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A Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a technology background and a tendency to chase down rabbit holes.

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5 things you didn’t know about renewing your NY social work license


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Continuing education requirements for New York social workers have  some pitfalls to trap the unwary. You may just be sorting through what, exactly, is required, and how to meet the standards for renewing your license.

To inform social workers about the regulations, the state prepared a list of questions and answers. (We have downloaded them into a more accessible and readable format in our FAQs section.) But here are five things that you should know right away, with links to the appropriate FAQ answer from the state licensing board.
Continue reading 5 things you didn’t know about renewing your NY social work license


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Where have we been for so long?


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This is an apologia rather than an apology. I started this site several years ago when it was apparent that finding continuing education was going to be a challenge for New York social workers. Until that time, New York social workers were not required to obtain continuing education. Much confusion abounded at the time (and possibly still does). I worked for a clinic in which senior management purchased courses from an unapproved provider and steadfastly insisted the courses would be approved for NY social workers (they weren’t, although I didn’t hear any sad stories of my colleagues being caught out when they relicensed). So this site was born and received some attention.

However, this was an incredibly tedious labor of service, costing time and money to build and maintain. While it would have been nice to come up with an ad-supported or membership model to sustain the costs, real life intruded. I switched clinics, took on a management role in another urban mental health clinic, then took on added responsibilities for supervision and administration. It was all too much. Letting the site languish may not have been the best course, but it was self-defensive.

Fast forward five years (!) and I have decided to take a look at the site. Stepping down from day-to-day clinic work, I have some time and I think it could still make a valid contribution, with appropriate features. So possible reboot!

As part of rebooting, I took a look at the primary data source: the listing at NYSED of approved providers. When I last posted in 2016, there were 265 providers in the list. Most recently, there are 570 listed. But what a mess! A continuous alphabetical listing of names, with nearly 60 listed as expired providers. There’s also the 260+ listed as only Live (In-Person) providers. Some of those (and some of the others as well) may only provide in-house training to their own staff, but if not, they are certainly not doing well since COVID-19 came on the scene.

So, as a data nerd, I feel I can restructure this data to be more useful. Search functions for type of trainings and proximity (although these seem less useful when the world has turned viral and virtual, but someday this will change back to some degree) are a baseline. How about allowing a review system for trainings? Maybe a handy flag system and email compilation of trainings with availability for last minute bookings?

I may also consider some basic member features to allow people to track their trainings and receive nudges for credits remaining. I know enough about human behaviors to have observed massive anxiety when people realize they have about 4 weeks left to complete 20 hours of training.

Finally, in scanning the NYSED site, I notice that the allied licensed professionals—LCATs, LMHCs, LFMTs and Psychoanalysts—are also required to accumulate continuing education hours. They have their own requirements and education providers. The cynic in me sees the monetary goal for NYSED (ka-ching!) of forcing multiple application fees for providers, but the social worker sees the value in also providing information for these professions.

Anyway, that is the goal for now. First, scrape off the barnacles and see if this will float.


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46 New Providers Added


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NYSED has added 46 new providers to its list as of February 24, bringing the total to 265.


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17 providers added in October


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NYSED added 17 new providers to its list in October, bringing the total to more than 220.


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15 providers added in September


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NYSED added 15 new providers to its list in September, bringing the total to more than 200. Two of the providers—QuorumEDU and SAGE—had actually been approved earlier (as long ago as May 1st), but didn’t make it to the list until this past month.

 


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Center for Practice Innovations provides self-study credits for free (there is a catch)


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cpilogosmallLooking for self-study credits? Looking for free courses to complete your requirements? The Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry offers over 25 hours in continuing education in their Learning Community portal.

The courses are well-produced and informative, covering topics in

  • assertive community treatment (ACT)
  • integrated treatment for dual disorders (FIT)
  • wellness self-management (WSM)
  • supported employment (IP)
  • suicide prevention (SP-TIE)

Continue reading Center for Practice Innovations provides self-study credits for free (there is a catch)


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State will conditionally approve some providers to deal with its own backlog


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In last week’s announcement from NYSED about provider approvals, there was a plea that they are overloaded up there in Albany: “due to the large number of applications and capacity issues in the Board Office, the application review process is taking longer than anticipated.” In response, NYSED has created a special status of providers: conditionally approved. This status allows a provider to deliver continuing education credits while they await the fate of their applications. The state has agreed to honor any credits for education a social worker receives while the provider is conditionally approved.

As of May 29, there was a single provider listed with that status, the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.

Screen Shot 2015-06-03 at 9.21.11 AM

Continue reading State will conditionally approve some providers to deal with its own backlog


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Flash Update: NYSED will cut you a break if you are due to renew in 2015


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The Department of Education has modified the requirements exclusively for licensees scheduled to renew in 2015. If you are in that cohort, you can fulfill your continuing education exclusively with self-study courses. These courses are online—but not live—courses, with or without videos. Unlike the Live Online trainings, these don’t require you to log on at a specific date and time. Complete them in the evening or on weekends. The only catch is that they must be courses approved by the State and given by approved providers. We are currently working on our listing of self-study courses (launch in July). Here’s the relevant text from the Department of Education website:

Exception to the limitation on the number of continuing education hours that can be completed through self-study courses Continue reading Flash Update: NYSED will cut you a break if you are due to renew in 2015


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All continuing education providers are not created equal


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New York social workers have many ways to educate themselves, but continuing education hours eligible for licensure must be obtained from entities specifically approved by the New York State Department of Education. NYSED provides a list of all the providers it has approved to date on the Office of the Professions website.  As of the date of this post, there are 82 providers, based from Cape Cod to Alaska! [update: over 100 now listed]

Unfortunately, this is a nontransparent list that includes many organizations that don’t really provide training accessible to the majority of social workers for purposes of licensure. There are many reasons (providers who only do multi-year psychoanalytic training for thousands of dollars, providers who only train their own staff, etc.). Digging through the list can be frustrating and time-consuming for a busy social worker just looking for the continuing education needed to renew their license.

Continue reading All continuing education providers are not created equal


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Two more approved providers listed


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Apparently, NYSED will be dripping providers onto the approval list unannounced for the foreseeable future. Since we last ran our changebot to check the list of approved providers, there have been two new listings, bringing the total to 99:

CE-Classes.com www.ce-classes.com
William Zangwill, Ph.D. www.EMDRandTraining.com