This was a re-do of when I attempted to screenshare in the last live AMA (and it didn't go so well). I tell you about how I create questions and how I put them into my LMS. I hope this is helpful!

If you leave a comment on the YouTube video, I will reply! If you have questions or topic suggestions for upcoming AMA’s, leave them here or on this form: https://forms.gle/CZLTkkrdz4sFBFbeA

If this AMA has saved you a headache, a bad investment, or a very long conversation with NBCC... this is your chance to buy me a book: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing

Want to take the next step? Check out how I support clinicians who are becoming or are already a CE provider: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing/extras

DISCLAIMER: The information in this video is not meant to represent or take the place of legal, ethical, or clinical consultation. The responsibility to research and be aware of expectations, applicable laws, and ethics codes falls on the healthcare providers.

I called it “Supervision Starter Bundle.” Seven sessions. One and a half hours each. 10.5 CE hours total.

I’m still not entirely sure why I didn’t quit after the first one.

Well, it’s because I love it. So I’ve done it every year since.

But before you think that means it’s easy, let me tell you what “loving it” actually looks like behind the scenes.

What You Know

The series happens once a year. It’s held live over the course of a week, and because it’s recorded, there’s also an on-demand version.

That’s the part people know.

What they don’t know is everything before it happens.

What You Don’t Know: Preparation

For a live training, I don’t just show up and talk. I prepare extensively. Each 90-minute session has roughly 90 slides—one minute per slide—that need to be created. This gives me flexibility if participants are engaged and discussion happens. It also ensures my slides are accessible: large enough font, easy to read, and visually clear.

I structure everything around learning objectives. If a session has three learning objectives, I dedicate about 30 minutes to each one. This year, I added discussion prompts throughout to encourage live interaction. But that preparation takes time.

Lots and lots (and lots) of time.

Then comes the conversion. Live training and on-demand training are not the same thing. Recording the live session is just the start. I have to edit it.

I cut out the silences—those moments when I ask a discussion question and no one responds right away. I remove any identifying information from participants who did respond. I record myself afterward, summarizing what was discussed and highlighting key points that on-demand participants would miss. I do the same thing for the Q&A section, protecting participant identities while preserving the value of what was shared.

All of this editing is painstaking.

Then there are the quizzes. NBCC requires about four questions per hour, so each session gets six questions. I enjoy creating these, honestly. But I have to go back through my slides and the recording, identify what’s testable, and write multiple-choice and true/false questions that actually reflect the content.

And the reference list. When I create the training, I use citations throughout—like I would in a research article. But converting those citations into an actual reference list? That requires going back through everything I researched, confirming which sources I actually used versus which ones I just reviewed for background. It’s tedious, necessary, and takes time.

The Time Break Down

Here is a rough break down… for each session:

• Preparation: 4 hours (plus the ongoing work of developing the series)

• The actual training: 1.5 hours

• Issuing certificates for live participants: 5 minutes per participant (manually checking attendance, matching it to evaluations, creating individual certificates in Google Slides)

• Creating the reference list: Anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on complexity

• Creating the quizzes: 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how detailed I want to be

That’s roughly 6-9 hours of work per 90-minute session. And I’m doing seven of them in one week.

But wait, there’s more!

The Marketing Marathon

I started advertising this training series in January or February. That’s 4-5 months of continual marketing before the training even happens.

Determining training topics. Writing descriptions. Developing learning objectives. Constructing landing pages. Creating graphics (thank goodness for my administrative assistant). Posting on social media. Writing emails. Sharing in various Facebook groups. Building awareness. Keeping it visible. Keeping it top-of-mind.

This isn’t something I do once. It’s something I do consistently, week after week, for months.

The Customer Service Sprint

Then there’s everything else.

Answering questions about registration. Making sure people are signed up for the right version (live or on-demand). Confirming that someone who wanted to attend live can shift to on-demand if life happens. Technical support. Admin reminders during live sessions. Evaluation reminders. Making sure people know how to access their certificates.

My administrative assistant handles a lot of this during the live week—checking emails, monitoring the chat, sending reminders. But the infrastructure, the problem-solving, the coordination? That’s all part of the work.

Why I Keep Doing It

Despite all of this—the preparation, the editing, the invisible hours, the marketing marathon, the customer service—I keep doing it.

Because when I’m in front of live participants, discussing supervision with clinicians who are hungry to learn, who are asking questions, who are taking notes because this information matters to them… That’s when I remember why.

I started this series because I remembered what it was like to become a supervisor without good guidance. I wanted to offer what I wish I’d had. And every year, the feedback tells me I’m doing that.

The participants say thank you. They say they learned things they’ll use immediately. They say it was worth their time and their investment.

That matters to me more than the hours.

The Cost (And the Consideration)

But I’d be lying if I said the work doesn’t take a toll.

My voice is tired by the end of the week. My brain is tired. The administrative load is real. The hours add up in ways that aren’t sustainable indefinitely.

So I’m considering something for next year: splitting the series over a month or two weeks instead of one.

This would spread out the presenting work. It would give my voice and brain a break. It would distribute the administrative tasks more evenly. It might actually make the whole thing feel less overwhelming.

But I haven’t decided yet. Because part of me loves the intensity of doing it all in one week. Part of me knows that the solidarity of a cohort learning together over one concentrated week creates something special.

If You’re Considering Something Similar

If you’re a CE provider thinking about creating a training series, or if you’re running one and feeling like the work is endless, you’re not wrong. It is endless.

But it doesn’t have to feel impossible.

I’ve learned a lot about how to structure this work, how to automate what can be automated, how to protect my energy while delivering excellence. I’ve learned what’s worth the time and what can be streamlined.

If you’re building a training series, or if you’re looking at the work required and feeling overwhelmed, I can help. I offer support for CE providers who are creating training programs, managing the behind-the-scenes logistics, and trying to figure out how to make it sustainable.

Because here’s what I know: the work is real. And it’s worth doing well. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Reach out if you want to talk about what you’re building. Or if you want to ask questions about how I do this. I’m here for it.

Message me

For now, I’m going to rest my voice and prepare to do it all over again next year.

Because despite everything, I love this work.

I find myself wondering: How did people react to my training? What kind of feedback are they giving me? What did I do wrong?

Here’s the thing: I have no real reason to be this anxious. On the whole, my survey results are really high. I consistently get close to four or five stars (out of five) on everything—every training, every area that can be evaluated. Occasionally I get threes, which are a little disheartening. But threes are right in the middle. They’re not the worst.

It’s the ones and twos that really get to me.

The Reality Check I Needed

I’ve only ever had a handful of ratings below three. Given that I’ve delivered hours and hours of trainings to hundreds of people, a few low ratings shouldn’t feel like a failure.

But… they do.

When I get a one or two, I reach out to that person and ask if they could provide comments about what would have made the training better. I’ve never received a response. But I do occasionally get open-ended feedback from people noting mismatches between what they expected and what they got.

Sometimes their feedback is spot on. I could have better explained what was in the training or better met the objectives I set. That feedback helps me improve how I write my descriptions and learning objectives and create my content.

Sometimes, though, it feels like they didn’t read the descriptions or learning objectives. Or maybe they had unrealistic expectations—like wanting me to cover copyrighted or trademarked material in detail, which I have no right to present.

The Patterns I’ve Found

I’ve noticed something interesting about the feedback I receive.

The harsher evaluations tend to come from two groups: people who are newer to the field (less than a year or two) and people who have been in the field for a very long time (over 10 or 20 years).

The newer professionals, I think, are coming straight out of their master’s or doctoral coursework. They’re expecting the level of detail and in-depth coverage they got in those hour-and-a-half or three-hour long class sessions. They don’t realize that an hour-long training with me isn’t going to replicate that.

And then there’s feedback on interactions between me and participants and between participants. Some people give feedback that they want more interactive elements—breakout sessions, group activities. Others note that there’s too much engagement, or they didn’t like how I facilitated interaction.

You cannot make everyone happy all the time. I’ve accepted that. But it took me a while.

What NBCC Says About Evaluations

Here’s something I recently learned that changed how I think about this:

While NBCC requires us as CE providers to offer evaluations, we have flexibility on if we require participants to complete them to get their certificates.

Other organizations say the same thing. The APA specifically notes that the option to give feedback is offered, but never required.

Now, NBCC does have requirements for evaluations—you need to ask about different aspects of the training, include Likert scale questions, and provide at least one space for free-written responses. But completion? That can be optional. (NBCC has sample evaluations in their CE Provider Toolbox.)

My Mindset Shift

A few years ago, I attended a training where the presenter was speaking from their lived expertise. What really stuck with me was what they said about how we give feedback to each other as professionals.

They emphasized that we should be very careful about how we complete evaluations for our peers.

Their point wasn’t to give everyone fives or never offer constructive feedback. It was about fairness. Being kind. Remembering that the people we’re evaluating are our colleagues.

That training changed me.

In one of my prior posts, I talked about being a strict grader as a professor. I realized that strictness also showed up in how I filled out evaluations for other professionals and trainings I took. I was nitpicky. Focused on what could have been better.

After that training, I started evaluating differently. If a training went well and there were no major issues, I’d give fives across the board. I’d also offer constructive feedback and point out aspects I really enjoyed. Because we don’t often get that. We usually only get feedback on what someone else would have done differently, what they wish had been different.

We rarely get told what went well.

Using Feedback to Improve

Now that I understand evaluations better—and now that I know they can be optional—I’m also using feedback differently.

When someone points out a mismatch between their expectations and what they got, I ask myself: Where and why did the mismatch happen? Both are valuable information. If it’s a pattern, I improve my descriptions and learning objectives. If it’s one person, I let it go.

