Judson partners to provide training and support for mental health professionals
Judson University's Wellness Center will partner with Willow Creek Community Church and Amita/Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health to provide training and support for counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychologists.
The workshop will provide continuing education hours required for these mental health professionals to maintain their respective state licenses while also learning about best clinical practice standards in a Christian environment.
The first Mental Health Clinician CEU Forum will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 11, in the Creekside South Building, 1151 N. State St., Elgin.
The event is expected to draw Christian mental health clinicians who are looking for ways to earn additional CE hours, receive refreshment for their soul, and enjoy the fellowship of other Christian professionals.
The day's event will begin with a special presentation at breakfast by Judson alum Aaron Niequist, Class of 1998, a liturgist, writer and pastor in the Chicago area. After leading worship at Mars Hill Church and Willow Creek Community Church, he created "A New Liturgy," a collection of modern liturgical worship recordings. He then curated a discipleship-focused, formational, ecumenical, practice-based community at Willow Creek called "The Practice."
Niequist recently finished a book called "The Eternal Current: How a Practice-based Faith Can Save Us From Drowning" (WaterBrook, 2018), and continues to create resources to help others flesh it out. He and his wife, Shauna, have two sons, Henry and Mac.
Participants also will hear from distinguished mental health attorney Jonathan D. Nye, the managing partner of the Nye Law Group Ltd. in Fox River Grove and Chicago. Nye is one of only a few attorneys in Illinois with a concentration in mental health law. He has lectured before the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, local and national associations related to law and human services and to numerous mental health, developmental disabilities, and alcohol and drug abuse agencies. For this forum, he will provide mental health legal and ethical training and address key issues for mental health professionals including a Q&A session that will close out the program.
Why this event, and why now? "This event resulted from a prompting by God to find unique ways to minister to the Christian counseling community and to encourage and inspire Christian therapists while also providing them with quality continuing education needed for their profession in a relaxed and welcoming environment," said Wellness Center Clinical Supervisor Carol DiDominicis. "All of the pieces of the puzzle for this event have been put together by God, and it is a great blessing to see how God has provided for this first event. We are hoping that this event will be the first of many."
Social workers, counselors, nurses, psychologists, and marriage and family therapists will receive four hours of continuing education credit for their full attendance and a $49 admission fee will apply.
Register by Friday, May 4. To register or find additional details, visit the event page at www.eventbrite.com.