NASW-NY Continuing Education • Clinical Treatment
Live webinar • 4 CEU credits Thursday, November 19, 2026 • 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
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Workshop Description
This continuing education training provides social work and helping professionals with an in‑depth, skills‑based understanding of Motivational Interviewing (MI) as a collaborative, person‑centered, and evocative approach to supporting behavior change.
Participants will examine the spirit of MI — collaboration, acceptance, evocation, and compassion — and explore how practitioner communication styles, assumptions, and the “righting reflex” can either support or impede client engagement. Grounded in evidence‑informed theories and frameworks, the training emphasizes practical strategies for engaging clients, rolling with resistance, eliciting change talk, and supporting readiness for change across stages.
Through applied examples, reflective exercises, and structured practice, participants will strengthen their ability to guide conversations that honor autonomy, reduce resistance, and promote sustainable, client‑driven change in diverse practice settings.
Learning Objectives
Following this course, participants will be able to:
- Analyze how practitioner assumptions, communication styles, and the “righting reflex” contribute to client resistance and disengagement within helping relationships.
- Differentiate between directing, guiding, and following communication styles and evaluate their appropriate use within a Motivational Interviewing framework.
- Apply the core components of the MI spirit — collaboration, acceptance, evocation, and compassion — to real‑world client scenarios to strengthen therapeutic alliance and autonomy.
- Assess client readiness for change by identifying change talk, sustain talk, and indicators of importance and confidence using MI‑consistent strategies.
- Construct MI‑aligned responses to resistance using reflective listening, emphasis on choice, discrepancy development, and strategic shifting of focus.
- Design a collaborative, client‑centered action plan by integrating evocation techniques, Ask‑Tell‑Ask, and SMART goal principles.
Continuing Education
4 CEU credits
This workshop is approved for licensed social workers.
Fees
For Credit
- $60.00NASW-NY Member
- $100.00Other Chapter Members (e.g., NASW-NJ, etc.)
- $120.00Non-Member
No Credit
- $0.00NASW-NY Student and Transitional Member (Non-CE Eligible)
Faculty
Crystal Rozelle-Bennett, MSW, LMSW
Crystal is an educator, an advocate, a survivor, and a self-proclaimed thriver! For the past 25 years she has been driven by her personal experiences of trauma to elevate and amplify the voices of individuals and communities, to promote healing and opportunities to move from surviving to thriving.
Crystal has worked alongside professionals to create trauma informed, culturally inclusive and person-centered spaces. Her work experience includes advocacy within the child welfare system, oversight of child and youth programs, crisis hotline response, delivery of community-based mental health services, and implementing trauma-informed strategies and programs for school districts. Throughout these experiences she has gained essential knowledge and skills related to individual, community, and collective trauma. She has been called upon to provide training, coaching, and consultation across the nation in the subject areas of Human Trafficking, Suicide Prevention, Motivational Interviewing, Community and Collective Care, Child Trauma & Maltreatment, and Racial Trauma.
Crystal serves as an adjunct at Florida State University and Southwestern College, where she teaches courses on Trauma Informed Social Work and Multicultural Counseling, respectively. She is a fierce advocate for social justice and leads courageously to dismantle oppressive systems and create equitable and just services, policies, and programs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many CE credits does this course offer?
This course offers 4 CEU credits and runs for 4 hours, from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, November 19, 2026.
Who is this course appropriate for?
Social workers and mental health clinicians at the Emerging (Beginner), Mid-Career (Intermediate), and Student practice levels.
What will I learn in this course?
You will learn to recognize how practitioner assumptions and the “righting reflex” contribute to client resistance, apply the core components of Motivational Interviewing, assess client readiness for change, respond to resistance with MI-consistent techniques, and design a collaborative, client-centered action plan.
Can I access a recording after the live session?
Yes. Recorded access to this session remains available through December 4, 2026.
Is this course approved for social work continuing education credit in New York State?
Yes. NASW-NY is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers (Provider ID #0014), and this course's 4 CEU credits count toward your general New York CE requirement.
Does this course satisfy New York's mandatory Professional Boundaries or Child Abuse Identification CE requirements?
No. This course covers clinical treatment topics and counts toward your general 36-hour New York CE requirement, but it does not satisfy the state's separate mandatory 3-hour Appropriate Professional Boundaries or one-time 2-hour Child Abuse Identification and Reporting requirements.