Getting The Most out of The Ccp - A tutorial for members who are currently practising

Hello and welcome to this webcast on getting more out of the Continuing Competence Program, or the CCP. At the end of this tutorial, you should have a much clearer understanding of the CCP requirements and a good sense of how to get more out of the program. Viewing the webcast is a way of setting aside structured time for self reflection and Self-Assessment. If you haven't already started this year's CCP, this webcast will help you catch up; if you'd like to improve or enhance what you've already done, or what you've done in previous years, this webcast should get you on your way. This webcast is directed at members who are currently practising social work or social service work. If you're not currently practising, there's another webcast designed specifically for you. You may also be interested in viewing the general overview of the CCP called "Introducing the Continuing Competence Program". Both of these can be found under the Professional Practice tab on the College website. As we get started, please take a moment to ensure that you have the following documents with you: The Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Handbook, 2nd Edition, 2008 and the Self-Assessment Tool and Professional Development Plan Documents (which is one booklet). You may also want to have the CCP Instruction Guide handy. This is a separate booklet, which is more likely to be useful when you're working on your own. Here's an overview of what we'll be covering in this tutorial. First I'm going to briefly outline the 5 steps involved in the CCP. We'll then talk in more detail about the different parts of the program: the Work Sheet, the Self-Assessment Tool and the Professional Development Plan. As you can see, there will be times when you might want to pause the webcast to work on the CCP documents themselves. Feel free to work on your CCP over several sessions. You can always come back to the section of the webcast that you need when you have more time. Tabs on the side of this slide show will help you easily get to the section that you need. You may decide to view this webcast with your colleagues, so that you'll be able to learn from the experience of others. By being a member of the College, you're saying that you are professional, ethical, qualified and accountable. You're saying something important about yourself and about your profession. One of your obligations as a registered SW or SSW is to fulfill continuing competency requirements set out by the College. Most regulatory colleges have continuing competency requirements; these are sometimes called QA or Continuing Education requirements Members of the public can be assured that as a member of the College, you are ethical and qualified, and continue to learn and develop as a professional. The CCP was launched in April 2009 after 2 phases of consultation with members, regulatory bodies and other stakeholders. It is mandatory for all members, even those who are not currently practising because they are on a leave, such as maternity, parental or sick leave, are unemployed or retired, are in the Inactive category of membership, or who registered late in the year. The Registration Regulation made under the Social Work and Social Service Work Act gives the College the authority to suspend the certificate of registration of members who do not comply with the CCP. This webcast is designed for those who are practising at present; if you are not currently practising, there is another webcast specifically for you, which you may find addresses your concerns or questions more directly. Based on the consultations, we developed the CCP as an adult education model that requires members to take responsibility for their own learning, to review the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, to complete a Self-Assessment, and to develop a professional development plan based on the needs that they identified in their Self-Assessment. All of this is to be done annually. One important piece about our Self-Assessment is that it is grounded in the 8 principles in the SOP. The program has been very well-received so far. Members have said that they appreciate the program's flexibility -- not only can they can set goals that are feasible and meaningful to them, but learning activities are defined very broadly and are not limited to attending workshops, courses or conferences. Although the College doesn't tell you, as a member, where or how to focus your learning, it does recommend that you spend a minimum of 25 hours per year on your CCP. There are 5 steps involved in completing the CCP. The first step is to complete the work sheet, which involves assessment of your current responsibilities and learning needs, and your future learning needs and goals. Although this worksheet is optional, it can be very useful in completing the rest of the CCP. The next two steps of the CCP are to complete your Self-Assessment Tool and your Professional Development Plan. We recommend that you complete these steps early in the calendar year, and they must be done every year. The CCP documents can be downloaded from the College website, saved to your own computer, completed electronically or printed and filled out by hand. Once you've completed your self-assessment and identified your goals and your learning plan in your PD Plan, you can start the fourth step, which is to carry out your learning activities. Throughout the year, review and document your progress in your PD Plan, making note of any changes or any unanticipated learning. You're required to keep evidence of having completed the goals you set out. The fifth and