President’s Message November 2005
By Judy Haspel

In the wake of Katrina, we begin again. What was important last August suddenly lost relevance, as we all were affected by our own and others’ survival challenges. Each of us have our own stories, some of which were shared via the internet. 

In early September we sent an email to those of us who had addresses, and our former president, Terry Zenner, compiled a “true newsletter” from all who responded. All of us were worried about our friends and colleagues and Terry’s summation gave information and comfort. Many more of us now have email addresses, as we feel a need for multiple modes of communication in case of telephone and snail mail failure again. I hope that you did receive that email, and that you found it helpful. I want to say again how much I appreciate Terry and others stepping in.

In an attempt to resume normalcy, or the “new normal” as some call it, the LACSW board met in October. During the first part of the meeting we talked about, what else, Katrina and our experiences during the hurricane and its aftermath. As you may know, a large portion of our embership lives and works in New Orleans and was directly affected by the storm. Even though practices have been hurt, with our client bases scattered and our offices damaged, many board members were able to make it to the meeting.

It was heartening to hear of the heroic efforts made by some of our members to provide social services to those in need. Many of our members volunteered at shelters and various other agencies, putting their own practices on hold, some for over two weeks. The bureaucracies of some organizations including the Red Cross, FEMA, and the State of Louisiana provided obstacles, but we have some amazing members who used some “guerilla social work”  tactics to deliver much needed services.

Some of members raised money on their own to provide the basics such as transportation and underwear. Some attended state meetings for hours, with the outcome being the establishment of another meeting in one week’s time. One member personally picked up medication at the state warehouse and delivered it to a medical clinic in New Orleans.

Ideas were shared as far as influencing policy change in the future and supporting the Baton Rouge Foundation for a grant to provide mental health services to hurricane victims. We were then able to turn our attention to the present, which in itself, was healing as we resume business on behalf of Clinical Social Workers in the State of Louisiana.

 Welcome to our new members!

MORE STATES RESIGN FROM CSWF

The President of the Illinois Society for Clinical

Social Work writes,

“It is with great disappointment and frustration that I must notify you that the Illinois Society for Clinical Social Work must temporarily withdraw its membership from the Clinical Social Work Federation effective immediately. A review of our current treasury forces us to take this painful step. We simply do not have the funds to maintain a CSWF membership in good standing as we are operating at a deficit. We are hopeful that the many new initiatives our state society is implementing will restore our current financial picture to a more robust fiscal state by next June. At that time we will reevaluate our financial status and the feasibility of rejoining. We greatly appreciate all the hard work you have done and are continuing to do to strengthen the CSWF organization and greatly regret that we need to take this step. Our best to you in the year ahead and our hope for future collaboration.”

Sharon Williams

In a letter to the board, CSWF President Abigail Grant responds,

“As is my responsibility, I did talk to Sharon about the fact that Illinois did not notify the Federation of their need to disaffiliate by the deadline defined in the By-laws and Procedure manual. This along with an outstanding debt to the Federation could potentially have a negative impact on any future application to rejoin the Federation. While Sharon understood this she relayed to me that Board members and the past presidents she had spoken with did not see membership in the Federation as necessary to the advancement of clinical social work in Illinois.”

The LACSW position continues to be to wait and see, keeping options open..

   THE BUDGET 2005-2006
REVISED POST KATRINA BUDGET

Accessible Funds to Date :   21, 017

Total Budgeted Income:        3,200

Total Potential Funds:          23,217

Total Projected Expenses:   20,952

Differential:                            (3,265)

CONTINUING EDUCATION COMMITTEE REPORT

Anita Evans has met with the LABSWE committee on continuing education. Currently there are three agencies that can grant CEU's: NASW, Family Counseling, and LACSW. Among topics being reviewed are establishing checks and balances for granting bodies, rewriting criteria for CEU’s, reviewing complaints about inferior workshops, and random audits of CEU grantors.

CSWF NATIONAL MEETING REPORT

Skip Morlier attended the national meeting in October 2005 held in Washington and shares some of the highlights:

The main issue was restructuring from a federation of state societies to a national association with individual membership.

The Education Committee presented a paper on Social Work Education and Clinical Learning,. Skip reports that this paper confronts the reduction in clinical course work in schools of Social Work. There was some discussion as to who owns the property rights to papers written by committees.

The Insurance Trust reports that it is close to finished to resolving reimbursement issues with those harmed, with the exception of payment to people in Illinois and five additional individuals.

The Clinical Social Work and the Law Committee reported that they completed a paper on Practice Guidelines in Child Custody Evaluations and wrote an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act.

The CSWF deficit has been reduced to $11,356., and it would be less were it not for the legal bills associated with the guild insurance.

Some states are struggling with membership. Other states are thriving. Their reports are full of ideas that we may want to implement, including expansion of our mentorship program to students and new professionals.

CSWF has a new letterhead.

Clinical Social Workers in other states offered their support and personal time in volunteering to help evacuees of Hurricane Katrina.

LACSW requested that due to Hurricane Katrina and resulting financial problems, our dues for the current fiscal year be waived. The request was denied.

Managed Care Report

If you have any problems, please contact Leesa Sitter, who continues to be diligent. Of late, she has some new materials to present to self-insured plans if anyone has a difficulties in getting reimbursement from them.

