Kind of a specific question with terminology from the government hiring system, but I was offered a TJO for a GS position at an Air Force installation in California and am now questioning the whole process. I was super excited and took care of the paperwork fast for onboarding (interview to TJO was within three months), but suddenly, the on base clinic thrust themselves into the fold stating they need to credential me (local MTF) prior to the FJO being offered. Base HR was blindsided by this and stated they had my FJO but had to return it until this process completes. Speaking with a social worker I know on base, they normally onboard then conduct the process since most positions are not connected to the MTF for daily work.

Im essentially asking does anyone have any knowledge of how long this process takes (MTF credentialing)? My friend (at another installation) said it’s common for providers to take 120 to 180 days to get credentialed which would be a nightmare scenario and one I wouldn’t wait for.

I'm currently working on my LCSW, and had a discussion about using CBT in the workplace to help employees work through logjams in projects. He suggested I look into "industrial social work," but wasn't able to point me in the direction of where to get started.

I've tried some basing searching (Google, Amazon), but no dice. Would the hive mind be willing to fill me in?

Hi! Does anyone know of trainings for effective documentation for social workers? I supervise a program working with youth on independent living skills and I’m hoping to find a training my staff can do for writing and documentation skills.

So this is really weird and I've never encountered this in 20yrs. I work CPS as a Protection Worker. Yesterday I participated in a meeting with a Family, myself and two other workers. I am the Primary on the file and I usually take notes during my meetings. Afterwards, one of the workers tells me that she doesn't take notes, but she records everything on her phone so she can reference afterwards and for her protection. My mouth dropped. None of us were informed.

I was so uncomfortable last night, and this morning I spoke with 3 coworkers. They all agreed that I need to bring this to a Supervisor. So I did and it's already blowing up. I feel like crap, I wish I wasn't in the middle of this.

I had 2 protection files and 2 investigations dropped on me this week and I did not want to deal with this. Anyone else encounter this and what did you do?

See last paragraph for my question. The rest is background info.

I'm a seasoned clinical supervisor who has worked with a social worker for 4+years. I've had some concerns about blindspots all along the way that tend to pop up related to her own personal beliefs and biases that are judgemental at times, but also come from her assumptions about people's behaviors and motives.

All of this has been brought up in a variety of ways, using all sorts of techniques and lenses, using other people I know she trusts, so that I can explore whether its an issue between her and I. Nothing has improved willningness to consider whether she has a bias or assumption informing her clinical formulation. Forget about being willing to consider her clinical formation is incorrect or not missing key information.

I specialize in reflective supervision but she is unwilling to engage in it beyond surface answers to get it over with. She said she doesn't need to do reflective supervision because she reflects on her own. When i notice this isn't really possible given we cannot see what we aren't aware of, she digs in.

I've kept my supervision in the loop and worked to come up with other ways of getting it through. I've also worked to keep my own frustration in check and made sure I wasn't responding to her out of frustration or emotional exhaustion. My supervisor and her supervisor are confident we have tried everything within our control. I cannot make her get her own treatment or stop her from seeing clients.

She's getting ready to take her independent licensure test and for the first time in my career I want to "endorse with reservation". Has anyone done this and what happened after? Any repercussions? When did you tell your supervisee? How do you determine what types of practice reaches that level? Thank you all!!

I had to refer a client to a higher level of care and they are terrified of going to rehab. Does anyone have any resources that have helped clients in similar situations?

For context, I’m a manager at social services agency based in Australia. The way my organisation (and many others) works is that we are provided with referrals from external organisations and charge the external organisation in a fee-for-service arrangement. The visits are for children/young people in Out of Hone Care.

I’ve recently been doing an overhaul of the whole training process for workers and I’ve noticed that there isn’t really any training out there for supervised contact visits in Australia, let alone a lot of other countries.

Disability Support and the NDIS is such a big thing in Australia and it has a pretty standardised approach when it comes to worker training. There are companies that don’t provide supports that dedicated to making modules and training. Even writing policies/processes and helping support organisations prepare to receive accreditation. This is due to an overwhelming amount of disability/NDIS services that are being started each day.

However, when it comes to youth worker training as a whole, it is just not something that doesn’t exist. With there being caps on how many services can work in this part of the sector, I can see why it isn’t something that everyone in the country wants to capitalise on.

