Georgia Board Of Nursing

This course is designed to enhance participants’ clinical understanding of denial as a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral process commonly associated with substance use disorders. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between denial and the progression of addictive disease, including how denial may interfere with insight, motivation for change, treatment engagement, relapse prevention, and long-term recovery.

Participants will examine denial as a treatment barrier that must be addressed concurrently with the underlying substance use disorder. The course explores common forms and stages of denial, their connection to the addiction cycle, and the ways denial may present in client communication, behavior, and resistance to treatment. Practical intervention strategies and structured therapeutic exercises are introduced to help clinicians support clients in increasing awareness, reducing defensiveness, improving accountability, and strengthening readiness for recovery.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

The primary purpose of mental health and substance use treatment must be the therapeutic care and treatment of individuals who are suffering from mental health and addiction issues. It must never be the financial or personal gain of the practitioner or facility. Those suffering are inevitably vulnerable.

This course will explore both fraud and waste. We will also look at strategies to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of resources. We will explore how you can be a part of the solution.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Creative and specialized therapies can often be a roundabout way of enabling clients to open up and explore vulnerabilities more cautiously.  This course will explore utilizing music, art, play, movement, pets, and aroma in therapy.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus.

The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and, in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently, avoiding touching your face, and avoiding close contact (1 meter or 3 feet) with unwell people.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Telemental health has become an increasingly established modality for delivering behavioral health services through secure, interactive audio-visual technologies. As clinical practice continues to expand beyond traditional office-based settings, mental health professionals must be prepared to evaluate when virtual care is clinically appropriate, ethically sound, and responsive to client needs.

This course examines the clinical, ethical, and practical foundations of telemental health practice. Topics include definitions and models of telemental health, potential benefits and limitations of virtual service delivery, client appropriateness and screening considerations, risk management, informed consent, confidentiality, emergency planning, and relevant professional ethical standards. The course also introduces reimbursement and documentation considerations that may affect the delivery of telemental health services across practice settings.

Course Creation Date:  5/7/2026

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Addicts, more than anyone, know that what is put in the body alters health, mood, and abilities.  The same holds if the substance is alcohol, other drugs, or food.  Nutrition plays an important part in overall health and recovery from substance abuse.

This course will explore the connection between nutrition and drugs, how substance abuse disrupts nutrition, the nutritional side effects of detox, what nutrients can benefit recovery, and food as an addiction.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

The goal of this program is to explore approaches to prevent medical errors that are both system-based and human performance-based and The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals as they pertain to medical errors in hospitals.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Motivational interviewing is a client-centered, directive counseling method aimed at enhancing intrinsic motivation that helps people resolve ambivalent feelings and insecurities to find the internal motivation they need to change their behavior.

This course will discuss ambivalence and its role in client motivation, overall and specific to substance abuse issues. We will explore the five basic principles of motivational interviewing that can be used to address ambivalence and to facilitate the change process. We will also look at approaches to use with clients in the early stages of treatment.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Working in the substance abuse treatment field presents dilemmas relating to personal beliefs, judgments, and values. The history of how society views persons with addictions is fraught with emotions, misconceptions, and biases that have affected the care of drug abusers.

This course will explore the definition of ethics and how it differs from morality and law.  We will look at the terms frequently used, structured processes for solving ethical issues, and potential areas of ethical challenges such as recovering addicts as professionals, e-therapy, and competence.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Successful outcomes do not come by accident. A good mental health professional will work with the client to carefully construct a treatment plan that provides the best chances of treatment success.

This course will explore treatment plans, how they are constructed, and how they can help ensure positive gains in therapy.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others.

This course will explore what human trafficking is, how it occurs and who is most vulnerable, how to recognize risk factors, The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the Justice for Victims Act of 2015, as well as how drug use is linked to trafficking, treatment options and procedures to helping fight this crisis.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

The course Eating Disorders depicts the factors that may control eating habits/disorders, the serious disturbances in eating, the cause of eating disorders, the main types of eating disorders, and when they may start.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

Drug or alcohol detoxification is the first step to recovery.
A detox will withdraw clients from the drugs or alcohol they take most safely and comfortably possible.  A protocol standardizes the process. This course will explore the standard practices facilities employ to assist with detoxification.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

The recent events of terror, storm destruction, and wildfires have punctuated the importance of educating all healthcare providers on emergency preparedness and bioterrorism.

This course will discuss emergencies and disasters both natural and man-made.  We will explore what should be included in emergency response plans and what is needed in preparation.  We will look at how mental health professionals can respond to trauma.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.

This course provides a clinical overview of trauma, abuse, neglect, and exploitation, with an emphasis on emotional and psychological trauma across the lifespan. Participants will examine underlying causes, including commonly overlooked contributors, as well as risk factors that increase vulnerability and the impact of early life trauma on future outcomes. The course also reviews symptom presentation, indicators for professional intervention, and evidence-informed strategies to support stabilization, recovery, and ongoing resilience.

Created 10/27/2015.

This course is offered online. Internet connection required.