SOCIAL WORKERS LEADING FOR JUSTICE
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Hello,
Racial justice is core to the mission of social work. At the same time, we are at a place in history where we need to look inside at the profession and at the systems in which we all work to imagine and advocate for a new way forward. While NASW-MA has a long history of advocating for policies that advance racial justice, the work we have done to date is not nearly enough.
We know the work ahead must be done in partnership with clients and communities most impacted, with their voices guiding us.
Since our June e-news, we've endorsed two pieces of emergency legislation that if passed would mitigate police brutality:
As the current legislative session winds down and we prepare for the next, carefully examining the racial justice impact of each piece of legislation we support or prioritize will be paramount.
We're also hard at work planning continuing education opportunities related to racial equity and clinical practice in the age of COVID-19. Soon enough you'll be receiving the September/October issue of
Social Work Voice which will include details on much of this work. We're also continuously sharing tools and resources on our social media channels for social workers to engage in advocacy. So please follow us if you haven't already!
This is not a time for silence or complacency.
It is important to us that all of the educational opportunities we create are not just informative, but also offer concrete ways social workers can take action and join us in the fight for racial justice.
Your membership powers our advocacy for the profession and for the many clients and communities served by the profession all across the Commonwealth. Thank you. We are stronger because of you.
In solidarity,
Rebekah
Rebekah Gewirtz
Executive Director
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IN THIS ISSUE:
- Membership Hub
- Continuing Education & Events
- Social Work Action Center
- Clinical and Private Practice
- Notes from the Field
- Licensing Test Prep
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Get Referrals for Your Practice, Join Therapy Matcher Today!
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Are you an NASW-MA member in private practice? Join Therapy Matcher now to lock-in a new, lower member rate of just $225 per year while accessing personalized referrals designed to make your life easier.
Not an NASW-MA member? Join NASW now through July 1 and receive introductory membership to Therapy Matcher for FREE through December 2020!
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Join a Member Group - Take Action for Racial Justice
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Help NASW-MA move the needle on racial justice by joining one of our member-led groups that explicitly works on advancing racial justice:
- Legislative Advocacy Committee (LAC) - Social workers determine NASW-MA's legislative agenda, selecting and advocating for policies that enhance professional social worker practice and/or social, economic, and racial justice. Each piece of legislation is examined for its racial justice impact.
- Political Action for Candidate Election (PACE) Committee - Social workers participate in the endorsement process for statewide elected offices and social workers running for local office. PACE members also work on the political campaigns of PACE-endorsed candidates. Each candidate seeking NASW-MA’s endorsement must answer questions about their commitment to racial justice.
- Criminal Justice Committee - Social workers work on criminal justice policy by organizing resources and advocacy efforts such as providing testimony and partnering with legislators. The CJC also addresses matters related to clinical practice that exist at the intersection of criminal justice and trauma/substance use/mental health.
Contact Noel Schutz, Membership & Advocacy Manager, to learn more our join any of these member-led groups:
[email protected]
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Nominate Your Social Work Hero to be Featured in Our Member Highlights!
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We are committed to celebrating the work and commitment of social workers to our communities. Routinely, NASW-MA will highlight nominated social workers across our social media platforms.
In the coming weeks and months we will feature social workers on the frontlines of our duel crisises: COVID-19 and racism.
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Did You Know Your Region of the State Has a Facebook Group? Virtually Connect with Other Social Workers in Your Region
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Every region of NASW-MA Chapter has its own Facebook group. Join yours today to connect with peers and stay in-the-know about social work happenings and related events in your area!
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In Your Inbox:
Social Work Voice
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Later this month you will receive the July/August issue of
Social Work Voice
.
Highlights from this issue include:
- Legislative Roundup and Fighting Together for Racial Justice
- Leading on Telehealth Advocacy
- Using Our Values to Guide Self-Care
- Flattening the Mental Health Curve During the Pandemic: New Tools for Social Workers
- ...and much more!
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Have an upcoming event, job opening, or other opportunity to share with the social work community?
Advertise with us! All ads appear on our website and are published in
Social Work Voice.
The ad deadline for the September/October iss
ue is August 21.
Email Jamie Klufts for more information.
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CONTINUING EDUCATION & EVENTS
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In Your Mailbox: The 2020 FOCUS CE Mailer
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In May, we sent a booklet of text-based continuing education courses to our members. The goal is to provide members with low-cost and convenient CE opportunities that can be completed anytime, anywhere.
