Special Topics
Advancing
Social Change
Enhance your care and career.
Human service professionals work with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities to promote social justice and social change. We provide training on relevant Special Topics, developed to promote awareness and sensitivity of cultural and ethnic diversity to ensure we collectively live and practice core values.
Biennium 2025-2027 Classes
Registration is now open for biennium 2025-2027.
Actionable Ways Healthcare Professionals Can Build Community & Support Collective Healing
Healing does not happen in isolation. Community is built through small, consistent acts.
Dates: October 9, 2026, March 5, 2027, June 4, 2027, September 10, 2027
Time: 8:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m.
Location: UW-Green Bay, Sheboygan Campus
Fee: $30/session or $100 for all 4 (must register for all 4 in 1 transaction to get discount)
These interactive workshops will explore how social workers, therapists, counselors and healthcare professionals can support healing through connection, relational safety and collective care. Participants will examine ways to move beyond individualizing distress and instead foster supportive relational ecosystems within therapy, groups, and communities. Topics include modeling repair and co-regulation in the therapy room, creating low-barrier community spaces, encouraging mutual support over emotional over functioning and helping clients navigate rupture and repair.
Sessions will be standalone sessions but may incorporate concepts from previous sessions. We encourage participants to attend as many sessions as they can.
Continuing Education Hours: 1.5 Hours/Session; 6 Hours for All 4 Sessions
Instructor
Jessica Clayborn, MA, LPC, SAC-IT
Jessica Clayborn is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin who has been practicing since 2021. She has an M.A. in Community Counseling. Her clinical focus areas include work with adolescents and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, substance and alcohol use concerns, crisis situations, relationship and communication challenges, and related mental health concerns. Jessica is also a certified yoga instructor and member of the American Counseling Association. She is recognized as a National Certified Counselor from the National Board for Certified Counselors.
Hoping for a Miracle & Medical Decision Making
Miracle Literacy Training for Clinicians – Social Workers, Therapists & Counselors – Working with End of Life Patients
Dates: Fridays, October 2-23, 2026
Time: 12-1 p.m. (& individual work)
Location: Virtual
Fee: $169
Miracle literacy is a set of interdisciplinary, transferable skills, particularly regarding spiritual aspects of care when hopes for a miracle are expressed in a setting of a poor prognosis and medical decision-making, that helps clinicians navigate complex serious illness discussions and decrease clinical gaps in patient care.
NOTE: Participants will be required to do one hour of additional work in between the four live sessions. Additional work will be done in our online learning management system, Canvas. The additional work will include readings, discussions, reflections and short videos.
- Describe the importance of miracle literacy in a spiritually diverse clinical context.
- Review tools and responses that assists the healthcare provider respond sensitively to patient and/or family’s expression of hoping for a miracle.
- Describe the impact this dynamic has on healthcare providers and explore possible strategies for self-care.
Continuing Education Hours: 0.8/8 Hours
Instructor
Edward Peñate, DMin, BCC
Edward Peñate is a palliative care chaplain with the Section of Palliative Medicine and the Spiritual Care Department at Northwestern Medicine (NM) in Chicago, IL. In addition to direct clinical care with Palliative Care, he holds a palliative care faculty-leadership role at NM. He is a Board-Certified Chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains and is a Cambia Sojourns Scholar. He is passionate about addressing health disparities in palliative care, particularly in the Latinx community and spiritual care. He is conducting research identifying the root causes of these disparities, developing interventions and ultimately promoting policies that improve access to care.
Grief & Loss for Human Services Professionals
Grief is an experience both personal and universal. Although grief is a common human experience, many misconceptions exist about bereavement.
Date: Friday, December 11, 2026
Time: 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Location: Virtual Via Zoom
Fee: $49
This course will present information about how the death of a loved one has physical and cognitive affects for the bereaved. This course will also provide information about the emotional complexity of grief and the role of mourning and rituals to express grief. Modern grief theories will be presented as a framework to better understand grief as an integrative process; not a problem to be "fixed." Attendees will be provided with resources to engage in their own grief work as a form of self-care.
Learning Outcomes:
- Describe physical and cognitive affects of grief.
- Describe common emotional themes in the grief process.
- Apply grief theories to better support patients after the death of a loved one.
- Identify the role of mourning and rituals in the grief process.
- Increase awareness of personal beliefs about death and grief.
Continuing Education Hours: 0.2/2 Hours
Instructor
Hillary Pioletti, MA, LPC, GC-C
Hillary Pioletti is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin who has been working in the non-profit sector of the human services field for over 8 years. She is a Certified Grief Counselor and works as a bereavement counselor at Horizon Home Care & Hospice Grief Resource Center. Her role as a bereavement counselor specializes in grief counseling for individuals, families and couples. She facilitates support groups, classes and workshops at the Grief Resource Center on various topics related to grief and loss. Hillary's professional background also includes leadership positions in counseling and program development for adults with disabilities and mental illness. She is dedicated to providing compassionate mental health care that is accessible to all.
Integrative & Holistic Approaches, Therapeutic Intuition & Use of Self in Counseling
Date: Friday, December 11, 2026
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Fee: $25
This course explores a variety of holistic interventions and integrative care to enhance evidence-based interventions in the patient setting. This workshop explores the integration of holistic therapeutic modalities with the clinician’s use of self — focusing on therapeutic intuition and self-disclosure — as essential elements of relationally responsive and integrative practice. Students examine evidence-based holistic approaches alongside research and theory on how clinicians consciously and ethically draw on their internal experience in therapeutic work. Through structured reflection, and experiential learning, students deepen their ability to apply intuitive awareness and purposeful self-disclosure within culturally responsive, ethical and evidence-supported practice. In the course, students will learn to:
- Analyze key holistic therapeutic approaches and how they complement traditional psychotherapy frameworks.
- Define therapeutic intuition and describe its role within the therapeutic relationship.
- Evaluate the empirical literature on self-disclosure and learn when and how to disclose personal material.
- Demonstrate reflective self-awareness and intentional use of self in simulated clinical scenarios.
Prerequisite: Prior to the workshop, participants should watch the Dr. Gabor Mate: The Myth of Normal and The Power of Connection video.
Continuing Education: .1 CEUs/1 CEHs
Instructor
Jessica Clayborn, MA, LPC, SAC-IT
Jessica Clayborn is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin who has been practicing since 2021. She has an M.A. in Community Counseling. Her clinical focus areas include work with adolescents and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, substance and alcohol use concerns, crisis situations, relationship and communication challenges, and related mental health concerns. Jessica is also a certified yoga instructor and member of the American Counseling Association. She is recognized as a National Certified Counselor from the National Board for Certified Counselors.
Be the
Change
Self-paced Special Topics courses offered in collaboration with Aspire Training.
We have collaborated with Aspire Training to offer a UW-Green Bay discount on self-paced courses that fulfill Special Topics requirements. Your choice of bundles or individual courses in wide-ranging topics, including therapeutic communication, harm reduction, service plans, multiculturalism and more.
Ethics & Boundaries
Our courses in Ethics and Boundaries are rooted in the core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence.
Free APS Program
If you are a licensed professional, serving protected adults, we partnered with Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to offer a free Adult Protective Services (APS) program, delivering expert-led sessions that will expand your knowledge, skills and best practices.
Need Guidance?
If you need additional guidance, please contact Kayla Ziesmer, Office of Professional Continuing Education.