NBCC actually requires us to make changes based on evaluation feedback. This is part of the accreditation process. So evaluations aren’t just about feelings—they’re data. They’re accountability.

That changes how I view them. They’re not personal attacks. They’re information.

The Experiment

Now that I know evaluations don’t have to be required, and given that I’m going to stop requiring passing grades on my assessments, I’m going to make evaluations optional for my on-demand trainings.

I recognize that this might mean I get less feedback. It might mean I only get constructive feedback. But I want to see what happens. How does this change my anxiety around reading responses? How does it change what feedback I receive? How does it change my ability to improve my trainings?

I’m giving it a chance.

If You’re In This Too

If you’re a CE provider feeling anxious about evaluations—either creating them, reading them, or making changes based on them—you’re not alone.

If you’re wondering how to structure evaluations that meet NBCC’s requirements while being fair to your participants, I can help with that.

If you’re working to improve your training based on evaluation feedback and feeling a bit lost about where to start, reach out. That’s something I support providers with.

For now, I’ll keep checking my evaluations monthly. I’ll keep sweating a little. And I’ll keep reminding myself that feedback—even the hard-to-read feedback—is an opportunity to get better.

I know I don’t have to be perfect. But the people taking my trainings deserve my best effort.

Photo description: an adult with long hair and glasses anxiously bites on a pencil while staring at a laptop screen

Facebook continues to be my greatest source of advertising as a CE provider. It’s also the biggest pain in my ass.

The Process

My administrative assistant and I have a system. I come up with ideas for graphics each week—sometimes fun and friendly, sometimes educational—designed to highlight some aspect of my services. She takes those ideas and creates the graphic.

Then I write captions. I try to make them educational with sprinkles of humor because these posts are going to be shared in various therapist groups on Facebook. I also need punchy one or two-line versions for when I post directly in groups.

I have a whole spreadsheet of all the Facebook groups I’m part of that allow marketing on Mondays (and other days). It’s basically a massive checklist for the week.

The Landscape

Of course, it’s not as simple as that.

Some groups let you post directly in the group on Marketing Monday. Other groups require you to comment on their main marketing thread. Some group administrators post their threads on Marketing Monday, and other group administrators post them randomly throughout the week.

This inconsistency is frustrating to say the least.

Then there’s the approval situation. Many groups review every single post. My posts are often approved because I’m posting on the correct day, in the correct place, with the correct information.

But there have been times where my posts have sat in pending status for days. Oh yeah, and there are the times they’ve been denied.

The Rejection

One example was super hurtful.

I submitted a post for approval and received a rejection with feedback. The administrator wrote that my post was inappropriate for the group and that I brought nothing of value to the group.

That one comment changed how I think, feel, and approach Marketing Monday.

Ever since then, I’ve been very particular about what my posts look like, what they say, and when I post them. I truly don’t believe what they said was correct—I’ve talked to colleagues who disagree, noting that I do bring value to the groups I’m part of. But it has definitely made me hesitant. It made me a bit shy about posting in some of the groups.

One rejection from one administrator, and suddenly I’m second-guessing myself every. Single. Post.

The Technical Nightmare

And then there’s the spam filter problem.

When an admin creates their own main post on Marketing Monday and requires the rest of us to comment under it to promote our services, Facebook often marks comments with links as spam. You can imagine the chaos: an admin receives 50, 100, or more comments—all marked as spam—and has to manually approve each one.

Here’s the kicker: Facebook doesn’t send administrators notifications that comments have been marked as spam. So pending comments sit in limbo. They often never get approved. They disappear into what I call “the eternal hell of pending.”

I’ve had to figure out how to comment on these posts without getting marked as spam. It’s a skill I shouldn’t have to develop, but here we are.

The Anxiety

Marketing Mondays bring their own level of anxiety.

When I’m able to post, there’s stress. When I’m not able to post—when a group hasn’t set up their thread, or my comments are stuck pending—there’s a different kind of anxiety. A worse kind.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that skipping a Marketing Monday feels like skipping a paycheck.

When I consider not posting, I mentally weigh the repercussions. How much money will I potentially lose that day? That week? I don’t make a whole lot as it is. One day or week of no sales is a huge hit to my bottom line. The financial pressure is real, and it’s tied directly to whether I show up and do the work on Mondays.

There’s always a bump in activity at the beginning of the week—I’ve attributed it to Marketing Monday and my newsletter. But when there’s a Monday where I even consider skipping it, that’s when the real anxiety hits.

The Ripple Effect

Marketing Monday doesn’t end on Monday.

I often use what I post on Marketing Monday to create an email for my newsletter followers on Tuesday. These are clinicians who have already purchased from me or are interested in learning more. Tuesday has also become a very important marketing day.

I’ve tried different email formats—short and punchy, longer and educational. I try to vary it so I’m not repeating the same thing week after week.

But it all starts with Monday.

Why I Keep Showing Up

Most of my marketing centers around Marketing Monday, posting in Facebook groups, and commenting in those groups. That’s where I’ve found most mental health clinicians are spending their time. That’s where they’re getting support, sharing resources, making connections they couldn’t make elsewhere. (Myself included. Some of my best colleagues are from FB groups!)

Marketing Monday is the bane of my existence. And it’s also the thing that keeps my business afloat.

I recognize how important it is. So despite the anxiety, the rejections, the spam filters, the pending comments, the inconsistent group rules, and the constant pressure… I keep showing up. I show up with whatever witty graphic and caption we’ve created that particular week. I show up even when it exhausts me.

Because the alternative—not showing up—costs me more than the stress of showing up does.

If You’re In This Too

If you’re a small CE provider navigating Marketing Monday, you understand this exhaustion. You understand the paradox of needing something you hate.

If you have ideas about marketing strategies or want support making your current marketing strategies more robust, reach out. Let me know. And if you’d like to spare me the stress of another Marketing Monday, consider buying me a book (or three 📚).

Because every Monday after this one, I’ll be back. Graphic downloaded. Caption written. Spreadsheet open.

That’s the exhausting reality of Marketing Monday.

Photo description: a common tern screaming into the void, much like me in this article

Not having to grade as intensely was a draw for me in becoming a CE provider. I still enjoy the process of creating assessment questions, and I can do so without having to grade each individual participant’s answers. NBCC makes it even easier because I do not have to set a passing grade at all.

Assessments

A few weeks ago I wrote about the ACEP Quarterly, which is a quarterly newsletter for NBCC ACEPs, Approved Continuing Education Providers. One key takeaway from reading through the past Quarterlies is about assessments: as an ACEP I cannot withhold a CE certificate from a participant because they did not pass the assessment.

Assessments are like quizzes for continuing education, and each accrediting body (e.g., NBCC, APA, ASWB) has different requirements. Last week I did a live Ask Me Anything about my research on assessment requirements, and this week I want to share some of what I learned—including this quick reference table.

The similarities

The three accrediting bodies that I refer to in this article, the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the Association for Social Work Boards (ASWB) define assessments similarly: a written test prepared by someone with an advanced degree in a mental health field.

The overarching reasons for assessments are (1) to certify that a participant completed a program and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness and/or quality of the program. This is especially true for home study or on-demand programs for which an assessment is a requirement for all three bodies. For both the APA and ASWB, any program not presented in person, whether live or on demand, requires an assessment of learning.

All three bodies recommend using multiple choice and true/false questions. APA and ASWB also allow for essay questions if they come with grading rubrics. And APA notes assessments can be created in a “variety of ways, including post-tests,” so there is room for APA CE providers to be creative as long as it meets those standards. And ASWB CE providers can alternatively use discussion questions embedded within interactive, synchronous (live) distance learning courses.

The differences

While all three accrediting bodies recommend using multiple choice and true/false questions, APA and ASWB note that no more than 50% of questions can be true/false. NBCC does not state a specific percentage; however, they do note that only multiple choice and true/false questions can be used—no essay style questions.

The number of questions is also different for each accrediting body. NBCC requires the least (about 4 per credit hour). APA requires between 6 and 8 per credit hour. And ASWB requires 10 for the first CE hour and five more questions for each additional credit hour.

Passing grades vary between the three. APA is the most specific noting that a passing score for programs with less than 10 questions is 70%, and for programs with greater than 10 questions it is 75%. ASWB is unclear on what is considered a passing score, and NBCC does not require a passing score.

In fact, NBCC notes that no-fail assessments are allowed and that otherwise unlimited retakes must be allowed because a participant cannot be denied a CE certificate just because they did not pass the assessment. Alternatively no more than 3 attempts are allowed for APA assessments. ASWB also does not explain how many attempts are allowed yet indicates that a retest policy is required. They are unclear about if a CE certificate can be issued with a failing grade simply stating that assessments must be “administered to each participant wishing to receive CE credit.” If you’re an ASWB CE provider or applying to become one, contact them directly for clarification on this point.

If you are an approved CE provider for more than one of these accrediting bodies, this could get tricky and confusing. In my recent AMA I shared a few considerations if you are in this situation, such as having participants identify which CEs they need and using an assessment specific to that accreditation. I also gave a specific example of a provider who is accredited with all three and how they get around these requirements by providing the assessment questions ahead of time.

Designing your assessment

Your program learning objectives create a roadmap for your assessment questions. If your learning objective is to recall three trauma-informed counseling approaches, your assessment question(s) would let participants demonstrate that recall. You could have one question that identifies all three approaches or three questions with one identifying each approach.

For multiple choice and true/false questions, avoid using answers that can be easily guessed without reviewing the material. For essay style questions, avoid anything subjective or opinion-based. This could include reflection prompts (e.g., Which approach resonated with you the most and why?) or open-ended written responses that could not be graded using a rubric.

