ACORN Offers Online Training

and accredited continuing education courses for mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, alcohol and drug counselors, social workers, art therapists, problem gambling treatment providers, prevention specialists, supervisors, agency administrators, educators, and other learners around the globe.

  • Created by expert instructors, ACORN courses are continually updated with the latest information.

  • ACORN's on-demand courses, which you may complete at your own pace and convenience, include immersive case studies and video recordings of skill demonstrations, as well as presentations, readings, research snapshots, and knowledge checks.

  • ACORN's synchronous (live) courses are conducted in real time, with instructors holding virtual meetings at specified dates and times.

  • Course webpages indicate whether a course is synchronous (live) or on-demand.

Featured Courses

Are CE Credits Available?

Yes! CE / CEU credits are available.

  • ACORN has been approved by the International Problem Gambling and Gaming Certification Organization (IPGGC), the Mental Health & Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO), and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (NBCC ACEP No. 7274). Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. ACORN is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

  • ACORN additionally houses Oregon Health Authority (OHA) courses for counselors and prevention specialists. OHA courses are taught by OHA instructors and are approved by MHACBO, but not by IPGGC or NBCC.

  • Continuing education hours for each course are listed on the course webpage.

Expert Instructors

Senior Instructor Teresa McDowell

Teresa McDowell, EdD, LMFT is professor emerita at Lewis & Clark, where she served as department chair and co-founded the college’s Problem Gambling Services. With over 40 years of experience as a clinician, educator, administrator, and consultant, Teresa focuses on workforce development, equity-based clinical practice, integrated treatment for problem gambling, and clinical supervision. She is a social researcher, program evaluator, and consultant with Partners in Social Research and Senior Instructor for ACORN. Dr. McDowell has authored more than 50 scholarly publications and is lead author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Applying Third Order Thinking to Theory and Practice.

Senior Instructor Carmen Knudson-Martin

Carmen Knudson-Martin, PhD is professor emerita of marriage and family therapy at Lewis & Clark College’s Graduate School of Education and Counseling. She is an AAMFT clinical fellow, approved supervisor, and licensed marriage and family therapist, and a longtime member of the American Family Therapy Academy. An influential scholar in family therapy, Dr. Knudson-Martin has edited numerous books, published widely, and presented internationally on sociocultural attunement, power, and equity. She is co-author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy and a founder of Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT).

OHA Instructor Brandie Lyday

Brandie Lyday, MA, LMFT, CGAC II, CADC III owns and manages True Heart Therapy, a mental health group practice. She is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and serves as adjunct faculty providing family therapy supervision for Lewis & Clark’s Problem Gambling Services. Brandie previously worked as an Oregon Health Authority Problem Gambling Treatment Program Development Analyst and has extensive experience as an outpatient addiction treatment specialist, delivering individual, group, couple, and family therapies, including work with clients involved in the criminal legal system.

Senior Instructor Rick Berman

Rick Berman, MA, LPC, CADC III, CGAC II specializes in integrated treatment of co-occurring mental health and addictive disorders. He trained and supervised addictions and mental health counselors for more than 20 years. In recent years his work focused more specifically on problem gambling. He has presented at national problem gambling conferences in Canada and the United States. He is the past coordinator of Lewis & Clark’s Problem Gambling Services and instructed Gambling Counselor Pre-Certification Courses for many years.

Senior Instructor Maria Bermudez

J. Maria Bermudez, PhD is an associate professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy program within the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Georgia. She is an AAMFT clinical fellow, approved supervisor, and licensed marriage and family therapist, with scholarship grounded in feminist-informed and culturally responsive approaches to therapy, research, and supervision. She is co-author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy.

Instructor Cort Dorn-Medeiros

Cort M. Dorn-Medeiros, PhD, LPC, CADC III is assistant professor in the Professional Mental Health Counseling–Addiction specialization and department chair of Counseling, Therapy, and School Psychology at Lewis & Clark. His areas of specialization include substance use and process addictions, co-occurring disorders, integrated care, and motivational interviewing and enhancement therapies. Dr. Dorn-Medeiros is co-founder and program director of the Gaming and Tech in Excess (GATE) program at the Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center. He has published in multiple academic outlets, including a recent book chapter on technology safety and digital citizenship in school counseling.

Who Should Enroll?

ACORN courses are designed to provide professional education for those seeking:

  • initial and advanced certification (CGAC I, ICGC I, CGAC II, ICGC II) and training in problem gambling treatment/treatment of disordered gambling;

  • training and specialization in treating integrated cooccurring disorders (ICOD);

  • required continuing education (CE / CEU) for disordered/problem gambling and alcohol and drug treatment provider re-certification;

  • required continuing education (CE / CEU) for maintaining professional mental health related licensure (e.g., LMFT, LPC) in Oregon and many other states;

  • advanced skills in the treatment of disordered gambling, working with families, treating cooccurring disorders, and/or sociocultural attunement;

  • training in mental health and problem/disordered gambling treatment supervision and consultation;

  • a broader spectrum of counseling and therapy skills and knowledge to integrate into clinical practice; and

  • knowledge that informs the administration of disordered/problem gambling, cooccurring disorders, and other mental health programs.

Key Content Areas

Courses funded by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) typically focus on treatment, supervision, consultation, and prevention practices within the State of Oregon. They, nonetheless, provide information that is relevant to practitioners across a variety of regional contexts and practice settings, and they advance education for the global workforce. Other content areas covered by ACORN courses include the following:

  • treatment of co-occurring disorders and conditions,

  • behavioral health and aging,

  • family therapy,

  • sociocultural attunement, and

  • suicide prevention.

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