10 Best Online CEU Courses for Social Workers

The best online CEU courses for social workers count toward your license renewal and give you skills you can use with your next client. Here at eCare Behavioral Health Institute, our catalog of continuing education courses for social workers covers trauma, ethics, motivational interviewing, personality disorders, and more. We narrowed it down to the 10 we recommend most.

We’re an accredited continuing education provider, approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. We’re also approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) and NAADAC.

Below, we ranked each course on its learner rating, the presenter’s expertise, and how directly the skills apply to social work practice. Every pick is a recorded CE course you can finish at your own pace.

Top 10 Online Continuing Education Courses for Social Workers

Here’s our full ranking at a glance. Together, these online CEU courses add up to 43 CE hours, and you can start any of them today.

1. Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical Supervision

If you supervise MSWs working toward licensure, you’re responsible for your supervisee’s growth and for the welfare of their clients. Frances Patterson, PhD, built this clinical supervision ethics course around the dilemmas that come with that dual role.

Through case examples, you’ll work through dual relationships, competence concerns, reporting obligations, supervisee misconduct, and boundary problems. You’ll also learn ethical decision-making frameworks and practical methods for addressing a supervisee’s performance problems.

Patterson has supervised clinicians for 25 of her nearly 35 years in treatment programs, and she is a past member of NAADAC’s ethics committee. We ranked this course first because many states require ethics hours for renewal, and many LCSWs also supervise. Ask your licensing board whether its 4 CE hours count toward your ethics or supervision requirement.

2. Breaking Maladaptive Patterns Masterclass: Schema Therapy

Some clients understand their patterns and can name their triggers, yet they keep repeating the same relationships and self-sabotage. In this schema therapy training, Wendy Behary, LCSW, shows you how to help those clients change.

Schema Therapy, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young, combines cognitive behavioral therapy, attachment theory, psychodynamic concepts, and emotion-focused techniques. You’ll learn to conceptualize hard cases in schema terms and apply Imagery Rescripting, Mode Dialogues, and Empathic Confrontation. You’ll also learn to stay steady when a client triggers your own schemas.

Behary founded The Schema Therapy Institutes of NJ-NYC-DC and wrote Disarming the Narcissist, which has been translated into 16 languages. Her course shares our top learner rating, and its skills apply to personality disorders, eating disorders, and treatment-resistant anxiety and depression.

3. ACEs: Clinical Strategies for Childhood Trauma

Many clients in child welfare, schools, and community mental health carry a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In this ACEs training, Diane Bigler, LCSW, LSCSW, shows you how to screen for that history and account for it in treatment.

You’ll review the original ACEs study by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente, which linked early adversity to depression, substance use, chronic illness, and relationship problems. You’ll then learn trauma-informed interviewing and ACE screening tools, with attention to cultural competence. It also covers strengths-focused approaches for individualized treatment planning.

Bigler has more than 25 years of experience as a therapist, clinical supervisor, and program director. She is also an adjunct professor and field instructor at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. If you’re building trauma-informed care into your practice, this 3-hour course is a practical place to start.

4. Narcissistic Trauma Bonds Masterclass

Clients in abusive relationships often return to the partner who harms them, and that pattern can look irrational from the outside. In this trauma bonding masterclass, Ellen Biros, MS, LCSW, C-PD, explains the attachment dynamics that keep those bonds in place.

You’ll learn how intermittent reinforcement, attachment activation, and reward conditioning strengthen trauma bonds. You’ll also learn to recognize gaslighting, love bombing, and coercive control, then use trauma-informed interventions to reduce dependency and help clients disengage safely.

Biros has more than 20 years of experience in social work and has taught at the Tulane University School of Social Work. These skills apply directly to social work in domestic violence programs, child welfare, and outpatient care. At $67 for 6 CE hours, it’s also the best value per hour on this list.

5. It’s How to Say It: Conflict Resolution

Social work regularly involves conflict with clients, families, coworkers, and outside agencies. In this conflict resolution course, Robin Bilazarian, LCSW, DCEP, teaches communication methods you can use yourself and pass on to others.

You’ll learn to assess communication gaps in your clients and identify at least three conflict resolution methods. The course also covers how to teach these skills to clients, staff, educators, and students, which makes it a good fit for school social workers.

Bilazarian has more than 45 years of clinical experience and graduated from the social work schools at the University of Pennsylvania and UNC-Chapel Hill. It ties for our highest learner rating, 4.9, and ranks fifth only because it builds communication skills rather than treatment skills.

6. The Complete Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Masterclass

Clients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can pull clinicians into one crisis after another. In this BPD treatment masterclass, Ellen Biros shows you how to manage escalation without losing your therapeutic boundaries.

You’ll learn to identify core BPD features and tell BPD apart from bipolar disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and mood disorders. You’ll also assess treatability, use behavioral targeting and treatment contracts, and manage transference and countertransference.

The final objective covers safeguards against burnout, which matters when you carry several high-need clients at once. Like the trauma bonds course, this masterclass gives you 6 CE hours for $67.

