Earning continuing education credits (CEs) is kind of a love-hate thing, right? While it’s a great way to learn new techniques, skills, and keep up on all of the latest advances in the mental health and helping professionals fields, many of us don’t have a lot of time and resources to get our CEs. But we all have to do it in order to keep doing what we love.

These days, there are many options to earn your CEs online via webinars and recorded videos with tests at the end. While these offerings may seem more convenient when it comes to budgeting your time and money to earn your CEs, there really is nothing like attending in-person live workshops and trainings for your continuing education credits and professional development.

It’s tempting to earn your CEs online while wearing your PJs in the comfort of your own home, but there are major benefits you’d be missing out on if you choose online trainings over in person trainings. Here are six that we think are invaluable!

  1. Networking, networking, networking! Love it or hate it, we all need to network and make connections to be successful in our work. In-person live continuing education trainings offer tremendous opportunities for connecting with other helping professionals and people working in your field. You’re already all there because you’re interested in the topic so you’ll have plenty to talk about! Live workshops offer abundant opportunities to network and make quality connections for partnership opportunities, referrals, and knowledge sharing. The connections you make at our live workshops are mutually beneficial, rewarding, and long lasting!
  2. Increased engagement with shared learning experiences. Research shows that most people learn more effectively when you share the experience with others. Attending in-person live workshops allows for quality interactions, opportunities to work together on solutions to real life challenges, and practicing new techniques. Engaging with others while learning new material helps you remember, recall, and use what you’ve learned as the material is tied to connections with others learning the same material. We remember engaging experiences much more effectively than we do just consuming a deluge of information.
  3. Getting out of the office to be in a different environment. You know how when you come back from a conference or a new meeting and you feel reinvigorated and more inspired and excited about your work? By attending a live continuing education workshop, you get that same experience! We all need to switch up our environments, meet new people, and hear new ideas to invigorate ourselves, inspire innovation, and spark new solutions to challenges we may be having at work.
  4. Learning from other people’s experiences. Have you ever been in a class or workshop and someone shared an experience that you’ve had as well? It’s validating to know that you are not the only one, and by hearing and sharing other people’s experiences, you can all benefit from each other’s knowledge, solutions, and tips and tricks. Sometimes other people will ask really good questions that wouldn’t have occurred to you but the answers will enhance your work greatly!
  5. Self-care, self-care, self-care! As mental health and helping professionals, we give so much of ourselves to our clients and the populations we serve. We often put our needs and care on the back burner because we care so deeply about our work. We prioritize the needs of our clients, organizations, and populations we serve above our own well-being. As most of us know, this often leads to burn out, exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and our health and personal lives suffer. Investing in yourself and giving yourself permission to take the time to get out of the office and away from your work for a day or two can do wonders for your well-being. Plus, we offer regular workshops on self-care for helping professionals. Self-care squared!
  6. Immediate and personal access to the expert presenters. While recorded continuing education courses online are convenient, what do you do if you have questions or would like a deeper dive into a certain idea or topic? You can’t raise your hand or speak with the presenter on a break or after the workshop. Attending our continuing education live workshops offer you invaluable access to experts in their specialties and fields. All of our presenters – each experts in their fields – are more than happy to take the time to speak with our participants during and after our workshops. Many of our workshop participants and expert presenters stay in touch to share information and work together long after the workshop is over.

We could go on and on about the benefits of attending continuing education workshops in person rather than earning your CEs online but we’ll stop here for now. Oh, wait! Two more benefits of coming to Cascadia Training’s live workshops to earn your CEs: 1) Yummy REFRESHMENTS available all day and 2) Our super friendly workshop facilitators making sure you’re welcomed with a smile, comfortable throughout the day, and leave our trainings feeling inspired and invigorated to do your best work. Oh, and sometimes our furry, friendly greeter pup Sookie will be there for some animal therapy too!

We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our workshops in the Puget Sound area very soon! Check out all of our upcoming workshops in Seattle, Shoreline, Redmond, Olympia, and more places around Western Washington. Invest in yourself, your well-being, and your future success by registering for one or more today!

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