Using a learning management system (LMS) or other automated system, like Google Forms, makes the grading process simple and quick. My LMS provides a certificate once the participant has passed the assessment, so my input is little to nothing for most participants.

Wrap up

Grading was the thing that made academia miserable for me. With CE work, I still create assessments, but I’m not buried under stacks of papers or spending weekends grading. I get to design the questions, set them up to run automatically, and move on with my work.

That’s one of the reasons I love being a CE provider so much.

If you’re designing assessments for the first time, or if you want to refine what you already have, I can help. Reach out for a one-on-one consultation, or let me know if you’d like me to do a deeper dive into assessment creation.

Photo description: a set of hands typing on the keyboard of a silver laptop with a blank word document open on the screen

This week I will be writing more about assessments and everything I have learned from my research for this AMA. Make sure you are subscribed here to get that notification and the links for future AMAs. (Plus an exciting announcement I’ll be making this month!)

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If you leave a comment here or on the YouTube video, I will reply! If you have questions or topic suggestions for upcoming AMA’s, leave them here or on this form: https://forms.gle/CZLTkkrdz4sFBFbeA

If this AMA has saved you a headache, a bad investment, or a very long conversation with NBCC... this is your chance to buy me a book: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing

Want to take the next step? Check out how I support clinicians who are becoming or are already a CE provider: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing/extras

My Grammy—who is 94 and will probably outlive all of us—was telling me some stories from when I was younger. They’re stories I’ve heard before, but I love hearing about myself as a kid. One of the stories from this week was regarding the day that I was born. If you’re interested in learning about that, stick around for my memoir.

The other story was one that I hear every so often, mostly around my birthday. I was probably four or five-years-old and celebrating with a group of similarly aged friends. As I went to blow out my candles, everyone was telling me how best to do it. In the midst of these encouragements and mandates, my friend said “Let her go. She’s a professional!”

I was a professional candle-blower-outer. And that sentiment applies to everything I do.

When I learn how to do something new, I work at it with the effort needed to become the best at doing it. I’m not aiming for perfection really, just aiming to do my best and land somewhere amongst the best doers of the thing.

Almost ten years ago was the first time I presented for CE credits. I had done workshops, presentations, and trainings before that August conference, but this was the first one where I had to meet the CE standards of the organizers.

I had no slides. All I had were a handful of flashcards.

It was me with a microphone in one hand, my flashcards in the other, and a blank wall behind me.

I loved it.

And I haven’t stopped since. But I have started using slides and incorporating other aspects into my trainings, with the one exception being my YouTube lives.

I was a professional at four years old. And in many ways, I still am. I approach my work—and my life—with the kind of focus that comes from caring deeply about doing it well and fully.

And as I work on my memoir, I’m learning that this thread has run through my whole life: celebrating birthdays because life is short, working hard at things I care about, inviting and encouraging people to do their best alongside me.

So on my birthday this year, I’m grateful for my Grammy reminding me of who I’ve always been. A professional. At blowing out candles. At showing up. At the work that matters.

Photo description: Little me, probably at three years old. Towheaded with gentle curls around my face. Smiling with a couple of teeth showing. Professional background in grey with flecks of white and pink. I am leaning against a grey-blue pillow or blanket. I have on a dark blue top with little pink flowers and a white bib.

If you want to help me celebrate another year… this is your chance to buy me a book (or three 📚).

I’ve been reading through all six editions from October 2024 through March 2026, and here’s what I discovered: This is a great a window into what NBCC is noticing in audits, what’s going wrong, and what they want ACEPs to prioritize.

There are patterns and if we pay attention we might realize that NBCC is essentially telling us what keeps tripping up ACEPs. They’re giving us a roadmap to avoid problems. And most of us might not even be reading it.

If you’re an ACEP or thinking about becoming one, this is worth your time.

The #1 Audit Deficiency

Advertising is a bigger deal than you think

NBCC said it directly: One of the most common ACEP audit deficiencies is incomplete and inaccurate advertising. They flagged this in the March 2025 edition, and then spent two more editions (June and September 2025) on explaining exactly how to fix it.

If NBCC is dedicating that much time to the topic of advertising, it means a lot of ACEPs are getting it wrong.

What exactly did NBCC say?

ACEPs are:

• Inaccurately stating NBCC credit hours (and misrepresenting them as CE units or CEUs—they’re not the same)

• Not clearly marking programs that DO NOT qualify for NBCC credit

• Forgetting to use the exact ACEP approval statement NBCC requires

• Including other confusing statements regarding ACEP status or NBCC approval

• Not prominently displaying their ACEP name

These seem like small details. Yet from an audit perspective, they’re red flags.

Why it matters:

Mental health professionals need clear information to make informed decisions about registering. If your ad is vague or contradictory, that’s a problem for participants now and your audit later.

What NBCC wants you to do:

• Use clear, brief, accurate language

• Include all information from Policy Section C.15

• Use your exact approval statement (provided by NBCC when you are approved)

• Clearly identify which programs come with NBCC credit and which don’t

• Include your exact ACEP name on all materials

If You’re Offering (or Thinking About) On-Demand Programming

Home study programs are evolving and NBCC is paying attention

NBCC devoted two entire editions (December 2025 and March 2026) to home study delivery format. This indicates that it’s an increasingly common delivery method and an area where ACEPs need guidance.

What counts as home study?

Text-based materials, on-demand webinars, or audio/visual materials that include an assessment showing the participant completed the program.

The big focus: Assessment instruments

NBCC’s March 2026 edition clarified important aspects of assessments. Assessment instruments are:

• Different than participant evaluations, which show the participants’ satisfaction with a program

• Not meant to show proficiency, like licensure examinations do

• Just there to verify completion; they simply evaluate the participant’s knowledge of the program material

And here’s what surprised me: “ACEPs may not withhold certificates of completion if a participant does not pass the assessment.“ Instead, ACEPs can use “no-fail” assessments or allow retakes. The point isn’t to gatekeep the certificate; it’s to ensure someone actually completed the content.

What ACEPs keep missing:

• Not updating home study programs regularly (content no longer reflects current research)

• Not clearly indicating when home study programs have been revised

• Not using citations through the program materials

• Not including a reference list (sources that accurately support the content)

• Not testing programs for technical glitches (before and after launch)

• Not clearly advertising what’s new or revised

What NBCC wants:

• Regular review and updates (annually could be a good timeline to follow)

• Current references and citations

• Clear advertisement of updates and revision dates

• Objective assessments (e.g., multiple choice, true/false) that match the credit hours

• Timely issuance of certificates of completion

• A fully functional platform (test it yourself first)

The Admin Basics that Keep Causing Issues

It’s the boring stuff that matters for your status

NBCC covered administrative topics in October 2024 and again in March 2025. Their message is consistent: Maintaining ACEP status requires attention to operational details.

The common slip-ups:

• Not notifying NBCC of contact information changes within 30 days

• Missing emails because they went to spam or got blocked by firewalls

• Not developing an organized record retention system (and then scrambling during an audit)

• Losing track of certificates and participant records

These aren’t just administrative oversights. They’re policy violations and can add up. Don’t them be the reason why you lose ACEP status or face audit complications.

What NBCC wants:

• Notify of NBCC of key changes promptly (Policy Section J.3)

• Develop a sustainable record retention process before you need it (Policy Section C.10 has the full list of what to keep)

• Keep copies of certificates for every program, live and on demand

• Review participant evaluations and use the data to improve future programs

• Contact NBCC if you’re not getting annual maintenance communications

The Big Picture

Why NBCC created their newsletter

Bottom line: NBCC isn’t just enforcing rules. They’re trying to help ACEPs succeed.

The newsletter keeps saying: “We’re committed to supporting excellence in ACEP CE programming.”

And I think they mean it. They publish these bulletins, create tip sheets, maintain the CE Toolbox, and send reminders because they want ACEPs to get it right.

But here’s the thing: It only works if you’re reading it.

How to Stay in the Loop

Getting access to the ACEP Quarterly

The ACEP Quarterly is sent electronically to the ACEP administrator email address on file with NBCC.

If you’re not getting it:

• Check your spam folder

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You can also access past editions and register an email for the newsletter on their website.

My recommendations:

Subscribe (or make sure you’re subscribed). Read each edition when it arrives. Skim the policy highlights. Note the strategies section. And when something doesn’t make sense, reach out to NBCC—that’s what they’re there for.

This quarterly bulletin is NBCC essentially telling you what they’re seeing in audits and what they want to prevent. It’s free, it’s specific, and it’s designed for you.

If you’re navigating ACEP requirements and want personalized guidance on any of these areas, I offer 1:1 consultations for CE providers.

If my writing has saved you from hours of newsletter review or a conversation with NBCC… this is your chance to buy me a book (or three 📚).

Next week

Now that you have reviewed the NBCC newsletter recommendations, get ready to create your learning assessment by joining me for next week’s AMA where I will be talking about the key requirements of questions and how to score them.

On March 31, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy violates the First Amendment as applied to “talk therapy.” Conversations happening in our professional spaces are about what this means for our profession as a whole, specifically as licensed mental health providers. But have you also wondered what this means for CE providers? Does the free speech protection apply to us too?

Can CE providers now present trainings in support of conversion therapy?

The short answer is no, and the reasons for that vary by CE accrediting body (e.g., NBCC, APA, ASWB).