You can earn up to
4.5 CEUs in this year’s booklet, which includes the following course:
- Leadership: Racial and Cultural Considerations by the Center for the Study of Diversity and Social Change
- The Ins and Outs of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for Social Work Practice by Pam Szczygiel, DSW, LICSW
- Latinx Social Work Over the Lifespan by Yvonne Ruiz, PhD, LICSW
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Riding the Wave: Supporting Kids, Teens, and Families During COVID-19
Earn 1.5 CEUs!
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This program will help clinicians to support children, teens, and families through the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will address the distress, grief, and traumatic symptoms that arise due to sudden changes such as school closings, surviving the quarantine, and anxiety over contracting the virus. Participants will learn about working with parents on practical strategies for managing children’s stress levels, at-home learning, and decreasing conflict and anxiety during this challenging and unprecedented time.
Friday, July 10, 2020
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Discussant:
Zaza Sakhat, LICSW
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Save the Date: School Social Work Conference
School Social Work Under Pandemic Conditions: Navigating Our Roles
Earn 5.5 CEUs!
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This annual conference brings together school social workers and adjustment counselors from across the state who work with youth in all levels of schools. After a keynote, participants will then have the opportunity to choose among morning and afternoon workshops that cover a wide range of topics related to working with children and adolescents in school settings.
Friday, October 9, 2020
VIRTUAL
Details and registration coming later in July!
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Awards Celebration: Postponed to December 2020
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Our 47th Annual Awards Celebration has been tentatively postponed to December 1, 2020. We look forward to honoring the contributions of these amazing social workers and allies with you then at the Colonial Inn in Concord.
Details and registration coming soon!
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Symposium 2020: Postponed to April 15-16 2021
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Earlier in April, w
e made the decision to
POSTPONE
Symposium 2020 due to the current COVID-19 crisis.
This is a reminder that if you already registered, all of your registration items, including workshop and intensive selections,
will automatically transfer to 2021, at the current cost to attend.
The dates for our postponed conference, which will include our keynote speaker Dr. Joy DeGruy and all 90+ workshops and intensives, is April 15-16, 2021.
Please mark your calendars.
Symposium 2020 registrants will soon receive notice about free bonus continuing education opportunities this year. Stay tuned!
Please feel free to reach out to
[email protected]
for more information about opportunities to earn CEUs or with any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you at Symposium in 2021!
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Online Continuing Education Available 24/7 through the CE Institute
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Hundreds of web-based continuing education offerings are available to social workers for free or low-cost on NASW's Online CE Institute
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SOCIAL WORK ACTION CENTER
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Patients First Act on the Move
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On June 25th, the
Patients First Act
passed was debated and passed unanimously in the MA State Senate. This piece of legislation includes several important provisions designed to ensure the continuation of telehealth expansion.
Many NASW-MA members responded to a call to action, and contacted their state senators in support. The bill now moves to the House, and we will keep the membership informed about next steps, and opportunities for further advocacy.
Here are some highlights of the bill as it passed in the Senate:
- Under this bill, all insurance carriers, including the Group Insurance Commission and MassHealth, would be required to cover telehealth services in any instance where the same service is covered in-person. The bill includes a very flexible definition of “telehealth,” including synchronous or asynchronous audio, video, electronic media or other telecommunications technology, including, but not limited to, text messaging, application-based communications, and online adaptive interviews.
- It would allow telehealth coverage for audio-only telephone, would not require providers to document barriers to in-person visits in order to provide telehealth, and would not limit the type of setting where telehealth services are provided.
- For two years, all carriers would be required to reimburse in-network providers for telehealth services at the same rate as if the services were provided in-person, and the rates would not be able to consider facility fees for distant or originating sites.
- An amendment addresses reimbursement parity and would ensure that for the next two years telehealth services are reimbursed as they have been during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which is on par with the how those same services are reimbursed on an in-person basis.
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Advance An Act Relative to Saving Black Lives and Transforming Public Safety
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Recent incidents of police brutality across the United States have highlighted the need to address violence, racial disparities, and practices in policing. NASW-MA has endorsed
A
n Act Relative to Saving Black Lives and Transforming Public Safety
(SD.2968/HD.5128), sponsored by Senator Creem and Representative Miranda
, which works to set stricter
standards and increase accountability for law enforcement.
If passed, this legislation would:
- Establish unnecessary use of force as a civil rights violation
- Prohibit the use of choke holds, tear gas, and other dangerous weapons and tactics
- Create a “duty to intervene” when officers witness an abuse of force
- Ban no-knock warrants
- Require data collection and reporting procedures to prevent the hiring of abusive officers
- Increase transparency by making police misconduct investigations and outcomes public record
Click the green Take Action button below to send a letter in support of this bill directly to your State Senator and Representative.