final step of the CCP is to make an annual declaration of participation in the CCP in the year prior; you will be required to do this at the end of every year, as part of the Annual Renewal of Registration. Section 4 of the renewal form is the declaration of participation in the CCP. So now, let's go into a bit more detail. Any Self-Assessment begins with the questions "Where am I now?" and perhaps "How do I see myself"? Although the first portion of the CCP -- the Optional Work Sheet on pages 4 and 5 of your Self-Assessment Tool and Professional Development Plan Documents booklet - isn't mandatory, it is a good foundation for your Self-Assessment Tool, which you must complete each year. If you really want to get the most you can out of your CCP, we suggest that you don't skip this step. Self-Assessment is an opportunity to take stock of where you have come from, where you find yourself now and where you wish to be in the future. This type of review can help you to identify goals that might otherwise elude you. This Self-Assessment process extends beyond your workplace performance, and enables you to look at where you are professionally, where you would like to be, and how various aspects of your life impact on your goals. Self perception and introspection provide a basis for formulating goals, and through this process, you are able to take responsibility for your own learning goals. Some people find this process difficult. If you are one of these people, there are a variety of tools that you might find helpful. Activities such as journaling, meditation or any activity that increases general awareness are good places to start. Self reflection, Self-Assessment, goal-setting, and working on your CCP goals is an ongoing process. The work sheet gets you started, by asking you to reflect on your current status. What are you currently doing? What is your current position? What are your current activities and responsibilities? You are then asked to look ahead and imagine what type of learning experiences you might require and desire. What do you wish you were doing? What do you need to learn? What are you interested in doing? This self reflection is just for you -- not for your employer or anyone else. You therefore have the opportunity to think broadly about where you want to go in your professional life. You may want to focus on what you are doing in your current position and how to improve and learn in that role. On the other hand, maybe you aren't sure that you want to stay in that position, or have hopes to move into a different role. This process gives you an opportunity to think about what skills you need now, and what you would like to develop for the future. The Work Sheet is a reflective exercise that can help you to begin to identify areas you wish to enhance. You may have noticed that the Work Sheet in your booklet doesn't look like this diagram. In completing the work sheet, try not to be limited by the questions and format. If a diagram like this one helps you in the reflective process, by all means use it. The formatting of the questions is not what is important. The intent of this process is reflection. You may want to take a few minutes now to complete the work sheet. Remember, the worksheet is optional but it can be very helpful in laying the foundation for the rest of the CCP documents. Jot down your ideas in point form. Don't worry about what you write being perfect. Your focus should be identifying your areas of responsibility -- current or new -- and what skills and knowledge you will need, in what areas. Try to be as specific as possible about the area and the skills required. So if you'd like to work on your worksheet, please pause this webcast now. Welcome back! The time that you took to reflect on your current responsibilities, and skills and knowledge you might need to develop will be very helpful in the next step of the CCP -- the Self-Assessment Tool. Before discussing the Self-Assessment Tool, I'd like to share a bit more information about the self-assessment process, which is supported in the adult learning literature. Social workers and social service workers can and should use their life experiences to gain knowledge and enhance skills related to practice. The literature indicates that adults learn best when they identify what they need to learn and have control over their own learning. Considering where you are in your life, personally and professionally, is important when deciding what goals you would like to set, and what learning activities would be most effective and feasible in order to meet those goals. Because these factors can change throughout our lives, remember that what worked early in your career may not be as useful now. It is also helpful to think about how you learn best, and keep this in mind when considering how you are going to meet the goals that you identify in your Self-Assessment. This information about who you are, where you are now, and how you learn is very helpful when completing your Self-Assessment Tool. The SAT can be found in the CCP booklet after the Worksheet, beginning on page 6. The SAT must be completed annually. It's best to complete the SAT as early as possible in the calendar year, so that it can help you identify your goals and guide your learning throughout the year. The first step in completing the SAT is to review each Principle in the Code of Ethics and SOP Handbook, including all the interpretations and footnotes. The CCP booklet only prints the general statement of each principle. Most members find that it's easier to complete the SAT section by section, meaning that you read one principle, along with its interpretations and footnotes in the Handbook -- Principle I: Relationship with Clients, for example -- and then complete the Self-Assessment questions related to that principle in the CCP booklet . In this example, after reading Principle I in the Handbook, you would then complete the questions on pages 6 and 7 of the CCP booklet. You should have a copy of the Handbook with you, but it's also available online. Even if you've read through the 8 Principles in the SOP before, you'll likely find something new each time you read them. The questions in the Self-Assessment Tool help guide you to reflect on your strengths and areas for further learning with respect to each of the principles. The SAT then asks you whether you plan to set a goal for that principle. You don't need to have a goal for every principle, and how many goals you set is up to you; this is a matter of professional judgment. One of the challenges of self-assessment is that professionals may over or underestimate their performance. As professionals, we may also tend to see what we want to see, or we may have blind spots. We may also be more likely to want to do further learning in an area we are good at, rather than an area where we might need to improve. Therefore, it may be helpful to involve your colleagues, trusted peers or even your supervisor in this part of the process: ask them what they see as your areas of strength. Has a past performance appraisal given you any ideas or direction? What about feedback from clients? Some members decide to complete parts, or even most, of the CCP in a group. You do need to have individual Self-Assessments and professional development plans to meet the CCP requirements, but working in a group can nevertheless be a good approach. Working with others may help you to gain a different or more accurate perspective on your areas of strength and opportunity. As you complete your Self-Assessment, keep in mind that areas for further learning don't have to be "weaknesses" -- they may simply be areas where you want to learn more. Some members wonder if they can substitute their Performance Appraisal for their Self-Assessment Tool and Professional Development Plan. The short answer is no. While there may be overlap between your SAT and your performance appraisal, there are some differences: first, the CCP requires you to frame your Self-Assessment in the SOP; second, the SAT is about professional growth, whereas a PA is tied to a performance review; and finally, you can take control of your professional life and learning needs with the CCP -- it is not necessarily only linked directly to your position with an individual employer, but is about your learning and growth as a professional. This diagram is another way of describing what's involved in completing the Self-Assessment Tool. As you reflect on each principle, you will identify those principles where you wish to strengthen your knowledge base and/or formulate a goal. This process requires ongoing reflection and assessment. Please remember that although you are required to read through each of the 8 principles and complete the self-assessment questions for each, you are not required to set a goal for every principle. Try to consider how the principle might impact your practice in some way. For example, some members may believe that Principle VII: Advertising only applies to members in private practice. In fact, there may be many ways that this principle applies in different agency, hospital and other settings. How can you represent yourself or the services of your department on the agency website or your business cards, for example? What if you are under some pressure to use testimonials in a grant proposal or to promote a group you are running? Try to think broadly as you review each principle, and remember that it is critical to be familiar with the standards that set out the minimum requirements for social work and social service work practice. You may want to take this opportunity to begin completing your own Self-Assessment Tool. One approach may be to complete one or two principles during this webcast, and then come back to complete the rest on your own time. Take a moment now to open your Self-Assessment Tool and PD Plan Booklet to page 6. You should see Principle I: Relationship with Clients. If you prefer to work on another Principle first, feel free to choose another one of the 8 principles. Remember, in order to complete the SAT, you will be required to review all 8 principles. After you have read the principle and its interpretations and footnotes, complete the questions in the tool which you will also see on the screen -- how does this principle relate to your practice? what are your strengths? What areas could you learn more about, or perhaps need improvement or strengthening? Is this an area you would like to focus on by setting a learning goal? I would like to draw your attention (especially if you are in indirect or non-clinical practice) to the meaning of client under the explanatory note tab at the beginning of the Handbook. "Client" refers to any person or body that is the recipient of social work or social service work services. In defining the client or client system, you could ask "to whom do I have an obligation in respect to the services I am providing? Client could refer to an individual, a family, a group, community, organization or government. In research, a client could therefore be a participant. If you are in education, your client could be your students. Remember the challenges with self-assessment that I talked about earlier. We all have blinders, but try to reflect as honestly and openly as you can on your practice. If you haven't asked for any feedback, you might still want to consider