Professor attends bill signing

James Andrews, Program Director at the Johnstown MSW Program was present at Governor Tom Wolf’s signing of SB 530: Practice Protection for Clinical Social Workers.SB 530: Practice Protection for Clinical Social Workers. Practice protection will ensure that only a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) can provide clinical social work services in Pennsylvania. This protects clients from harmful or under-qualified service providers. The bill will also add "diagnosis" to the scope of practice for licensed clinical social workers. The State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors is the only regulated board that does not have legal practice protection in place. This regulation would provide Pennsylvania citizens the level of consumer protection they have with other professions such as architecture, occupational therapy, and engineering. Without practice protection, an individual that loses her/his license in another state may come to PA and practice without a license. Simply put, anyone can legally provide clinical social work services in PA, even without a license. Forty eight states already mandate that MSWs who want to practice independently obtain a clinical license to do so. We hope to become the 49th state with this protection in place. Practice protection would help keep social workers accountable and ensure that consumers are receiving the best possible services.