Pause For CE Training (September 12 and 13th)

Back at the end of July, I received notification that I would need to renew my CSW (certified social worker) license at the end of September.  I was expecting the email since this renewal is done every two years at the end of September.  I had decided that I would renew my license one more time--just in case I decided that I did want to work a little bit.  I was and am not planning on it, but wanted to keep my options open...at least until I am 70 was my original plan.  So, I didn't even open it, because I knew that it was a simple process online and pay my money and I could do it on September 30 if I needed to.

So, because I didn't even review the email, I was "blissfully" unaware that the rules had changed regarding the CSW license.  Mid-August, on my social work group with my Kaysville cohort, someone commented about discovering the CE requirement for CSW---WHAT?  It turned out that we were now required to have 20 CE (continuing education) credits to renew our license and 12 of those had to be "In Person!"  Slight difficulty when you are serving on a mission in Arkansas.  (One of the members of the Church in Arkansas is a social worker and when she heard about my dilemma was ready to invite me to their upcoming trainings.  No luck--things had to be approved for Utah.)  This required also included 2 CE regarding suicide and 8 ethics.

Fortunately, I was on the email list for the Critical Issues Conference for Children and Teens and they had a conference in September in Salt Lake City which would provide 13 hours and if I registered and attended the sessions live through their platform, it would count for my "in person" requirement.

So from 9-6 on Thursday and Friday, I sat in front of my computer and watched sessions on a number of  different topics related to children and teens.  It was a bit of a mind switch to be thinking about topics, terms, and issues related to my professional life.  It has been 4 years since I was formally involved in that world.

For the rest of my credits, I had signed up with an on-line provider of approved topics where I took mostly ethics.  Some of those were excellent as well.  I sometimes found myself thinking why didn't I pursue that type of career or work toward that type of clientele. But each time, I would stop and think about my life and how it unfolded and know that I did--in the big huge decisions of life--the things I was directed to do--a step at a time--in the places and with the people we were to be engaged with. That is a good thing to feel when you are 69 years old.

While my goal was to finish all of my hours prior to doing this conference, it ended up that I was finishing on September 30.  I knew that I had 2 hours left to do that Monday, but when I put my certificates all together, I got .5 less from the conference than I expected, so I took one more class the evening of September 30 and then submitted my license renewal...cutting it close but I got it done!