Action | Changes to supervision requirements |
Stage | Fast-Track |
Comment Period | Ended on 3/3/2021 |
This pandemic has impacted the field of Social Work and the delivery of clinical services in an unprecedented manner. In order to be resilient as a profession and to ensure we have adequate social workers for the future, we need to respect and give credit for all of the many ways new clinicians are working incredibly hard to meet the needs of their clients and the goals of the Social Work profession. Supervisees in Social Work have been creatively engaging clients since the beginning of this pandemic, and continue to do so. One of the ways this is occurring is by telephonic sessions. I think everyone would agree that when possible, truly face to face services are ideal, however those clients who may be homebound and who do not have the resources or access to the technology required for video conferencing, can still be served telephonically. As a result, clinical social work services provided by phone and under the supervision of a licensed clinician, should count towards the "face to face" hours needed to meet the licensure requirements. Thank you for your consideration.