Category: Diversity / Social & Cultural Competence Category: Diversity / Social & Cultural Competence (show less) Other: Maryland Other: Maryland (show less)

MD20260416 –The ERT Framework: Cultivating Empathy, Strengthening Resilence, and Guiding Personal Tranformation: Part I of III – Foundations of Empathy: Connections as the Catalyst
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026; 9:00 am – 12:15 pm 
Presenter: Dwayne Buckingham, Ph.D., LCSW-C, BCD, CCTP
Synopsis: This training course prepares social workers and other healthcare professionals to apply Dr. Dwayne Buckingham’s human-centered and evidence-informed E.R.T.™ Framework to empower individuals to cultivate empathy, strengthen resilience and achieve personal and professional transformation. Grounded in neuroscience, positive psychology, resilience research, and transformational leadership theory, the E.R.T.™ Framework positions empathy as the entry point, resilience as the stabilizing capacity, and transformation as the outcome of integrated insight and adaptive action. Participants learn to move beyond symptom management and behavior correction toward identity-level and relational transformation, while maintaining ethical boundaries between coaching, leadership development, and clinical treatment.
Learning Objectives: By the end of the first session, participants will be able to:
1. Define empathy using neuroscience-informed language by identifying at least two neural or psychological mechanisms associated with empathic awareness.
2. Differentiate empathy from sympathy, emotional fusion, and emotional detachment by accurately analyzing two practice-based scenarios.
3. Demonstrate empathic presence by applying three core empathic skills (attunement, perspective-taking, non-judgment) in a guided exercise.
CE: 3 Cat 1 in Cultural Competency
Cost: $50 for members; $75 for non-members; $30 for retired members; $20 for student members
Please Note: This workshop meets the BSWE Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice content requirement and qualifies for 3 Category I continuing education units in Cultural Competency.