CDP Professional Development Courses
Continually updated to meet the changing needs of new and experienced Career Development Practitioners, we offer professional development on a wide variety of topics.
Please check back regularly to see our upcoming offerings and if there is an professional development course you would like to see offered, please let us know at facsce@douglascollege.ca
Mental Health Strategies will provide CDPs with concrete strategies to support clients with mental health challenges. It will also provide strategic tools for CDPs to use for their own mental health while working with clients.
Participants in this workshop will leave with solid foundational information about mental health. If participants have already taken the Mental Health First Aid Kit training, this training will build on some of those fundamentals specifically within the Career Development context.
Course Topics covered:
- neurobiology and mental health
- strategies to support mental health
- working with suicide ideation
- making appropriate referrals
- handling mental health conversations
This training is offered over two-days and can be delivered either in-person or virtually. It is also offered in-house or can be customized for your setting. We may also offer this as a three-week asynchronous training in the fall of 2025.
CFCC 1200 - Mental Health Strategies for CDPs
| Dates | November 2 - 22, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Synchronous Online |
| Tuition | $525.00 |
| CRN | TBA |
| To Register | Call 604 527 5472 or contact CE Registration |
While the rest of the Career Development Advanced Program is under program review, this elective is available to all students - no prerequisites required.
This course is designed to introduce the key aspects of Indigenous employment in Canada and the historical and contemporary factors that influence choices for today’s Indigenous job seeker.
Topics included in this course will be:
- Indigenous employment history
- Impacts of systemic barriers
- Identifying labour market opportunities
- Leveraging unique strengths within Indigenous communities to increase job retention
CDPP 500 - Indigenous Topics in Employment
| Dates | May 4 - 31, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Asynchronous Online |
| Tuition | $528.00 |
| Textbook Required? | Available at the DC Bookstore |
| CRN | 21025 |
| To Register | Call 604 527 5472 or contact CE Registration |
In this experiential course, participants will learn a practical five-step process to identify their clients' mental health challenges, to amplify their existing coping strategies and to build on them. A toolbox of coping strategies will be introduced that are drawn from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Students will also consider the systemic issues clients face, providing a broader context for the application of these tools.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Gain a deeper understanding of anxiety, including its various manifestations in clients
2. Understand common signs of mental health challenges using a Signs & Signals of Mental Health Challenges tool
3. Be introduced to and practice identifying a client’s primary mental health concern(s) by using a Guided Mental Health Check-in
4. Learn how to identify and amplify clients’ existing coping strategies using a series of solution-focused questions
5. Gain exposure to and practice using tools from a Coping Strategies Toolbox which can complement clients’ current strategies
CDGI 420 - Working with Anxiety: Tools for CDPs
| Dates | May 23 & 30, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Synchronous Online |
| Tuition | $528.00 |
| Textbook Required? | Resources will be provided in Blackboard |
| CRN | 21090 |
| To Register | Call 604 527 5472 or contact CE Registration |
In this interactive workshop participants will develop an understanding of self-care and self-compassion and how these relate to the workplace. It offers career development professionals strategies to support their well-being at work in ways that are trauma-informed, consider the social determinants of mental health, and recognize that the workplace is relational. It acknowledges that our work happens in a broader set of systems which means that taking care of you isn’t all on you as an individual, rather it also necessitates organizational considerations.
Topics covered:
- Define self-care and self-compassion
- Explore the intersection of vicarious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue and well-being at work
- Identify strategies to support your mental health and well-being at work
- Identify organizational contributions to care and psychological safety at work
CFCC 1300 - Self Care for CDPs and Clients
| Dates | May 3 & 10, 2025 |
| Delivery | 9:00am to 4:30pm Live on Zoom |
| Cost | $525.00 |
| CRN | 21024 |
| To Register | Call 604 527 5472 or contact CE Registration |
This course is designed to provide CDPs with enhanced self-awareness and self-understanding while providing information on the counsellor-client relationship and effective helping skills. Biases, values and beliefs, as they impact the CDP interaction, will also be explored.
- Increased self-awareness and self understanding, with emphasis on exploring one’s assumptions, beliefs, values, and biases in the context of helping relationships
- Acquisition of tools for understanding your clients as diverse and holistic beings
- Understanding the counsellor-client relationship and how to develop a therapeutic alliance
- Introduction of a helping/counselling model (Relating, Understanding, Changing)
- Foundation skills for effective helping: Listening and communication skills
COUN 401 - Basic Counselling Skills
| Dates | November 14 - 21, 2025 |
| Delivery | 9:00am to 4:30pm Live on Zoom |
| Cost | $525.00 |
| CRN | 31030 |
| To Register | Call 604 527 5472 or contact CE Registration |