Best ways to use professional development funds

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thebalmofhurtminds

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Ideas?

The traditional, the unique, the most helpful, the complete waste of time, etc.?

I had planned on using a good chunk for conferences, so trying to figure out what might be the best use of my money within the parameters.
 
You mean employer sponsored CME/CE funds? Depends on the rules your org sets. We can buy laptops and tablets with ours.
Yes. I doubt we can buy laptops, but I'm waiting to hear back for more specifics about what's allowed. Was brainstorming in the meantime.
 
In terms of what is allowed in ours, I usually spend the bulk on travel and conferences. At the end of the year, I usually buy any reference books I need, or want in order to spend down the yearly funds. My spouse buys the laptops with hers, she gets several thousand more a year than I do.
 
Disclaimer 1: I haven't had a CE stipend in a long time.
Disclaimer 2: Your risk tolerance for travel, or angering people are likely to vary.

1) Look into your state's CEU requirements. Some states allow you to take CMEs instead of CEUs. This opens a lot of doors. This may work with CLEs, but I don't know.
2) Normal stuff like buy memberships, books, whatever, board cert stuff, etc. If you're just curious, it might be fun to get a membership to some odd ball thing, look at their listservs for a year.
3) There are several CME/CEU companies that will charge you a high subscription fee for the year. BUT they give you a "free" gift card as a reward for subscribing. You don't care, because it's not your money. Example: they charge you $3k for the year, then "give" you a $2k gift card. Even better if you put this on some reward credit cards, and get reimbursed. The one that digests audio stuff is like this.
4) uptodate is pretty cool
5) If you are willing to be risky, are willing to read exactly what your contract says, and are willing to read your state's laws: Search for CME by (place you want to go because you feel like risking covid OR BY activity you like). Usually, you can sit through the morning lecture, get 2-3 hrs, and be done before noon. Simple googling shows there are several in Florida, Hawaii, etc now. There's even an Alaskan cruise, if you're feeling suicidal.
6) Maybe some grad school courses, an MPH, MSCP, etc. IDK if those count. Or how those are being done these days.

7) Get a membership to the PsyDr Center For Psychologists Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too! CE accreditation TBD. Courses include: man against man: experiences in happy hour, abject relations theory in dating, recursive discourse on fixation, yo mama jokes and their relation to the unconscious, rationalizing emotions therapy, beyond dignity leads to freedom: skinner got it half right, etc.
 
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Good ideas:
-State and national org membership fees
-Licensing fees
-Study materials for licensing exams (may or may not apply to you)
-Expenses to national conferences (including research conferences) where you can bank CEUs
-Professional Books

Terrible Ideas:
-EMDR certification
-Somatosensory, somatic experiencing certification
-Anything and everything by PESI (How do they find you?)
-Random and oddly specific professional organizations
-The Evolution of Psychotherapy (much cheaper to just read their books)

Disclaimer: My current institution would pay for all of these.
 
Agree with others, and with what you're probably already planning--start with things you'd normally buy on your own anyway (e.g., licensing and board fees, professional and national/state/local psych org memberships, etc.). Once that's tapped out, I'd second the recommendations on books/manuals that seem interesting and random other orgs/divisions that seem interesting. Maybe buy some CEU credits for journal articles you would've read anyway.

With so many conferences being virtual this/next year, you could probably sign up for a half-dozen and have enough CEs for your next renewal, assuming they allow you a reasonable amount of time to work through the recordings.
 
Example, please.

I used to get a lot of emails from these people in graduate school.


This is new to me. Alanis Morissette???

Oh, she's back lol? I volunteered there a number of years ago as a younger R. Matey. It was a three day commercial for various books, certifications, etc. Waste of time, IMHO.

Many state boards have the contact info, names and emails, of licensed psychologists in their state and will sell that information to interested parties.

Ah, I see. I'll just get my CEUs from journal articles once I'm actually licensed.
 
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Thanks for all the ideas, all! I get separate reimbursement for licensure and board certification, so with the lack of travel this year, I've found myself in the strange situation of having extra money.
 
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