Benefits of Joining
Education, Legislation, Identity
Who are we?
The Society for Clinical Social Work was established in 1984 to advance the clinical social work profession within the field of mental health, and to promote high standards of clinical practice.
It is an organization of clinical social workers who practice in a variety of settings, including mental health clinics, family service agencies, psychiatric hospitals, medical facilities, and graduate schools of social work. Many are independent providers of clinical social work.
The Society is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation with a Board of Directors composed of chairpersons of the various committees and officers elected by the membership.
Benefits of membership
The Society for Clinical Social Work is the ONLY organization looking out for Clinical Social Workers in South Carolina.
- National affiliation with the Clinical Social Work Association www.cswf.org
- State lobbyists, Richard Davis and Adrienne Huffman of Capitol Consultants
- CSWA Goverment Relations Director Laura Groshong watching out for our interests nationally
- Latest clinical information for quality social work
- Legal assistance re: professional dilemmas, ethics, rights, laws, and more
- Mentoring for new graduates
- State wide directory of members including specialty areas
- State wide meetings and continuing education opportunities (reduced rates)
- State and national newsletters
- Professional liability insurance at group rates [see below]
- Reduced subscription rate to the Clinical Social Work Journal
- Reasonable membership rates (student, associate, full, retired)
- Elective guild membership
FAQ:
I'm already a member of NASW - why join the Society?
The Society for Clinical Social Work specializes in the needs of clinical social workers. NASW is a large organization dedicated to important issues that cover a very broad range - the social services, child welfare and many others. It is vital that we in our profession support these efforts. But because in our practices as clinical social workers we have needs that other social workers may not have, the Society for Clinical Social Work's aim is to address those clinical and advocacy needs. NASW cannot provide in-depth "coverage" for all the many and varied aspects of social work so we as clinical social workers need to address these ourselves. (adapted from www.wsscsw.com/faqs_nonmember.htm)
Student Benefits
- Networking (State-wide directory of clinical social workers in private and agency practice and opportunities to build professional relationships)
- Educational opportunites (study groups, salon series, annual conference)
- Reasonable membership rates (student, associate, full, retired)
- Updated information on clinical trends and legal issues which affect you (State and and Federation newsletters)
- State and national advocacy for you
- Reduced subscription rate to the Clinical Social Work Journal
- Access to resources and mentoring regarding ethics, clinical practice, laws, and more.
Question/comment regarding liablity insurance from SCSCSW member with response from CSWA Executive Director Richard P. Yanes
"I just wanted to give you feedback on the liability insurance that is
offered by SCSCSW . . . it is about $100 more expensive for a private practice clinician although it looks much less expensive for employed Social Workers."
RESPONSE --
"There are two major factors to be considered in computing the comparative costs of the insurance. First, people should factor in the cost of NASW membership, required in order to secure their insurance, membership in our orgnanization is not required to secure our insurance. When the membership amount is factored in, NASW insurance goes up by about $100, more or less.
The second factor is much more intangible but critical non the less. Our
insurance is the Occurrnece type, that is, once purchased the practitioner is covered non matter when the claim is made (say, years later). NASW is Claims Made type which means it must be in force when the event occurs and in force when the claim is made, even if years separate the two. People leaving practice or changing insurance would have to buy "tail coverage" if they have NASW insurance in order to remain protected.
Finally, while both offer a variety of additional coverages, first-aid,
damages, etc., our insurance offers protection to defend against a licensing matter up to $25,000 per occurrence; NASW offers $15,000. This becomes important when one considers that ASWB made a recent determination that, on average, defending licensing actions cost an average of $15,000. Not much room for deviation.
Comparing insurance policies is a little like comparing apples and oranges. However, we are convinced that for the practitioner our insurance offers better benefits at competative rates."
Executive Director's Report
"What Is This Thing Called Value - Revisited"
By Richard P. Yanes
As an organizational leader I am frequently asked, by both individuals and societies, what am I getting for my money? What is the value of the Federation for me? For us? My answer frequently turns to the larger benefits we provide; items such as the best malpractice insurance program available for clinical social workers, or the more than 30% discount we can give our members on the Clinical Social Work Journal, the most respected social work journal available, or our Members Only Section on our web site which provides clinical, ethical, and business information for our members, and a variety of other benefits.
This time I decided to do a quick look at the benefits the Federation offers by looking at the specific requests we have received and to which we have responded for both individuals and societies. As you can see from the information that follows, that review covered a relatively short timeline and touched upon an incredibly diverse range of subjects. I hope you will be as surprised as I was by the variety discovered.
