Margot Aronson

New Policy from the DC Board of Social Work

As we go to press, we have not seen the Board’s revised policy on LGSWs working under supervision in an established private practice. However, it will be posted on the Board’s website by the time you read this report, in the section on Policy Guides and Statements. Background Information about the issue can be found in the September issue of News & Views.

Because the impetus for this change came from a request from practitioners, the Board followed the procedures for developing policy guidance. They welcomed input from those of us attending the Open Sessions, and consulted with the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) for information about similar issues faced by other Social Work boards before making their decision - a process meant to be responsive to an identified need.

A broader, more in-depth Board review of DC social work regulations has been in progress for some time. Once that review takes shape, regulatory changes proposed by the Board will follow the more formal – and more familiar – process, which includes a 60-day period for public comment and specified vetting procedures before becoming law.

A Change in CE Requirements

Another item you’ll want to check on the Board’s website is CE requirements for the new licensure period. Again, we don’t have the details as we go to press, but are aware that the Director of the DC Health Department has ordered that all health licensees are to devote 10% of their CEs to public health issues. The list of approved public health topics is to be announced in November, so we do not yet know if our required 4 public health CEs can include the LGBTQ CEs already mandated by the DC Council.

An Appointment and a Vacancy

Finally, from the Board: Aisha Nixon has been appointed Executive Director for the DC Boards of Allied and Behavioral Health; she had been serving as Interim ED. The Board still lacks a bachelor level member – a Licensed Social Work Associate – to bring it to its full complement of five members.

One Last Note

We learned this weekend that CE is the appropriate abbreviation for continuing education. CEU, on the other hand, refers to Continuing Education Unit, a unit of credit equal to 10 hours of participation in an educational course or approved activity. CEU is regularly used, incorrectly, in place of CE, and the world has not stopped turning ... so this is just an FYI! Thought you might want to know.

Margot Aronson, LICSW, chairs the GWSCSW L&A committee for DC. A past GWSCSW president, she has also served as newsletter editor and director of Legislation & Advocacy. Margot currently advocates on mental health and LCSW practice issues for us all at the national level as the Clinical Social Work Association Deputy Director for Policy and Practice.