DPA believes that license renewal and acquiring continuing education hours should not be stressful or a hassle for our members. In fact, continuing education should be personally and professionally rewarding. This is why DPA is here to help with all your continuing education and licensure renewal needs! Dallas Psychological Association is known for outstanding continuing education workshops, often with national presenters. Providing the best CE opportunities is not only a part of our mission, it's our promise to the North Texas professional community!
It is important to keep updated on your license to make sure that it does not expire and could be potentially suspended. Completing applications in a timely manner mean less stress and risk of submitting applications incorrect or incomplete. If you are early, the license renewal process can be completed quickly and easily with little stress. Members who wait until the last minute experience much more anxiety and will usually pay more per credit hour, and DPA would rather help members save money! Continuing education, on top of license renewal, should also be done in a timely manner to make sure you are providing the best service for your clients and showcasing valuable input to the association.
DPA helps members with every step in acquiring continuing education credits. This is why DPA maintains an updated CEU calendar for members to stay informed. Our hope is that our new calendar will serve as a license renewal resource throughout the entire year as well as a point of reference for available CEU workshops. The calendar will highlight popular and in demand courses and of course important dates to keep you on track of your goals. The calendar will also highlight workshops provided by other area organizations if DPA considers these offerings applicable to our members.
As always, we ask members to make sure to take a moment to calculate your total continuing education hours that have been completed. From there, you can see where exactly you need to be and find out which courses will help you to accrue the required number of accredited hours. Speaking of accreditation, DPA is approved to provide continuing education credit for psychologists. DPA maintains all responsibility for the programs as per TSBEP rule 461.11 (2) (A). DPA also partners with Galaxy Counseling Center to provide CEUs for Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Licensed Professional Counselors.
If you are just beginning to take courses, are even half-way through or have already completed your continuing education, here are some few things to keep in mind before submitting your application for renewal:
- First, how many hours of continuing education do you need?
- Can you take your courses online, in-person, or can you combine the two options?
- What types of particular courses do you need to be complete for renewal?
- In-person courses should be given first priority, especially if the course is required, such as with an ethics course.
- Also, specialized courses should be given high priority as well. For example, many psychologists are required to gain a specific number of hours in forensic training each year, and these courses will also meet the general requirements for licensure. Always try to take these classes at the beginning of the year in order to ensure that you complete these courses.
- Make sure to remain aware of your renewal date and how long it will take the board to process your application so there is no chance of having your license lapse. Remember, one may not practice psychology without an active licensed from the State!
Do not put your professional practice at risk by waiting until the last minute or neglecting to complete continuing education or license renewal. DPA is here to help members with questions or concerns they may have about continuing education, license renewal and the entire process with both. Members can access the DPA MemberLINK forum to discuss the licensure process in the general psychology forum.
Finally, if you have any comments, suggestions or even other ideas for continuing education courses and resources, please feel free to send us an email! DPA is open to new suggestions to help members better their experience and to help with any pressing questions that you might have.