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Provide Relief for Those in Deep Poverty
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The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the poorest families and individuals in our state especially hard. Families who were already struggling to meet their basic needs are now facing higher utility bills and grocery costs.
That’s why NASW-MA supports HB4622,
An Act to provide short-term relief for families in deep poverty
, which would provide immediate one-time supplemental cash assistance to our state's most vulnerable residents.
The bill received a favorable report from the Children and Families Committee. It is now in Ways and Means.
Click the green Take Action button below to send a letter
in support of this bill
directly to your State Senator and Representative.
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Support Decarceration and Promote Public Health Measures in Jails and Prisons
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As we all work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we are particularly concerned about preventing outbreaks where close confinement and unsanitary conditions are widespread and unavoidable for residents: in our jails and prisons.
Contact your legislators
and ask them to pass
An Act regarding Decarceration and COVID-19
(HB4652), sponsored by Rep. Sabadosa
.
HB4652
would put processes in place to decarcerate non-violent offenders, those who pose no threat to our communities, and vulnerable populations during the ongoing public health crisis. It would also require public health protections for people who are currently incarcerated.
Click the green Take Action button below to send a letter in support of this bill directly to your State Senator and Representative.
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Ensure that Everyone has Access to Emergency Paid Sick Time
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In Massachusetts, there are families with no emergency paid sick time at all and that needs to change.
An Act relative to emergency paid sick time
(HD5039/SD2918), sponsored by Rep. Donato and Sen. Lewis
would guarantee all workers at least ten additional paid workdays (80 hours) of job-protected paid sick time for immediate use during the COVID-19 outbreak or future public health emergencies. This emergency paid sick time would be in addition to any paid or unpaid time off already available to the worker.
When workers have been exposed to COVID-19, are sick, or have an ill family member, they must have the ability to miss work to care for themselves or their family, without losing the pay they need to make ends meet.
Click the green Take Action button below to send a letter in support of this bill directly to your State Senator and Representative.
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Provide Equal Stimulus Checks to Immigrant Taxpayers
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The CARES Act, a recovery act that Congress recently passed, provides much-needed stimulus checks for most American taxpayers.
However, the CARES Act excludes taxpayers who file with an ITIN rather than a Social Security Number.
These are usually immigrant families who have paid the same share of income taxes as those with social security numbers and deserve the same assistance.
An Act to Provide Equal Stimulus Checks to Immigrant Taxpayers
(SB2916), sponsored by Sen. Eldridge and Reps. Balser and Miranda
, would direct the Massachusetts Department of Revenue to provide a stimulus check to ITIN taxpayers that is equal to the stimulus checks provided under the CARES Act. It would also provide $10 million to immigrant aid organizations to provide direct financial assistance to immigrants and immigrant families.
Click the green Take Action button below to send a letter in support of this bill directly to your State Senator and Representative.
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CLINICAL AND PRIVATE PRACTICE
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HHS Will Extend the Public Health Emergency Period
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Per a tweet sent by HHS spokesman Michael Caputo on Monday, HHS intends to extend the public health emergency (PHE) period by 90 days. The current expiration date is July 25.
The new expiration date is October 25.
As you know, the telehealth flexibilities under Medicare are attached to this federal PHE. This will be the second extension the agency has provided.
Hopefully, commercial and self-funded plans will also extend their telehealth flexibility period. NASW is reaching out to them to advocate for telehealth permanence. Note that some plans stopped paying for out-of-network telehealth already.
Finally, at least one bill has been introduced in Congress to enable interstate practice flexibility. This would apply to numerous types of clinicians, in addition to clinical social workers. We will provide more information about that soon, including advocacy plans around these bills.
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COVID-19: Practice Guidelines for Reopening Social Work Practices
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Telemental Health During COVID-19
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Our staff are hard at work each day making sure we convey the most up-to-date information to you on the ever-evolving rules and regulations around tele-mental health in response to COVID-19.
We
update
this page
routinely as the insurance and health care landscape adapts and changes.
Bookmark this page
and check back frequently
to learn about telehealth and its impacts on your practice during this time.
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Licensing Changes for 2020-2021:
Renewal Cycle Changes
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- In the past, all licenses came up for renewal on October 1 in even years.
- From here on, licenses will expire on your birthdate, starting with the first birthday AFTER October 1, 2020.
- Note that this could mean that your next renewal date will be significantly longer than two years from your last, depending on when your birth date falls.
- The number of CEUs will remain the same for each licensee – 30 for LICSWs, 20 for LCSWs, and so on - no matter the length of time between renewals.
- The Board of Registration has not granted any extensions for renewal dates or CEUs at this time.
- MA regulations allow for up to 100% of CEUs to be received through in-person or distance learning.
