by Robert S. Schachter, DSW, ACSW
(September 2002)

The next issue of Currents will report on the status of the licensing bill which successfully passed the two houses of the New York State legislature in the early part of the summer. We anticipate that this will include reporting on the Governor's holding a signing ceremony with NASW and 1199/SEIU leaders.

We will also begin the detailed process of analyzing for NASW members what licensing will mean for them.

While the official interpretation of social work licensing is the role of government, the Chapter will share its understanding of the bill in detail so that members will not have to wait the extended period for the government rules and regulations to be finalized. Although what NASW understands and what the state government determines may in some instances differ, members should not have to wait in order to anticipate how licensing will affect them.

At this time I want to explore what licensing may mean for the profession and what opportunities might lie ahead.

Drafting A Key Goal for the Future

The last issue of Currents reported on the Chapter's strategic planning for the next three to five years that has been underway since last fall, and soon to be completed. I think that when we look at one of the key goals as drafted to date, we see within it one of the primary concerns of the social work profession, cutting across most service systems. The goal states; "NASW will enhance/increase the visibility, credibility, and influence of the social work profession".

The goal reflects the widespread experience that social work has not been adequately recognized for its contribution to the public good, and that social workers as professionals are not adequately appreciated for their experience and effectiveness.

In my own experience, this has been true enough. Nevertheless, I have also been experiencing in the past year an appreciation in government, both in the legislature and in state and city agencies, for professional social work. I have also been seeing this in not-for-profit agencies.

Appreciation for the Profession

For example, in meeting with an executive director of a large agency in Brooklyn recently, the administrator, whose background was not social work, expressed a strong interest in being able to hire clinical social workers. He understood that the assessments being done in his agency were not as reliable as he would like and that many of the children and families being served would fare better with professional social work intervention. It was very helpful to me to find this level of appreciation of professional social work. It also suggested the potential for a relationship for working together to further work on behalf of the profession. We are now working toward this.

In another meeting, one in Albany with a staff member representing the commissioner of a major government agency, the appreciation of the social work profession was impressive. In fact, we learned about aspects of social work in state law that we were not aware of. One result of the meeting was state government giving consideration to using public dollars for clinical social work services in community health agencies. This reflects a significant shift within this agency from several years ago.

And in the legislature, with our lobbying for social work licensure, a large number of law makers clearly appreciated why it is important to distinguish between professional social work and work provided by people without social work degrees.

Not Rosy Picture-Eviscerating Services

This is not to suggest that all is rosy for the profession. There are far too many places like the one where a recent member of our Board worked, a prestigious mental health clinic associated with a leading teaching hospital. The clinic diminished the role of the social work staff by eliminating the department and doing away with the position of social work director. This has happened in quite a number of places and works toward eviscerating social work services.

The point is that there are enormous challenges, but there are opportunities for change, provided that we are very thoughtful about how to approach them. People in positions of influence themselves need to be influenced, by the realities of good services and the consequences of bad. This is a key role for NASW in the time in front of us.

Funding is a major stumbling block. Thousands of organizations are scrambling to get money from state and city government, and the wealthiest, strongest, largest, best connected, tend to get what is available. And with budget deficits reaching record highs, not only last year but again in the year to come, there will simply be less money in play. Yet, one of the things we need most is funding for increased salaries, adjusted every year. That is a challenge.

Models For Dealing With Salaries, Benefits And Reimbursement

Members of our Strategic Planning Committee are discussing making increased salaries and benefits, and higher reimbursement, among the key priorities for the chapter. It will not be easy to accomplish such goals, but we could start by developing models for change. For example, we are hearing about agencies and departments that did increase salaries. Well, if they did it, let's let the world know about it, how they did it, and hold up an expectation for others to follow.

And around reimbursement, there has been at least one chapter in NASW that succeeded in getting more favorable reimbursement for clinical social workers from a large managed care organization. Let's take a close look at this.

The strategic planning that we are doing has involved a significant amount of input from members about what the priorities need to be. We have finite resources, yet it takes a great deal of resources to make change happen. When the Board of Directors adopts the plan in the fall, we will be starting a new phase in which I expect to see NASW being more targeted, and more effective, than ever before.

Social workers in every area of social work, at every level, will have a role to play in supporting NASW's efforts, starting with membership in the Chapter.

This will reflect the "power of social work".