| Legislature Passes Licensing Law Extension as Advocacy Continues |
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| Tuesday, 18 May 2010 09:09 |
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Advocates are reacting with mixed emotions – and continued efforts to tweak the final legislation -- following yesterday’s passage of Assembly and Senate bills to extend a current exemption to social work licensing law requirements, but only for three years. A broad alliance of nonprofit human service provider groups had been hoping to win legislative approval for a four-year extension as originally proposed by Governor David Paterson.
Yesterday, a bill (S-5921-A) introduced by Toby Ann Stavisky (D-NYC) providing for a three-year extension passed the Senate on a unanimous vote. A companion bill (A-8897) introduced by Gary Pretlow (D-Yonkers) then passed in the Assembly.
The current exemption to the licensing law provisions for employees at programs licensed by OCFS, OMH, OMRDD and OASAS is set to end on June 1st. Without an extension, tens of thousands of unlicensed staff currently performing social work activities would no longer be able to do so. The result, say advocates, is that caseworkers and counselors at both state agencies and nonprofit human service providers would be subject to layoff as programs and services for clients grind to a halt due to a massive shortage of Licensed Master Social Workers (LMSWs) and Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs).
The Stavisky/Pretlow legislation would prevent this regulatory catastrophe.
The legislation also addresses “corporate practice” prohibitions which would prevent corporate entities from employing professionally licensed staff and directly providing professionally licensed services. The bills create an exemption for not-for-profit corporations and education corporations that provide professional services in these professions, provided that these entities obtain a waiver with the State Education Department by July 1, 2012. Leading up to and upon approval of a waiver application, entities would be authorized to employ licensed professionals or contract with professional entities to provide such professional services. Additionally, the bill would recognize work experience gained by individuals employed by such entities and would permit such individuals to apply this experience towards the experience qualifications for professional licensure.
However, advocates had argued that a four-year extension was essential to provide adequate time to address issues in the current licensing law that have limited the numbers of new LCSWs being licensed. They note that social workers need three years of field of experience to sit for the LCSW exam and that the State Education Department has drafted but not yet proposed regulations which would reduce the number of hours of experience necessary to sit for the exam. If the exemption expires prior to more social workers sitting for their clinical license under the new rules, the sector will be faced with an even greater shortage LCSWs.
“We’re relieved to get at least a three year extension,” said Phillip Saperia, Executive Director of the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies.
“We have gotten a lot of what we asked for,” said Karin Moran, MSW, Director of Policy for the National Association of Social Workers - New York State Chapter. “The corporate practices issue is huge.” However, she emphasized that advocates were continuing to work with both houses of the legislature and the Governor’s office on further adjustments to the legislation before it is finalized. |
Comments
Don't get me wrong, if I believed that using a LCSW actuallu meant a greater quality of care, I'd be opposed to the current bill allowing non-licensed providers to perform the same work.
But, c'mon, let's be honest. We all know completely incompetent LCSW-Rs. Many were grandfathered in from the CSW-R, and received very little supervison or training along the way. Many obtained their CSW's by having friends sign for their hours, and it seemed that clinical hours gained in almost any setting were acceptable.
If one looks further back, one sees the battle between the various Social Work schools: Community Organizing vs. DSM IV vs. Oppression. (an admittedly sloppy summary). I'm all for the various schools of thought, but some of these schools do not have a direct practice focus at all. Six years out of graduate school, with no clinical training, these folks decided to folk out a few hunderd dollars to get their R because, "maybe someday I'll need it. It might even be something fun to do on the side once and a while. More initials after ones name is always a good thing."
...a few weeks later they received a letter in the mail stating that their request had been granted, and (Presto!) can use it at an agency or in private practice.
Despite decades of such "leniency", their are not enough LCSWs to fill the current demand, hence the present LMSW Extension Law. I have no idea how to do it, but it would be nice if we could purge the incompetent LCSW's from the field before we focused on keeping LMSWs out.
NYS (and its struggling network of provider agencies) is basically deciding "Is something better than nothing?" My answer is "Yes". My thought is that by dramatically increasing the number of people eligible to provide services, providers will have the flexibilty to fire those of us who are incompetent. I'm all for giving employers the flexibilty to hire LMSWs or LCSWs as a result.
These facts, combined with no ongoing continuing education requirements leads me to refer people in need of therapy to Psychologists, not LCSW-Rs. ...the chances of getting a qualified, dedicated, trained provider are often higher.
P.S. If you tell me you've never met a LCSW-R that recevied their credential in this manner, I'll ask you to be honest again.
Here we go making excuses for those that work in the field and are allowed to provide services that a licensed social worker is required to do. As a previous post stated - Do you go to a Dr. or lawyer that isn't licensed.
FIND OTHER WAYS TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN LICENSED SOCIAL WORKERS. ONCE YOU FIGURE THAT OUT, THEN MAKE THEM CONTINUE TO ATTEND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
And what about all those Art Therapists who got that masters degree and who are certified, licensed and registered? Are they going to continue to work as recreation therapists at the lowest professionally paid salaries in NYS civil service, without proper supervision for another 4 years?
This is all very wrong.