Most nights at dinner, my family members ask one another the question: “High, low, learned?” We tell one another the high point from the day, the low point, and one thing we learned. It’s our way to quickly get to the heart of one another’s days, and serves as the jumping off point for many a conversation topics.

This week, on Wednesday, while crunching on some snap peas, my 4-year old looked at my husband and me, in earnest, and said, “High, low, learned?” John and I looked at one another and both let out quiet sighs… the heaviness of the last few months, and particularly, the last days, has dominated our minds. My son’s not in school anymore thanks to the pandemic, and he’s home with us and his baby sister (a situation he’s loving, though he does miss his teachers and friends at school). His ‘high, low, learned’ consisted of being happy about the puppy-related Disney+ TV show that he’d had the pleasure of watching that day, his ‘low’ was being asked to help empty the dishwasher when he was trying to color, and he’d learned what the word ‘except’ meant.

But for adults, it’s easy for us to get stuck in the ‘lows’ right now… frighteningly easy.

It’s also easy to forget what we’re learning (unless we’re asked to spout off statistics about just how many people with COVID-19 in different age brackets are ending up the ICU… then we’re a little too good at regurgitating that information). After my son had given his ‘high, low, learned,’ it was my turn, and it took me a few minutes:

My ‘low’ was watching the community (both on the macro and the micro) suffer… I’m one of those highly-sensitive people who can sense the fear, and it was really bubbling up around me.

My ‘learned’ was watching how much people put their own interest’s aside to help one another in times like this, both as reported by the pandemic specialist, Dr. Baruch Fischhoff, I’d interviewed on Sunday, and the group text started by a neighbor, offering high-demands goods and help to all of us, and we all responded in-kind.

My ‘high’… well, once I’d challenged myself to find a high in a time of so much confusion and fear… that one was getting to release these two free podcast CE courses. You see, when I created Clearly Clinical in 2018, the goal was to build something different… something that could respond rapidly to changing factors, and help the mental health community… something that featured women and minority experts, and donated to charity. I toiled away for hours and hours in the middle of the night in 2018, uncomfortable from my pregnancy, and I used that time to problem-solve and build this thing.

So, here we are, a year and a half after launch, and I couldn’t be prouder of what I’ve done, and how far we’ve come. To see the way people have been reacting to these two courses featuring Dr. Amber Lyda and Dr. Baruch Fischhoff… that’s a neat thing to witness, in spite of how sad and scary everything is right now. It’s the culmination of years of prep work and years of labor, and it’s all come together now (oddly enough).

Here are the two free CE courses, which both offer APA, NBCC, ASWB, NAADAC, CCAPP, and CAMFT credit:

Making Sense of the Pandemic: Psychological Impact on Clients and Communities by Dr. Baruch Fischhoff
Swiftly Transitioning to Online Therapy, Legally, Ethically, and Efficiently by Dr. Amber Lyda

Please check out those links to learn more. I’m so honored that both Dr. Fischhoff and Dr. Lyda were willing to take part… thousands of clinicians have already learned from them in the span of a few days.

Moreover, we’ve got another free CE course in the works, by someone very special: My dear colleague, Dr. Judy Ho, will be joining me soon for an interview about how to continuing finding connection and emotional wellness in the era of social distancing. We want to help empower both you and your clients. (And while we’re on the topic: Judy just started a new podcast called Supercharged Life, and it’s destined to be great.)

To help you further, another dear colleague of mine, Dr. Scott D. Miller, is offering a free hour of conversation about Feedback-Informed Treatment and Deliberate Practice this coming Thursday, March 26th at 12:00pm Central. The number of spots is limited and registration is required. Secure your place.

All I can say to you now is this: Be well. We know that you’ve been laying awake at night, trying to figure out how to get through this and how to keep doing your jobs well… we’ve been doing the same thing. Please be careful, and take care of yourself… you are offering an invaluable service to the world in caring for those with mental health and addictive disorders. We see you.

Confused about what a CEU is, and why we don’t call these free CE courses ‘CEUs’ above? Read our last blog entry here: What IS a CEU?