7. Autism in Females: Recognition, Misdiagnosis, and Clinical Strategies

Autism is diagnosed more often in males, and many girls and women go unrecognized or receive the wrong diagnosis. This autism in females course shows you how autism can present differently in females and why it gets missed.

You’ll compare how autism shows up in females and males and learn the co-occurring conditions common among females with autism. You’ll also cover the systemic and diagnostic factors behind misdiagnosis, plus strategies to support females with autism and their families.

The presenter, Christina Marsack-Topolewski, PhD, LMSW, is an associate professor of social work at Eastern Michigan University. She specialized in school social work during her MSW at the University of Michigan. School social workers who screen and refer students will find this course especially useful.

8. From Stuck to Safe: Polyvagal-Informed Strategies for Online Therapy

Online sessions bring their own challenges for creating safety and connection. In this polyvagal telehealth course, Courtney Rolfe, LCPC, applies Polyvagal Theory to therapy that happens online.

You’ll learn the three circuits of the autonomic nervous system, neuroception, and co-regulation, and how to explain them in client-friendly language. You’ll then learn passive and active interventions that strengthen the therapeutic alliance and client safety in online sessions.

Rolfe co-authored Polyvagal Prompts with Deb Dana and runs a private practice in Chicago. If you see clients through telehealth, this 3-hour course gives you skills you can use in your next online session.

9. Complex PTSD and Attachment Trauma Masterclass

Standard PTSD treatment can miss the attachment wounds behind complex PTSD (C-PTSD). In this complex PTSD masterclass, Lisa Ferentz, MSW, LCSW-C, DAPA, teaches attachment-informed interventions for clients with chronic relational trauma.

You’ll learn three insecure attachment patterns and how they influence PTSD and C-PTSD. You’ll also learn to tell PTSD apart from C-PTSD and use right-brain interventions that help clients regulate overwhelming affect.

Ferentz founded The Ferentz Institute, and the Maryland Society for Clinical Social Work named her Social Worker of the Year in 2009. We ranked her course ninth because of its 4.6 rating, but it’s a strong pick if you work with survivors of childhood abuse or neglect.

10. Resilience Tools for Therapists Facing Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

Our final pick focuses on you rather than your clients. In this burnout and compassion fatigue course, Christina Marsack-Topolewski covers the risk factors and warning signs of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout.

You’ll learn evidence-based strategies to build resilience, set healthy boundaries, and protect your work-life balance. The course works whether you already feel depleted or want to prevent burnout.

Left unaddressed, burnout can affect your well-being, your effectiveness with clients, and how long you stay in the field. That’s why we included a 3-hour course on protecting your own health.

Best Online CEUs for Social Workers – FAQs

How many CE hours do social workers need?

It depends on your state and license level. Each licensing board sets its own continuing education requirements, including total hours, the renewal cycle, and required topics such as ethics.

Some states require other topics too. Michigan, for example, requires social workers to complete 1 hour of implicit bias training for each year of their license cycle.

Our CE requirements tool lets you look up requirements by state and profession. Some boards state requirements in continuing education units (CEUs) rather than hours, so confirm the details with your board before your license renewal.

Are these social work CEUs ASWB-approved?

Yes. We’re approved to offer social work continuing education through the ASWB ACE program as provider #1706. Regulatory boards are the final authority on which courses they accept for continuing education credit.

Most U.S. social work boards accept courses from ASWB-approved providers, and our board approvals page lists the states that do. According to ASWB, New York does not accept ACE approval. However, New York’s State Board for Social Work recognizes us separately as an approved continuing education provider (#SW-0745).

What’s the difference between ASWB and NASW?

The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) is made up of the social work regulatory boards in the U.S. and Canada. It develops the social work licensing exams and runs the ACE program, which approves CE providers and courses.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is a professional membership organization for social workers, and it publishes the NASW Code of Ethics. ASWB works with the boards that license you, while NASW serves social workers directly.

Are there free CEUs for social workers?

Yes. When you create a free account with us, your first course is a free ethics course. It’s a simple way to try our course format before you buy a course or membership.

Do live webinars count differently than recorded courses?

They can. Our live webinars usually run on Zoom, give you direct access to the instructor, and count as face-to-face CEs.

Recorded courses, including every course on this list, count as home study. If your board limits home study hours, check whether it accepts live online courses for the rest.

How do you get your CE certificate?

Watch the recorded course, complete a short evaluation, and pass the quiz with a score of 80% or higher. You get three attempts, and your CE certificate is available immediately.

Our CE Tracker stores all your certificates in one place. If you’re a social worker licensed in Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, or West Virginia, we also report your CE credits to CE Broker.

Can you rewatch a course after you finish it?

Yes. Every CE course on this list includes unlimited replays, so you can review a technique before you use it with a client. You can watch on any device, at your own pace.

Is a membership cheaper than buying courses one at a time?

If you take four or more courses from this list in a year, yes. Buying all 10 separately would cost $660, while our Home-Study Membership costs $197 per year for 300+ recorded courses.

Our Unlimited Membership costs $297 per year and adds live webinars, for 500+ courses in total. Some certification programs and specialty offerings may not be included. If you’re not satisfied and have completed fewer than three courses, we’ll refund your membership.