In order to respond to the needs of social workers for professional development, the Centre for Continuing Education of Macao Polytechnic University will launch a number of social work professional practice courses in the third quarter of 2023, including “Practical Skills for Social Rehabilitation Service”, “Expressive Arts Therapy and Social Work Application”, “Nurturing Key Abilities of Adolescents”, “Strategies and Skills for Intimacy Counselling”, “Community Work: Resident Meeting Practice”, “Social Service Project: Planning and Management”, “Social Worker Intervention Skills Application” and “Care for Dementia Patients” etc. These courses have been recognized by the Macao Social Workers Professional Committee as continuing education activities for social workers, and are now accepting applications.

The course content of “Practical Skills for Social Rehabilitation Service” includes the definitions and related basic concepts of “disability” and “rehabilitation”, understanding the characteristics and rehabilitation needs of common types of disabilities, applied theories related to social work with disabilities, and understanding needs of family members of disabled people as well as social work intervention practical skills.  The course is intended to help students better provide appropriate support for the disabled and their families.

Expressive arts therapy is the creative fusion of expressive arts (such as visual arts, music, dance, drama, writing, etc.) and psychotherapy. Through artistic creation and process participation, one connects with the body, mind, emotion and spirituality to enhance self-awareness, creativity and self-healing ability. The course content of “Expressive Arts Therapy and Social Work Application” includes the concept and theoretical basis of expressive arts therapy, as well as the application and practice of expressive arts therapy in three groups of individuals (children with special educational needs, adult rehabilitation, and people with stress and emotional distress).

The “Strategies and Skills for Intimacy Counselling” course aims to share with students the strategies and skills of social work in dealing with intimate relationships, such as lovers, prospective marriage partners, couples, etc., including the application of case, group, and activity intervention methods and experience sharing.

The course “Community Work: Resident Meeting Practice” will introduce the characteristics of residents' meetings, and use community work skills to deal with problems arising at residents' meetings. The course aims to help students make various preparations according to the characteristics of the meeting, including mastering the preliminary work of the meeting, mastering leading and mediation skills, understanding the relationship between laws and regulations and the meeting, etc.

For information on other courses, please refer to the webpage https://www.mpu.edu.mo/zh/cec_short_courses.php. In addition to the courses on social work professional practice, the Centre for Continuing Education of Macao Polytechnic University also offers various series of professional training courses including the Public Administration Practice Series, Financial Management Series, Leisure, Tourism and MICE Series, etc., and is now accepting applications. Except for individual courses, payment can be made using the PDAC Fund. Upon fulfilling the attendance requirement and passing the assessment, students are eligible for the certificate issued by the Centre for Continuing Education of Macao Polytechnic University.

Applications can be made online or in person at the Centre for Continuing Education of Macao Polytechnic University. For enquiries, please call 87950832 / 87950707 / 87950750 during office hours or email to cec@mpu.edu.mo.