Free CE for mental health professionals

A free hour on everyday ethical decisions

Ethics in Everyday Practice is our planned free one-hour ethics course for social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists. It focuses on the decisions that arise between appointments: a request for information, an unclear permission, or a communication boundary that needs a more precise explanation.

The course is designed as a complete, independently useful activity. No paid course purchase is required. The planned offer includes the learning material, assessment, and any eligible certificate at no charge. Other mental health professionals are welcome to explore the material, but educational relevance does not establish credit eligibility for a particular license.

Approvals are in progress. One ethics CE hour is proposed. We are not claiming current CE approval, accreditation, or acceptance by any licensing board. Review the course’s final eligibility statement before relying on it for renewal.

Explore Ethics in Everyday Practice.

What the course covers

The reading and case exercises are designed to help you identify the actual ethical question, separate known information from assumptions, and choose a proportionate response. Topics include confidentiality, the scope of a requested disclosure, communication expectations, and a concise record of consultation and reasoning.

The aim is a focused refresher for clinicians with professional preparation. It does not replace graduate ethics education, legal consultation, or your profession’s code. The longer Ethics and Professional Boundaries course develops more complex decisions; completing or purchasing it is not a condition of the free activity.

How the certificate will work

The planned delivery process is straightforward:

1. Enter the name to appear on your certificate and the email address where you want it delivered. Provide the license information needed to check the available credit route.
2. Complete the required learning and assessment. Email registration alone does not earn credit.
3. Follow the final completion instructions for the applicable route, including any required evaluation steps.
4. Receive the eligible certificate by email after completion is confirmed, without a certificate fee.

The course opens shortly. Leave your email below and you are first in line the day it does, certificate included.

The email address is for delivery, not evidence that learning occurred. A certificate of completion, if offered without approved credit, must be clearly distinguished from a CE certificate. Do not submit an unapproved completion record as approved renewal credit.

What free CE counts for

Price does not answer the acceptance question. To decide whether a free activity counts, check the provider or sponsor, the exact course and format, the awarded hours, the subject category, your renewal period, and your board’s rules. Apply the same review you would use for a paid course.

For example, California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences specifies acceptable providers and requires law-and-ethics hours within its renewal framework. One accepted hour could contribute toward a requirement; it would not satisfy a six-hour requirement by itself. California BBS continuing education.

New York requires profession-specific attention to Department-approved providers. A national approval logo should not be treated as a substitute for that check. NYSED social-work provider guidance.

Looking for free CEUs for social workers or free CEUs for counselors? Use the social-worker catalog or counselor catalog to start with the relevant approval landscape. Marriage and family therapists and psychologists have their own pages. Our proposed free hour is not currently represented as accepted credit for any of these licenses.

What else is free to read

Our public guides explain the clinical questions and link to the underlying sources:

• What is implicit bias? covers clinical decisions, evidence limits, the IAT debate, and Michigan’s training context.
• Is ChatGPT HIPAA compliant? explains BAAs, eligible workflows, selected state laws, and documentation review.
• Trauma-informed care introduces the frameworks, screening, practical care, and referral boundaries.
• Safety planning in therapy explains the professional approach, implementation problems, and evidence.

Reading these guides does not award CE hours or a certificate. If you are searching for free implicit bias training with a certificate, the free ethics activity is a different topic. The implicit-bias guide is free editorial material, not a Michigan-qualifying training activity.

Explore the full catalog for planned structured courses and their posted eligibility status. Start with the free ethics hour when it becomes available, and choose further study according to your practice needs and verified renewal requirements.