what colleagues, peers, clients or a manager or supervisor might have to say about your practice in relation to the principle. Remember that the CCP is for you and you are not required to submit your CCP documents. You will get more out of the program and your learning will be more relevant if you are able to be open and honest in your Self-Assessment. If you would like to start completing your own SAT during this webcast, please pause this webcast now. You can also return to the self-assessment later when you have more time. Remember, though, that the Self-Assessment Tool forms the basis for your Professional Development Plan and the learning that you will carry out throughout the year. Now that you have completed some or all of your self-assessment, it's time to transfer your goals to your Professional Development Plan. Like the SAT, the PD Plan must be completed every year. Look at the goal or goals that you identified in your SAT. Remember that you don't need to have a goal for every principle, and how many goals you set is up to you, using your professional judgment. Transfer your goal or goals over to the PD Plan, which is a chart that can be found on page 26 of the CCP booklet. You'll see that you need to identify each goal, as well as the principle and interpretations it applies to in the first column of the PD Plan. You may find it helpful to review the examples of PD Plans on pages 22-25 before beginning yours. Once you have transferred your goals to the first column of the PD Plan, break the goal down into learning objectives. Goals are broad statements; objectives are more specific. In identifying your objectives, you might want to ask yourself "what do I want to know or be able to do?" Your objectives should be "SMART": specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. The point here is to move away from objectives that are so general that they don't have much meaning, to objectives that are specific and clear and have a time frame. This way, you will be very clear on what you want to accomplish and when you want to accomplish it by. For example, if your overall goal is to improve your group skills, your objective may be to plan and provide a support group for clients of your agency by December 2012. The next column in the PD Plan asks you to identify learning activities. Learning activities in the CCP are defined broadly. If you go to page 17 of the CCP Instruction Guide, you will see that learning activities could include a wide range of activities, from continuing education, to research, to applied learning to teaching. You might decide that your learning goals are best met by attending a conference, course, lecture, seminar or workshop. On the other hand, depending on your goal, your learning needs could also be met by conducting research or writing an article, reading books or articles independently, doing online learning, observing another person's setting or practice, or participating in applied learning such as supervision, co-therapy or co-leading a group. Learning activities could also include professional networking such as peer supervision or a study group, teaching, or participating in professional organizations or committee work. Your learning activities should be relevant to your goal and should have a connection to practice. In many continuing education models, activities such as reading books/journals, experiential learning and ongoing peer consultation would not be counted as Continuing Education Credits, or CEU's. Yet these are the activities that social workers and social service workers engage in most often. It's interesting to note that research with practising physicians identified informal sources of learning like consultation with peers as having the greatest impact on practice. The "Evidence of Accomplishment" column is where you should indicate what will be in place once you have met your goal. You could also ask yourself what will be different when you meet your goal. In the support group example we used earlier, evidence could be something like "support group facilitated". In the Target Date column, you should indicate when you hope to achieve the goal. Once you have completed your PD Plan to this point, you have done the ground work of the CCP. You're in a great position to work toward your goals throughout the year, to track your accomplishments in the PD Plan and to keep a separate file of "evidence" of having met your goals. We are aware that you may not always complete all your goals. It is useful to break larger goals down into more manageable objectives, however you can carry over goals from one year to the next. As you meet your goals, be sure to keep evidence of having accomplished them. This could be something like a certificate of completion for a workshop, a list of articles read or websites visited, or a list of peer group or supervision meetings. It may be helpful at this point to go over a couple of examples of PD Plans. One relates to clinical practice, while the other is a non-clinical , indirect practice example. The first example relates to documentation. The Learning Goal in the first column is "To improve SW/SSW documentation on an electronic record system". This relates to Principle IV: The SW and SSW Record and to Principle V: Confidentiality. The Learning Objective in the 2nd column is "To ensure that SW/SSW documentation practices meet College and Accreditation standards by reviewing requirements and creating clear agency policies and practices by June 2012." This objective is SMART -- it is specific, it can be measured, it has a timeframe and it is feasible and realistic. Column 3 relates to learning activities. This goal is a good example