Continuing Education Contact Hours for Nurses

Heartbeat International Academy is an approved provider through the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider Number CEP 16061). Please review the objectives and requirements for each course carefully.

These courses offer between one and two hours of continuing education contact hours for nurses. Certificates are available immediately upon completion of the course. Although specific requirments may vary between each course, typically, you will be required to view a presentation, complete a final quiz, and complete a survey in order to receive credit. Please contact Heartbeat's Medical Specialist Christa Brown at (614)885-7577 for more information about contact hours.

All Academy courses are always open to anyone who is interested, regardless of your specific educational goal. Please visit HeartCart to see a list of all course from Heartbeat Academy, including resources for nurses.

Academy Resources for Life Affirming Specialists

Renewal

As part of the renewal for your Life Affirming Specialist designation, you are required to earn fourteen hours of continuing education credit at an approved training event, such as an onsite training or Heartbeat's Annual Conference. Heartbeat has made it even easier for you to renew your Life Affirming Specialist designation by offering CEU's for most of our courses and webinars.

This means if you are a Life Affirming Specialist, you can earn enough CEU's for renewal online! Once you've completed a course through Heartbeat Academy, click "Get LAS Credit" when prompted, submit the application, and within 3-5 days you will receive your certificate.

Certification

To become a Life Affirming Specialist you can now meet the training requirements through Heartbeat International Academy's new course Life Affirming Specialist Certification. This course offers more than fourteen hours of instruction on key topics anyone involved in Life Affirming ministry should know, including abortion, adoption, peer counseling skills, fetal development, sexual integrity, and (most importantly!) the Biblical basis for why we are Pro-Life. Each course is taught by carefully selected instructors and points to several resources for additional information.

At the conclusion of this training, you will have earned 14 hours of approved LAS credit, and will be able to demonstrate that you have met the LOVE Approach peer counseling training requirement. This means that you'll have met 2/3 of the qualifications for Life Affirming Specialists just with this one course. For a limited time, this course is offered at the introductory rate of $115.95. Heartbeat affiliates and individuals associated with affiliated centers receive an additional discount!

Click here to learn more or register today!

By Betty McDowell

“Responsibility for learning belongs to the student, regardless of age.” Robert Martin

One of the joys of working at Heartbeat is that I am always learning. I love learning, which is a good thing, especially since I serve in a ministry that is always changing, growing, and being challenged.

Next month is Heartbeat’s annual Institute for Center Effectiveness℠ (Nov. 27–30 in Columbus, Ohio). One of the key principles we teach each year is that we are always functioning in one of two modes: judger or learner.

How do you know which mode you’re functioning in right now? Ask yourself, “What questions am I asking?”

You see, we talk to ourselves on a regular basis, and we’re constantly asking ourselves questions. When you look in a mirror, for instance, you are undoubtedly able to say something about yourself. It may be a derogatory remark about your looks or perhaps “a thumbs-up”, but it might also be a question about what you expect the coming day to bring. If the question you’d ask yourself has to do with your looks, you’re in “judging” mode, but if your question has to do with the upcoming day, you’re in “learning” mode. In other words, your self-talk tells you which mode you’re in. 

Besides self-talk, we are also in one of these two modes when we’re dealing with other people. Do you find yourself thinking, “How can I prove I am right?”, or is the question your asking yourself more of, “How can I better understand what he/she is saying?” The first of these indicates you’re in “judging” mode, while the second shows you’re in “learning” mode.

If you work in a life-affirming ministry, you need to become a student of the clients you serve. Stay in learning mode and you’ll become a better listener, which will put you in a position to be of much more help to another person. Ask yourself inquisitive learning questions, rather than deciding you already know everything you need to know about a person and their situation.

The best leaders are always the best learners.

Like an inquisitive child, start to enjoy the process of learning again. Begin to examine your self-talk and the questions you ask yourself on a regular basis, and begin forming better questions about the people you are talking with and the situations you find yourself facing.

You’re never too old to become a learner.

To think more about this, pick up Change your Questions, Change your Life, a book by Marilee Adams, and attend ourInstitute for Center Effectiveness this November.

by Betty McDowell, Director of Ministry Services

I think almost everyone has a bucket list—things you want to do before you “kick the bucket”. It may be in the back of our mind, it may be written in a journal, or it may be an app on your iPhone.

Some of the things I’ve been blessed to check off my bucket list are dreams like going on an African Safari, visiting Paris, leading a women's retreat, and writing something from my heart that’s worthy of publishing. As fun as it is to dream, it’s even more fun to see those dreams fulfilled.

No matter our age, our health, or our resources, all of us can dream up a bucket list. And, as followers of Christ, our bucket list should be influenced and shaped—even inspired—by God Himself. Trust me, I would never have imagined becoming a writer or speaker without the influence of the Holy Spirit.

We serve a God who wants us to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Our God created an incredibly beautiful world, and He longs to show it off to you. Our God also created amazing, beautiful people that He wants you to meet. And, our God created you with a unique set of gifts and talents that He longs for you to use for the good of others.

A God-inspired bucket list will always be headlined by ways you hope to be used for the glory of God and the good of others.

Seeing an end to abortion is at the top of my bucket list. God inspired? I think so. God continues to amaze me, as I see the Heartbeat International network grow, and as I read the testimonies of lives changed and babies saved through ministries across our nation and God’s world.

Serving with Heartbeat and playing a small part in the fulfillment of our mission and vision is both humbling and rewarding. It may not have been on my childhood bucket list, but the list God has given me along the way has brought so much more joy and satisfaction than I could have imagined.

So what are you waiting for? Maybe it’s time for you to dream, and add to your God-inspired bucket list. Dream big, and add seeing an end to abortion to your bucket list.

Our God reigns, and in His name, “all oppression shall cease.” Let’s pray that He will bring about an end to the oppression of abortion this Christmas season.

by Debra Neybert,Training Specialist

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  - John 1:14

Out of a heart of perfect love, the Father gave us His greatest blessing, his beloved Son, Jesus.  He was with Father from all eternity; then the time came for him to step out of eternity and into time.

The Lord of all Glory, the King of Kings, The Eternal Word, who spoke the worlds into being, descended, laying aside His glorious crown, His royal robes. He stepped into a servant’s garment and became Emanuel—God with us!

One word that is commonly translated as “blessing” in the original Hebrew means "to kneel or cause to kneel.” It’s the word that’s used in Psalm 95:6, “Let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker!”

Jesus, essentially one with God and in the form of God willingly bowed so low; born in Bethlehem considered “little among the thousands of Judah.” (Micah 5:2) There He was, born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, taking on flesh and dwelling among us.

The practice of swaddling was typically done two times in life; at birth and at death.  Jesus once wrapped in Kingly apparel, came in complete humility, even to the point of obscurity, and then again “humbled Himself to death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

As we unwrap our gifts this Christmas, let us remember the greatest gift, the greatest blessing…. Jesus Himself, unwrapped, the gift of Salvation! Because he bowed low, we are lifted high, seated with Him in Heavenly places, crowned with love and compassion, and clothed in heavenly apparel. Oh what a Savior, Emanuel, God with us!