I’d love to know if there is a supervised contact visit training or manual that you have come across in your experience that was good and would support the creation of a training for my organisations youth workers.

Even if there is any suggestions for what could be included in this training in terms of topics. I’ve got so many ideas and trying to refine them into a digestible training is proving more difficult than expected hahah.

Keen to hear your ideas!

This is a weekly thread for discussing leaving the field of social work, leaving a toxic workplace, and general venting. This post came about from community suggestions and input. Please use this space to:

• Celebrate leaving the field
• Debating whether leaving is the right fit for you
• Ask what else you can do with a BSW or MSW
• Strategize an exit plan
• Vent about what is causing you to want to leave the field
• Share what it is like on the other side
• Burn out
• General negativity

Posts of any of these topics on the main thread will be redirected here.

I’m a school social work intern, and was introducing myself today as a counseling/mental health intern at my internship site (an elementary school). This quote feels neither here nor there, but it’s something a teacher said to me as we were making small talk.

Am I crazy or is this a bit invalidating?

I’ve heard so many of these comments when I say I’m a social worker. It’s a variation of “we need more men in the field.” Yes, there is a place for male social workers: they are able to empathize with male clients, build rapport, but why are you saying this to me? I’m trying my best to find my place in this field, and pouring out empathy and care to every client I meet. But it feels like no matter how hard I try, it’ll never be as good as what a man could do in my position.

Edit: thanks for your responses! A lot of you were very supportive of my lil rant as a powerless intern in the machine.

I do understand why diversity is important—the comment just seemed out of place towards me in that specific moment. And that social work is not a kind profession to anyone. Did not mean to activate anyone with this post.

Appreciate this sub for letting me vent :-)

I don’t know if I’m crazy or if I’ve genuinely noticed something about one of my colleagues.

I work in a center which runs CBT groups as part of our program and I love it. I’m one of three clinicians running the groups so myself and the other clinicians all have the same clients, just for different groups.

We, of course, discuss our clients in meetings and just around the office. Obviously some clients are more difficult to work with than others, so it’s expected that not everything said about the client is the most flattering but still professional. But the way this colleague talks about female clients as opposed to male clients is….notable.

No matter what that client’s situation may be, no matter how much help they may need or how much strain and pain they’re in, if they’re male she always dismisses them, claims they’re lying, they’re manipulating, or they have no right to complain. On a few occasions she’s stated in meetings that some clients just need to “man up,” when it comes to substance abuse, trauma hx, homelessness, etc. In group, she usually comes across as very cold and distant toward male clients.

However….if the client is a woman, then she is very warm, compassionate, empathetic and caring. I’ve never heard her say one negative thing about a woman client. And it seems that the more similar the client is to her demographically (white, single mother, early 30’s), the more positive things she has to say about them, and the more she seems motivated to care for them.

I’ve never noticed this kind of thing in any other environment where I’ve worked. And I don’t think it’s because I’m the only male; after all, I’ve worked with female colleagues my entire career and have never seen this. But I don’t think the others in the center notice this.

Has anyone ever come across a colleague whose empathy appears limited to a certain kind of person?

I’ve been searching for weeks for a supervisor, none are accepting new supervisees. Psychology today is the only place that lists supervisors with an email. The board list only has phone numbers, leaving out email, practice location or virtual availability. No one has reciprocity for my state, and my state requires some degree of in person supervision. Flying to supervision isn’t an option.

As it stands I’ll likely have to quit my job, which is contingent on finding a supervisor.

The BLSW really makes it seem like they don’t want more LCSWs. Why is getting a master’s degree easier than finding supervision?!

What do you feel like are reasonable prices for a CEU courses?

Are you more apt to buy a course at a time or a subscription?

I have used CE4less and other websites, but I was just curious on how much one would be willing to pay for courses or feel like they were getting a good deal.

Also any suggestions on good sites for CEUs? And what do you like about them. I appreciate some being succinct but then sometimes I feel like I’m not getting my moneys worth either.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how mental health and the law intersect, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

What are some things you’ve always wanted to learn or better understand about mental health from a legal or ethical perspective? Are there any specific situations you’ve come across where you weren’t sure how to handle things correctly—ethically or legally?

Hi all,

I'm thinking about starting my own private practice, working for telehealth companies, and making the switch from being at a community-based mental health clinic (W-2) to being a private contractor (1099).