Understanding the Supreme Court Ruling

What the Court Actually Decided

The Supreme Court’s ruling was narrow and specific. Justice Gorsuch wrote that Colorado’s ban, as applied to a licensed therapist engaged in “talk therapy,” regulates “speech based on viewpoint” and therefore must meet strict scrutiny—a legal term meaning a high standard regarding fundamental rights, such as the First Amendment in this case.

So what does this mean? The Court determined that a state can’t ban speech (talking) just because of the viewpoint being expressed. However, the Court did not say:

• Conversion therapy is effective and safe

• States can’t regulate medical professionals’ conduct

• Professional standards no longer apply

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the lone dissenter, made a cautionary statement that the other justices’ opinion “could be ushering in an era of unprofessional and unsafe medical care administered by effectively unsupervised healthcare providers.” This dissent underscores why professional standards—not just legal protection—matter for CE providers.

The ruling creates a First Amendment protection for the speech involved in conversion therapy. Yet CE provider accrediting bodies are clear about their professional ethics and evidence-based practice requirements.

Your accrediting body (NBCC, APA, ASWB, etc.) has standards for what content qualifies for CE credit. Those standards exist independent of the Supreme Court ruling.

Professional Standards Trump Free Speech

Let’s explore these major CE accrediting bodies and what their standards say related to conversion therapy.

National Board for Certified Counselors

NBCC has a specific policy: Program content “cannot present or include information promoting Sexual Orientation Change Efforts as a therapeutic method” (Policy E.4).

This is an explicit prohibition. If an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP) presents content promoting conversion therapy, their program will not qualify for NBCC credit, the program (and possibly the ACEP) would be subject to an audit, and they may be at risk of losing their CE approval status. If a Single Program contains content promoting conversion therapy, that program will also not qualify for NBCC credit.

American Psychological Association

APA doesn’t have a specific “don’t present on conversion therapy” rule. Instead, they require that CE providers only present on methods that have “overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature” (Standard D.1.1).

Conversion therapy does not meet this standard. In their March 2026 response to the Supreme Court ruling, APA re-emphasized: “Our ethical standards are unchanged. Psychologists should continue to provide evidence-based care and avoid practices known to cause harm.”

Association of Social Work Boards

ASWB requires that Approved Continuing Education (ACE) providers “adhere to the social work profession’s values and codes of ethics.”

The National Association for Social Work (NASW)’s Code of Ethics prioritizes “client well-being” and “the fight against oppression and discrimination.” NASW was explicit in their March 2026 news release: “Conversion therapy is not an ethical or evidence-based practice—it is harmful and damaging… [and] should have no place in social work.”

The ethical standards were already in place. The Supreme Court ruling changes nothing.

First Amendment Rights vs. Professional Standards

The Supreme Court ruling protects an individual therapist’s First Amendment right to engage in “talk therapy” without state criminal prosecution (pending lower courts’ review under strict scrutiny).

Your accrediting body’s standards protect the integrity of continuing education. They ensure that CE credit isn’t awarded for content that contradicts professional ethics and evidence.

These are two separate things.

A therapist might have First Amendment protection for their speech in their private practice. But as a CE provider, you’re operating in a regulated professional space where additional standards apply. Your accrediting body can decline to award CE credit for content that violates its policies and professional ethics—regardless of the Supreme Court’s free speech ruling.

This could be compared to the difference between a therapist’s right to practice their profession and a university’s right to maintain academic standards for degree credit.

What’s Still Allowed

It’s important to be clear: You can present on conversion therapy in educational ways that do not promote it. This could include trainings on research results showing harm and ineffectiveness, trauma-informed practices when supporting clients who have experienced conversion therapy, the history of conversion therapy and why there are bans in place, or evidence-based approaches for supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Be sure your presentations are:

• Grounded in evidence

• Aligned with professional ethics

• Supportive of vulnerable populations

These programs would qualify for CE credit under NBCC, APA, ASWB standards.

Closing and What This Means for You

Now that we’ve clarified the standards, let’s look at what you should do next.

If you’re uncertain about whether content meets your accrediting body’s standards, check directly:

• NBCC: See Policy E.4

• APA: Check Standard D.1.1 and their recent response

• ASWB: Review the ACE handbook, the NASW Code of Ethics and recent statement

These standards don’t disappear because of a First Amendment ruling about individual therapists’ speech.

At the end of the day, the ruling is about individual therapists’ First Amendment rights. Your job as a CE provider is different: it’s to ensure that the trainings you offer reflect evidence-based practice and align with the values of the profession. Your professional standards remain in place as your guardrails.

If you’re uncertain about where your content stands, don’t guess. Check your accrediting body’s standards. And if you want to work through how this affects your CE work, I’m happy to help.

Image description: Activists holding signs reading ‘End Trans Torture’ and ‘Protect Trans Youth’ at a demonstration, with a trans flag visible in the background and a person wearing a rainbow-striped sweater in the foreground.

You might be feeling overwhelmed just considering six MORE policies. I’m breaking down the key essentials of each one with examples, so you don’t have to create these from scratch.

Attendance

Policy Sections I.1, I.2, and I.4

One of the main reasons we become CE providers is so we can offer CEs that count toward clinicians’ licensure requirements. My board requires that the majority of our CEs are issued by providers approved by four national organizations. NBCC is one of those organizations, which is why getting our attendance verification right matters.

When we issue NBCC CE hours for live programs, the attendance of participants “must be verified by an accurate, verifiable method” (I.2). NBCC also “reserves the exclusive authority and discretion to” audit our attendance verifications and potentially adjust certificates that have already been issued. If our records are audited and certificates are adjusted, our inconsistencies may affect the license renewals of our participants.

I’ve written before about attendance confirmation methods. What I want to emphasize today is telling participants upfront about your methods and getting their acknowledgement. After seeing another provider’s attendance policy, I realized I needed to tighten mine and require explicit acknowledgement.

When we’re hosting a live program through a virtual meeting platform (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet), using built-in attendance tracking is a great option but is not enough. If your attendance records don't match your certificates, NBCC will flag it during an audit. When a clinician logs in with different Google emails, their mobile device shows a generic name, or they inadvertently use their child’s Zoom account, accurate tracking will be difficult and potentially impossible.

That is why I require that attendees also complete a Google Form at the beginning of live programs to indicate the name and email that they registered with. If there are many attendees (say more than 10), I might also require that they sign out with the Google Form so I’m not having to do as much confirming with the built-in attendance tracking.

The use of the Google Form is a part of my attendance policy for live programs. I include an acknowledgement statement on the landing pages so participants can review the attendance policy before they join.

Another aspect of your attendance policy to make clear upfront is if you offer partial CE credit or not. If you do, it can make your live programs more accessible. However, consider the additional work: you’ll need to confirm attendance AND calculate partial credit accordingly.

Takeaways:

• Ensure attendance is taken in a way that is accurate and easy for you to calculate

• Determine if you will offer partial credit

• Make your attendance policy easy to understand and available to potential participants

Record Keeping and Retention

Policy Section C.10

As NBCC CE providers—both Single Program and ACEP—we are required to maintain our records “in a secure manner” (C.10) for at least five years. NBCC has a list of seven specific record types they can request. If you are audited for your records, would you be able to provide them in a “complete, accurate, and timely manner”?

I teach clinicians about secure record-keeping with clients. I apply that same rigor to my CE records. I store records in two places:

• Learning management system

• Google Drive

This dual-location approach means if one system fails, such as a platform goes down or a hard drive corrupts, I have backup.

If you decide to keep only paper copies of your CE records or if you are not using a cloud storage, then you will want to think about how you can ensure your records are backed up if something happens to your first copy.

For paper copies use a water- and fire-proof cabinet with a lock. For locally stored electronic records, have an external hard drive with copies of files. To be extra safe, put the external hard drive inside of a locked water- and fire-proof location.

The biggest mistake: having no record-keeping procedure at all. The second: keeping records but not securely.

Takeaways:

• Ensure that you are recording everything listed in Policy C.10

• Secure record keeping means ensuring records will not be destroyed and participant information is kept confidential

Confidentiality Breaches

Policy Section C.11

Record retention and confidentiality are inseparable. My last post covered the required confidentiality policy. But what if a breach happens anyway? These breaches can be as simple as sending an email to the wrong recipient or as serious as having your storage accessed by hackers.

Cyber hacks are on the rise, and addressing one is expensive and time-consuming. Having a plan in place will make dealing with a breach much smoother. If information is exposed you will need to notify everyone affected, document the process, and take steps to prevent it from happening again.

Takeaways:

• Having a confidentiality policy in place and taking extra precautions to secure your records will help prevent breaches

• Being prepared for a confidentiality breach will ensure that you can address one quickly, professionally, and thoroughly

Disclosure or Use of Client Information in a CE Program

Policy Section D.6

As mental health clinicians, we’re held to high confidentiality standards. As NBCC CE providers our program content “must be consistent with the NBCC Code of Ethics” (D.6). This includes when presenters or participants disclose client information during programs. Per the NBCC Code of Ethics, client information can only be disclosed when appropriate informed consent has been obtained specifically for use in CE programs. This includes when client cases are used as case examples, for role plays, or for any related discussion.

I’ve witnessed CE providers share client examples in trainings and wondered: Is this with consent? Is it deidentified enough? How specific is too specific? If a client was attending this presentation, would they recognize themself? These questions matter because the line between “generalized example” and “identifiable case” isn’t always clear.

When I present instead of using specific client stories or experiences, I speak generally. I say things like:

• “Some clients may appreciate this technique”

• “Many of the clients I have worked with over the years have experienced this level of symptoms”

This approach lets me draw on real experience without risking:

• Confidentiality violations

• Questions about consent

• Accidentally identifying someone

Takeaways:

• Only use identifying client details with explicit consent

• A better approach would be to generalize your examples

Enduring Materials

Policy Sections D.5 and J.6(b)

Materials for all CE programs “must reflect current information, research, and professional knowledge” (D.5). Home Study (on demand) programs’ materials need special attention because they are often recorded once and left as-is. However, the materials cannot be considered a “set it and forget it” situation.

