Inter-Professional Collaboration (2 Hours) -Arizona

Delivering a comprehensive exploration of multidisciplinary teamwork, this two-credit-hour course equips practitioners with essential knowledge to collaborate effectively with prescribing healthcare professionals. Because licensed counselors and marriage and family therapists cannot prescribe medications, Remley and Herlihy (2020) emphasize that practitioners must be prepared to work cooperatively with physicians to optimize client care. Understanding psychopharmacology is a clinical competency that Hart and Ksir (2022) identify as crucial for evaluating the medical implications of psychological disability and for ensuring clients receive holistic support. Counselors do not prescribe, so the course focuses on recognizing medication effects, coordinating with prescribers, and making appropriate referrals. By exploring how psychotropic medications influence treatment outcomes, counselors can better coordinate comprehensive care with external medical providers. Recognizing the profound ways that biological factors impact cognition allows clinical staff, guided by the diagnostic frameworks of the American Psychiatric Association (2013) throughout the evaluation process, to provide accurate assessments and targeted medical referrals. Upon successful completion of the post-test, hours are reported directly to CE Broker.