SUPPORTING PRIVATE PRACTITIONERS BY PAM ROBERTS, MSW, RSW, PRIVATE PRACTICE COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR
This year, the private practice committee worked diligently on the task set before us at the AGM in May 2018. We also held an informal gathering of social workers in private practice at the conference to hear their priorities for our work as a committee. Three main themes evolved from this discussion which also guided our work: 1. Advocacy efforts to have MSW services equally recognized in employee’s health insurance plans, 2. for the College to set a recommended rate of service, and 3. to develop a community of support. When we resumed our meetings in the fall, we knew we had a lot of work to do. Council changed the terms of reference for our committee so that one no longer needed an MSW or PhD to be a member, and two new members joined us in the fall. Also, Pam replaced Tonya as co-chair of the committee in November 2018 after Tonya graciously stayed on as chair past her term. Here are some highlights of where are, so far, on this work:
There was a lot to think about and consider. We wanted to develop recommendations that were fair, reasonable, promoted our profession, and served first and foremost to protect the public. The first thing that became abundantly clear was a problem with language. Our Act defines social work private practice as “self-employment.” However everyone, including our committee, was using the terms private practice and clinical practice interchangeably. We surveyed the membership for feedback on a number of issues. As a committee, there was agreement that there was not a need to further regulate social workers who want to be in private practice/self-employed. This led to discussions and debates on regulation regarding clinical social work. A draft clinical registration policy was created as well as a draft definition of clinical social work. One of our committee members also sat the ASWB exam. Alec wrote a discussion piece for our newsletter and he has been gathering lots of feedback from the membership over the winter and spring. A policy paper has been written for the AGM, where you will find our recommendations on this issue.
AGM 2019 At the AGM in 2018, the private practice committee was tasked with the following: “the membership directs the College’s Private Practice Committee to continue further considerations for this bylaw change to section 32 (1)b outlining the private practice requirements. As part of deliberations, the committee will bring a specific recommendation with detailed rationale to members at the next AGM in 2019.”
14 Connection | Spring 2019
INSURANCE EQUITY Through our research and discussions, it has become clear that most insurance companies will include social work on their plans. The gap is when the employer purchases a plan, whether they include social work as a paraprofessional or not in the package they select. The goal of our advocacy work is to increase community access to MSW services by advocating that social work be included equal to other health professionals.
