Telehealth Certification Institute

This training offers over 12 hours of instruction and the Intellectual Disability Counseling Certificate (IDCC).  

People with intellectual disability (ID) have been a marginalized group in the United States for the past 200 years. Despite being more prone to abuse, neglect, and trauma, mental health concerns for people with ID were underestimated or ignored until late into the 20th Century. While comprising an estimated 2.5-3.0% of the US population, this group of people remains markedly underrepresented as participants in mental health supports. Providers of mental health counseling services have an affirmative duty to serve all members of their communities but, unfortunately, many practitioners may feel ill-equipped to understand or adjust their practice to meet the particular needs of this population.

In this extensive training, Dr. Buckles will help participants understand how they may expand their skill sets and practices to address the mental health needs of people with ID. Beginning with an exploration of the often disturbing history of the treatment of people with ID, participants will then participate in discussions about the social construction of disability, current concepts and definitions of ID, and related systems of supports. Specific attention is given to ways in which co-occurring mental health conditions may present differently in this population. Following these foundational topics, specific ways in which assessment and counseling methodologies can be adjusted are illustrated from both the literature and Dr. Buckles’ 20+ years of personal practice experience. Aspects of trauma-informed care, cognitive-behavior therapy, autism specific considerations, bereavement counseling, supportive counseling, experiential methodologies, and ancillary supports are all addressed in detail.

This course was recorded May 25 and 26, 2023

Upon completion of this training professionals will be able to do the following:

• Explain historical and current concepts of disability and intellectual disability (ID).
• List the current definitional requirements for ID.
• Explore the historical mistreatment and current misconceptions of ID in US service systems.
• Discuss the concept of social construction as applied to disability.
• List the areas of the Americans with Disabilities Act as they apply to counseling all community members.
• Explain differences in how co-occurring mental health conditions may present in people with ID.
• Discuss potentially useful adjustments to initial psychosocial assessment procedures and mental status exam components.
• Explain how enlistment of other supporters and providers may aid the counseling process with this population.
• Discuss current literature on the efficacy of counseling for people with ID.
• Explore methods of adjusting typical counseling practices such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
• Explore alternate counseling models for this population, such as autism-specific considerations, bereavement counseling, and experiential counseling.

Jason Buckles, Ph.D.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Jason earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology at New York University in 1996. While there he worked on diagnostic projects at Bellevue Hospital and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He earned his Master’s in Counseling at The University of New Mexico in 2001 and PhD in Special Education at The University of New Mexico in 2016. His dissertation focused on the experiences of direct support professionals who support people with sexually challenging behavior. Since 2002 Jason has been owner of Talkabout Inc., a Behavior Consultation agency specializing in supports for people with intellectual disability and concurrent mental health diagnoses. From 2012 through 2016 Jason was the Statewide Clinical Director of the New Mexico Department of Health – Bureau of Behavioral Support overseeing statewide systems of behavioral support consultation. From 2016-2019 Jason was the Executive Director of A Better Way of Living, a CQL accredited agency that provides life-wide supports for people with intellectual disability. He is currently a contracting consultant with the New Mexico Department of Health where he supervises the sexual risk screening program, the ongoing development of behavior support systems, and provides statewide trainings on co-occurring mental health conditions for people with intellectual disability among other topics. For several years Jason has also served as the Program Manager for the Developmental Disability/Mental Illness project with the University of New Mexico. For most of the past 20 years he was a part time instructor at both The University of New Mexico teaching Introduction to Intellectual Disability and at New Mexico Highlands University teaching DSM Assessment for Counselors.

Credit Hours: This course consists of 12 credit hours.

Counselors: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0048. Approval renewal date: 1/31/2026

Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if this course would be accepted by your licensing board.

Social Workers: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2021 – 05/02/2024. Social workers completing this course receive 6 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0435. Approval renewal date: 2/28/2026

Addiction Professionals: Telehealth Certification Institute is an approved provider of continuing education by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals, provider #193104. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance.

Psychologists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0128. Effective 8/31/2021 – 8/31/2024

Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0093. 7/21/2021 – 7/31/2024

Other Professionals: This activity qualifies for 720 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study program.

To receive your certificate of completion indicating CEs and the IDCC, you must complete the program in its entirety.

Online courses are completed by registering, logging in, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), completing all of the modules, completing and passing the post-test, and completing the course evaluation.

Live Webinar courses are completed by registering, logging in to this website, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), attending the full course via webinar, submitting your attendance, and completing the post-test and course evaluation online.

Psychologists and other professionals seeking CE credit through our approval with the American Psychological Association are asked, but not required, to complete the course evaluation before obtaining their certificate of completion, however passing a post-test for online self-study courses, and submitting one's attendance for live on-site and live webinars is required.

You can receive your certificate of completion by logging onto this website, navigating to the course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), scroll to the bottom of your course, and click on your certificate to either download it or print it.

Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.

Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities

Click here to view our Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.

Cancellation Policy

Refunds are offered within the first 30 days for courses which have not been completed.  There is a 10% service fee for refunds.

Grievance Policy

Click here to view our Grievance Policy.

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.  The course may include required reading.

This program was recorded on May 25 and 26, 2023

You have six months to access online courses from the time of purchase.