Since this fiscal year began in July 2004, the Federation has provided responses to more than 55 individuals and clinical social workers, both members and nonmembers, on a variety of matters including: requests from attorneys for records; requests from insurance companies for records considered confidential as a condition of granting additional sessions; the distinction between state licensing examinations; referral of individuals and of family members for services; referral of clients for services who are relocating to another part of the country; appearances for purposes of providing a deposition or testifying in court; home property variance for purposes of operating a home office and the risk to a practitioner's license; the ability of managed care organizations to control their panel membership; how to secure continuing education credits for courses where such was not offered; membership in the Federation and societies; clarification and requirements of the HIPAA privacy regulations; specified practices of health insurance company with respect to reimbursement of clinical social workers; determining which insurance company should be billed for the services provided when there are multiple possibilities; affiliation of the Federation with other organizations; a client's failure to pay and methods for securing payment; employment searches and the ability to transfer a license from one state to another; clarification of a specific benefit offered by the Federation; the location of assistance on developing and growing a practice; clarification of items on our web site; the preparation of talking points for a clinical social worker's television interview regarding social work month; issues of confidentiality and ethics; and more.
During the same time, the Federation has provided services to state societies and developing state societies on a variety of matters including: assisting two societies with society restructure matters to better serve their members and their organization; assisting one society in changing their state regulations so as to allow the society to seek continuing education credits through the Federation's program; assisting one society in a complete review and revision of their bylaws; providing a legal review of an Attorney General's opinion prohibiting the release of a state licensing mail list for educational purposes and providing legislative language to overcome the prohibition; assisting one society with the distinctions in IRS nonprofit classifications, the tax-exempt status related to those distinctions, the nature of their status, and the impact of legislative lobbying on their status; continuing to assist the development of state societies in three states; assisting one society to gather information on scholarship programs from other societies in order to develop their own program; assisting one state with the development of their state licensing law and continuing assistance with the development of the supporting regulations; and providing legal services and testimony to secure a bequest for a reemerging society.
In addition, in the last few years, the Federation has provided consultation and assistance to two state societies on the verge of dissolution. Both societies have since developed strong, participating boards, strong education and other programs, and increased membership. A third society received strategic planning services from the Federation and has continued to develop its education program and revenues.
The above makes a strong case for specific services that organizations can offer and that the Federation does in fact provide and should and will continue to provide. But we must not loose sight of another benefit, not as specific, but certainly no less important. That is the benefit that comes from unity. As the only national organization representing clinical social workers our strength comes from our unity. If we are not joined together as one at some level, then slowly but surely we will dissolve and disappear one by one. On behalf of the people and the profession we serve we cannot allow this to happen.
SCSCSW
supports social work students -- we recently received the following
letter from the SW Association at USC:
Leigh & the
SCSCSW Board,
Hello! I hope everything is going well your way. The school year
will be ending shortly for us, with mixed emotions :). We just
wanted to thank you and the Board for reaching out to the students
in the College of Social Work and for your generous donation to our
Hooding Ceremony.
I truly hope our partnership can last beyond this Executive
Council.
Please take care, and thank you again.
Yours,
Heather Murphy
(the card was also signed by 8 more student Board members)
Testimonial from Salon Series Attendant
Hello
all,
Some of you I have not seen since graduation, while others I have
had the
opportunity to keep in contact on a fairly regular basis. Whether
we've
talked two years ago or last week, I wanted to e-mail you about South
Carolina Society for Clinical Social Work. I attended tonight, met
interesting people, learned a great deal, and had wonderful refreshments!
It's a terrific chance to meet people in the field/broaden your social
work community, learn about many clinical topics, obtain CEU's, and
protect our profession by supporting our clinical society lobbyists.
Without these lobbyists, bills could have been passed that would
forbid us to make assessments/diagnosis which would, in effect, reduce
the need for clinical work. This organization is an especially good
opportunity for new social workers because the society is! now !
in the midst of creating a mentoring program for social workers who
have graduated more recently. It will help us learn from social workers
who have been in this line of work a lot longer with specific concentrations
that you may be interested in pursuing. Please consider this option
for yourself. I would love to gather with colleagues from my past
and present. The price is quite low. Feel free to contact me at ------------.
I have an application I would be glad to mail you if you make the
decision to join. If not, let me know that too and drop me an e-mail
about how you are doing. Hope you hear from you soon.
Take care, Margaret dePrater
P.S.-N.C.
and possibly Georgia has a clinical society too. Just go to
www.cswf.org to gather info.
For more information and/or if you want to receive SCSCSW correspondence
via email or mail, contact membership@scclinicalsocialwork.org to
get in our database.