How do you ensure that your materials, especially for on demand programs, continue to be current and relevant? Creating a system for deciding when content needs refreshing, or when it’s outdated enough to retire, will set you up to meet this NBCC requirement. You don’t need to review everything—just identify the most time-sensitive topics (research, clinical best practices, legal changes).

For my home study programs, I review the materials 1-2 times per year. I check to see if the references I am using are still the most up-to-date, including if more recent research has information that contradicts what is in my materials. If my materials are audio or video recorded, I will retire the entire program until the materials can be updated and I can release an updated version.

Takeaways:

• Determine how often you will check your materials and set a calendar reminder

• If you learn of contradictory information, update your materials as soon as possible and retire entire programs if necessary

ADA Accommodations

Policy Sections C.5 and C.6

I’ve written extensively about building accessibility into your CE programs and how to accommodate your own needs. How you address ADA accommodations as a formal policy falls under that umbrella. In practice, this means: (1) participants with disabilities can access your programs, (2) you have a clear process for accommodation requests (C.5), and (3) you don't discriminate based on disability (C.6).

Takeaways:

• Make your procedure(s) for requesting and accessing accommodations clear and easy to follow for potential participants

• Consider getting feedback from colleagues on how you can better eliminate obstacles for disabled participants and avoid potential discrimination

Closing

These six policies might feel like a checklist, but they’re actually setting up your infrastructure to protect:

• Your business (audit-ready, documented)

• Your participants (their information, their access, their rights)

• Your peace of mind (you know what to do if something goes wrong)

Start with Attendance and Record Retention as those will set you up for a successful audit process. The other policies can be created and adjusted as you build your systems.

Questions for you:

• Which of these policies do you already have in place?

• Which one feels most confusing or overwhelming?

• Is there another NBCC requirement you’d like me to cover?

If my writing has saved you from hours of policy-writing panic or a conversation with NBCC… this is your chance to buy me a book (or three 📚).

Want direct support? I also offer 1:1 consultations for CE providers navigating NBCC requirements.

​​

If you leave a comment on the YouTube video, I will reply! If you have questions or topic suggestions for upcoming AMA’s, leave them here or on this form: https://forms.gle/CZLTkkrdz4sFBFbeA

If this AMA has saved you a headache, a bad investment, or a very long conversation with NBCC... this is your chance to buy me a book: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing

Want to take the next step? Check out how I support clinicians who are becoming or are already a CE provider: https://buymeacoffee.com/ccresourcing/extras

Policies for Program Complaints and Disputes and Fees, Refunds, and Cancellation should be published and available for potential and current program participants to review. And a policy for Confidentiality of Participant Information needs to be in place. Let’s go over considerations when creating your policies, including how to make them as simple to implement as possible.

Program Complaints and Disputes

Application language for the requirement: “The provider maintains a published policy concerning the review and resolution of program participant complaints and disputes related to provider programs.”

The hope is that you will never have a complaint or dispute. The reality is that you will have at least one in your time as a CE provider. And that's okay; these are manageable if you have a clear process.

Some complaint or dispute scenarios are:

• A participant could not access a live training due to a broken link

• A participant received a certificate with incorrect information

• A participant was unhappy with the quality of a program

• A participant felt a presenter had a conflict of interest

Your policy does not need to be lengthy or detailed. The example policy provided by NBCC in their Provider Toolbox is two sentences long. Consider (1) how participants should reach out to you in the event they have a complaint or dispute and (2) how you will respond.

Having a complaint or dispute submitted in writing, such as via email, could be helpful for you as the CE provider to review the complaint. You could also offer to accept complaints via phone call or text to make the process more accessible for participants. This acknowledges that not everyone communicates best in the same way.

In your policy consider specifying what information you would like included in a complaint. This will allow you to review all of the details before responding. When you note how you will process and respond to complaints and disputes, include a timeline to make expectations of the process clear.

Thus far I have been fortunate to avoid formal complaints or disputes and have found any issues were easily fixed—such as technology glitches. However, I am aware that as I continue to grow my business, my risk of having a more impactful complaint or dispute may occur.

Fees, Refunds, and Cancellation

Application language for the requirement: “The provider maintains policies concerning program fees, refunds, and participant cancellation.”

Prior to registration potential participants need to be aware of expectations regarding your fees, refunds, and cancellations. While we often think of refunds and cancellations being requested by participants, there may be situations where you as the CE provider need to make a cancellation and/or issue refunds. Often this information is made available to potential participants in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. These could be separate policies or contained in one policy. They can be complex or a simple “No refunds.”

My expectations regarding fees are included in the registration details, which is also a requirement from NBCC under Provider Policy Section C.15. My policies for refunds and cancellations has evolved over the years as a CE Provider, especially after a situation where “No refunds” did not cut it.

My real life example

Less than two hours before a live training was to start, a participant reached out saying they could not use NBCC CEs for their license type and requested a full refund. My policy at the time was to not provide refunds if the cancellation request came less than two days before a live training.

I responded and offered to transfer their enrollment to a future live training or an on demand training. The participant doubled down on wanting a refund and said they would submit a dispute with their bank if I did not make the refund. While this training was less than $20, that small amount was significant to me as a new CE Provider.

In the end I sent the refund to avoid the additional time and cost that could potentially come with a bank dispute. Since then I have expanded my refund policy to have more nuance and to hopefully prevent a similar situation from happening.

Confidentiality of Participant Information

Application language for the requirement: “The provider maintains a policy concerning the confidentiality and security of participant information.”

While only directly indicated in the ACEP application, a confidentiality policy is required of all NBCC CE Providers. As mental health clinicians we are already held to high confidentiality standards through HIPAA and our codes of ethics. If as a CE provider you follow most of the practices that you use with clients (e.g., secure platforms, consent), you will more than cover confidentiality concerns for training participants.

In the Provider Toolbox NBCC stresses that CE Providers must protect any information about participants collected during registration. If you are using a platform for registration and payments, you are responsible for knowing how participant information is stored and disseminated and how you can request the permanent deletion. Your Confidentiality Policy might include for how long you store participant information in the platform or in your own storage (e.g., Google Drive) and how it is destroyed.

If you are turning live trainings into on demand products (AKA home study program), there are several considerations for recording consent:

• Telling participants ahead of time that the training will be recorded

• Letting participants know if their image, voice, or information (e.g., name) will be recorded

• Giving participants steps to take to avoid having their image, voice, or information recorded

When you turn the recording into an on demand product, you'll either need express consent from participants to use their images/voices/information—or remove those elements from the recording. This applies for both virtual and in-person live trainings.

For each live training I have a confidentiality and recording statement that indicates I will do my best to remove all identifiable information from recordings. I also indicate how participants can avoid being recorded, such as by leaving their microphones muted and participating using the chat. When I am editing recordings, I make sure to blur the video and names of any participants who opt to share with their microphone on.

Creating your own policies

Creating these types of policies from scratch can be a big undertaking. As you have read through the different policy types and considerations, you might have gotten overwhelmed thinking of what all could go wrong. Instead of creating your own, I recommend first checking out the policies of your favorite CE providers. You can also use the suggested language from NBCC to help guide your policies.

Instead of copying and pasting others’ policy language, make the policies work for you. Your policies should feel authentic to how you actually run your business. If you are a small company or just starting out, the policies used by major businesses may not work for your current abilities. If you are several years into offering CEs, now might be a good time to review your policies and update them as needed.

Once you have a solid starting place, get feedback from trusted colleagues on how you can improve your wording. And don’t forget that you can adjust the language over time. You are not locked into the first version of your policies.

Other policies?

There are other policies that NBCC recommends CE Providers have in place including:

• Confidentiality Breaches (Policy Section C.11)

• Attendance (Policy Sections I.1, I.2, and I.4)

• Enduring Materials (Policy Sections D.5 and J.6 (b))

• Record Keeping and Retention (Policy Section C.10)

• Disclosure or Use of Client Information in a CE Program (Policy Section D.6)

• ADA Accommodations (Policy Sections C.5 and C.6)

I'm planning to cover these in upcoming posts. Let me know which one would be most helpful to you first.

If this post saved you from hours of policy-writing panic or a conversation with a consultant... this is your chance to buy me a book (or three 📚).

Buy me a book

Next week

Now that you have your policies in place, get ready to submit your application by joining me for next week’s AMA where I will be talking about the prices and expected turnaround times for each application type.

You might be:

• Living with disabilities or chronic illness

• Neurodivergent

• Managing sensory sensitivities

• Recovering from burnout

• Balancing caregiving and work

• Dealing with fluctuating health

Perhaps you don’t find yourself in that list at all and yet you recognize how accommodations would help you show up as a CE provider at your best.

As my health started to decline a year and a half ago, I realized I couldn't sustain my previous pace. While I worked to meet the accommodation needs of others, my own needs were falling by the wayside. I was presenting live at least once a month. That’s days of research, hours of slide creation. Finally I decided to make a shift.

Accessibility Is for You Too

When I started to shift my CE work to incorporate my own access needs, I found that this would:

• Create more efficient systems

• Build infrastructure that lasts

• Make teaching sustainable long-term

• Model the practices I encourage participants to adopt

Sustainability Is an Access Issue

If I didn’t make these shifts, I risked burning out because the model I was using wasn’t sustainable. I have noticed a clear connection between burning out and unmet needs. These needs might be sensory, cognitive, physical, and/or emotional. Designing our businesses for longevity requires designing our services to meet our needs as well.

