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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Demonstrate how physical activity and outdoor activities can be helpful or useful for people living with MS.

  • Identify the mood benefits of First Descent Programs.

  • Highlight some of the research focused on First Descent’s work, as well as more general research about being physically active and involved in outdoor activities/sports for people living with MS, chronic, or serious illness.

Course Summary

Outdoor adventure programs can be helpful for the mental health of people living with multiple sclerosis for a number of reasons.

First, these programs provide a structured environment in which participants can trial skills that they may have discussed in therapy. This can be beneficial for testing the limits of perceived capabilities, practicing problem-solving, and improving communication skills. Additionally, these programs often take place outdoors, in nature, which research has shown provides mental health benefits. Finally, these programs typically involve physical activity, which can help to improve mood and reduce stress levels. Overall, outdoor adventure programs offer a unique combination of physical, mental, and emotional benefits for people living with multiple sclerosis.

In this course, we will talk with an individual with multiple sclerosis who completed the First Descents program, an MS psychologist and researcher who has published on the benefits of wilderness programs for individuals with serious medical diagnoses, and the Vice President of Programs for First Descents.

Learn more about how these programs could be helpful to your patients and clients today!

Course Curriculum

Created & Published: June 23, 2022

    1. Course Instructions

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Course Content the Way YOU Learn Best - Podcast, Transcript, or YouTube Video

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Adventure & Wilderness Programs: Post-Test Assessment

    4. Adventure & Wilderness Programs: Course Evaluation

    5. BONUS Content - Adventure Resource Page for Your Clinical Practice

About this course

  • $25.00
  • 1.25 CE

References

Find Empathy Education is Based in Research

  • Herring TE, Knowles LM, Alschuler KN. Outdoor Adventure Programs for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. Int J MS Care. 2021 Jul-Aug;23(4):186-192.

  • Bowen DJ, Neill JT. A meta-analysis of adventure therapy outcomes and moderators. Open Psychol J. 2013;6:28–53.

  • Outdoor Adventure for Young Adults Living with Cancer and MS. First Descents. Accessed June 4, 2020. https://firstdescents.org

  • Mutz M, Müller J. Mental health benefits of outdoor adventures: Results from two pilot studies. J Adolesc. 2016 Jun;49:105-14. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.03.009. Epub 2016 Mar 31. PMID: 27038974.

  • Zebrack B, Kwak M, Sundstrom L. First Descents, an adventure program for young adults with cancer: who benefits? Support Care Cancer. 2017;25:3665–3673.

Instructors

Rehabilitation Psychologist and an Acting Assistant Professor Tracy Herring, PhD

Tracy Herring, PhD, is a rehabilitation psychologist and an acting assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Herring specializes in working with people living with chronic medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Her clinical work focuses on helping patients improve management of symptoms and enhance quality of life. Her research interests include non-pharmacological management of symptoms and improving coping and adjustment to medical condition or disability.

Vice President of Programs for First Descents Mackenzie McGrath

Mackenzie combines her passion for the outdoors and her commitment to supporting the health and survivorship of others as the Vice President of Programs at First Descents (FD). FD provides free outdoor adventures to young adults impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions. FD is consistently ranked in Outside Magazine's Top Places to Work. Prior to FD, Mackenzie spent a decade designing and managing international aid and development programs in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She was an aid worker and a US Foreign Service Officer/U.S. Diplomat for USAID. Mackenzie also ran a consulting firm and supported a host of clients, including, Mercy Corps, International Development Enterprises, Women's Regional Network, Tearfund UK and more. She has a Master's in International Studies and Humanitarian Assistance from the University of Denver. She also obtained Certificate in Global Mental Health through Harvard University and speaks Russian and Spanish. In her spare time, you can find Mackenzie rock or ice climbing, skiing, biking, and traveling. She spends her winters ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado and the rest of the year on the Front Range in Colorado.

First Descents participant diagnosed with MS & Radiation Oncologist Jennifer Lee, MD

Dr. Lee has a strong interest in global health and has done work internationally and has given many presentations on her work. She is most proud of helping to draft the National Cancer Care Guidelines of Botswana while in Africa. In her free time, she is very active and loves trail ultra-marathons, road marathons, yoga and CrossFit.

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Approved CE Provider
PSYCHOLOGISTS
Empathie, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Empathie, LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

COUNSELORS.
Find Empathy has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7257. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Find Empathy is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
SOCIAL WORKERS
Find Empathy, #1817, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period:
 06/14/2022 – 06/14/2023.   Social workers completing this course receive 1.25 continuing education credit.



How to Take this Course & Criteria to Receive CE Credit

To obtain a certificate of completion for continuing education credits associated with this course, please follow the following steps:

  • ENROLL in this course and create an Empathy account

  • COMPLETE COURSE CONTENT in one of 3 ways:
    • Listen to the corresponding course podcast by streaming it on the webpage, downloading the audio file, or listening to it on your favorite podcast provider.
    • Read the podcast transcript, in its entirety
    • Watch podcast video on YouTube

  • TAKE THE POST-TEST assessment and achieve a passing grade of at least 75%

  • Complete the COURSE EVALUATION

Remember, full attendance is required for all CE activities. This means you will be asked to certify that you listened, watched, or read the entire podcast episode.
Once you have completed the above steps, your course certificate will automatically populate for download and will automatically be sent to the email linked to your account. It can be downloaded immediately and will be available for future download.

Accommodations

It is absolutely critical that our program exemplifies accessibility for all participants.

We seek to ensure all participants are able to fully, equally, and independently access the educational content. Our goal is to have a website that is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. If you have any difficulty navigating the website, we want to know! Please contact us at info@findempathy.com.

While our educational offerings are primarily in podcast format, we also provide a written transcript for each course. It will be available on the course landing page and available for download in PDF format.

CE credits require a post-test assessment. The assessment is untimed and provided in writing on the course website. However, for individuals with visual impairments, or those that may benefit from an orally presented post-test and program evaluation, contact us. We will work with you to find an alternative option for completing the course post-test and program evaluation.

We remain available and open to ANY additional requests for format modification or additional assistance.

If any accommodations are needed to enroll or participate in the course, or complete the post-test and course evaluation, please contact us at info@findempathy.com.

Access & Expiration Information

COURSE ACCESS
Once enrolling in a course, you will have 30 days to complete the post-test and course evaluation. If your access lapses before completing all tasks, you will need to re-enroll.

CERTIFICATE ACCESS
Once you have completed the post-test and program evaluation, your certificate will be immediately available for download. Access to the certificate will expire after 365 days. Find Empathy will keep course certificates on file for 7 years. If a certificate is needed, contact info@findempathy.com.

POST TEST RETAKE POLICY
You are allotted 3 retries to achieve the acceptable 75% passing grade.

Additional Information

WHO IS THE COURSE FOR?
This course is intended for psychologists and social workers.
It is also appropriate for mental health counselors and therapists.
The instructional level is at the introductory and intermediate level.

COURSE FORMAT
The primary format of the course is podcast; a non-interactive distance-learning recorded audio continuing education course.

It is available via all major podcast providers including, but not limited to Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also listen to the podcast via the player on our website or download it for free to your favorite digital device.

To ensure our course material is accessible, we also provide the content in video (with subtitles) and written forms.

COMMERCIAL SUPPORT
There is no known commercial support or conflict of interest for this CE program, content, or instructor(s).

QUESTIONS?
Contact us at info@findempathy.com. We will do our best to return your email within 24-48 hours during business hours: Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm eastern.

If you have any questions, concerns, or grievances please email us at info@findempathy.com.

You can also see our grievance policy via the following link: https://findempathy.com/grievance

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