Continuing Education Credit Program

We've been approved! Our first NYS Continuing Education Credit offering was held in April 2021! We offer a robust schedule of workshops. Check out our Event Calendar for the latest.

 

The Westchester Center for Psychological Education (WCPE), the Education Committee and Board of Accreditation of the WCPA, is approved by the American Psychological Association as a sponsor of Continuing Education in Psychology. Throughout the year, the WCPE sponsors credit courses, workshops and lectures on topics of interest in the field of psychology to both members of WCPA as well as non-members.

As you know, legislation for new CE requirements for psychologists in NY was passed in 2018. The NY State Education Department (SED) then issued proposed regulations for CEs. NYSPA, other psychological organizations, and individual psychologists submitted more than 200 comments during the subsequent 60-day period of public comment. We were hopeful that we would have some influence in shaping the regulations and our most important goal was to delay the implementation of the regulations due to the ongoing pandemic. Unfortunately, SED replied that they could not delay implementation because it is written into legislation. Any amendments to the legislation would require action on the part of the Governor. As such, CE regulations went into effect on January 1, 2021 as originally planned.


Adjustments to Proposed Regulations


Although we received disappointing news about the implementation date, SED was responsive to some of our concerns and made a few adjustments to the regulations in recognition of the pandemic. These include:

  • Conditional Registration: Psychologists can renew their registration without having completed the required number of CE credits. However, there will be an additional fee associated with this option. At the end of the one-year conditional period, the psychologist will need to renew their registration again and attest to having completed the total required number of CEs.
  • Self-study option: 100% of CE credits for the year 2021 can be earned through self-study, which includes any course offered by a CE provider approved by SED.
  • Ethics requirement: The required 3 CEs of ethics will not go into effect until the first full 3-year renewal period following 2021- which essentially means you do not need to obtain the ethics CEs until renewal periods beginning in 2024.


Quick Q&A

I have received several questions in the past couple of months so I thought I would provide a brief Q&A reviewing the most popular ones.

Q: When did you begin offer CEs?
A: April 2021.


Q: How many CEs will I need to renew my registration?
A: You will need to complete 1 hour of CE for each month in the period beginning January 1, 2021 up through the date of your registration renewal. For example, if your current registration expires on May 31, 2021, you will need to complete 5 CEs.


Q: Do I need to complete 1 CE each month or can I complete CEs anytime throughout the registration period to equal the final number of CEs I need for registration renewal?
A: You can earn CEs at any time during your registration period – you do not need to earn one per month. You just need to be able to attest to having completed the required number of CEs at the time you renew your registration.


Q: Do CEs from APA approved CE sponsors count in NY?
A: Unfortunately, no. SED will not recognize any CEs provided by an entity that did not apply to be an approved CE provider in NY. To date, APA has not applied to SED and likely won’t because APA believes it should be automatically recognized as an approved provider as they are in most other states.


Q: If I earn more than the required CEs for my registration renewal, can I roll them over to my next registration period?
A: No. Any additional CEs earned beyond the required amount will not count toward the next registration period. In addition, any CEs earned before January 1, 2021 will also not count toward the current renewal period.


Q: Does reading a book or article count for CEs?
A: Yes BUT this is considered Independent Study, which has some specific requirements. You must complete 3 clock hours of work to earn 1 CE. And you have to write a narrative account of what you learned and prepare a written evaluation of the activity. So it’s a bit more involved and a bit risky because the activity is not guaranteed to be approved by SED.

 

Q: Where can I find the CEs WCPA/WCPE offer?
A: Recorded presentations offering CEs can be found here. Our Event Calendar lists all our upcoming events, CE eligibility is indicated on each event listing. WCPA Members can access past presentations through our Video Library.


What is WCPA Doing to Support Members in Meeting CE Requirements?

***We've been approved! Our first NYS Continuing Education Credit offering will be held in April 2021!


We know this is a big change and worse yet, we are having to navigate it during a pandemic. We have been working hard to do everything we can to make it easy as possible for you to fulfill the CE requirements. Below is a brief overview of what we have done in the past month and half:

  1. Submitted our application to SED to be an approved CE provider. WCPE (i.e., The Westchester Center for Psychological Education, which is the educational arm of WCPA) has been a long-time APA approved CE sponsor so we have robust processes in place and we fully expect to receive NY approval. And because WCPE is already an APA approved CE sponsor, once we are approved by NY, our offerings will count toward NY and any state that accepts CEs offered by APA approved CE sponsors. It is important to note that SED requires that 90 days elapse between the date an application was submitted and the first CE offering. As a result, WCPE will not be able to offer NY approved CEs until the beginning of April (assuming we are approved). Please be sure to take this timeline into consideration when mapping out your plan to earn required CEs- this is especially true for members with registration renewals in the first half of 2021.
  2. Developed live, interactive CE offerings via zoom that will begin in February so that you have easy access to CEs. And as members of WCPA, you will be able to earn your CE credits at substantially discounted rates relative to other providers.
  3. Organized a live Q&A session for February 5th to answer questions. Members of WCPA can view this through our Video Library.