I am currently under clinical supervision and I find it valuable that the person that I am receiving training from is invested in the continuing education requirements set forth by the board. Knowing that she is invested in the changes and advancements of the profession help to make the experience valuable. Social work is an everchanging practice and the CEU’S help in keeping practitioners up to date.  as practice evolves it is important to hold fast to the foundation  of  practice and to assist in solidity of our profession . reducing the

Without strict training requirements, the workforce will increase, but with professionals who have a lower standard of competency, potentially resulting in harm to the clients served. It is imperative that the workforce providing behavioral health and case management services, be competent with continuing development in offering the citizens of the Commonwealth’s well qualified, professional workforce, whose main goal is to protect the public from harm. In order to help accomplish this goal, it is vital that our Regulators understand that continuing competency is one of many professional requirements, particularly when teaching new practitioners

Lowering these requirements will not ensure the competency of the practitioner. The proposed change of 12 hours for initial supervision training does not ensure that the future supervisor has the necessary skills to oversee those applying for a higher level of licensure. In addition, the elimination of the requirement for additional training every 5 years will result in an inadequate level of training in best practices. Although ongoing professional development can never ensure competency, lowering an educational requirement can result in inadequate supervision methods for supervisees. Supervisors with outdated training will pass this information to their supervisees, which will likely lead to an increase in the number of complaints to the Board. When supervisors are current with state-of-the-art best practices that are gained via ongoing training, they can transmit this knowledge to their supervisees. Lowered requirements can create claims by the public that the Board is not providing appropriate or adequate oversight of this supervisor function. The public will not be protected, and this violates the prime purpose of a licensing board.