CSWF TRANSITION

There has been much discussion at the Clinical Social Work Federation about the structure of the organization. When it was founded in 1973, the main goals included promoting clinical social work education, marketing/public relations for the profession, legal regulation and vendorship, national advocacy, and establishment of a national office. Leadership and others at the Federation have felt for some time that the Federation model upon which the organization is based is no longer viable.

As it pertains here, a Federation is an organization made up of individual member state societies. The states establish their own agenda and collect their own dues, remitting a portion to the national organization. This has worked well for the state of Louisiana, as our needs, issues, priorities differ from others. We have enjoyed our autonomy and lack of bureaucracy. Most of our dollars collected go to our Lobbyist. An “Association” form of organization would allow the national office to collect dues directly from the individual members and remit a portion back to the state organizations. One of the Federation’s main arguments has to do with other states’ apparent inability to develop a strong enough member base, and the Federation feels that it could do a better job of recruiting and retaining members.

The CSWF Board decided in October that the organization WILL become “ a national membership association.” We don’t know exactly what this will look like, as the details are yet to be worked out. The CSWF bylaws are still in place, but an ad hoc committee is working on a plan to be presented at another meeting in the spring of 2006. The committee is charged with coming up with 1) a new name; 2)bylaws; 3)a mission statement; 4)a vision statement; 5)clarification of relationship to state societies; and 6) a proposed governance structure.

All benefits and services will continue uninterrupted. Specifically, malpractice insurance, Journal subscriptions, national newsletter, representation on national legislative watchdog organizations, the Federation “800” number and other existing services will remain in full operation. Contractual dues obligations also remain in effect.

Much thought and effort has gone into this change. It has been discussed for many years; apparently “in the early nineties, dedicated volunteers looked at alternatives to the Federation model.” At this last CSWF meeting a professional facilitator was hired to guide the board through the decision making process. The LACSW board as a body feels that there are some benefits to belonging to a national organization that represents the profession of Clinical Social Work. Therefore, we look forward to the spring CSWF meeting to consider the proposal presented by the ad hoc transition committee. We remain open to ideas. However, our own needs and interests have priority.

Our website is www.lacsw.org. Website ID is “LACSW”, and your password is “strength”. If any LACSW member would like to post a short clinical article on our website (no charge), crediting yourself and with a link to your website if you have one, contact Charlene Spears at 337-237-9150.

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.. Couples Workshop was successful

Many thanks to Deborah Fernandez, who opened her beautiful home to nine of us for a six hour workshop. Lou Irwin presented a more in depth study of Bowen’s work. There was ample time for us to present cases and share in a safe, comfortable and intimate setting.

Feedback from attendees was that this is an ideal setting for future workshops of this type. If you have a topic that you would like to see addressed or a particular area that you feel you could offer in an in depth presentatioon , please contact the acting education committee (Judy Haspel or Carol Miles). These “Masters Level” series are relatively easy to set up and inexpensive to attend.

Meeting dates 2005-2006

Dec.9, 2005 (note change of date)

Feb.10, 2006

April 21, 2006

June 9, 2006

August 11, 2006

Meetings are at Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge. All members are invited to attend.

CSWF NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

In addition to the three bills as reported in the last LACSW newsletter, CSWF is supporting the following bills:

The Clinical Social Workers Recognition Act of 2005— (S127, HR 234)

These bills, sponsored by Senator D. Inouye (D-HI) and Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY), would allow licensed clinical social workers to conduct mental health evaluations and provide mental health services to federal workers injured on the job. The Senate bill has been referred to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee while the House bill awaits a hearing in the Education and Workforce Committee.

The following bills are also supported by the Federation, generally by letters of support, and when necessary, direct advocacy. This is a partial list of the legislation supported.

LACSW
P.O. Box 14153
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: 225-761-1668
Fax: 337-989-8458
Email: LACSW2@hotmail.com

Reminder: Please go to our website, www.lacsw.org to update your data. This is free publicity for your practice.

Our Special Thanks to Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge for hosting LACSW's meetings.

Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge
440 North Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

Inpatient Admissions: 225-343-1994 or 800-215-0108

Moving? Missed an Issue?

Please contact us at:

LACSW P.O. Box 14153 Baton Rouge, LA 70808
or
lacsw2@hotmail.com
 

To Contact Your Licensing Board:

Send $5.00 to the board for a copy of “The Rules, Standards, and Procedures of the Louisiana Social Work Practice Act– amended Oct.24, 2003.

Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners 18550 Highland Road—Suite B Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Phone: (225) 756-3470 or 800-521-1941 (LA only) email: socialwork@labswe.org Website: http://www.labswe.org

Contact Information:

LACSW Officers:

President– Judy Haspel 504-891-5807

President Elect— Carol Miles 985-893-1248

Secretary— Marjorie Roniger 504-818-2886

Treasurer— Charlene Spears 337-237-9150

Regional Board

Baton Rouge - Anita Evans, Deborah Fernandez, Maureen Powell, Justin Schleis, Larry Gooch, Dayle Malen

New Orleans– Anne Heard, Mimi Jalenak, Donna Lewis, George Morlier, Laura Myers

Shreveport—  Leesa Sitter, Peggy Salley

Slidell— Maria Klette-Ketchum