Adele Natter

The Board of Social Work meets the fourth Monday of every month. These meetings begin with Open Session (open to the public) at 10AM and proceed into Executive Session (closed to the public).

At the DC Social Work Board meeting of January 27, the Board discussed future CE topics that the Health Department will require of all Boards. The question of whether an LGBTQ CE requirement and a sexual health CE requirement could be met by a single course was raised. The topic was tabled for discussion at a future Board meeting. During this license cycle, social workers will need to devote four (4) CEs relevant to public health topics posted on the Board’s website. (See “Policy Statement Identifying Public Health Issues for Continuing Education” in the Policy Guides and Statements section of the website.) At the November meeting, the Board stated its commitment to using a liberal interpretation of the requirements.

Before the January meeting ended, a hearing was held regarding a Notice of Intent to deny a licensee’s reinstatement application. Because the licensee did not appear, the District’s attorneys made the case that she did not meet her burden of proof in presenting her case for reinstatement. Your GWSCSW representative was not privy to the Board’s subsequent discussion. However, this case was further evidence of the importance of showing up in order to be heard. Over the past 18 months, we have seen how effective that can be, with the formation of policies around LGSW’s in private practice. In that case, a number of GWSCSW members and others attended meetings of the Board and really educated the Board about many aspects of this issue.

The next meeting of the DC Board of Social Work is scheduled for March 23, 2020.

Adele Natter, LICSW, Co-Chairs  the GWSCSW Legislation & Advocacy Committee for DC with Margot Aronson, LICSW. Adele has been an active participant on the Committee for the past four years; she represented GWSCSW on a Board of Social Work sub-committee, which included NASW and CSWA representatives.