I love that the Biden-Harris Administration put their money where their mouth is when it comes to addressing the mental health crisis.
It is easy to say you are an advocate for mental health and you want to improve the quality of life for all Americans. It is another thing when your desire to effect change and make an impact is when an initiative is backed with funding – that is exactly what the Biden-Harris Administration did.
They saw the need and partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to make it easier for social workers to practice across state lines to address workforce shortages, increase behavioral health access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, and better facilitate telehealth services.
According to USA Today, “over 20% of American adults (more than 50 million) experience some sort of mental illness every year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and 5% encounter a more serious mental health concern every year. And it’s not just adults: 1 in 6 kids ages six to 17 in the U.S. experience a mental health disorder. Suicide remains the second-leading cause of death among all U.S. children ages 10 to 14.”
Increasing access to mental health services is of the utmost importance and ensuring Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) who are providing services are competent, credible, and credentialed.
While the Biden-Harris Administration is advancing the multi-state social work licensure compact, we also need to advocate for a federal system of regulation for the practice of social work and social work licensure to have consistent standards across state lines.
HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson is correct, “Social workers are on the frontlines in responding to the Administration’s priorities, including meeting children’s mental health needs, responding to the opioid epidemic, and addressing maternal depression”. The concern is, that the social work profession’s policies, legislation, and licensure regulations vary gravely from state to state to the detriment of harming the public as a result of a lack of transparency and credentialing standards.
Illinois Public Act 103-433 recently passed an alternative pathway to allow every MSW (Master of Social Worker) that failed the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Exam to attain the LCSW clinical authority to diagnose and offer psychotherapy services as long as they receive an additional 3000 supervision hours. Additionally, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Minnesota are a few other states that are also deregulating social work licensure standards which is detrimental to the quality and care when serving Americans.
It is time for federal intervention from the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate to ensure the LCSWs that will be serving Americans across state lines to address the mental health crises are competent, credible, and credentialed.
The Interstate Social Work Licensure Compact is desperately needed in combination with a federal system of regulation for the practice of social work and social work licensure to protect the public.
Sign, Share, and Support the Social Work Licensure Federal Overhaul petition: https://www.change.org/Socialworklicensure
Article Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/health-insurance/mental-health-statistics/
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