Back to School: Continuing Education for Life Care Planners

After completing a formal life care planning education program to obtain my certification, I was left feeling like I still had so much to learn. I’ve heard the same from other Life Care Planners (LCPs) many times over. The real learning begins once you start writing life care plans or future cost of care (FCC) reports, as they are more commonly known here in Ontario.

The process of continuing my education, much like the rest of LCP work in general, requires a lot of self-direction. There’s no established way for us LCPs to continue our own learning after the certification is obtained. Sure, we have to complete a certain number of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every 5 years to keep our certification current, but meeting that requirement doesn’t necessarily mean that we are keeping up with best practices. It’s truly up to us to tailor our own continuing education to grow our competencies and build confidence in our work.

At first, I felt like I was stumbling my way through it. It took some time for me to be able to identify and locate key resources. I realize that I’m probably not the only one. I’m going to lay out what I’ve learned so far about this process in the hopes that it will help you too.

First of all, I learned so much by diving into relevant literature. The Journal of Life Care Planning (JLCP) in particular has a wealth of information. The JLCP has published consensus statements and standards of practice that every LCP should know well. The journal has undergone some recent changes regarding frequency of publication and access. It is now published twice yearly and is free to the public: Journal of Life Care Planning. The textbook, Life Care Planning & Case Management Handbook, is another important resource, and is now in it’s 5th edition. Admittedly, I only have copies of the 3rd and 4th editions and have found them both to be helpful. The 4th has a chapter on Life Care Planning in Canada, written by Dana Weldon. I’m always on the lookout for literature that includes a Canadian perspective since much of the formal education I received was quite focused on American LCP issues and not particularly relevant to having a practice in Canada.  

Also, webinars are an excellent way to grow your expertise while allowing you to earn the necessary CEUs to keep your certification status current. The best resources that I’ve found for webinars are at International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) and AAACEUs Online Continuing Education for CCM, CRC, CDMS, NAADAC & More - AAACEUs. IARP has some great foundational courses and offers 6 free webinars to members each year. AAACEUs have a wide variety of courses to support various certifications and you can filter results for LCP to find webinars that are relevant to our work. Plus, if you’re an Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists (OSOT) member, you get 20% AAACEU courses. Follow this OSOT link for more info: Member Benefit Programs

Finally, and maybe most importantly, is to find ways to stay connected with other practicing LCPs. I firmly believe that we all have something to learn from one another, regardless of how long we’ve been at it. In my private practice, each FCC I produce is reviewed by another LCP and the feedback that I get is invaluable. I also have an informal network of LCP colleagues that I can connect with on a one-to-one basis to discuss challenging scenarios and best practice issues. These discussions have enhanced my learning immensely.

Regardless of how many FCCs we’ve written or reviewed, I strongly believe that there is always more to learn and room to grow as an LCP. What I’ve written here reflects my learning journey so far, but I know there will always be more ahead for me. If I’m missing anything or if you’d like to share a resource or strategy that’s really helped you, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a line at rosa@newtonOT.com