Retention and recruitment of staff, as we know, has been difficult in the past few years. We, as a board, wanted to make sure we communicated to our provider network that we support the wellbeing and continuous improvement of staff that work in Lorain County. A perfect way to do that is to offer free continuing education credits (CEUs) to all staff. Most clinical licensure requires each licensee to complete a series of specialized trainings every two years to make sure they are up to date on best practices and to confirm the licensee is staying engaged with the ever-changing field of mental health. These CEUs can be costly and hard to complete with a full-time work schedule. By offering free trainings during to our providers, we are directly contributing to retention efforts while also improving the services we provide to our community.
We surveyed our provider networks in 2022 asking what topics would be most beneficial to be trained in. Based upon these responses, we were able to organize a free training opportunity monthly sponsored by the MHARS board. This year, we are reaching out again to make sure we are covering needed topics.
This year we offered trainings on ASIST, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Clinician Mental Health and Well-being, Neurodiversity in Autistic Adults, as well as an introduction to Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
The response from our providers has been very positive and the attendance for each training has been full. We are excited to continue to offer trainings to our network as a recruitment and retention effort as well as a way to continue supporting best practices in mental health, addiction and recovery treatment in our county.
