Independent Study Options and Guidelines

This page includes some opportunities for you to learn independently. Your continuing education does not have to come from this list. Other learning you do for work, school, church, or simply based on your own interest, can also apply to CASA’s requirement. When you complete the independent learning form, you will be asked how the material you covered informs and impacts your role as an advocate.

Please complete THIS FORM to submit your independent study progress for your continuing education requirement of 12 hours each calendar year. Once received, CASA staff will enter your training into Optima where you can continue to track your total hours.

Contact Leah with any questions: leah@casafc.org or 920-257-4733 ext 107

Thank you for your commitment to continuous learning, and for your part in maintaining our compliance with the standards of the National CASA/GAL Association.

Mandated Reporter Training
Advocates are required to take this training every calendar year. One hour of continuing education credit is granted. A copy of the certificate of completion must be sent to the training specialist, leah@casafc.org, to receive credit.

Take Mandated Reporter Training

Independent Study Opportunities available on Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu/Showtime

*Round to nearest 15 minutes (.25 hours) *

For all opportunities listed, please look at ratings and/or watch trailers to determine any triggers

  • Painkiller – Netflix, drama series on opioid epidemic
  • Growing Up Poor in America by Frontline – Youtube, focus is Poverty
  • 13th – Netflix, focus is Racism
  • I Am Not Your Negro – YouTube, focus is Racism
  • LA 92 – Netflix, focus is Racism
  • Gracie’s Choice – Prime, focus is Adoption
  • Instant Family – Prime and Hulu, focus is Adoption
  • Heroine – Netflix, focus is Opioid Addiction
  • Dope Sick – Hulu, focus is Opioid Addiction
  • Disclosure – Netflix, focus is LGBTQ
  • The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson, focus is LGBTQ
  • The Ride – Amazon Prime, focus is Foster Care/Trauma
  • Short Term 12 – Prime, focus is Mental Health
  • Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole – Hulu series, focus on Trauma
  • Cusp – Showtime documentary, focus on Teens/Sexual Trauma/Growing Up

Books (Receive 1 hour of learning time for each 100 pages)

  • A Place Called Home: A Memoir by David Ambroz – 3.75 hours of CE, focus is poverty, homelessness, physical abuse, foster care. There is some strong language and sexual content.
  • The Hate U Give – 4.5 hours of CE, focus is Racism, available in resource room
  • Such a fun age – 4 hours of CE, focus on Privilege and Race, novel with humor available at Appleton Public Library
  • There There – 3 hours of CE, focus is Cultural Competence, available in resource room
  • Half and Half – 2.5 hours of CE, focus is Cultural Competence, available in resource room
  • Evicted – 4 hours of CE, focus is Poverty, available in resource room
  • Before We Were Yours, focus is Poverty/Trauma
  • The Body Keeps Score, focus is Trauma, available in resource room
  • What Happened To You, focus is Trauma, available at Appleton Public Library
  • DopeSick, focus is Opioid Addiction, available in resource room
  • Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents – 5 hours of CE, focus is Culture/Diversity
  • The Sum of Us – 5 hours of CE, focus is Race

Articles & Websites

Webinars

  • Fostering Media Connections – A YouTube channel filled with several webinars/videos pertaining to several issues in the topic of foster care. Click HERE.
  • Providing Effective Service to Young Men and Boys of Color – learn best practices for working with victims of crime or youth who have experienced trauma. Emphasis is young men and boys of color, however the tools are broadly applicable. Self-paced course runs 90-minutes. Click HERE.
  • Introducing Mindfulness to Kids and Teens – Learn some tools you could share to bring gentleness and peace to the present moment. Click HERE.
  • Strategies for Supporting Resilience and Healing in Victims of Child Maltreatment – 1 hour, focus is trauma-informed practices. Click HERE
  • Restoring Trust After Childhood Trauma – Evidence-based Skills for Helping Children Heal – 1-1/2 hour, focus is trauma-informed practices. Click HERE
  • Drug Identification and Recognition: The Opioid Crisis in America – 2 hours, self-paced course, focus is opioids. Click HERE.
  • Trauma-Informed Practices – 45 minutes, focus is understanding trauma and some insight to trauma-informed care. This is introductory-level, and you will need to consider how to apply it in your role as an advocate. Click HERE.

Podcasts

  • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series: This podcast series, produced on behalf of the Children’s Bureau, presents a series of interviews and group conversations intended to provide beneficial information for busy child welfare and social work professionals. Click HERE. Submit the Independent Learning Form after your listen.
  • History. Culture. Trauma. Airs weekly on Thursdays at 11 AM on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel. Featuring an episode with Agnes Woodward, in which she uses her knowledge of historical trauma and the healing power of the arts to raise awareness of the adversity Indigenous women face. Click HERE for this episode. Submit the Independent Learning Form after your listen.
  • The Brain Architects – Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Will explore what we can do during this incredibly important period to ensure that all children have a strong foundation for future development. Click HERE. Submit the Independent Learning Form after your listen.