CADER Online Courses
Browse our course offerings by clicking on the categories below. Each category contains detailed information about available courses, continuing education credits, and course descriptions.
Each of the following online courses offers 2 CE credits and can be completed in approximately 2 hours. NCOA members receive discounted pricing of $75 per learner for all 2-credit courses.
Care Management Practice (2 CEs) – This course introduces the essential principles and practices of care management, including assessment, care coordination, resource navigation, and person-centered planning for older adults and people with disabilities. Learners will gain practical knowledge to support individuals and families in accessing services and making informed decisions about their care and well-being.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the role of health and human service workers in care management.
- Identify the medical, emotional, and social conditions that affect older people and people with disabilities.
- Discuss how the ACA has affected care management.
- Compare care management programs.
- Define the social determinants of health.
- Discuss the legal and ethical dimensions of health care management.
Program Planning (2 CEs) – This one-hour course requires an understanding of problem analysis, decision analysis, and design of work plans.
Volunteer Engagement (2.5 CEs) – Volunteers are essential in supporting your organization’s mission and overall operation. Many agencies in the aging networks rely on the work of volunteers to provide essential services — such as case assistance, meal delivery, home visits, and recreational activities. Managing our volunteer workforce and their effectiveness is now increasingly important to the welfare of older adults in the community.
Each of the following online courses offers 3 CE credits and can be completed in approximately 3 hours. NCOA members receive discounted pricing of $75 per learner for all 3-credit courses.
A Foundation in Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving (3 CEs) – This course introduces key ethical principles, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, and explores important topics such as informed consent, capacity, competence, and confidentiality. Through case studies and real-world scenarios, learners will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills to navigate ethical dilemmas commonly encountered in professional practice.
Aging with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (4 CEs) – This course provides an overview of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their impact across the lifespan, including physical, emotional, cognitive, and social aspects. Participants will learn how aging and disability service systems can work together to better support older adults with lifelong disabilities and promote inclusion in community programs and services.
Human Services Management (3.5 CEs) – This course helps learners develop the essential skills needed to lead and manage effectively in human service organizations. Participants will explore strategies for navigating complex social, political, technological, and economic challenges while building adaptive, mission-driven organizations that balance the needs of diverse stakeholders and promote positive community impact.
Interprofessional Care Teams (3 CEs) – This course examines what makes an effective team member, reviews the stages that teams go through as they work together, and identifies ways to address conflicts that can occur when working in teams. Throughout the course, there are many examples of team problem-solving strategies and how teams can succeed by working together to find solutions as they develop care plans.
Legal Principles & Decision Making in Practice (3 CEs) –This course is designed to address the major legal and ethical issues related to informed consent and decision making that social service and health care professionals encounter when working with older adults and people with disabilities. It discusses the elements of informed consent and explains why it is needed, both ethically and legally. It describes important terms such as capacity and competence and how to understand the difference between the two. You will find vignettes, throughout the course that illustrate these concepts in practice situations.
Mental Wellness and Resilience Among Older Immigrants and Refugees (3 CEs) – By the end of this course, you will have become familiar with the background of immigration in the United States, and how it impacts older adults. It will help you identify the stressors and barriers faced by older immigrants and refugees as well as understand the strengths and resources found in immigrant and refugees’ communities. You will also explore your own cultural attitudes and beliefs and how they may affect your work with immigrants and refugees.
Each of the following online courses provides 4 CE credits and can be completed in approximately 4 hours. NCOA members receive discounted pricing of $75 per learner for all 4-credit courses.
A Guide to the Aging and Disability Networks (4 CEs) – This course provides an overview of the services and supports available to older adults and people with disabilities through federal, state, and local programs. Learners will gain an understanding of key resources within the aging and disability networks, including program eligibility requirements and how to connect individuals with appropriate services and benefits.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias of Aging (4 CEs) – This course offers a comprehensive look at Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, investigating the impact on individuals, families, caregivers, and communities. The course explains risk factors, prevention, the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and strategies for communicating with individuals living with dementia. It highlights the importance of a coordinated, person-centered care network involving healthcare and human service professionals. The course also explores the impact of caregiving on caregivers and how caregivers can be supported.