So I started to scale back. My monthly live presentations no longer came with CEs and no longer included all of the slides or visuals I was so diligent about creating. This gave me flexibility to adjust in the moment. And later, I could turn the replays into on-demand CEs.

Three Areas Where CE Providers Need Real Accommodations

Delivery Methods That Match Your Energy & Sensory Needs

Not every CE provider can—or should—provide programs the exact same way, and not every provider needs the same accommodations.

Some CE providers struggle with managing participants’ questions while presenting. If you can’t monitor chat and facilitate content simultaneously, that’s legit. You have options:

• Build Q&A and reflection moments throughout your training—giving participants time to ask and giving you time to step away from the chat

• Dedicate a separate Q&A block at the end where you can focus on questions without simultaneously managing content delivery

• Use a structure such as: present a portion of content, provide a moment of reflection, open up to Q&A (and repeat)

Other CE providers aren’t as comfortable with presenting live, but they want to offer synchronous options. That might mean:

• First pre-recording your presentation in a lower-stress environment (your own space, at your own pace)

• Then playing the recording live for participants

• And finally hosting live Q&A moments or discussion time at the end—keeping interaction contained and giving yourself time to prepare

Participants still get the “live” experience and connection without you needing to present in real time.

Some providers offer both: live trainings for some topics, on-demand recorded trainings for others. Some rotate the formats. Some only do one or the other.

I enjoy both live and on-demand options. My ideal is presenting virtually. This gives me control over my environment, easy access to notes, and the chance to engage with the chat in real time.

Systems & Tools That Reduce Cognitive Load

Don't recreate the wheel for every tedious administrative task. Instead use:

• Templates for everything (emails, certificates, course structure)

• Automation where possible (automated emails, scheduling, CE tracking)

• Batching related tasks instead of scattering work throughout the week (and block off that time on your calendar)

• Clear systems for outsourcing administrative work (shout out to my admins and their help with social media and managing live trainings!)

Certificates can be a huge time suck. For my on-demand programs, I don’t have to do much if anything. My learning management system (LMS) grades quizzes and confirms surveys are complete before issuing certificates, which are then available in the participants’ accounts.

For live trainings, I use Google Meet attendance tracking and a Google Form, which populate spreadsheets. Then I compare the two and use a Google Slides template. After I fill in the training details, it’s just copy-and-paste names from the spreadsheet.

Boundaries as Infrastructure

As mental health clinicians, we often discuss boundary-setting with clients. As CE providers, how well are we setting our own? Boundaries for CE providers could be:

• Structured Q&A during live presentations

• Setting availability expectations with email auto-replies

• Limited office hours (check out Google Calendar’s scheduling options)

• Clear communication channels (email or social media DMs—not both)

• Saying no to requests that don’t fit your model

When I schedule consults with clinicians wanting to become CE providers, I’m explicit about time and expectations. Instead of assuming everyone reads calendar end times, I state exactly how long we’ll talk. Everyone respects those constraints, and it makes the conversation more focused.

The Bigger Picture: What CE Providers Deserve

You Deserve to Sustain This Work

I became a CE provider because this work aligns with my values. The catch is that making choices misaligned with those values leads to burnout. For me, that is a real risk.

One of my core values is conscientiousness. Here’s the thing: accommodations aren’t selfish. They’re a necessary part of being conscientious to both my participants and myself.

If you’re like me—designing accessible continuing education while managing your own health, disabilities, burnout, or neurodivergence—you’re doing this work with intention. That takes energy. That takes effort. You deserve recognition for it, and you deserve the infrastructure to keep doing it.

Questions for Reflection

I’d love to hear from you:

• What aspect of CE work drains your energy the most?

• What accommodation would make this work sustainable for you long-term?

• What boundary could you set that would protect your access needs?

• What system could you automate or simplify?

If my writing has saved you a headache, a bad investment, or a very long conversation with NBCC... this is your chance to buy me a book (or three 📚).

Support my work

Except the voiceover wasn’t there.

At first I was just annoyed. Then I realized something: if I rely on that feature to access content sometimes, other people probably rely on it much more than I do.

That small moment pushed me to start recording voiceovers for my own posts, and it reminded me why accessibility should be designed into our work long before anyone has to ask for it.

Accessibility Is Part of the Job

As an NBCC CE provider, I am held to the requirement that I offer “CE programs in a manner that is compliant with all federal, state, and local laws, including the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).” At the basic, core level the ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

My business activities fall under the Title III of the ADA—I must provide people with disabilities “an equal opportunity to access the goods or services” that my business offers. As the owner of a small business, I understand how overwhelming this can feel with so many considerations to navigate. The ADA has a guide for small businesses that explains the different ways in which we need to meet the requirements.

As a person with disabilities, my hope is that we as CE providers go above and beyond that which is required of us so we can ensure that everyone has access to our CE programs. I also recognize that I am not the only CE provider with disabilities. Instead of accommodations being an afterthought or “special feature,” accommodations can become a part of our infrastructure.

People without disabilities benefit from accommodations that have become a common part of our day-to-day lives likely without realizing that they were originally created as accommodations (e.g., smart speakers, curb cuts, speech-to-text, captioning, audiobooks, telework) for people with disabilities.

Today I’ll be writing about how I build in accommodations for everyone who uses my services, including these Substack posts, live events, and on-demand courses. Next week I’ll write about how we as CE providers can build in accommodations for ourselves as we create our programs. I’m not perfect, though. If you have suggestions of how I can improve the accessibility of my services, please let me know!

Designing for Access on My Website and Social Media

Since that day when the AI voiceovers went missing, I’ve been trying to prevent what happened to me from happening to someone else. I am also providing the posts in my own voice—with my inflection and unique sound—rather than relying only on text.

That experience also reminded me that accessibility on websites and written platforms isn’t just about audio. It’s about how information is structured and presented so that readers can navigate it comfortably.

Other accessibility approaches I use here, on social media, and my website include:

• Writing in clear, structured paragraphs

• Using headings, spacing, bullet points to organize information

• Bolding for emphasis instead of relying on italics

• Checking color contrasts between text and background

• Providing alt text for graphics so screen readers can describe images

I also try to avoid dense blocks of text and overly complex formatting that can make reading more difficult for some people. Clear structure and consistent formatting make it easier for readers to scan content, find the sections that are most relevant to them, and return to posts later when they need to reference something again.

My intention is to reduce cognitive fatigue for readers while also improving compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies.

Making Live Trainings Accessible

Virtual live event platforms already have some accessibility features built in, such as captions. But others require us to take some steps to implement or incorporate them. Consider the various ways that participants can interact with the presenter, such as using the chat or unmuting their microphone. I also offer the option for participants to email me if they cannot get the chat to work during trainings where unmuting their microphone is not an option.

If participation is not required during your training, be explicit about it. Let participants know they can protect their psychological safety by leaving cameras off, not speaking verbally, and that they will not be cold-called. These accessibility considerations tap into a trauma-informed facilitation of programs, which is great for both virtual and in-person trainings.

Other trauma-informed approaches include:

• Providing a moment at the beginning to ground into the training experience

• Giving an agenda and expectation of how the training will be structured (I know so many presenters who just skip straight through the objectives, only seeing them as a CE requirement when they can be used to provide structure to the training.)

• Using pacing with built-in pauses

• Stating transitions verbally in addition to using transition slides

This last suggestion is a consideration for both the verbal and visual aspects of trainings. Often one ends up taking priority over the other. Be sure to use slides with readable fonts—meaning the font type (sans-serif), the font size (see below), and the contrast between the font color and the background color (typically a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1).

When I was in college for my undergraduate degree, a professor used the 4x4 rule on slides: no more than four bullet points per slide and no more than four words per bullet point. While I think this can be a great starting place, I now tend to focus on my font size to guide how many bullet points and words I have on each slide: 72pt font for title slides, 44pt font for subheadings, 36pt font for all other text.

Provide verbal descriptions of pictures and graphics and ensure that graphics are easy to follow or understand. When I use the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies Praxis during trainings, I use a series of boxes and lines to highlight which parts I am talking about. I also typically have one quadrant zoomed in on to show the different layers.

Repeating audience questions before answering is helpful for anyone who might have missed hearing or seeing the question asked. And summary slides support participants in being able to follow your agenda.

Building Accessibility into On-Demand Courses and Learning Resources

For on-demand programs hosted on Learning Management Systems (LMSs), there are many built-in accessibility options that simply need to be turned on or utilized appropriately. Some programs have the ability to automatically provide captions, whereas others you may need to upload a captions file.

If you are recording the program using one of the virtual event platforms, they will often also record captions and/or a transcript that you can add to the recording later. Even if you are recording the program without any participants, be sure to implement the same approaches noted above to make the verbal and visual aspects easy to follow in the recording.

Some CE accreditation organizations limit a participant’s ability to change the speed and reverse or fast forward through a recording. Even if you are working under that type of a requirement, you could provide an option after the first playing of the recording for participants to be able to use playback controls. Another potential format would be to provide short audio or video segments rather than one long recording.

If you provide written CE materials or additional resources like I do in some of my on-demand programs and for my guide to becoming a CE provider, consider providing them in various formats. PDFs can make our work look great and protect some of our intellectual property; however, word documents are much easier to read both because the reader can adjust the fonts and they are easier for screen readers. My CE provider resources also come as Canva templates so the potential adjustments are almost limitless.

Offering materials in multiple formats increases the likelihood that you meet the needs of different learners.

