Public Comments for: HB606 - Clinical social workers; licensure examination alternative.
Vote yes on HB606!
As an LCSW, I ask you to vote for HB 606!
I am writing in support for HB606 due to being an up and coming social worker currently in supervision. I believe this option would assist with the disparities in the behavioral health workforce and allow social workers to have other options to stay in this field. I also believe that individuals that have currently taken the exam with failed attempts should have a grandfather clause to assist them with licensure. The ASWB is not benefiting the social workers either by making individuals continuously pay to take this exam which is causing individuals to have more debt and increasing burnout due to having to gain more employment (like second jobs) to make ends meet.
I’m a BSW, MSW, QMHP-A, social worker with over ten years of experience. I will never become licensed or pay to sit for an exam. Our current process of licensing is exclusionary and limiting. Please allow social workers more ways to advance themselves and their careers.
Vote yes on HB606!
Vote yes on HB 606 to create an equitable path to social work licensure.
Vote YES on HB 606!
Vote yes on HB 606!
Vote yes! Virginia needs more licensed clinical social workers and more LCSWs of color!
I am asking for you to pass this bill for both moral and practical reasons. It has been established by the ASWB's own data that the test is biased toward the beliefs and approaches of white social workers. The numbers are appalling. I know social workers I went to school with who are excellent, who have helped so many people, but cannot pass that test. It's unacceptable that they would be paid less and not get the opportunity for promotion. I definitely have concerns about quality control of clinical social workers but that test does not predict how much someone can help a client, it just measures whether you know how to answer the way the test wants you to answer. Having more supervision, which actually requires being observed and given feedback about how you help those clients is much more helpful. Lastly, people who are in acute crisis or a moment of being ready to make a change are having to wait months and months to see a therapist. We need more licensed therapists to help more people.
Vote yes HB 606
My name is Kim Young, I am a resident of Richmond, Va and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Virginia, and I am asking you to support HB606 (Price) which aims to strengthen the behavioral health workforce by increasing pathways to becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Passing HB606 would direct the Board of Social Work to implement an alternative requirement to the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) exam. Virginia is experiencing a behavioral health workforce shortage and the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (VHWDA) released a recent and here are a few highlights: Behavioral health workers are challenged by low pay. High education cost, and work environments rife with high administrative burden, high caseloads, and at times violence.. Virginia’s own regulations and tedious administrative burden restrict those entering the field causing burnout and turnover.It is difficult to attract students to the behavioral health profession due to steep clinical hours requirements, the cost of obtaining hours, and licensure requirements..Virginia is ranked 12th in the nation for population but 37th for the number of licensed social workers specializing in mental health care. The legislature should direct the Board of Social Work to implement an alternate path to licensure that does not require an exam. In the absence of ASWB’s foundationally flawed and biased exams, social work licensure would be earned primarily through degree completion and accruing supervised clinical hours. The option to sit for the licensure at 3,000 supervised experience hours will still exist but the alternative path will allow someone to elect to complete an additional 1,500 supervised experience hours to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in lieu of the exam. Additionally, implementing a grandfathering process that allows those who have already been working towards licensure to apply their supervised experience hours towards the alternative non-exam licensure path.
I submit a responsive yes for this. In my as quality assurance in a state agency I notice how imperative it is to get well trained clinical staff. If I'm not mistaken Virginia ranks very low in terms of the number of qualified staff or qualified clinical operators we have. If excluding the inequity of charging more money to retake tests, there is still the responsibility to ensure that Virginians have access to these clinical providers. Removing barriers that hinder qualified people from receiving certifications or easily retesting seems the easiest way to increase the number of professionals it is evident that we need.
YES to HB606. Virginia is experiencing a behavioral health workforce crisis. There is a high demand for licensed mental health professionals and an insufficient workforce to respond to these needs. Part of this issue is the inaccessibility of the exam required for Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). The National Association of Social Workers has acknowledged that the current exam is being disproportionately failed by Black, Brown, and English Language Learner (ELL) testers. The licensing exam is only offered in English, despite the rapidly growing Latine and diverse immigrant population and the high demands for bilingual therapists. Virginia residents deserve mental health professionals that look, live, and sound like all Virginians. The high cost of becoming licensed (registering and paying for supervision, buying study materials) and possibly even failing the exam can be upwards of $5000, in addition to the cost of getting a Master of Social Work degree. Passing HB606 would help address the critical behavioral health workforce needs that Virginia is experiencing, and would be a pathway to a more diverse, inclusive, sustainable, and accessible mental health workforce. YES to HB606!
Vote yes to HB606 for alternative pathway to licensure for social workers. No standardized test should be an indicator to the skills that a social worker portrays. This pathway will also strengthen the behavioral health workforce and allow social workers to stay in this profession instead of finding a new career. As a social worker currently in the field and working towards licensure, this exam has caused me a lot of agony and distress currently I am not able to move in my career due to failed examination attempts. I am asking for everyone to vote yes to this bill, as it will help all current social workers, up and coming social workers continue to make valuable change in this world.
vote YES
vote YES reduce the racist barriers to licensure and join the national movement against the test.
vote YES reduce the racist barriers to licensure and join the national movement against the test.
vote YES
YES. Increase pathways to licensure through WORK experience AS a supervised social worker, is a better indicator of qualification to be a social worker
YES. Allow further access to licensure outside of standardized testing that evidence and data shows disproportionately keeps out BIPOC social workers from earning higher paid positions and licensure
I would like to submit my overwhelming support for HB606, paving an alternative pathway to a License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW). I am currently an LCSW and also provide clinical supervision for those who have a Master's in Social Work and seek licensure. The current LCSW exam creates a significant barrier for social workers who are in critical need with the behavioral health crisis. ASWB (Association of Social Work Boards) recently released a study showing how mostly Black, Latine, and Indigenous individuals are unable to pass the exam which provides limitations on growth within our field and services provided for our communities. Another major barrier is the cost associated. Social Workers can spend up to $5,000 on obtaining study material and attempts to pass the exam. Having an alternative pathway will assist social workers in focusing more on our practice and continuing to serve our communities whether that is in hospitals, shelters, community organizing and private practice. As Social Workers we are embedded in society yet rarely acknowledged and seen for the incredible amount of work and advocacy we provide as we navigate significant societal barriers. Passing HB606 will continue this work and encourage individuals to join our field to address Virginia's on-going behavioral health crisis.