medical system.
Presenter Bio: Karen Latus, LMSW
Karen E. Latus is a licensed master social worker (LMSW) whose areas of focus are school social work, immigration, trauma, and anti-racism education. She spent nearly two decades in secondary education, teaching Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL), and by integrating classroom instruction and school social work, she designed and coordinated a bilingual intervention program for undocumented and unaccompanied minors that the American Council for School Social Work recognized as a model of best practice. Karen was named one of 9 finalists for the State of Tennessee’s Teacher of the Year award in 2018 and honored with the 2019 Community Impact Award by the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare.
In addition to being the board president of Serving Immigrants (a Tennessee-based nonprofit that provides pro bono mental health evaluations for asylum seekers), she currently serves as an adjunct professor and field instructor for the University of Tennessee College of Social Work, an adjunct professor for East Tennessee State University’s social work program and a SAMHSA-funded consultant for the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
Workshop registrants will receive a code prior to the webinar to log on to Zoom and participate in the online session.
IMPORTANT: Attendance will be monitored. Participants must be logged on to the meeting by the workshop start time and participate in the entire event in order to earn CE credit.
Pro Bono Counseling is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Pro Bono Counseling maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The Maryland Boards of Social Work Examiners and Professional Counselors and Therapists certify that this program meets the criteria for two (2) credit hours of continuing education for social workers (Category 1), professional counselors, and therapists (Category A) licensed in Maryland.
CE credit is granted to participants with documented attendance at individual workshops. Attendance is monitored. Credit will not be granted to registrants who log on late or depart early from a session. It is the responsibility of registrants to comply with these requirements.
By registering for this event, all participants agree to abide by the following code of conduct:
Workshop Code of Conduct
Pro Bono Counseling (PBC) is dedicated to providing a positive continuing education experience for everyone of all backgrounds and identities. We do not tolerate disrespectful behavior or harassment of workshop participants, facilitators, or PBC staff in any form. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of characteristics that include but are not limited to: gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, citizenship, veteran status, pregnancy status, race, ethnicity, or religion. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in unacceptable behavior, PBC may take any action it deems appropriate, including warning or expelling the offender from the event with no refund.
Workshop Views Disclaimer
The views expressed by the workshop presenter(s) and participants are their own opinions and do not represent Pro Bono Counseling, and do not imply an endorsement of them or the organizations they represent.