Accessibility Is Ethical, Strategic, and Good Business

Reasons for making these accessibility adjustments go beyond being held to the ADA requirements as businesses and being required under NBCC and other CE accrediting organizations. By improving the accessibility of our services we are upholding our field’s ethical standards, reducing our risk, making business-smart decisions, and being solidly inclusive.

Here are some additional accessibility considerations that I have not covered so far:

• Financial accessibility

  • Tiered pricing

  • Payment plans

  • Scholarships

• Time flexibility

  • Recordings of live events

  • Extended access periods and evergreen resources

  • No time pressure on quizzes (if applicable)

• Sensory differences

  • Avoid high-contrast and flashing graphics

  • Consistent slide design

  • Predictable layout of on-demand courses

• Executive function supports

  • Clear learning objectives

  • Checklists

  • Step-by-step breakdowns

• Affirming language

  • Explicit discussions of disability

  • Identity aligned language (always check cultural norms)

  • Normalization of accommodations and accessibility

• Built-in transparency

  • Straightforward completion requirements

  • Clear refund policies

  • Easy to use contact methods

Closing Points and Questions for You

The suggestions that I have mentioned are a part of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). When using UDL educators are being proactive in meeting the needs of learners instead of being reactive to requests for accommodations.

While I encourage you to explore the Guidelines and see where you already incorporating them—and where you can improve—I even more strongly suggest that you start asking your learners what is working well and what could be better. You might be surprised at the great suggestions they give!

Accessibility isn’t something we finish implementing. It’s something we continue designing.

Some questions for you:

• How do you incorporate accessibility in your trainings?

• Where are you finding difficulty with addressing accessibility?

• What resources do you need to improve your accessibility?

If you leave a comment on the YouTube video, I will reply! If you have questions or topic suggestions for upcoming AMA’s, leave them here or on this form: https://forms.gle/CZLTkkrdz4sFBFbeA

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Next week I’m doing another YouTube live Ask Me Anything, this time on the logistics of hosting live CE events.

Hosting live events requires intention when making logistical decisions, and we’ll break those decisions down.

Intentional Decision Making

Over the past few weeks—since the beginning of the year—I’ve been talking to CE providers about decisions they need to make that affect them both in the short-term and in the long-run. These CE providers want to avoid making quick decisions with no thought and instead make decisions that are aligned with their personal and professional goals.

The world feels unstable right now with something new and unsettling seeming to make the headlines every single day. As a clinician grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I see this as a great time to revisit values and values-aligned actions.

Values are our anchors during times of uncertainty. Intentional decisions align our actions to our values.

Centering Values > Urgency

Making values-aligned decisions is a part of the long-game. Sometimes you get super lucky (right time, right place) and your CE offerings take off. You happen to post at just the right time in just the right Facebook group and the rest is history.

For the majority of us though, this overnight success rarely happens. Instead success stories like this feed the urgency that we can feel:

• “Post it now. You only have one Marketing Monday each week!”

• “You’re going to miss out on the momentum if you don’t send that email.”

• “Don’t go on that trip. You can’t afford to step away.”

• “Say yes to every single opportunity.”

One of the many reasons I like ACT is that the urgency we feel becomes a part of the process. This isn’t about ridding ourselves of those urgent feelings, it’s about looking at what that urgency leads us to do, meaning how it contributes to the ways we act or make decisions. The acceptance part of ACT is about noticing and accepting the urgency without immediately acting on it. (See what I did there?)

When we take a minute to breathe through that urgency and center our values, we often end up focusing on longevity instead. We start to ask ourselves questions like:

• “Will this still make sense in 5 days, weeks, or years?”

• “Can I sustain this pace?”

• “Do I need to do this? Do I want to do this?”

• “What am I giving up or missing out on?”

• “Does this align with my values?”

• “Is this building something stable and sustainable?”

Intentional decision-making, aligning with our values, can require tolerating discomfort. This is especially true when money, reputation, or productivity are involved.

The Real Costs of Being a CE Provider

The last question above (“Is this building something stable and sustainable?”) speaks to our professional goals as well as our personal goals. Rarely do CE providers tell me that they want to offer one live CE product one time and that is all. Often CE providers have plans in mind of how to build live products into a series or how to turn live products into on-demand or home study options.

The way that we move toward these long-term goals is by making intentional, values-driven decisions.

From beginning to end, the process to become a CE provider can take months or even years, depending upon where you are starting and the work you have already done. That doesn’t mean that if the process takes you longer than someone else that you did it “wrong;” this just means that longer was your timeline.

When I meet with prospective CE providers, the concern about the costs of the applications and of maintaining a CE provider business comes up every time. I show prospective CE providers the ways you can make each application type work for you, share what I have found to be the typical ongoing costs, and explore ways to begin on a budget.

But cost in the form of money is only one part. There is the cost related to your time, your energy, your health, and your personal values and goals. Intentional decision-making means taking into account all of these costs… not just the financial ones.

The False Narrative of Values Conflicts

As Russ Harris (2016) said “a lot of so-called ‘values conflicts’ actually turn out to be something else: the real issue is not about conflicting values, but about how much time and energy to invest in different domains of life.”

Life domains include the chunks of our life that we expend time and effort: family, partnership, community, work, school, leisure, health, spirituality. Goals are something we can accomplish. I often think of them like hierarchy of checklists with larger goals at the top and the smaller steps underneath. Values span across all life domains and cannot be completed or checked off like a goal.

One of my values is genuineness; I can never check that value off the list and move on to the next one. Genuineness is something I will be working towards my entire life. I put effort into showing up genuinely in work (life domain) through these articles and the other services I provide.

Conscientiousness is also a key value I hold. My hope is that this shows up in all of my life domains—that everyone I come in contact with recognizes me as thorough, principled, and dependable. This one has been hard though recently because I have had to let go of being reliable in certain life domains so that I can be more consistent in others. Each decision I make, even when they feel small, takes that extra intentionality to ensure I am aligning with my values.

The Value I Chose

This week I had to rely on my intentional decision-making process so I could focus on my health life domain. When I called the doctor’s office they had one appointment available tomorrow—which was right in the middle of two income generating activities—OR several appointments available in about two months. Feelings of urgency set in.

From the outside this might have appeared as though my values were in conflict when really it was a conflict of life domains. I knew that I could not focus on my work and accomplish my work goals if I did not put my health goals first. I had to show up for my health so that I could also be conscientious in my work.

The intentional decision I made was to focus on my health now so I can focus on my business in the long-run. That choice required me to sit with the discomfort rather than react to it. Sticking with my schedule and the revenue would have been much simpler.

Longevity for my business meant focusing on something other than my revenue for the moment. Other times longevity will be about adjusting my prices or saying no to a contract where the language does not align with my values. Instead of letting my feelings of urgency guide my actions, I leaned into my value of conscientiousness.

I did not find “conscientiousness” as a value on any of the values sorts that I used. Instead I saw other values that were close but not quite what I was wanting for the value that reflected how I show up in my life domains. Loyalty, stability, integrity, dependability, trustworthiness—values that make sense and align with my astrological sign of Taurus—all seemed to fall under the umbrella of conscientiousness.

I encourage you to do values exploration activities and create your own if you cannot find exactly what you are looking for. Knowing our values will help us find stability in times of uncertainty.

Sticking to My Values in Uncertain Times

We are bombarded by headlines describing how unreliable many aspects of our profession are right now:

• Legislation changes

• Funding instability

• Shifts in education requirements

• Technology growth and unpredictability

If we spend too much time in that space of uncertainty, we can start to feel the sense of urgency creep back in. We cannot control the headlines, and we cannot control the decisions others are making. We only have control over how we decide to respond.

Instead of making decisions based upon urgency, I encourage you to use your values as guideposts and make intentional decisions toward them. Come back to the present moment so that you can think longer term for yourself and your business.

Sustainability cannot exist without opportunities to be present. And being present often requires finding ease… even when circumstances are difficult.

Whenever I think about ease, I come back to Adriene Mishler’s encouragements to find ease even in difficult yoga positions. She reminds us that we get to make decisions on which positions we take and how we get there. And she emphasizes that our decisions—including if we are standing with feet together or hip-width apart—should be done with intention.

Closing and Invitation

Now it’s your turn to share:

• Which values do you hold as important?

• Which values are you acting in alignment with?

• Which values are you not currently aligned with?

• How are you making intentional decisions?

If you are looking for some guidance on how to make intentional decisions, I’ve put several links to resources throughout. For a very basic framework try Stop, Start, Continue:

• What do you want to stop doing?

• What do you want to start doing?

• What do you want to continue doing?

And for a little fun, one last question:

• What headline about your work would you want to see right now?

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Live trainings for groups come with additional pricing considerations. This most often comes up when clinical organizations ask you to provide a live training for their providers, when you offer a training in person at a venue, or when you are invited to submit a proposal for a conference or summit.

Many CE providers already have a general per-credit cost for their trainings and then find themselves unsure of how that pricing translates to these group-based situations. This post is written for CE providers who already have a sense of how they price individual CE hours and are now trying to figure out how to approach pricing when the training is offered to a group.

Live Trainings for a Group Practice

When I am asked to do a live training for a group practice, the request usually falls into one of two categories: a live version of a training I already offer on demand or a training created specifically to meet the group practice’s needs.

If I am presenting a training using materials I have already created, there is less labor on the front end. However, during the training itself there are typically more opportunities for in-depth questions and discussion. These live presentations are usually not recorded, which means there is no on-demand product I can later sell.