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Licensing Changes for 2020-2021: Domestic and Sexual Violence Training Requirement for Licensure
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- A new state law, “An Act Relative to Domestic Violence” mandates domestic violence and sexual assault training for social workers and other medical providers.
- The law is often referred to as Chapter 260
- It is a one-time requirement, beginning with this next license renewal cycle.
- DPH has a free online course that fulfills this requirement: https://chapter260training.org/courses/training/
- NASW-MA is expecting to be able to offer an in-person and/or online webinar course that will also fill the requirement
- Currently awaiting DPH approval for a course designed by an expert in the field from Simmons School of Social Work
- We will keep the membership posted as soon as the course becomes available.
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Valuable Member Benefit: Join the NASW-MA Private Practice Google Group
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The Private Practice Google Group is an exclusive member benefit powered by social work colleagues from across the state and NASW-MA. By signing up you'll receive timely updates from your colleagues about ethics, billing and insurance, and other critical private practice issues. You can also pose your own questions to the group to crowd source answers from colleagues. NASW-MA also uses this platform to send important clinical alerts to members.
Sign up to
join the group by sending an email to
[email protected] with "Join Google Group" in the subject line.
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Social Work Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey
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The American Public Health Association (APHA)/Public Health Social Work (PHSW) Section is conducting a survey to better understand the experiences of practicing social workers (macro, mezzo and clinical), during the early months of the COVID-19 epidemic.
APHA/PHSW believes the findings can help us to elevate social work into the national conversation and improve efforts regarding COVID response, recovery and rebuilding.
About the
Social Work Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey
:
The research team is comprised of five university-based collaborators (all APHA/PHSW members) from across the US; the study has been approved by the Fordham University Institutional Review Board and the National Association of Social Workers. All data is being collected via an online Qualtrics link that is accessible via computer or phone. The link to the survey is here:
https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2lvL6eAcAAXZku9
.
Feel free to distribute it directly to other social workers and encourage others to do so as well.
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Online EBT Purchasing Now Available to MA SNAP and P-EBT Households
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DTA recently
received approval
from the USDA to join the EBT online purchasing program. The online purchasing went live on
May 29th
. See announcement below. To help spread the word, DTA has launched a new website:
Mass.gov/SNAPonline
. The website contains a one-page flyer (English/Spanish, more languages to come), FAQ (English/Spanish), sample social media posts and more.
What you need to know about online EBT as of today:
- Online EBT purchasing is currently limited to Amazon and Walmart – a USDA limit (not a state/DTA limit).
- DTA has confirmed that both SNAP and P-EBT can be used for online purchases.
- Additional retailers can apply to join the online purchasing program in “phase 2” but will need to meet the steep online EBT retailer requirements, listed on USDA's website. Remember, SNAP is not the same as other types of electronic payment transactions.
- Making an online purchase through Amazon or WalMart does not guarantee delivery. For example, we have already found that many parts of MA cannot schedule any Amazon Fresh deliveries and families can only order shelf-stable products; and most of the WalMart purchases appear to require curbside pickups.
- SNAP EBT cannot be used for delivery fees nor any non-food items – such as paper goods, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene. Customers need to have another form of electronic payment to pay for those items (and DTA cash benefits cannot be used at this time).
Thank you to our friends at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) for this information.
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From the Office of the Child Advocate: We All Need Help Sometimes Campaign
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The Massachusetts
Office of the Child Advocate
in partnership with UMass Medical is launching a public information campaign designed to make Massachusetts families aware of state resources that are available to them and encourage struggling families to reach out for
help.
If you'd like to be notified when new languages are available, or have any questions about this project, please email:
[email protected]
.
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The Social Work Assistance Network (SWAN) -
An NASW-MA Resource for You!
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The Social Workers Assistance Network (SWAN) is a NASW Massachusetts Chapter-sponsored colleague assistance program.
SWAN provides professional consultation and referral to any social worker who may be experiencing personal issues that could impact their personal or professional lives.
These difficulties may include stress due to the Covid-19 pandemic, chemical dependence, depression, anxiety, marital and family issues, and concern for a colleague. The SWAN Commission is comprised of volunteer social workers who are committed to assisting their colleagues. SWAN is a confidential service. All contacts and information shared is privileged and private.
Learn more about this service and member benefit
here
.
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Licensing Test Prep Courses in Your Neighborhood
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NASW-MA hosts Licensing Test Prep courses each month in various parts of the state. Upcoming courses include:
- July 18 | Virtual
- August 5 | Virtual
- September 19 | Worcester
- November 20 | Bridgewater
- December 5 | Springfield
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