of one that is not best met through workshops. The learning activities identified are reviewing Practice Notes, reviewing College resources such as the PHIPA Toolkit, reviewing external resources such as accreditation requirements, seeking a legal opinion, and consulting with other SW/SSWs. Evidence that the goal is met , in column 4, would be that areas of concern in documentation practices would be identified, clear agency guidelines would be developed and reviewed, and consistent standards would be used by all SWs and SSWs at the agency. The target date set for this learning is June 2012. While the member was not able to complete all the activities by that date, they did finish work on this goal by August 2012. This last column would be filled out later in the year, as the activities were completed. Let's take a look at another example that relates to non-clinical and indirect practice. In this example, the goal is to develop a funding proposal for a community drug strategy. The more specific, SMART objective is "To submit a funding proposal to a funder by May 2012 after reviewing relevant literature and engaging community partners and stakeholders." The learning activities identified to meet the goal are a literature review, community consultation, and the development of a budget in consultation with directors at the agency. Evidence of accomplishment would be that best practices in this area would be identified, the literature would be reviewed and the proposal which was written and submitted would include a budget and would reflect best practices and successful projects by other groups. The target date was set as May 2012, and this goal was completed on time. If you think it might be helpful to see some other examples before working on your own PD Plan, you may want to turn to the examples beginning on page 22 of the CCP booklet. Now that you've looked at some examples of PD Plans, you may want to transfer one or more of your goals to your own PD Plan. Look back at your Self-Assessment Tool, and select one of the goals you identified. Transfer it to the PD plan and begin to complete the columns. You won't be able to complete the "Goal Attained" column until you begin to work on your goal. As the year progresses, and you complete your learning activities, you should document it here and keep evidence of your accomplishment in hard copy or in an electronic folder. Evidence could mean several different things: a certificate of completion from a workshop, a list of articles you've read, a saved copy of a PowerPoint presentation that you gave, or a list of peer supervision meetings attended -- anything to indicate that you engaged in the learning activity and accomplished your goal. You can pause this webcast now in order to work on your PD Plan. There are lots of different ways to ensure that you complete your CCP in a timely manner, track your learning efficiently and get the most out of the program. Some members set 15 minutes aside at the end of every week to update their CCP and to reflect on their progress toward their goals. Even doing this monthly can help to ensure that you don't lose track of important learning. Other members complete the Self-Assessment Tool and the PD Plan in pairs or groups, with peers and/or colleagues, and then meet regularly either to discuss ongoing learning or to work together on the learning activities that they have identified. Some members choose to include their manager or supervisor in part of the discussion and reflection. While you must have your own CCP documents, this doesn't mean that you can't benefit a great deal from input and discussion with others. Remember: you do not submit your CCP materials, but you must keep your documents for seven years; you must also keep evidence of your learning activities. Before we finish today's tutorial, here are some tips to take away, to ensure you get the most out of your CCP: Try using the Work Sheet - The CCP Work Sheet is optional, but it can be a valuable springboard for the remainder of the program. Do it with a colleague or a group - Even though you are responsible for your own CCP, feedback from others -- peers, colleagues, your supervisor or manager -- can be an effective way to overcome any blind spots with respect to your practice and your Self-Assessment. Make a date with yourself - Reserve a specific time to update and add to your CCP on a weekly or monthly basis. Give yourself credit - Remember to track your CCP regularly. You may want to try transferring items from your agenda to your CCP at the end of every week, and finally, Use technology - Download a copy of the CCP documents from the website and open an electronic folder for evidence of your learning activities. This makes documenting and tracking your learning experiences easy and efficient. I hope that as a result of today's tutorial, you now have a solid understanding of the five steps involved in completing the CCP, as well as a good sense of some of your obligations as a regulated professional. Perhaps you've already made a good start on your CCP documents for this year. Most importantly, we hope you're feeling much clearer about how the CCP provides a structured format for self-reflection, self-assessment and meaningful and ongoing professional learning. The CCP pages on the College website contain lots of helpful information about the CCP. You've now come to the end of this tutorial. Staff in the College's Professional Practice Department will be pleased to discuss the CCP with you if you have any further questions. You can contact us by using the contact information on the screen. Thank you for participating in the tutorial today, and good luck with your CCP.