I'm wondering if folks have any insight or advice to share from similar experiences, as I know that such a transition will come with a lot of change and unforeseen circumstances. I'll provide some context:

1. My FIL is an accountant who loves this kind of stuff, and has agreed to help me with taxes (making deadlines, managing money, taking advantage of deductions and write-offs). I would likely be switching a vehicle, my phone, wifi, some electricity for my home office, necessary tech, and other business-focused expenses to run through my business.
2. I'm wondering if folks have made LLCs and if there are pros and cons to doing that I could be enlightened about.
3. Do folks find that they are actually making more money? Once I build a full caseload and am able to see 25-30 clients/week, it looks like I can start making $70-100 per session, which on paper is much more than my current salary, and less demanding than my current productivity expectations.
4. I have connected with 2 different companies that provide billing and marketing services, and would likely utilize them to mitigate any of those insurance-related headaches that come with doing clinical mental health.
5. I plan on doing the math on how many clients I need to see per month in order to sustain all of my financial needs to factor in for time off when I will not be getting paid. But it still looks like I could easily be making 10-15k more than my current salary even if I take a decent amount of time off.
6. I am fully licensed in my state (NY), am set up with CAQH, and have liability insurance.

Thank you!

I am currently leading substance use IOP groups. The groups are very small right now, typically 4 or less people. The group is 3 hours long 4 times a week. I’m not really having trouble coming up with topics to talk about but when the group is so small, it struggles to “lead itself” and I’m stuck trying to fill the time. Any help appreciated!

This is your weekly thread for all questions related to licensure. Because of the vast differences between states, timing, exams, requirements etc the mod team heavily cautions users to take any feedback or advice here with a grain of salt. We are implementing this thread due to survey feedback and request and will reevaluate it in June 2023. If users have any doubts about the information shared here, please @ the mods, and follow up with your licensing board, coworkers, and/or fellow students.

Questions related to exams should be directed to the Entering Social Work weekly thread.

Thought I’d share IYKYK

if you use exym for your documentation, can you let me know if there is a way to view a client's chart history? i uploaded a document that is no longer there, so want to see if there was a glitch or something.

please let me know. thank you

I have an interview coming up for a health navigator position and feeling a little uncertain about it. I have my lmsw and was doing therapy so far but want to transition into case management/care coordination. This position seems like it is is somewhat related but also sounds like a good bit of it is automated/following set protocols.

Mainly just curious to hear if others have had similar positions or have thoughts on this experience helping with getting into primarily case management roles in the future.

Thank you :)

I’m leaving my job and looking for alternatives. I have always wanted to work independently and I’m considering possibilities. I have two ideas. Contracting directly with DMH for family reunification and contracting for social work at nursing homes. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to get going?

I started at a new hospice company that has a lot of locations across the US and this is the first office in my city. We have a low census right now and I was the last person they needed to complete hiring. I am optimistic but also nervous we will always have this low census. Has anyone ever worked at a new company and had these worries? What helped your nerves?

I just wanted to see if I could get some opinions on something because I’m hearing various answers from different sources. I’m still in school but they don’t go over much on these subjects. This is more in the case management type realm, specifically. Do you ONLY bill face to face time with clients? Is there an acceptable situation to bill for something you do without the client present, on their behalf? If the client leaves and I spend 15 more minutes working on something? If I get a call back about something the client and I were working together and they are no longer with me? If I have to send a detailed report to CPS or probation and the client isn’t present? Sometimes it’s just not possible to have the person there for every single thing I do. Oftentimes the things I do don’t fit into a 60 minute box. Am I supposed to just chalk that time up to the game? Genuinely curious here, appreciate any input.

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions! To clarify, I did mean I'd be changing it legally including my professional licenses--I definitely don't want to do anything shady at best and unethical at worst. I currently work with teens and young adults, and historically they have tried to look me up on socials, but that's definitely a "me" issue and there are ways for me to handle that (deactivation for socials I don't use, changing usernames if needed, ensuring privacy setting are maxed out, etc.) I really appreciate everyone taking the time to offer their perspective!

Hey everyone!

I'm getting married in February and am planning on changing my name in my personal life, but was still planning on using my maiden name in my professional life just as a separation for boundaries. Has anyone else done this? If you have, what was that process? And if you think it's a terrible idea please feel free to give me that perspective, too. Obviously I have some time before I need to officially make a decision haha. Thank you!

