Get to Know Brittany Mahalick & The CEU Shop
By Mary Grace Roden
I have no doubts I am writing to an audience all too familiar with the importance of earning CEUs (Continuing Education Units). Certified Genetic Counselors are required to recertify with ABGC every five years, which diplomates can obtain by earning 12.5 CEUs during their certification period. I am always on the lookout for opportunities to earn CEUs – live webinars, educational conferences, recorded content, and the like. Thanks to a fellow genetic counselor, there is a new way to earn NSGC-approved Category 1 CEUs that may be extra exciting for my fellow book lovers! Meet Brittany Mahalick, genetic counselor and founder of The CEU Shop, and learn about her journey to this idea to earn CEUs.
- Tell us the basics: When and where did you earn your MS? Where do you live? What areas of genetic counseling have you worked in?
I graduated from the Northwestern GC Program in Chicago in 2013. I actually lived with a couple of your local Texas GCs in grad school, Nichole (Brown) Behrens & Caitlin (Mauer) Hall! I worked as a prenatal clinical GC in an MFM office, as a sales rep for GeneDx, and as a telehealth GC with a primary focus on carrier screening results disclosure. I moved back to my hometown of Gobles, MI (pop: 841) in 2020 with my two sons and my husband Joe.
Brittany Mahalick, founder of The CEU Shop
- Tell us about The CEU Shop.
The CEU Shop sells CEU programs so that genetic counselors can read a good book, take a quiz on the book, and then earn Category 1 CEUs (based on audiobook length). For example, GCs can go to theCEUshop.org, purchase the “Book Club - This Boy We Made” CEU program, read the book on their own schedule (participants are emailed a PDF of the quiz as soon as they purchase so they can mark down answers to the questions as they read), and then complete the electronic quiz and evaluation once they finish. Within a day of finishing, they will get an email confirming the course is completed. If participants need their official NSGC CEU certificate ASAP, they can email to let me know and they can have it within 16 days of finishing.
- What was your motivation in starting The CEU Shop?
I have two young sons and when one of my sons was diagnosed with autism, I stepped away from my job to focus on life at home. During this time, I fell behind on CEUs and so I had to do some serious catching up the year I recertified. I wanted to learn all about autism AND I wanted to get NSGC-approved Category 1 CEUs to maintain my certification AND I did not have an employer to cover the costs of my CEUs AND I did not have a lot of time to sit in front of a computer screen and watch recorded webinars or travel to conferences. I wanted a way to be able to listen to an audiobook about autism while driving to speech therapy, I wanted to get CEU credit for that time spent learning, and I wanted all of that to be affordable. And so, The CEU Shop was born!
I read a book called Uniquely Human that was very helpful to me at that point in my parenting journey and I thought about how my son’s experience would have been so much better if more of his providers had read that book. So, I made that into The CEU Shop’s first “Book Club” as a way of advocating for my son and other autistic people.
- What was it like starting a business in the field of genetic counseling?
It’s been fun! The past few years have consisted of very intense parenting for me and creating my own company has been such a great outlet! To run The CEU Shop I run the website, create marketing materials, submit CEU applications, reach out to authors and publishers, do accounting, run social media, read the books, write the quiz and evaluation questions, etc. There is a lot of variety which keeps it interesting! The genetic counseling community has been so incredibly supportive, and it has been so fun being on the receiving end of so much encouragement!
- What has been a valuable learning experience throughout your journey to The CEU Shop?
I have to learn to be patient which is so hard for me. If I think of something I want to do it immediately. The amount of time I get to work on The CEU Shop is limited, so I have to learn to be okay with a task that I want to complete right away taking a month. I’ve had to learn to be very intentional with my time and prioritize any work time that I get.
- Where do you see The CEU Shop in ten years?
Brainstorming about long-term goals is one of my favorite things to do! The reality is that it really depends on how much time I can dedicate to The CEU Shop, which depends on how much time I need to spend on caretaking.
One route would be to keep it similar and just build out more book selections as time allows. I also plan to add “Movie Club” options where GC’s could earn CEUs from watching documentaries. I would also love to add sponsorship options to support GC’s who want to maintain their license but do not have employer support.
In terms of growing the business, I would love to host a “Read & Reset” in-person regional CEU conference. Something like a 2-day conference that would include a lot of gaps in the schedule for reading “Book Club” CEU books on your own, but also scheduled events like author presentations, local patient and family speakers, and time for GC community building. I’m thinking it would be more informal and low-key than a typical conference and would be geared towards people driving to the location. I’ve also thought about hosting a more typical one-day CEU symposium in a state that doesn’t have a local conference option.
Another long-term goal I’ve thought about is putting together a continuing education program about autism for pediatricians, possibly presented by parents of autistic children or autistic adults. I’ve found there to be such a lack of education on autism in healthcare and there is a real opportunity to improve quality of life for autistic people by increasing education.
- Outside of The CEU Shop, what brings you joy?
I’m currently loving anything that brings a little levity to my life – a Carely Fortune book, girls night, the show Hacks, a day at the lake with my family, blueberry season, a text chain with my college gal pals, a group workout class, going out to dinner with my husband, warm weather, walking 5 minutes to my parent’s house, getting tons of time with my sister and cousins in the summer, and the funny things my kids say, to name a few. Yesterday when I told my son I needed to leave to work for a little bit he told me, “Be safe! Be happy! Get your work done so you have more money to buy me toys!”
- What genetic syndrome do you find most fascinating and why?
No surprise here… autism! I think and talk about autism every day. The way my son’s brain works is incredible. He just “picked up” how to read at 3 years old and seemingly remembers just about everything that has ever happened to him. And there is so much to learn about how his senses work and how to support his unique sensory profile. I will think I have figured out a new way to support him and then all of a sudden it won’t work anymore and we have to start over. There are so many autistic people that are misunderstood and I truly hope we can do better as a society and healthcare professionals to support them!
One of our very own Texas Transcript members recently earned CEUs through The CEU Shop and wanted to share their experience with TSGC:
“I had the opportunity to complete the “Uniquely Human” course through The CEU Shop and it was such a convenient experience! Brittany chose the book so wisely and I appreciated how efficient and quick she was in responding to my emails and having a copy of the book shipped to me. The course quiz was a breeze to get through, especially since Brittany provided a PDF to accompany the book as I read it. I’ve been recommending this to friends and coworkers and can’t wait to enroll in future courses!” - Dina El Achi