Interventions to encourage healthy coping skills in children, including discussion about major tough topics

Interview with Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

  • Course Description

    This CE course provides an overview of helping children develop healthy coping skills to manage emotions such as anger, sadness, and worry. Listeners will learn ways to help children identify healthy copings skills and various ways to express their feelings, manage fussy and frustrating emotions, and practice calm down strategies. This course also discusses how to talk with children about tough and emotional topics, like death, school shooting drills or events, accidents, relocation, natural disasters, etc., including concepts like therapist/parent modeling.

  • Learning Objectives

    Upon completing this course, participants will be able to: Describe five or more healthy coping strategies to help children reduce stress; List two or more interventions/strategies utilizing literature and creative techniques; Describe decision-making and communication strategies for use when addressing tough topics like death, catastrophes, relocation, etc.


    Target Audience and Instructional Level
    This course is intended for psychologists, therapists, social workers, clinical counselors, and addiction counselors. Instructional level: Introductory

  • How To Take This Course

    In order to receive a certificate of completion reflecting the associated CE credit hour, you must:
    #1: Have an active paid Clearly Clinical membership
    #2: Listen to the corresponding course podcast
    #3: Achieve a passing grade on the post-presentation test (the test has up to ten questions and you must earn a score of at least 80%; you are able to re-test)
    #4: Complete the requested course evaluation.

    Course elements (including the course audio, post-test, and requested course evaluation) can be completed on a computer or mobile device via your Clearly Clinical account.

  • Course Format

    This high-quality and interesting course contains a one-hour, non-interactive audio podcast presentation which is available for free via all major public podcast providers. You can also listen to and download the file via our course player.

  • Commercial Support

    There is no known commercial support or conflict of interest for this CE program, presenter, sponsor, instructor, or content. The instructor references their own resources as a potential option for further learning.

  • Certificate Access Details

    Once you've completed the course, your certificate will automatically populate in the 'Certificate' section of your account; it will also be emailed to you. Access to completion certificate will expire 365 days after issuance. Course certificates will be on file for ten (10) years from date of course completion.

  • Accommodations

    If you have special needs or need an accommodation, please email us at info@clearlyclinical.com and we will do our best to assist you.

Interviewer and Interviewee

Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd

Child Therapy Expert

Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd graduated from Hampton University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and LaSalle University where she earned Masters and Doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Boyd has served on active duty in the U.S. Army since 2008 and completed her internship and residency in Clinical Psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC. In 2011, she deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, where she served as the Behavioral Health Officer-in-Charge. Subsequent assignments have included Fort Belvoir Community Hospital/ Fairfax Health Center, the Pentagon, South Korea, and the Army Public Health Center. Her professional interests include mental health disparities and suicide prevention and awareness. Most recently, Dr. Boyd became an author and has published four children’s books, to include a best seller titled B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings. B is for Breathe is a children’s book about social emotional learning and healthy coping skills. She also published Hair Day, a children’s book about beauty and self-confidence, which was recently featured in Hello Beautiful beauty magazine. Dr. Boyd is married and has 3 children, ages 5, 6, and 9. She credits God and her family as her constant source of strength and motivation.

Please visit her at Linktr.ee and Instagram.

Elizabeth 'Beth' Irias, MS, LMFT

Interviewer & Clearly Clinical Founder

Elizabeth 'Beth' Irias (she/her) is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and the Founder and President of Clearly Clinical. She has specializations in Clinical Documentation, Best Practice, and Utilization Review, and works closely with clinical teams across the US as a trainer and national conference presenter; Beth was formerly an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in the Graduate Psychology and Education department. Licensed in California and Oregon, she provides therapy via her private practice to young adult and adult clients, members of the LGBTQ population, and those with addictive disorders. She has two young children, a super cool spouse who helps out with Clearly Clinical's tech, and a rescue dog.

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