When a group practice requests a training that needs to be created from scratch, the labor up front is significantly greater. This includes researching the topic, developing presentation materials, and ensuring the training meets NBCC standards. There is also increased labor during the training itself due to live questions and discussion. With newly created material, I may later choose to offer the training again or record it for an on demand option.

Although the timing of the labor differs, the total amount of labor for both types of trainings often evens out. Groups are also receiving greater access to me—both during the training and afterward if follow-up questions arise.

Because of this I charge a flat rate for group practices. My rate is about $200 per hour, which is similar to my clinical rate.

For smaller groups that do not require this level of trainer involvement, purchasing an on demand product for each staff member may make more sense. In these cases, you might consider offering a group discount and charging separately for any additional consulting time.

Trainings at In-Person Venues

When you offer a training at an in-person venue such as a local conference room or destination location, you take on work beyond creating the presentation materials and facilitating the training. This can include confirming the venue, paying associated fees, traveling to and from the location, marketing the event, and providing materials such as notebooks, pens, snacks, or water.

All of these costs—both financial and time-based—should be factored into your per-person pricing. One way to approach this is to total these additional costs, divide them by your anticipated number of participants, and add that amount to your usual per-credit hour price.

Considering risk is also very important. If fewer participants register than expected or if the venue limits attendance, you may not recoup those costs. After you feel like you have come to a price, ask yourself “What happens if only half of the anticipated participants attend?”

Trainings for Conferences and Similar Events

I began presenting at conferences by sharing my research, and I continue to submit proposals for both in-person and virtual events. Sometimes I seek out conferences I want to present for; other times, organizers reach out and invite me to submit a proposal.

Some conferences offer presenter compensation, while others do not. When compensation is provided, it is often predetermined and not negotiable. It may be offered as an hourly rate or a flat fee or honorarium. In some cases, in-person events also cover travel and lodging, either through reimbursement or a flat stipend.

For events that do not offer compensation, I consider what other benefits may be available, such as waived registration fees, the ability to market other offerings, or organization-specific exposure.

I want to be honest here—some unpaid events have worked out well for me and others have not. Recently, I participated in a large summit without compensation and with restrictions on promoting my services during the presentation. While we were allowed to include promotional information in supplemental materials, those materials were difficult for participants to access. Despite significant time and labor invested, the summit resulted in no meaningful return. I lost hundreds of dollars.

That experience changed how I consider “exposure” as compensation.

I do not share this to discourage you from unpaid opportunities altogether. Some unpaid events have led to valuable professional relationships, future paid work, and long-term visibility. The key is being intentional and realistic about what you are gaining… and what you are giving up.

Considerations for Contracts

Regardless of the type of group training you offer, if the training is primarily for another organization, a contract is worth considering.

This may involve creating your own contract for a group practice or reviewing a contract provided by a conference or organization. Pricing is only one part of the equation. Below are common areas to consider when creating a contract:

• Training details: title, topic, format, length, audience, customization

• Training materials: slides, handouts, ownership, sharing permissions, recording

• Additional supports: Q&A, follow-up discussions, consultation, case review

• Fees and payment: rate structure, deposits, due dates, late fees, travel and lodging

• Cancellation and rescheduling: fees, weather or illness contingencies, technology failures

• CE administration: attendance tracking, evaluations, certificate distribution

• Liability: limits on your responsibility for participant actions

• Accessibility and logistics: accommodations, equipment, platform or venue setup

• Agreement terms: governing law, signatures, modification clauses

There are templates available online, but if you want to cover all of your bases, consulting with a local lawyer is strongly recommended.

Reviewing a contract provided by another organization is just as important as creating your own. Again, consulting with a local lawyer who understands this field is ideal. When reviewing these contracts, pay close attention to:

• Speaker fees and what they include

• Intellectual property and ownership language

• Recording and rebroadcasting permissions

• Use of artificial intelligence

• Non-compete or exclusivity clauses

• Indemnification and liability

• Cancellation terms

• Speaker obligations outside the presentation

• CE approval responsibilities

• Use of your name, likeness, and materials

I was once provided a contract that included language such as “in perpetuity” and “exclusive rights.” After reviewing the contract, I raised specific concerns with the organizers. They revised the agreement, and I was able to move forward without concern.

Choosing a Fair Pricing Structure

If you have read this far, the fact that group trainings involve more variables than individual CE offerings is likely clear. Because of the increased labor and responsibility, group trainings are often not priced the same way as typical per-credit CE hours.

Considering the type of organization—non-profit, small group practice, large for-profit company—you are working with can be helpful in determining your pricing approach.

When I offer trainings at a lower cost or for free, I view that as a deliberate choice, a way of giving back to the field and to my communities, not an expectation.

There is no single “right” pricing structure. Your pricing should reflect your labor, responsibility, and capacity while supporting your work long-term.

What are your thoughts?

I’m curious how others approach this work.

• What else do you include in your pricing structure?

• How do you approach group pricing differently than I do?

• What are the next steps you see yourself taking in adjusting your pricing?

I’ll likely write a follow-up based on what comes up here. Comment or submit your thoughts through my survey.

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What I’m Pricing For (Not Just the Training Itself)

When someone buys a CE training from me, they’re not just paying for the CE hours. They are paying for everything it takes to make the training relevant, applicable, and approved for CE credit.

Consider the standards that NBCC holds me to as an ACEP: I must keep trainings up to date with current research and changes in the field; my systems must be easy to use while maintaining participant confidentiality; accessibility must be integrated in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); certificates must be issued accurately and on time; and I must be available to communicate with participants and address concerns or issues.

Other considerations include supportive materials (such as templates), short-term or long-term access to learning materials, additional presenters, and many other pieces of labor that don’t always show up on a checklist.

These requirements aren’t just bureaucratic hurdles—they’re part of how I ensure participants receive ethical, accessible, and defensible continuing education.

How I Decide a Starting Price

When I first started as a CE provider, I looked closely at how major CE providers priced their trainings. Most were charging around $10 per CE hour, so I initially modeled my pricing after that.

After some business consultation and reflection, I realized that what large CE providers offer is fundamentally different from what I offer. Their trainings are often broader, more generalized, and created at scale. Mine are focused on specialized topics and often include additional resources such as templates and lifetime access. This difference isn’t good or bad—it simply reflects different goals and audiences. Large CE providers are often serving clinicians who want to complete CE requirements quickly. My trainings are created for clinicians who want to learn more about specific topics and walk away with concrete steps they can implement immediately in their practice.

My trainings are also not designed for clinicians who want to check off CE hours as quickly as possible with minimal engagement. They are intended for clinicians who want depth, context, and practical application.

Another pricing consideration is how I structure bundles of trainings. These bundles are created around the main topics I research and present on—LGBTQ+ community, neurodivergence, supervision, and emerging concerns for mental health clinicians. Bundles allow clinicians to save money while accessing multiple trainings under one topic umbrella. A lesser-known perk is that when new trainings are added to a bundle, clinicians who have already purchased it are enrolled in the new trainings at no additional cost.

Why and When I Adjust Prices

After my business consultation and personal reflection, I adjusted the cost of my trainings from $10 per CE hour to about $15 per hour. When I made this change, I did not increase the price even more for trainings that already included templates or additional resources. I wanted those materials to remain an added benefit rather than something separately monetized.

I also chose not to price live and on-demand trainings differently. While the labor is distributed differently, the total amount of work involved is comparable, and that difference did not justify a significant price gap.

At times, I offer new products at a lower introductory rate or provide a discount code for a short period. At other times, I adjust prices to better align with the value being offered. This is not a bait and switch—different people have access to different pricing opportunities at different times. I fully expect my training prices to change over time as the cost of offering CEs changes. My goal is to build a sustainable business that can offer continuing education long term.

What I Don’t Base My Prices On

I do not base my pricing on pressure from others, someone else’s urgency, or a desire to make my CE products visible at any cost. I’m also not adjusting my prices based solely on what other CE providers are doing. Pricing across the CE landscape varies so widely that comparison alone could never tell me what is “right.”

As you figure out your own pricing, I hope you ignore my specific pricing structures. Why? Because I hope you create a pricing structure that works for you right now, knowing that it will change over time. There are valid reasons to price trainings lower and valid reasons to price them higher.

I don’t believe offering CEs requires burnout from the provider. No CE provider should have to operate under constant financial stress or self-sacrifice simply to meet the needs of others. Sustainable pricing is not a failure of ethics; it is part of responsible, long-term CE work.

What I Hope Pricing Communicates

I hope this offers some insight into what it takes to create and price CE trainings like these. Much of the labor happens long before a training is ever available—hours of unpaid work that compete with client sessions, family time, rest, and personal interests. CE providers deserve respect for that labor, just as clinicians deserve CE options that genuinely support their professional growth.

Ethical pricing is not about scarcity or hustle; it is about mutual respect, sustainability, and growth on both sides of the CE process.

Closing + Invitation

This post is about transparency—about giving both clinicians and CE providers a peek behind the curtain at what goes into the pricing a product that is both required of us as clinicians and an honor to provide as CE providers. I hope this isn’t the last conversation we have about money and CEs.

Whether you’re a clinician, a CE provider, or both, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What did I miss? What do you want to know more about? You can comment below, email me at admin@ccresourcing.us, or anonymously submit a response through my survey.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the other posts I’ve written about money and being a CE provider:

• What I Actually Made Selling CE Courses

• Make Your NBCC Application Fees Work For You

• Starting as an NBCC CE Provider on a Budget?

• The Real Costs of Being a CE Provider

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If you leave a comment on the YouTube video, I will reply! If you have questions or topic suggestions for upcoming AMA’s, leave them here or on this form: https://forms.gle/CZLTkkrdz4sFBFbeA

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