Hey all,

I’m a few months into my first practicum placement as a school social worker. The other interns and I are holding individual therapy sessions for students who are recommended by guidance counselors as needing additional emotional and mental health counseling.

Everything is going well, and I am happy to be getting clinical practice so early in my career. I am working at an all boys prep high school as a 25M, so what I lack in theoretical knowledge I make up for in relatability.

The only real criticism I receive from supervision and other counselors is an over eagerness in practice and a high level of optimism around the potential of my clients. I see the validity of the critique as I need to learn that clients will progress at their own pace, but part of me wonders if that advice is in part influenced by a jaded perspective after a long career.

Has anyone noticed a similar experience in their career?

How do you maintain an appropriate level of optimism when it comes to the potential of a client?

UPDATE: thanks for everyone’s thorough feedback. Validating to see that I chose a career that has a community that is responsive and EAGER (lol) to help. Responding to all comments in one post.

To give some context, the “criticism” I received was in the midst of my supervisor recapping his conversation with my university liaison. Stated something along the lines of “doing a great job, kids respond to him, professional, has the typical eagerness of an intern.” I am very upbeat and energetic, so took it as commentary on that portion of my personality.

The other mention was a guidance counselor, with tons of experience but no clinical degree, who hinted at the fact that I may be overly optimistic about the work with one of his students. This student had S/I last school year. He has a history of avoiding sessions with social workers and is reluctant to speak much in session. In my session today, I got him, for the first time, to start opening up around the incident last year. I shared so with his guidance counselor, but his outlook on future session attendance and the start of progress was negative.

I have a history of working in sales, so concepts like mirroring are not brand new to me and feel that I am able to change my approach without much thought. I find that when working with students with depression and S/I I am taking a slower and more careful approach than with other clients (Use a softer tone and slower pace when speaking, allow the students to think and feel more).

I am a former athlete and come from a family with many football coaches, so it is my assumption that I sometimes tend to see a problem, and coach how to fix the problem.

I also have ADHD and struggle with delayed gratification, so am likely quick to jump to solutions before they are due. Contrarily, my ADHD allows me to see patterns quickly so I have a lot of trust in my intuition and being able to see things quickly.

Regardless, excited for the career ahead and will trust the process of supervision.

For those of you who use Preferra as your liability insurance (which seems to be most of us, given their history with NASW), you've probably seen the emails about a board vote coming up in December.

Has anyone been following this whole thing? What's your take on it? I'm having trouble finding more info about it outside of what Preferra has provided, which is obviously biased as they are recommending members vote a particular way, and the NASW's statement is extremely vague since the litigation is still underway.

ps://secure.intelliscanvotes.com/preferra/2024/FAQ.pdf

https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Facts/Frequently-Asked-Questions-Insurance-Governance-and-Workplace/Preferra-Lawsuit

Are Social Workers respected as MH/allied health workers in Australia (or other countries) similar to Psychologists?

Considering SW as a career, and I've noticed that in Australia SW is registered in the state of South Australia only, but not in the rest of Australia (it's accredited but not registered like a Psychologist protected title etc).

Thanks 😊

I work as a housing case manager and today received a referral for someone that has been homeless and in shelter since January 2024. As I’m setting up the tour with them to visit their potential future home, they disclosed that they work at the same organization as me and on the same office floor but in a different department.

I believe that everyone deserves housing but I am concerned that with them working at the same organization as I do, that there could possibly be a breach of trust and confidentiality.

Any other resident services coordinators working toward clinical licensure? I'm nearing the end of my hours (all my stuff was approved by the board of mental health) and finding some challenges working toward this goal in a non-clinical role. Specifically getting some pushback from my supervisor with respect to confidentiality issues. Per our bylaws, LCSWs operate under the same confidentiality/privacy privileges as those between an attorney and their client; and this includes prospective licensees. Nonetheless, I keep receiving feedback that, because I'm not in a clinical role, I'm therefore not providing mental health services, and the privacy privileges don't apply. Thoughts?

Hi social work nation!

LCSW here currently employed as a hospice social worker for a large hospital system in the U.S.

There are murmurs of possible unionization at my job.

Curious what your experiences are with unions? Did your salary increase even with union fees? Did you find social workers and other staff members - aside from nurses - saw benefits to joining a union? Any cons?

Just trying to learn more.

Thanks in advance for any input you can offer!