Vista Continuing Education

Vista Continuing Education is an online continuing education provider for licensed mental health professionals, sold through getceusnow.com. Its home page headline names the audience directly: "Continuing Education for Mental Health Professionals: MFTs, LPCCs, Counselors, Psychologists, Social Workers, and More." Directly beneath it sits the line that matters most to a license holder: "An Approved Sponsor of the APA, NBCC and ASWB. All courses are accepted by the BBS for continuing education credit."

The company, Vista Continuing Education L.L.C., says it "has provided hundreds of thousands of continuing education hours since 2002," and its footer calls the site "the #1 trusted site for mental health continuing education." The model is simple and old-fashioned in a useful way: each course is a reading followed by a test, courses are bought one at a time through a shopping cart, and passing the test produces a certificate the learner can print straight away. It is a catalog of Vista's own courses for the learner, not a tool for building or selling courses.

Who the courses are for

The home page speaks to each profession in turn, and the framing shows what Vista expects each group to need. Even the page title runs through the same list: online CE for psychologists, MFTs, counselors and social workers.

Marriage and family therapists and LPCCs. The site acknowledges that "Navigating MFT CEs and counselor continuing education can be complex, with requirements differing from one state board to another," and presents its offer as "accessible online courses tailored to mental health professionals, including MFT and LPCC Continuing Education." A separate section on LPCC requirements says Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors "need to stay up-to-date with state and national continuing education requirements," and that the courses, written for professional counselors and other counseling professionals, "cover a broad range of topics."

Psychologists. A section headed "Your Premier APA-Approved Provider for Psychology Continuing Education Across the USA" states: "As an approved provider by the American Psychological Association (APA), we offer courses designed to fulfill your state board requirements." The same section invites psychologists to "Explore our convenient online platform for high-quality psychology continuing education courses."

Social workers. The social work section promotes "Reading-Based Online Courses" and says Vista "offers online courses tailored specifically for social work professionals." It describes them as "the quickest, most cost-effective, and convenient solution for fulfilling your continuing education requirements," covering "a wide spectrum of mental health practices, including Social Work."

The catalog

The Course List is organized by topic: TeleHealth, Ethics, Suicide Assessment, Supervision, Domestic Violence, Mental Health Recovery, Child Abuse, Cultural Diversity, Aging, Crisis, Human Sexuality, Mental Disorders, Developmental Issues, Substance Abuse and Psychopharmacology, plus an All Online Courses view.

That spread runs from professional subjects, such as ethics, cultural diversity and telehealth, to clinical depth topics like psychopharmacology, mental disorders and substance abuse. Supervision has its own heading, a fit for clinicians who supervise trainees or associates, and Suicide Assessment, Crisis, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse cover the risk and safety subjects that come up in practice. Aging, Developmental Issues, Human Sexuality and Mental Health Recovery round out the list, so a clinician working with older adults, children or clients in recovery has a heading to start from.

The home page lists its recent CE courses: Law and Ethics 12, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice, Standard of Practice for Telehealth, and Distinct Populations. A quick link points to a course on the Provision of Mental Health Services via TeleHealth, so telehealth shows up three ways on the home page: as a topic heading, as a recent course and as a quick link. For everything else the site says, "For a complete list of courses please click on the Course List above." The home page shows no course prices or hour counts.

How a course works

The steps are spelled out on the home page. "To begin an online course visit our Course list link at the top of the page. Add the desired course to the shopping cart. After paying securely online you will have access to the reading and test materials. You can complete both at your convenience." When the learner passes, "an online continuing education certificate will be issued immediately online."

The certificate promise is repeated in plain terms: "Receive your Certificate of Completion Immediately, Print from any computer anytime." That second phrase is the practical one. Because the site says the certificate can be printed from any computer at any time, a clinician who needs proof of hours later, at renewal or when a board asks, can print it again from whatever computer is at hand.

The site's menu carries Create Account, Cart and My Courses, which are the three places a learner uses: set up an account, pay for the chosen courses, and come back to the reading and the test. The work is self-paced: there is no class time to log in for, and the site says learners can complete the reading and the test at their convenience, fitting them around a caseload.

Approvals

Vista lists approvals from three national bodies and one board:

• APA. "Vista Continuing Education is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Vista Continuing Education maintains responsibility for this program and its content."
• NBCC. "Vista Continuing Education has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6154. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Vista Continuing Education is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs."
• ASWB. Named in the headline as one of the bodies whose approved sponsor Vista is.
• BBS. "All courses are accepted by the BBS for continuing education credit."

Both the APA and the NBCC statements put responsibility for the material on Vista itself rather than on the approving body: Vista maintains responsibility for the program and its content, and is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. The NBCC statement is worth reading closely. Not every program carries NBCC credit, and those that do not are marked as such, so a counselor relying on NBCC hours should look for that label on each course before adding it to the cart. The menu also links a Provider Approval page.

Price, payment and support

The site calls itself "Low cost continuing education for mental health professionals," and the social work section calls its courses the "most cost-effective" route to meeting requirements. Payment is per course: a learner adds the desired course to the shopping cart and pays securely online, and access to the reading and test follows payment. Support is by email at continuingeducation@gmail.com, listed under Contact Us, and the site promises: "We're here to answer any question you may have." Vista also keeps LinkedIn and Facebook pages, and the site carries a Testimonials page and an FAQ.

Who it suits

Vista Continuing Education suits licensed mental health clinicians who want to buy individual courses, read at their own pace and have a certificate the moment they pass: MFTs and LPCCs keeping up with board requirements, psychologists who need APA-sponsored hours, counselors collecting NBCC credit, and social workers looking for ASWB-approved courses. The topic list spans professional subjects such as law and ethics, telehealth and cultural diversity, and clinical areas like psychopharmacology, aging and substance abuse, so one provider can serve several parts of a renewal.

The site describes its courses as a reading and a test, so clinicians who learn best from video, live workshops or discussion with an instructor should weigh that format before buying. For a practitioner who wants approved reading-based courses, a straightforward checkout and an immediate certificate, it is a long-running and focused option, in business since 2002.