Assessment with Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities (4 CEs) – Assessment, as discussed in this course, is the process that unfolds as you and the consumer work together to find solutions to the consumer’s long-term services and support needs. For you, assessment means uncovering the physical, mental, emotional, familial, and social conditions that might be acting as barriers to full participation in the person’s life. For the consumer, it means placing trust in another person’s ability to help them find the resources they need to live full and productive lives.
Care Transitions (4 CEs) – This course explores why care transitions can be challenging for older adults and people with disabilities and highlights evidence-based models that improve outcomes. Learners will gain practical knowledge of effective transition strategies and the vital role health and human service professionals play in supporting safe, person-centered moves between care settings.
Group Work with Older Adults (4 CEs) – This course focuses on understanding the various types of groups, the stages of group development, knowledge about group dynamics, and the skills needed for the role of the group facilitator. The content and exercises in this course aim to enhance skills for those facilitating a variety of types of groups for older adults with diverse backgrounds. In addition, participants will look at methods to evaluate the effectiveness of group interventions.
Hoarding Disorder in Older Adults (4 CEs) – This course examines the causes, assessment, and treatment of hoarding behaviors, using real-world case examples to illustrate their impact on health, safety, and quality of life. Participants will explore evidence-based interventions, assessment tools, and the ethical and legal considerations involved in supporting individuals affected by hoarding.
Mental Health and Aging Issues (4 CEs) – This course provides health and human service workers with fundamental knowledge of the signs and symptoms of common mental health concerns that impact older adults and the tools required to address the needs of the older people you work with in this crucial realm — through appropriate intervention or referral. The course will discuss a strengths-based approach to mental health, which uncovers and draws on the person’s strengths and abilities. Understanding how to work from this perspective will help you become more effective in your work with people who need affirmation and encouragement to work toward their recovery.
Mental Health Training in Options Counseling (4 CEs) – This course is designed to help options counselors provide information and resources to consumers who can then make choices about services that support a self-defined quality of life. Options counselors are not expected or trained to diagnose or assess individuals with mental health issues. However, it is important for options counselors to understand mental health issues in a historical context, be familiar with language used to describe psychiatric issues, know the various perspectives on mental health, and recognize self-determination as a human right.
Substance Use among Older Adults (4 CEs) – This course explores the prevalence, health impacts, screening, intervention, and prevention of substance use in aging populations. Through interactive learning, participants will gain practical strategies to recognize concerns, reduce stigma, and support healthier outcomes for older adults.
Suicide Prevention among Older Adults (4 CEs) – This course prepares those working with older adults to recognize suicide risk among their clients, to intervene, and to engage in and promote suicide prevention. You will learn about the underlying causes of suicide, and the risk factors associated with suicide in older adults, as well as the influence that cultural and religious factors may have on the risk of suicide. The course provides an assessment of the interventions that have proven most effective in preventing suicide among at-risk older adults. The course also includes a discussion of the ethical and legal issues that surround suicide.
Understanding Consumer Control, Person-Centered Planning and, Self-Direction (4 CEs) – This course is designed to help workers more fully understand the definition and meaning of person- centered planning, consumer control, consumer choice, and consumer direction and the practice of this approach and philosophy. This course will also review historical developments of consumer control, legal mandates and provide scenarios throughout. This course relies heavily on interactive exercises and scenarios to help you understand consumer control, person-centered planning, and self-direction in a real-life context.
Working with Informal Caregivers (4 CEs) – This course will prepare you to adapt your knowledge of supportive services, resource development, and care management to support and collaborate with informal caregivers in a variety of situations and help them as they navigate our complex health care delivery system.
Each of the following online courses offers 6 CE credits and can be completed in approximately 6 hours. NCOA members receive discounted pricing of $75 per learner for all 6-credit courses.
Core Issues in Aging and Disability (6 CEs) – This two-part course examines how aging and disability can impact quality of life and explores the laws, policies, and programs that promote independence, inclusion, and equal access to services. Learners will gain an understanding of the aging and disability networks, the history of disability rights, and the community-based supports available to help older adults and people with disabilities live independently.